Los Angeles, CA (August 19, 2014) – At the Shotgun User Group held during SIGGRAPH 2014 in Vancouver, Shotgun Software held the first ever Pipeline Awards to honor excellence in pipeline tool development, integration, engineering, and usage. Members of the Shotgun community from around the world submitted inventive tools for consideration, and four were recognized with Pipeline Shotty Awards, distinguishing them as the best pipeline tools of 2014. Shotgun also recognized four individuals as "Pipeline Heroes," leaders who have had a significant impact on the pipeline community through their technical contributions and commitment to sharing ideas and best practices.

Bestowed with unique light bulb themed awards designed by steampunk artist Andy Nortnik, the inaugural class of Pipeline Heroes includes:
–Tony Barbieri, head of pipeline, Psyop
–Armando Ricalde, co-founder and director of technology, Cluster Studio
–Mike Romey, head of pipeline, Zoic
–Patrick Wolf, global head of pipeline, Pixomondo

Honorees for the top pipeline tools of 2014 each received a custom award by kinetic artist Kyle Auga that features a tightrope walker with a tool in hand. Recognized with Pipeline Shotty awards were:

–The Capture Lab (Yanna Kang): Motion Capture Tool. The Capture Lab’s mocap tool is a client-facing order tool that eases the process of selecting and ordering motion capture animation in Shotgun.

–Laika (Tony Aeillo and Owen Nelson): BB Gun. Laika’s BB Gun tool allows multiple departments with different requirements to use the task scheduling capabilities of Microsoft Project to publish task updates to Shotgun where everyone can see them.

–Park Road Post (Dave Alve, Siobhan Durkin, Pete Black): In-App Artist Tools. Park Road Post utilizes multiple custom pipeline tools including an Info Panel in Nuke, Time Log Tool, Reference Viewer, Asset Manager, QT Reference Importer, custom enhancements to Shotgun’s Screening Room, and integration with SGO’s Mistika environment.

–Burrows: Rhino Engine. Burrows leveraged Shotgun’s Pipeline Toolkit to create a comprehensive workflow for their CAD-based automotive designers, including the first ever custom-built integration with Rhino 3D.

“I am honored that Shotgun chose me and it was only due to their support and the hard work from Psyop’s pipeline department consisting of Alon Gibli, John Cooper, Fabio Piparo and Wellington Fan that we were able to implement our tools so quickly over the last year. I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Shotgun team as we evolve our pipeline.” -Tony Barbieri, Psyop

"What better way to recognize awesomeness in pipeline development than creating these awards, such a great idea. It is always great to see what other people are doing, lots of inspiration and topics for discussion, which is another great thing about Shotgun, its community. All the awarded projects look very interesting to me and though we don't use all the tools that were interfaced with Shotgun, learning about them provided more insights about how to build better pipelines. Regarding my Pipeline Hero award, well honestly, it took me by surprise. I was shocked, and to be recognized among people you admire so much is such a great honor. Congrats to everyone and thanks to Don and the incredible team.” -Armando Ricalde, Cluster Studio

“Zoic has been working with Shotgun for nearly eight years. It’s amazing how time flies. Throughout it all, the team at Shotgun has always been by our side. Shotgun provides us a great platform to really do some amazing work. It’s hard to imagine a production pipeline without the tools and insight these guys provide to our industry. Truly flattered by the award and recognition by our dear friends and peers.” -Mike Romey, Zoic

"The Shotgun Pipeline Awards is an amazing opportunity to highlight and encourage the efforts of countless engineers across Shotgun's 500+ Studios. These individuals work hard everyday to streamline workflows, foster collaboration and make their facilities run more efficiently. To be named one of the winners together with the Pixomondo pipeline team was for sure a great honor! I hope the yearly awards will only further strengthen the sharing attitude so prevalent in the Shotgun dev community." -Patrick Wolf, Pixomondo

“There are talented innovators inside so many studios who are developing awesome tools that make laborious processes better for humans,” said Don Parker, co-founder of Shotgun Software and senior director at Autodesk. “These people are the unsung heroes of the industry, and we wanted to shine a light on their impressive achievements publicly. The level of sharing that happens in this community is fantastic. We have such respect for all of these folks — their work truly impacts the whole industry. It’s important that this work is recognized.”

For more information or to try Shotgun for free, visit: http://www.shotgunsoftware.com/