Hi I have been working with a developer on a pipeline to use with blender, I am really lost on how to get users. I am not the developer so no one wants to hear from me, I have described the pain points and still not a single response to my e-mails. If anyone would be kind enough to point me in the right direction I would be very thankful.
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Hello and welcome here,
I’m not sure what you’re trying to do, what kind of users you want to reach out to ?
What kind of pipeline are you developing ? What kind of product/industry it’s supposed to work with ? Are you in a company / studio or you’re building a generic pipeline for people to use ?
Some of these answers will help 
Have fun !
Hi and thanks for the welcome, the apps is cigyl.com, we are trying to get users to use the app and then sign up for a monthly seat. That is when it will bi-directional. the app is for Indie Film Makers , fx -studios and blender artists. We are not yet a company, my marketing is mostly S.E.O. services, the developer has been working in the game industry for 16yr . He is also working out of Germany and I am here in L.A. Those who have logged on to cigyl say its amazing, they are able to go from prev to blender in minutes. My next course of action will be at Siggraph. I really hope I can get some e-mails and network .-Thanks
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I’ve looked at your site. Here are some initial thoughts.
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Your site gives no information on your background, your company background, or anything else that tells me what experience you have in creating 3D/CG pipelines for individuals or studios… or even who you are, really.
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The single blog entry is filled with jargon, like it’s trying to impress me with lots of keywords. Heavy sales pitch TLDR is “AI does stuff.” While you mention elsewhere that AI is an optional feature, there’s no blog that tells me why I’d want to use this product other than if I think “posing 3D models is hard”, and I want to work on cross-platform.
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You mention here, that you want people to sign up for a monthly seat. Nowhere did I see a price listed ($0 during beta, doesnt count); only that some things are paid, and some are not.
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Your Roadmap has a ton of “this isn’t here yet”. So what does one get, for the mystery price?
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It looks like I need to use my browser for this, but you also say “Where is my data stored?Locally in your browser. Your projects are never uploaded to our servers.” Then how exactly is your server doing something with my file data in the first place?
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Complete lack of screenshots, case studies, examples that make one think “This looks like something I really need in my life.”
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Thank you , you have given me honest feedback. I appreciate you very much and I will address this.
Hello, is this a AI powered 3D pipeline?
Yes and no, Yes you can generate Images with Nano Banana and others and yes you can generate Texts with AI or reconstruct scenes as proxy geometry with ai, or automacially let ai place your cameras based on storyboard sheets, or generate 3D assets with ai too, but you don´t have to and it is BYOK, so you can buy Prepaid API tokens at different vendors and use them whenever you want, without subscription. Everything i just said can also be done manually, no need to use ai if you want to make the images or build the scenes by yourself. I currently putting together a video which explains everything you can do with CiGYL.I would suggest waiting for the video, which also is when the next update comes, where everything i just mentioned will work.
Hey! Thanks so much for taking the time to write out this detailed feedback. Honestly, this is exactly what I need right now. As a solo developer building CiGYL, it’s easy to get tunnel vision on code and features, and your notes perfectly highlight where my landing page is failing to build trust. Here are the quick answers and how I plan to fix the site based on your input:
- Background & Trust: That is totally fair. There’s a lone LinkedIn link at the bottom, but I realize now that people shouldn’t have to look for it. CiGYL is being built entirely by me, a 3D technical artist and developer, who got tired of the constant interface friction between Softwares like Blender, Unreal Engine and Davinci. With all that AI Image Generators and 3D mesh generators, rigging tools out there and constant file up and downloads, data chaos and very bad collaborative working experiences without a real specialist that knows what he´s doing, these kind of work startet to annoy me as 60% of the work wasn´t creativity.
- The Blog & Jargon: Yeah, the single blog post was written a few weeks back when CiGYL was just a minor side-project hosting two isolated tools (Pose-X and Stage-X). Since then, it has completely shifted into a workflow-driven ecosystem with an integrated Timeline, SceneGen for 3D Scene Creation and manipulation and MeshGen for Character and Location Props Generation. I need to write a clear, practical guide outlining the actual use-case for a modern pipeline, i know, will do that when the next features are ready for shipping.
- Pricing Confusion & Roadmap: This is a massive oversight on my end. My plan is to keep CiGYL 100% free forever for anyone who joins and signs up during the Open Beta phase (and no hidden credit card trap). Because I haven’t finalized what future corporate or studio tiers will look like, the messaging got muddy. I am going to update the website to make the ‘Free Beta Access’ promise completely unambiguous.
