This week, we’re getting to know Astrid Scholte, Shotgun Street Team member and APAC Program Manager.
How did you come to join the Shotgun team?
I joined the team in 2012. Previously, I worked as the lighting coordinator at Dr. D Studios for Happy Feet 2, and before that I worked at Weta Digital as the models coordinator.
At Dr. D Studios, we used Shotgun in production to track all the assets that needed to be built, and each shot as it went through the various stages of previs, layout, animation, FX, lighting and comp departments. I managed two teams of 12 artists and used Shotgun to track their assignments and ensure their tasks were delivered in line with the overall "Output" department schedule.
I loved using Shotgun in production and after Dr. D Studios, I looked at opportunities to work directly with the Shotgun team.
How has your background helped you on the Shotgun team?
Like myself, most of the Shotgun team have come from production, and this helps us understand the needs and demands of our clients. Using Shotgun as a coordinator gave me invaluable insight into the product, rather than just knowing which buttons to click. I personally know and understand the day-to-day requirements of a busy VFX and film studio.
What are you currently working on?
I've recently trained our new Street Teamer, Ben Xu, who is based in Shanghai, China. We're currently focusing our efforts on providing localized support for both Japan and China and it's been a fantastic experience to travel to the overseas Autodesk offices, meet our global team and interact face-to-face with our international clients.
What’s a typical day like for you?
I'm based in Australia, so it can feel like I'm always a step behind! I start my mornings checking the support inbox for any emergencies, then I jump into my email and catch up on the US day. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, I check in with most of the Street Team, which is always fun. They're a great bunch of folks and we all love helping our clients!
For the rest of the day, I continue working through the inbox and any outstanding requests from clients. Some days, I'll run remote demos to help new studios or arrange tuning sessions with existing clients. The main focus of my day is to help, help, help, and when I can untangle someone from a tricky situation, it's always a great feeling!
Things you wish people knew they could do in Shotgun?
This one is for the power users! A little-known feature is connection entities, which allows you to track instances of assets in shots. For example, if you have a sheep asset and you want to reference that asset 30 times within one shot, then you can do this via connection entities. We have a handy tutorial on connection entities here.
Can you share a personal Shotgun tip or trick?
Think Shotgun is a little too gray? Then color formatting is for you! You can create formatting rules so tasks that are overdue automatically change to a scary red, and tasks that are approved are a peaceful green. There's so much you can do with this feature! We have more information on color formatting here.
What is your favorite Shotgun feature?
Annotating directly on Versions is always fun and an incredibly useful tool. When I was working at a studio that didn't use Shotgun, we used to have to take a screengrab of the artist's image, import it into Photoshop to make the director's annotation, then send it back to the artist via email. In Shotgun, this is all streamlined through our review tools and the annotation is attached to the note so you can easily find it again. The artist can also reply directly on the note to let you know once they've completed the work. How cool is that?
What’s a creative way you’ve seen Shotgun used?
In my spare time, I'm a fantasy author and last year, I used Shotgun to track the submissions my agent sent out to publishers, including any feedback and the status of each submission. It made the whole process a lot less daunting! I also enjoyed creating my own icons, such as a big smiley face for the publisher whose offer I accepted!
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