Planner Addon

Last updated 13 days ago

The Planner Addon provides a comprehensive environment for production management, ranging from high-level estimates to granular task assignment. By separating production into Phases and Schedules, AYON allows studios to increase production volume while maintaining total oversight and organizational clarity.

AYON Planner Addon interface showing the Phase Planner dashboard with a multi-track Gantt-style timeline. The view displays four distinct tracks: Freelance booking, Birthdays, Time off, and AY_CG_demo. The AY_CG_demo track is expanded to show hierarchical sub-tracks for preproduction, spot A, and spot B. Color-coded timeline events represent various production phases including Rigging, Layout, Lighting tests, Animation, FX, and Compositing, spanning across Q4 2024 and Q1 2025. A vertical blue playhead indicates the current date in February 2025. Top-level UI controls include "Group by Track," "Color by Track," and a zoom dropdown set to "year." — The AYON Planner Phase Planner provides a high-level overview of production timelines, team availability, and project milestones across multiple tracks.

Introduction: Planner vs. Scheduler

While they share a similar timeline interface, the Planner and Scheduler serve two distinct purposes in the production pipeline:

Phase Planner: Focused on high-level strategy, artist bookings, and production phases (e.g., Modeling, Rigging). It handles Planner Events, which are independent entities separate from specific production tasks. This allows for "soft" planning before specific assets or shots are even created.
Scheduler: Focused on the execution of specific tasks (e.g., Modeling task for shot_010). It links directly to the production hierarchy, setting hard dates and assignees that are reflected across the studio.

AYON Planner Addon interface showing the Scheduler dashboard with a detailed task-based timeline. The left pane contains a table listing production tasks such as modeling, rigging, shading, and concept across various library folders (/lib/char/dog, /lib/char/chicken, /lib/char/cat). The table includes columns for Task Status, Task Type, and Assignees. The right pane displays a Gantt-style timeline for Q1 2026 (February to April), with color-coded task schedules linked to specific artists. A vertical blue playhead indicates the current date in February. — The AYON Scheduler provides granular task management, linking production hierarchies directly to hard dates and assigned personnel on a live timeline.

Quick Start: Your First Plan and Schedule

To get started quickly, follow this high-level workflow:

Create a Track: In the Phase Planner, create a new track (e.g., "Characters").
Define a Phase: Hold Ctrl/Cmd and drag on the timeline to create a phase event like "Modeling Phase".
Switch to Scheduler: Navigate to the Scheduler tab. You will see your production folders and tasks.
Overlay the Plan: Right-click and select Show Planner to see your high-level phase ghosted over the task list.
Create Schedules: Right-click your "Modeling Phase" and select Create Schedule > Task Type to automatically generate schedules for all Modeling tasks that align with your plan.

Detailed Phase Planner

The Phase Planner allows you to map out timelines without needing exact task details.

Planner Events: These can be categorized as Phase, Time Off, or Milestone.
Studio vs. Project Planning: View studio-wide events (like vacations) at Home > Planner or project-specific details within the project’s own Planner tab.
Required Data: Every event requires an Event Type, Title, and a minimum duration of 1 day.

AYON Planner Addon event editing modal for a Phase Planner event. The modal displays configuration fields for an event titled "Lighting," categorized as a "Phase" type. The interface includes a date range from 27/12/2024 to 28/01/2025 (33 days total), an assigned "People" section with three user avatars, and a "Task Type" dropdown set to "Lighting". A "Tags" section shows several color circles with a "priority" tag active. Footer actions provide "Delete," "Cancel," and "Save" buttons. — The Phase Planner event modal allows managers to define high-level production stages, dates, and team assignments independently of specific pipeline tasks.

Planner Tracks

Tracks organize events into structured "lanes," similar to tracks in video editing software.

Flexibility: Tracks can represent episodes, departments, or individual artist bookings.
Management: You can Rename, Change Color, or Duplicate & Move tracks to standardize recurring structures.
Pinning: Important tracks (like artist bookings) can be Pinned to the top of the UI so they remain visible while scrolling through other data.
Random Color Shortcut: To quickly differentiate tracks, you can hold Ctrl/Cmd and click the track color icon to assign a "smart" random color.