- How Local Storage works with AI (The Technical Part): I appreciate this question because data sovereignty is a core philosophy of CiGYL. When the site says your data is never uploaded to our servers, it means I do not run an external database server that collects, parses, or stores your project files. CiGYL operates entirely as a client-side application. The server simply delivers the frontend web app to your browser. Once loaded, your data is saved locally in your browser’s client storage (IndexedDB) or exported as a local JSON. When you choose to use an optional AI module, the application triggers a direct, encrypted API call to the processing engine (using a Bring-Your-Own-Key model for privacy). The data is handled in-flight for that specific calculation but is never retained or stored on any server logs.
4.Lack of Visuals/Case Studies: I’m currently putting together a comprehensive YouTube walkthrough tutorial and high-quality UI screenshots to show exactly how a storyboard turns into a bidirectional 3D scene handshake in real time, rather than just asking people to take my word for it.
Thanks again for the reality check. It’s incredibly valuable for shaping the launch site!
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Ok that sounds interesting !
For now I think it lack something like a quick video that explains the workflow applied to the closest to reality example. That will allow to see the big picture of the tool, and also what kind of project / team size this is targeted.
Without that, even if it’s currently free, and tools seems interesting, it’s hard to tell why I should invest in that. Given at some point I’ll have to pay and my project will depend on that.
Furthermore I’ve worked for different studios, from small ~5/10 artists, to ~20/50 artists, to ~100/200 artists and this differs a lot from the general pipeline needs, at least how it sells.
The closest would be very small team, but here again it’s not super clear how useful it can be.
Yes there are fancy tools like image generation, or poses stuff, and why not, but what about the core of the tool ?
How can I manage tasks per assets / shots ? How does it look like from blender ? Can I work remotely by sharing files on arbitrary drives and os with something like syncthing ?
Because this is probably how your target audience will look like : small team, small projects, don’t have necessarily an office.
This is the basis that should work pretty well, before even thinking about auto-rig, religthing or mesh generation.
If you fail to understand the actual needs of your potential clients and communicate that you actually address that , then this doesn’t feel rooted in the professional world and therefore show little to none interest…
See if you prefer to work on side tools : mesh generation, autorig could be useful. Or something that helps a small team to do collaborative work on a project. Then focus mainly on that and it’s already a lot.
Once that part works , look into the other one ! At least that what would feel reasonable to me…
Anyway, maybe all that is already working well, but to really convince me I would need a showcase video that is grounded in reality and shows a big picture…
Hope that doesn’t feel harsh, yes you made interesting tools, but if you complain about the lack of interest it’s also because you don’t have the right / professional communication and vision around your tool IMO !
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This is amazing feedback, please do not feel you are being harsh , you have helped me immensely!
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Hey, You hit the nail on the head. Tbh, you are 100% correct, and your feedback helps a lot. I already realized that I went public too early. I got overly excited and hyped about the foundational engines I built (like Stage-X and Pose-X), so I pushed them online. While they are already working and can be real timesavers for single scenes and pose extraction from images in seconds, the truth is, the overall workflow was too clunky and finicky. That’s why I’m currently rebuilding the whole framework to fit way better into bigger pipelines for movies and games.Right now, I am in the middle of a massive architectural overhaul. I am building SceneGen and MeshGen to fix exactly what you pointed out: making the asset/shot management and the bi-directional data bridge to Blender & Unreal a streamlined, production-grounded core loop. Because of this heavy reconstruction, I can’t even record a clean showcase video yet—the pipeline under the hood is changing too rapidly this month.So, my actual advice is: Don’t invest your time in it just yet. Wait until the next major update drops. Once the core pipeline loop stands on solid feet and the Blender connection is fully streamlined without the current friction, I will record the exact “grounded in reality” workflow showcase video you mentioned. I’d love to loop you back in at that point to see if it actually meets your studio standards. If you are still interested to see what’s in it right now, you can go to my CiGYL YouTube channel and watch the guideline video, but it’s an older state, without SceneGen and MeshGen at all. I recorded that video without a script, which is noticeable, and my English is a bit rough since I spoke freely, so yeah, too early again. Also, feel free to join my Discord, which is where i post updates at first.But what I can promise is that the final vision of CiGYL will speed up and simplify many of the current workflows and handle pipeline data incredibly well.Thank you again for this reality check. It prevents me from burying a good pipeline idea under bad, buzzword-heavy marketingAnd, i almost forgot to answer your Team capability question. As you can save your CiGYL projects wherever you like on your local machine, you can choose to save it in your GDrive for example. The folder you choose is also the folder where