VFX studios should move shot work by dependency-aware package and workflow stage, not by copying an artist's entire project directory. Keep authoritative media and versions in studio-managed systems where possible; send remote artists the plates, references, color data, scene files, and approved dependencies they need; and require a manifest, integrity check, and ingest confirmation on every external handoff.
Decide whether files need to move
For artists connected to facility storage, central storage plus workstations or remote desktops near the data can keep plates, caches, and renders managed while pixels and input events cross the network. This reduces duplicate media but depends on latency, identity, licensing, and facility operations.
File movement is still necessary for independent vendors, freelancers, overflow studios, client deliveries, and locations without suitable remote-desktop access. Choose the method per shot package:
- managed project storage or sync for ongoing collaboration where version and conflict behavior is understood;
- discrete online transfer for frozen turnovers and submissions;
- physical media when the complete online path misses the production calendar;
- hybrid delivery when scene files, references, and proxies can start work before full-resolution plates or caches arrive.
This is a media pipeline, not a construction-model handoff. Its dependencies include image sequences, color transforms, handles, frame ranges, scene graphs, textures, simulations, renders, and editorial references.
Map four traffic patterns separately: inbound plate pulls, artist-to-artist or artist-to-farm working data, render returns, and client-spec deliveries. Interactive caches may belong beside the render farm; a freelancer turnover is a discrete package; a final delivery follows the client's specification exactly.
Build a shot package, not a desktop dump
Client and delivery specifications govern packaging. Netflix's current Post-Production Branded Delivery Specifications, for example, require 16-bit EXR for covered ACES or camera-linear VFX plate deliveries, allow specified lossless ZIP/PIZ compression, reject LOG EXRs, and prohibit zipped files or directories for covered plate, model, and scanning-data deliveries. That no-zip rule applies to those Netflix deliveries; it is not universal. Other clients may require a different container, directory structure, format, or transport, so use the current show-specific specification.
A working turnover may include:
- source plates or approved pulls with handles and frame ranges;
- reference QuickTimes, editorial notes, lens/grid data, camera reports, and matchmove data;
- scene files for Nuke, Maya, Houdini, or another named application and version;
- textures, LUTs or color-management configuration, OCIO dependencies, fonts where licensed, and scripts permitted for transfer;
- geometry, alembic files, camera data, simulation caches, and approved renders;
- a manifest, version notes, contact, destination instructions, and security requirements.
Exclude scratch renders, local temp files, obsolete caches, autosaves, and media already available through the agreed managed source. Preserve sequence padding and case-sensitive paths. Before sending, open the package from a clean location or package-validation environment so dependencies do not resolve silently from the artist's workstation.
Treat sequences as both files and media
An EXR sequence can contain thousands of files. The package must preserve filenames, frame ranges, channels, compression, color interpretation, and directory structure. The OpenEXR project describes the format as a high-dynamic-range image file format developed for motion-picture production, but format capability does not tell a recipient which channels, compression, or color pipeline a show selected.
OpenEXR documents that lossless PIZ often reduces grainy photographic images to 35–55% of uncompressed size and ZIP to 45–55%. Those ranges describe codec behavior, not a prediction for a particular shot; channel count, data window, image content, and compression settings still govern. ARRI's camera-specific FAQ illustrates upstream scale: ALEXA LF Open Gate ARRIRAW is listed at 1.80 TB/hour uncompressed or 1.08 TB/hour with lossless HDE under the documented mode. That is why a turnover usually contains approved pulls, not every camera original.
Record first and last frame, expected count, missing or intentionally omitted frames, resolution, pixel aspect ratio, handles, version, and checksum or integrity value. Preserve the exact directory form required by the client. Where a specification permits archives, agree on boundaries and validation; where the covered Netflix rule prohibits zipped files or directories, transfer the required directory tree unzipped. Do not flatten directories merely to reduce file count.
Model upload and download separately
Measure the staged package in decimal bytes and test source read, sender upload, recipient download, and destination write. Home connections are often asymmetric, and the artist may share bandwidth with interactive review or remote desktop traffic.
A November 2021 Nordicity/CASO survey of Ontario animation and VFX companies found the most common employee minimum-download requirement was 50–149 Mbps, while FX TD and compositor respondents required at least 150 Mbps; 25% cited home-connection latency or instability. This small, regional, dated survey is not a global benchmark. It is evidence that facility bandwidth cannot stand in for every artist endpoint.
For a 1.2 decimal TB turnover, a measured 250 Mbps studio upload takes about 11 h 57 m in the site's current model. If the artist can download at 400 Mbps, the complete two-leg network path is about 19 h 25 m. The model adds a 12% planning allowance; it is not observed throughput or a delivery guarantee. Packaging, verification, copying into project storage, and application ingest remain additional.
Prioritize what starts work. A scene file, reference movie, notes, and lightweight proxies may unblock setup while plates or caches continue. Conversely, sending a scene without its exact plugins, color configuration, textures, and versions can create hours of false progress.
Use the transfer-time calculator for the artist's return upload as well as the studio-to-artist leg. For show-start backfills or camera-original volumes, compare the complete media-copy and courier path in the shipping-versus-transfer calculator.
Make version and access explicit
Use show, sequence, shot, task, and version identifiers in the release root and manifest. State whether a package is a turnover, work-in-progress submission, client review, approved element, or final delivery. Never silently replace frames in an accepted version; issue a new version and record what changed.
Grant access to identified artists or vendor accounts for the required window. Confirm local capacity before transfer and avoid leaving client material indefinitely in personal storage. Security and retention requirements come from the production agreement and applicable policies, not from the file format.
The Trusted Partner Network publishes content-security guidance and assessment programs connected to MPA best practices. A client's TPN requirement is contractual and environment-specific; using a transfer product or linking to guidance does not make a studio or TeraAirlift TPN-compliant.
A delivery is complete only when the recipient compares the manifest, verifies integrity, confirms expected frames, opens representative images or scenes, checks the color pipeline, and ingests the package into the correct show storage. Record acceptance and keep the source until then.
Use the post-production transfer workflow and delivery-night checklist to coordinate deadline, queue ownership, access, fallback, and confirmation.
Where TeraAirlift fits
TeraAirlift fits discrete online turnovers and submissions. It is a Windows-first desktop operations console with file and folder queues, progress and ETA, cancellation, retry-friendly operations, history, diagnostics, recipient-controlled delivery, short-lived storage access, and SHA-256 verification. It does not replace shared storage, asset management, review systems, color management, or archives, and it does not guarantee speed or delivery time.