AYON Phase Planner interface demonstrating track management and organization. The left sidebar shows two parent tracks, "Character" and "Environment," with an active context menu open for "Character". The menu includes technical actions: Add track, Details, Export, Pin, Duplicate, Rename, Random Color, Move Up, Move Down, and Delete. — Planner tracks provide a flexible, multi-lane system for organizing production events.

Scheduler Interface

The Scheduler integrates the timeline with AYON's production data.

Slicer and Table: The left side features the standard Slicer and spreadsheet-like Table used in the Project Overview Page.
Hierarchy vs. Flat View: You can view tasks within their folder hierarchy or toggle Show Hierarchy off to see a flat list of all tasks.
Folder Aggregation: While folders cannot be scheduled directly, the timeline displays an Aggregation Bar showing the total span of all tasks within that folder. Resizing this bar will proportionally resize all child task schedules.

AYON Scheduler interface demonstrating folder aggregation bars on a Q1 2026 timeline. The left side displays a hierarchical folder structure for "char" containing assets "cat," "chicken," and "dog," each with associated modeling, rigging, and shading tasks. On the timeline, grey horizontal aggregation bars for the "char," "cat," and "dog" folders span the total duration of their underlying child tasks. A hand cursor is positioned over the "dog" aggregation bar, illustrating the interactive resizing capability. Colored task blocks (blue, teal, purple) representing specific assignments like "dog - modeling" and "cat - shading" are nested below their respective aggregation bars. — Folder aggregation bars in the Scheduler provide a high-level summary of task spans, allowing managers to proportionally resize all child schedules by dragging the parent folder's bar.

Scheduler-Planner Overlay and Ghosting

This feature allows your high-level plan to inform your detailed scheduling.

Show Planner: Toggling this displays the current scenario's plan at the top of the Scheduler.
Ghosting: When a plan event is selected, it appears "ghosted" over the Scheduler tracks.
- By Task Type: The plan only ghosts over tasks with a matching type (e.g., a "Modeling" plan ghosts over all modeling tasks).
- By People: The plan ghosts over tasks where the assignees match the people in the plan event.
- Ghosted can be disabled in the page customize settings.

AYON Planner Addon interface demonstrating the Scheduler-Planner Overlay and Ghosting feature. The UI is split into two main horizontal timeline sections: the Phase Planner on top and the Scheduler below. A plan event titled "Rigging: Character Technic..." is selected in the top planner, and a hand cursor is shown dragging/interacting with it. In the bottom Scheduler section, matching "rigging" tasks for "dog," "chicken," and "cat" are highlighted with a "ghosted" visual effect, reflecting the plan event's duration across Q1 2026 (February to April). The left side contains the task table with columns for Status, Type, and Assignees, while a blue vertical playhead indicates the current date in February 2026. — The Scheduler-Planner Overlay allows managers to visualize high-level phase plans "ghosted" over granular production tasks, ensuring detailed schedules align with studio-wide strategy.

Create Schedule Tool: Automatically creates task schedules based on a plan event. You can choose to apply the plan's dates to All tasks, specific Task Types, or specific People.

AYON Planner interface demonstrating the transition from planning to execution via the Create Schedule Tool. The UI displays a high-level "Modeling" phase event selected in the top Planner track. A right-click context menu is active, with the "Create Schedule" option highlighted, showing sub-options to generate schedules based on "Task Type" or "People." In the lower Scheduler section, the timeline shows granular task blocks (e.g., modeling, rigging) for specific assets like "dog" and "cat," illustrating how the tool automatically maps the broad dates from the Phase Planner onto individual production tasks within the project hierarchy. — The Create Schedule Tool bridges the gap between strategy and execution, allowing managers to instantly convert high-level phase dates into actionable task schedules for the production team.

Scenarios

Scenarios act as independent "sheets" for testing different timelines without affecting production.