everything will be exported to, so you can share that folder and collaborate with others already. It´s not a live bridge yet, cause that would involve firestore, which is planned but not yet implemented, but still, collaboration is already working via drive or dropbox or your own cloud.And yes, CiGYL isn´t a finished product yet, but it´s useful already for many things. And regarding your fear about the pricing model, CiGYL will stay free for everyone who joins the beta program and will stay free forever for those who do (besides cloud features because they somehow need to be financed, but pricing will be very fair for the core features i can promise and cloud features will be optional). And, as i´m a solo dev, i think the beta will stay for a while, so there´s plenty of time getting people to register and grab free lifetime access. I know i need to communicate that on the website, the pricing model isn´t clear enough and is also still not nailed exactly. The reason for that is the very fast moving industry and i want to decide that later down the road together with the community.What i can think of by now is, that cloud features need be behind a paywall, cause that´s costs on my end, but everything else, at least the core features, stay free. A subscription model can also happen, but optional, the BYOK architecture will stay for those who want it, subscription for those who want convenience. To be clear, CiGYL is not a modeling tool, but you can generate, im-/export and manage your 3D Assets and build Scenes very quick, without sacrificing control over the process like many other agent based tools do. It’s designed to be easy, storyboard first, because that is what makes a project structured, building the story first or in parallel with a convenient pipeline behind it, to streamline your work into your DCCs or Engines. Whether you use it for storyboarding or just managing your assets with it is totally up to you, CiGYL is made to help staying organized and in focus and build things fast while staying creative, and not burning braincells for tedious export workflows and naming conventions, CiGYLdoes the heavy lifting for you. Best, André
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Please use paragraph breaks
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So sorry, I will 
Hey everyone, André here – the solo developer behind CiGYL.
I just created this account because Gabriel told me you guys are grilling him ;). I’ve been buried deep in code for the upcoming update and out of sheer anxiety that nobody would ever see the tool, I asked him to help me spread the word. In hindsight, sending a “marketing guy” into BlenderArtists was a bad move.
Sending him an answer via Discord to a question from technicians seams not to work well i think …
To clear some things up:
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I´m a Solo Dev: I am the only one writing code and building the architecture. Gabriel is just a friend helping me with US outreach because I suck at marketing and, to be honest, I absolutely hate navigating forums – I much prefer staring at my IDE all day or bang my head against bugs in Unreal Engine or other DCCs :D.
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Data & Privacy: Even though the UI runs in the browser, your production data is stored locally via your browser’s IndexedDB. The bi-directional sync to Blender works via a lightweight, local Python add-on handshake. No cloud pipelines stealing your blend files. You decide where your projects live (local drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).
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Pricing: The Open Beta is completely free. Anyone who joins now locks in lifetime free access to the core tool. Future cloud-sync features will be completely optional and transparently priced.
I built this because I was sick of manual, tedious rebuilds between flat images and the viewport, and the absolute data chaos when collaborating with people who can’t name files properly. I know you can automate that with Python, but not everyone has the time for that. Plus, let’s be real—some tools out there are just a total pain to install unless you have a Master of Science degree.
So, I’ve crawled out of my coding cave and am blinking at the moonlight (It´s already late here in germany).
I’m here now. Ask me anything, i really need your feedback to make CiGYL even better, tell me what features you actually need to survive your daily pipeline chaos.
Quick heads-up: A massive update is dropping very soon which will completely streamline the workflow. You’re more than welcome to lock in your free beta account today, but the real magic will happen once the July update goes live!
Hello !
I don’t think it’s a good idea unless you already have professional experience in those kind of studios. And there are some reasons for that. First when a studio reach a particular size like already 10 people, you start to need IT and basic pipeline, so a ~10/20 people studio is already going to need a developer which is going to build a dedicated pipeline.
And it’s already possible to build the basic with Kitsu https://www.cg-wire.com/kitsu
This is what your pipe is currently lacking. So it should be possible to integrate kitsu or flow / shotgrid to be relevant.
Or you try to build your own tracker but it’s a lot of work and it needs professional expertise. Because it’s the link between artists ( = make the end product) and production ( = keep track of budget, schedule, client). If you have the opportunity to look into kitsu / cg wire you’ll see all the work put there and it’s hard to compete with that…
Then for a small studio the simplest alternative is to look into in order to link kitsu and your DCCs could be that : https://github.com/ynput , even though if that would be me I’ll probably build my own solution to avoid messing with the complexity of that “universal” solution.
