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Fluxx

Viz Cascade

The viz cascade is three sequential bounded pre-shoot phases: TechViz, LightViz, CompViz. The cascade runs the week before the shoot, structurally aligned with the conventional pre-light week. On shoot day, everything is already in sync for the Near-Time process to run. Each is a named phase with a defined output and a defined exit condition, not a continuous ambient activity. Each phase produces a specific artifact the shoot day consumes. The cascade is plumbing, not the pillar. The load-bearing pillar of Near-Time VFX is the shoot-day Fabrixx takeover (ComposiTrack capture plus the Fluxx Automate cut-to-render chain). The cascade exists so the takeover can run cleanly.

The cascade in one sentence

TechViz → LightViz → CompViz. Three sequential bounded pre-shoot phases. Each phase produces a specific artifact that the shoot day consumes. The cascade is plumbing; the load-bearing pillar is the shoot-day Fabrixx takeover.

Timing and pre-light alignment

The cascade runs the week before the shoot. This is not a separate sequence layered on top of conventional production timing, it is the pre-light week, structurally. The cinematographer and gaffer are doing their conventional pre-light work; TechViz, LightViz, and CompViz align to that same window so the work converges by shoot day rather than running in parallel and meeting late. By call time on the first shoot day, the geometry is locked, the lighting recipe is built, and the CompViz Nuke script is tested. The Near-Time process inherits a synchronized starting state. Canon: Q-G90 Viz Cascade Pre-Light Alignment.

TechViz

Industry term with Fluxx structural application. Geometry alignment phase. The VAD (virtual art department asset, the LED wall background world) and the practical set (physical objects, walls, props, actors’ marks) are reconciled so they appear as one from the camera’s point of view. Camera positions, focal lengths, parallax, scale all locked. By the end of TechViz, what the camera sees in the digital build is what the camera will see when the practical pieces arrive on stage. Output: a geometry-locked scene that the lighting recipe can be built against. Exit condition: camera-POV alignment validated. LightViz cannot proceed until that condition is met.

LightViz

Fluxx first-use term. Lighting alignment phase. Virtual lights established in the VAD environment are matched against the physical lights of the on-set rig. By the end of LightViz, the digital environment and the physical environment cast the same shadows on the same surfaces. Produces the lighting recipe, the data artifact Fabrixx renders against during the shoot. Without LightViz, the cloud-side render does not know what the on-set frame looked like, and the Near-Time PostViz returning to set is not useful for director review.

CompViz

Fluxx first-use term. Compositing automation phase. The Nuke script that will assemble the render passes during the shoot is built and tested pre-shoot against representative inputs. The script encodes routing logic for all render passes from downstream departments, plus lens corrections, color management, plate integration, and the pre-comp / slap-comp instructions specific to the shot family. At runtime, when Fabrixx returns render passes, the CompViz script auto-runs and produces the slap comp, which is delivered to set as the Near-Time PostViz in 30 to 60 minutes. No artist intervention per shot. Without CompViz, the per-shot comp would have to be assembled manually, breaking the same-day review loop.

Why “plumbing, not the pillar”

The cascade enables the shoot-day Fabrixx takeover. The takeover (ComposiTrack capture plus the Fluxx Automate cut-to-render chain) is what makes Near-Time VFX work; the cascade is what makes the takeover possible. If LightViz drifts from the on-set rig, the cloud-side render misses. If CompViz drifts from the actual asset shape, the auto-assembled slap comp misses. In either case, the Near-Time PostViz that returns to set is not useful for director review and the same-day creative loop breaks. The cascade is operational discipline that the shoot day depends on, not the headline argument.

Where each phase’s output lands

PhaseArtifactConsumer
TechVizGeometry-locked sceneLightViz, then shoot-day capture (camera framing against aligned wall)
LightVizLighting recipeFabrixx render
CompVizNuke comp scriptFabrixx (post-render assembly into Near-Time PostViz)

All three artifacts land in the Fluxx Vault as first-class entities with provenance, addressable by content hash.

Cross-references

Sources

  • 02_Working/Strategy/Company_Overview/Glossary_Source_2026_05_03.md
  • 02_Working/Strategy/Company_Overview/Fluxx_NotebookLM_v4_Build_Brief_2026_05_04.md
  • 02_Working/Strategy/Company_Overview/Fluxx_White_Paper_Near_Time_VFX_DRAFT_v0.1.md

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