What makes a good 2D Pipeline TD?

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There are many good 2D Pipeline TDs and they don't all have the same skillsets.

Do they need to be a coder?

[CODING IMAGE]

No. It is incredibly useful for the TD to have programing ability, but it is not always the case. Many TDs have great technical knowledge of hardware, standards, technology and the ability to communicate effectively with those making the tools without needing to code it themselves.

Those TDs that can code do not spend all of their time writing code. Someone who does that should have a job title closer to : Scripter, Tools Programmer, *or Software Developer*. A TD often has many other responsibilities. For example, preparing resources to teach the team how to use a tool effectively is just as important as making that tool in the first place (and can be even more time consuming).

Do they need to be a manager?

[MANAGEMENT IMAGE]

No. Althought management ability is useful, and many TD's have been a department lead or senior before going into the TD role, management skills aren't essential.

It is however important to be able to lead artists throught a technical process and give them confidence in the workflow you are recommending. A TDs goal is to empower an artist through the tools and workflows they provide, leadership experience is useful in being able to do this, but one can learn these skills without having been a manager.

TDs are often more autonomous than other roles and it is important that they are able to be responsible for their own time. There is lots of juggling between big projects and emergencies, the willingness to plan ways to handle these varing demands is important for their mental health.

Do they need to be an artist?

[ARTIST IMAGE]

No. But its hard to find a TD who is not also competent at at least one artistic discipline in their production's pipeline. The ability to create or design itself is not important, but the experience in understanding 1st hand what kind of obstacles an artist goes through [technical, creative, schedule, managerial] is. I know TD's who have arrived via production or IT roles and those experiences given them that insight into how a user experiences the pipeline.

They don't need to be a coder, manager or artist?

No, they will need to be competent at at least 1 of those aspects, most likely 2, and their experience in a 2D Pipeline TD role will often teach them a lot about the other that they have not experienced.

Their speciffic experiences are less important than their ability to empathise with colleagues. This is so that they can understand a problem and use their technical expertise to reveal a solution.

This all seems pretty vague, can you break it down into speciffic competences?

Ok then:

• Broad knowledge of the 2D animation production pipeline
• Animation production experience in one or several roles such as: animation, rigging, compositing, production
• Scripting knowledge ( or ability effectively brief coding team ) primarily: javascript, python

• Deep knowledge of the tools used in the pipeline

• Understands each departments file types and naming conventions and why they are needed

• Ability to understand the production needs and the impact that each step or action has on the rest of the pipeline (i.e. technical limitations, budget, resources, quotas)

• Patience to document knowledge and train the rest of the team

Recomended viewing

There is a particularly good interview with Mark Mullery ( Technical Director at Cartoon Saloon ) where he talks about his experience Assistant Directing on Wolfwalkers and does touch on Technical Direction also