Scene Building

Scene Building#

2026-02-17

9 min read

Overview#

"Scene Building" is a tool in Prism that is designed to automatically build the initial scene.
This involves various steps such as applying the frame range, importing available products or media files, and creating the first scene file.
Each step performed by the tool can be enabled or disabled based on entity, department, and task, allowing for a customizable setup.
Additional settings are available for supported plugins or supported workflows (Alembic/USD).

Currently supported plugins for Scene Building are:

Behind the scenes, the Scene Building tool uses a configurable Tag System to precisely control the import of products or media files.

Access#

The Scene Building tool can be launched via the Project Browser:

Project Browser > Scenefiles tab > Files > Context menu > Build new Scene

Note

Scene Building is only available in the Project Browser of the respective supported DCC.

Available Steps#

Each step performed by the Scene Building tool is customizable and can be defined based on:

Entity (e.g., Characters, Environments, Sequences, Shots)
Department (e.g., Modeling, Animation, Lighting)
Task (e.g., Texturing, Animation, Compositing)

Scene Building Settings

Available steps can be configured in the Project Settings:

Prism Settings > Project > Scene Building

Default Steps

The following default steps are available and are applied automatically by Prism during the scene building process:

Apply Shot Framerange:
In cases where the defined shot framerange does not align with that of the scene, the scene framerange will be updated.
Apply Shot Handlerange:
If the defined shot handlerange does not match the framerange of scene, the scene framerange will be synced.
Apply FPS:
If the defined shot FPS differs from FPS of the scene, the scene FPS will be updated.
Apply Resolution:
In case the defined shot resolution does not align with the resolution of the scene, the scene resolution will be synced.
Import Shotcam:
If a shot camera product exists, it will be imported automatically.
Import Products using Tags:
If products with tags are available, they will be imported automatically.
Manage Product Tags:
Project-wide default product tags can be managed. These are automatically set for all matching products.

DCC Steps

Additional DCC steps are available, click the link below for more details:

Tag System#

The Tag System enables Prism to identify which products each department will import during the scene building process.

Default Tags:

Default tags can be managed in the Scene Building settings:

Prism Settings > Project > Scene Building > Manage Product Tags...

These tags are then applied automatically for all matching products.

Available Tags:

Department Tags (e.g., "to_surf", "to_lgt", "to_anm") are intended for general use.
As an example, if a Modeling export should be included into the scene building of the Surfacing department, the "to_surf" tag need to be set on the Modeling product.
If additional departments are created via Prism Settings > Project > Departments, such as "Research (rnd)" the corresponding tag would be "to_rnd".

Task Tags (e.g., "to_modeling", "to_rigging", "to_lighting") are intended for more specific use cases.
For example, if a department has multiple tasks and the exported product should only be available for import in a specific task.
This can be useful, for example, when building scenes in Substance Painter if a specific export is to be used for texturing. For further reading see Substance Painter.
If additional tasks are created such as "Texturing" the corresponding tag would be "to_texturing".

Special Tags (e.g., "static", "animated", "usd") are meant to be used for advanced workflows.
The "usd" tag ensures that the product is a valid USD product.
The "static" and "animated" tags are used to automate the Alembic-Workflow. It can be used to automatically import a "static" tagged product and apply the animation from an "animated" tagged product.
For further reading see Maya Referencing Workflow (Alembic).

Add Tags:

Besides the default tags, tags can be added or changed in the Project Browser:

Project Browser > Products tab > Products > Right-click any Product > Edit Tags...

Available tags can be added via the dropdown menu (1) or entered directly into the field (2):

In addition, default tags can always be overridden in the respective DCC export settings:

Export > General > Productname > change