Then the last element for an animation/vfx studio would be a renderfarm and for that a lot of solution is already available.
Then once these 3 elements are working there is a lot of small tools that helps tie everything together. And way down that list, there are the tools you’re looking into…
In short : tracker/kitsu allow to keep track of tasks and status of the project.
Yinput : avoid navigating the project files, managing paths , assets…
Farm : manage renders
Anyway, I think you should focus on small team that have different needs, but again it’s a matter of priority and what main problems you need to solve first.
For a small team ~5 , there is less pressure on keeping track of things even if it’s needed.
Everything about managing files, path assets is useful but can be simple.
Renderfarm is important for anim/vfx but can be simple too.
But a simple collaborative workflow is needed, as they don’t have IT or TD pipe. And probably they work remote with basic solution for that…
Then we can start talking about automating stuff with AI… Anyway I won’t repeat what I said earlier : if it’s a pipeline then the core structure needs to be pretty solid and for that you need industry experience or studios feedback.
If it’s a set of tool to automate small tasks, it’s not a pipeline but it’s useful nonetheless, but I would make a clear distinction between both things. As it’s confusing when we expect a pipeline at least in the classic definition of it !
Then, to be clear, I’m not interested in using your product as I’m more on the artistic side of things nowadays. If I was in need I would probably build the tools myself as it was the case when that was my job at a small studio ~20 people. I just give my feedback as a potential user to help you moving forward as you brought the subject to the table !
With all that said, there are interesting tool, some potential, but it really goes down to the big picture and how it’s solving the core issue a small team has. Then indeed additional tool is interesting to see, but this also asks how much they can apply in many different scenarios :
These projects are interesting to watch because they are all made by small team being a good target for your product.
What would they need best ? tool to organize tasks, files , dcc, renders ?
How stuff like automated storyboard generation, auto-pose, auto mesh gen, auto scene setup would be effective in those cases ?
What these people would need the most ?
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Thanks man! André here, I’m the dev behind CiGYL.
To be honest, I never integrated tools like Kitsu, ShotGrid, or Ayon into my own daily projects since I’ve mostly focused on tiny-team workflows (5 to 10 people). I’ve definitely heard of them, but never used them firsthand.
Trying to build a heavy corporate project tracker as a solo dev would be a total nightmare, and that’s definitely not what I’m building here. I am absolutely not trying to compete with them. My goal with CiGYL is to build a lightweight creative accelerator for the small ~5-person indie teams you mentioned—the ones working remote with zero IT budget or Technical Directors.
But it’s also built for newcomers or professionals who watch tools like Higgsfield generate pure video from a text prompt and feel like their careers are hitting the floor. As fully automated AI agents try to take over the process, CiGYL deliberately goes the other way. Yes, it helps you generate and asset-manage your ideas, but it keeps the artist in the driver’s seat with actual 3D metric control, entirely skipping the import/export nightmares you get when trying to squeeze flat AI video generations into a real production pipeline.
Instead of replacing that existing ecosystem, I want CiGYL to play nice with it:
Since CiGYL is “Storyboard First,” it lives at the very beginning of the creative chain. Everything is stored as clean local JSON schemas under the hood, so implementing an API export to push assets and shots directly into Kitsu or ShotGrid down the road is actually the logical next step.
Even if a larger studio uses Kitsu for production tracking, individual artists still spend hours matching 2D layouts and setting up initial cameras in Blender. That’s the specific workflow friction I’m automating with the local Python add-on.
I really appreciate your time giving all this very useful feedback, it helps a lot! Your breakdown makes perfect sense, and I will definitely dig deep into their APIs to find a clean way of exchanging data with them in the future. Once I’m done rewriting the SceneGen and MeshGen architecture this month, mapping out a bridge to these standard trackers is high on my list.
I’d love to loop you back in once the major update is live to see if the streamlined workflow makes sense to you!
Best,
André
Hi André !
Great ! all that make sense even though a big picture showcase video would help eventually !
My point with Kitsu, shotgrid, is that if you target more established studios it will become mandatory, but for small team it’s very unlikely. However, having some simple equivalent to manage files and tasks sound useful. But since it’s a small team it can be very simpler and with a narrower scope than kitsu.
Anyway, glad to have a look and give feedback later once you’re ready !
Have fun !
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Hello everyone. I hope you’re all doing great!
