Shotgun, as an international standard project management tool, speaks itself in features on CGWORLD.jp. Encouraged by acquisition by Autodesk in 2014 and launghing authorized sales by Born Digital and Too in 2015, Shotgun implementation in Japan keeps accelerating. Yoshiyuki Watanabe, presales of Shotgun in Autodesk, says "with much fastrer speed than we expected, Shotgun is building high reputaions by many studios that already installed it regardless of its scales or indutries."

"In Japanese studios, it tends to be relatively slow to establish pipelines or workflows in comparison with the studios in North Amrica and Europe," he talks about the challenges told for a long time in the CG film industry in Japan.
With the feeling that "popularization of Shotgun may or may not largely dedicate as a solution for these challenges," CGWORLD.jp had an interview with Watanabe to explore the reality of Shotgun implementation in Japan as of March in 2016.
In addition, 25 of 27 studios we picked up from all the studios which already installed Shotgun in Japan gave us their honest comments about its abilities, with greatsupport by Autodesk. We would like to introduce you these various and candid reputaitons gathered from VFX, animation, gaming, and game machine industries.

Bring the Innovation to Works of "Everyone in the Studio."

"Shotgun provides tools that help everyone in the studio suceed." This is the common vision which Watanabe talks that the Shotgun development team has. "Bringing the innovation to works of 'everyone in the studio' is a big feature of Shotgun." For instance, Maya and 3ds Max are tools for artists in general, Motion Builder is for animators, and Mudbox is the one for modelers. These tools are not very likely the tools for Production Managers (PM), Technical Directores (TD), Directors, Producers, and Studio Managers to use as almost daily as their main tools. Shotgun, however, can be.

"Various people with various roles made contacts with us to move ahead on installation of Shotgun during a last year. These clients include the artists in front-line, PM, TD, producers, and managing directors." This can be recognized as an episode to prove the effect Shotgun brought on people in various business with various roles. While details can be seen on the comments by 25 studios introduced later of this article, many voices say that Shotgun installation helped them to achieve the integrated management of project tasks or checkbacks, the prompt share of information, and the reduction of burdens on everyone in the studio.

It is surprising to know that the Autodesk staffs themselves also receives its merits. "Recently, our sales and marketing teams use shotgun, managing the minutes on Shotgun spreadsheets or gantt charts to make a record of who in our company talked to whom, when and what kinds of conversation they had, and what should they do next." Looking back to its origin, Shotgun is developed as a project management tool for full CG films. However, its usage is widely spread beyond the range of film production. "Shotgun is accepted by various industries widely such as animations and gaming. Furthermore, it is also heard that many studios apply Shotgun to manage not only assets and shots but also machineries and plugins. Shotgun is a tool with high flexibility and scalability, which can be used for progress management and information sharing without limiting the types of industries and usage.

Oher than 27 studios introduced below, many of studios regardless its genres have already installed or been expected to install Shotgun in a short while. "It tends to be launched the full installation after going through 1 to 3 months of validation period. In fact, the trial period we set is actually only 1 month, but we sometimes extend its period on request because we want them to install with their complete satisfaction." Watanabe explains; while it is expected to enhance the existing pipeline if its studio already has an established and concrete pipeline, it is to be a guide to unification if the studio has been operating with different pipelines depending on projects and person in charge.

Experience in Progress Management is More Than Enough to Handle Shotgun.

The fact that only its standard functions are flexible enough for various needs, although it is highly customizable with Shotgun Pipeline Toolkit, can be a big plus for installation. "There are many studios taking root with its concrete production style without having TA or TD inside. Having no need to ensure the resources for maintenance is a huge merit for studios smaller than a middle scale."

Watanabe points out that one of Shotgun's advantages is its ease of use that you can use without any difficulties once you understand the structure of Shotgun and its registration methods of data. "The most important thing on Shotgun installation is to have people with plans and leaderships to think of appropriate operational method for their company and share it with every one of members. It can be said that people with experience in progress management already have a good aptitude to work Shotgun out well." In fact, he says these people who have managed progress with Excel or Google Spreadsheet instantly grasp the point to use Shotgun. "Fortunately, Shotgun is getting accepted by many studios in Japan. I believe you can quickly understand the value of Shotgun once you actually use it. Firstly, please feel free to take advantage of Shotgun trial site. We have various support for installation starting with an introduction tutorial (in PDF document)."

We are going to introduce the comments gathered from 25 of 27 studios that have installed Shotgun in Japan below. Take a look at the up-to-date information about Shotgun, a project management tool shining its advantage in many fields.