I just uploaded a 10-minute overview video of the app to help explain the workflow better.
Along with the video, the landing page and pricing model have received a major update, so it should be much clearer what CiGYL is capable of right now. At its core, CiGYL is a browser-based Preproduction Studio for Film & Games.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about what CiGYL actually is under the hood.
At its core, CiGYL is a browser-based Preproduction Studio for Film & Games.
But, since it functions very much like a content creation suite, but tailored entirely from a filmmaker’s perspective, I’m calling it a “Director’s DCC.”
I know that term doesn’t have an official definition yet, but as with any new workflow concept, I’m confident it will establish itself over time.
As a quick heads-up on the technical front: A massive architectural update is dropping next week. It will significantly push the browser-native Scene Generation capabilities and will officially launch a fully working, streamlined one-way Unreal Engine bridge.
I will also implement more API-Providers and update the ai-models within CIGYL, but that´s on a different paper, more on that later.
Check out the updated site if you have a minute, and let me know your thoughts!
Best,
André
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hello !
Ok so this indeed helps to explain the big picture of your idea, I think the word pipeline is misleading here even though it’s indeed some kind of an assembly chain…
In many aspects it seems interesting to help fleshing out an idea, even though it’s unclear how useful that would be in practice !
It indeed sounds useful but in practice it might become too big of a tool to make a lot of iteration.
Did you see these early storyboards from the spiderverse ?
It’s pretty interesting to see the differences bettween V1 and V2 !
In some ways it looks like a good fit for your tool, in another, with drawing they can iterate really fast and try a lot of different things without being limited by AI… How much your tool become relevant then ?
Also, is this still works if you take drawings from this boards to create a more elaborated version of them ? Could be a fun challenge to use that as input and see how far you can go with it …
Anyway, it’s an interesting tool, to me you came up with a solution, but now it’s more about finding what problem it’s actually solving
Keep up the good work !
Thanks again for your absolutely helpful feedback! It really helps me position CiGYL correctly and find the USP.
FYI: I wrote the following text by hand before i gave it to gemini to shorten it, so, the words are mine, but the text was polished by AI, cause my english simply wasnt good enough to describe everything well, i wrote it in german and translatet with AI.
I hope that´s ok, i will try to write everything by myself in the future as my english get´s better.
If I had to boil it down to a single sentence:
CiGYL solves the massive workflow friction and ‘data hustle’ between the first rough idea (storyboarding) and the technical 3D environment setup (Blender/Unreal Engine).
CiGYL doesn’t just solve one issue; it cleans up a couple of really annoying pain points. Here are the core things:
1. The ‘Data Hustle’ and Tool Chaos (The biggest problem) The current workflow in pre-production is just terrible: you’re constantly uploading and downloading stuff, renaming files, trying to find the right folder, and generating endless AI images that clutter up everything. You need a different tool for every single step. I’m obviously aware that massive Hollywood studios have custom pipelines for this – but for smaller teams, indies, or solo artists, that is absolutely not the standard. CiGYL combines all of it into one single app: storytelling, image generation, 3D proxy scenes, character & mesh generation, pose extraction, rigging, and the bridge to Blender, Unreal, DaVinci, etc. No manually creating folders, sequences, or cameras – the app handles all of that for you.
2. The Barrier to 3D Entry & Extreme Speed When you want to get into the 3D world, Blender and Unreal often feel completely overwhelming. With CiGYL, you can easily step into that zone because it’s built to be fast, straightforward, and browser-based. You don’t need any modeling skills; you just generate your proxy scenes, 3D meshes, or characters right inside the app. The best part: you can quickly log a rough idea from anywhere and later load it straight into the engine. In the time it takes Unreal Engine just to boot up, you’ve already got a 3D proxy scene almost ready for export in CiGYL.
3. Storytelling Assistance It helps people who aren’t great at storytelling build a solid story. The app provides AI assistance for synopses, characters, locations, and storyboards, which you can manipulate super easily. So basically, if you just have a rough idea but don’t want to waste time writing it all out, you use CiGYL.
4. Prompt Management instead of Prompt Chaos Normally, you’re constantly fighting inconsistent AI images. In CiGYL, you choose your style and genre once, and all the images for your storyboard fit together perfectly. On top of that, you can edit or copy every single prompt right inside the app to use them in other AIs if you don’t have API keys.
In short: CiGYL is a roundhouse that keeps you focused on your creativity instead of holding you back with annoying uploads, downloads, or naming conventions.
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