Live Scenario: You always have one Live scenario. Changes made here automatically update the start date and end date attributes of the actual production tasks.
Staging Scenarios: Non-live scenarios allow managers to explore "what-if" situations. When a plan is finalized, right-click the scenario and select Set as Live to push the dates to the artists' workboards.

AYON Planner Addon interface showing scenario management controls. At the bottom of the UI, a tab bar displays multiple scenarios including "Current" (marked with a green "Live" badge), "Delayed", and "More budget". A context menu is open for the "Current" scenario, revealing administrative actions: Delete, Details, Sync, Rename, Duplicate, and Make Live. The background shows the dark-themed timeline grid common to the Phase Planner and Scheduler. — Scenarios in the Planner Addon allow managers to create and compare multiple "what-if" production timelines, with a dedicated context menu for managing and activating live plans.

Navigation and Controls

Off-screen Indicators: Small arrows on the left or right of the timeline signal that events exist outside the current view. Click the arrow or press G to jump to those events.
Interactive Zooming:
- Dropdown menu for Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year.
- Click any interval header (e.g., a specific month) to zoom into it.
- Hold Option/Alt and click a header to zoom out one level.

AYON Planner zooming interface details. The top toolbar contains a zoom level dropdown menu currently set to "Year," with options for Day, Week, Month, Quarter, and Year. Interactive interval headers across the top of the timeline (e.g., "2025", "Q4 Oct", "Feb 2026") are highlighted as clickable elements for drill-down navigation. he UI provides visual feedback for temporal granularity, shifting from broad quarterly blocks to specific monthly and daily columns based on the selected zoom scale. — Interactive zooming mechanics allow for seamless transitions between high-level yearly roadmaps and granular daily schedules through header clicks and dropdown presets.

Fit to View: Hover over a track or event and press F to automatically adjust the zoom to fit that specific item.

AYON Planner interface demonstrating the "Fit to View" navigation feature. The UI shows a dark-themed timeline with tracks for Character, Environment, FX, and Props. A cursor hovers over a teal event block titled "Lookdev: Prop Material Finals" within the Props track, while the keyboard shortcut "F" is being used. The timeline automatically adjusts its zoom level and horizontal scroll position to center and scale the specific event block within the viewport. Interactive zooming controls and the current zoom level, set to "Month," are visible in the top toolbar. — The "Fit to View" feature allows users to instantly center and zoom the timeline onto a specific event or track by hovering and pressing the "F" shortcut.

Event Creation and Editing

Creation: Hold Ctrl/Cmd and drag to create a new event, or press S to enter creation mode.

AYON Planner interface demonstrating event creation methods. A cursor is shown right-clicking on an empty area of the "Character" track, triggering a context menu with the option "Create Event." Simultaneously, the "S" key shortcut is highlighted as a toggle to enter "Creation Mode," where the cursor changes to a crosshair, allowing the user to click and drag to define the start and end dates of a new phase block. — New events can be created quickly by right-clicking the timeline for a context menu or by pressing the "S" shortcut to enter a dedicated creation mode.

Selection: Left-click and drag now creates a Selection Box for selecting multiple events.

Multi-selection Move: Select multiple events and drag them together to shift a whole sequence of work.

YON Planner interface demonstrating multi-event selection and movement. A cursor is shown performing a left-click and drag action to create a rectangular selection box across the timeline, highlighting multiple color-coded phase events across different tracks. Once selected, the user drags the group of events together, illustrating a synchronous shift of the production sequence. — Multi-selection and move controls allow managers to quickly shift entire sequences of work by dragging a selection box around multiple events and moving them as a single block.

Snapping: When moving or resizing, a wider "faded handle" appears. Dragging near another event's edge will trigger a snap. This can be disabled in settings.

AYON Planner snapping interface detail. The screenshot demonstrates the "faded handle" mechanic where a selected event block being moved or resized displays a widened, semi-transparent highlight at its leading and trailing edges. As these handles approach the start or end boundary of an adjacent event on the same or a different track, the block automatically aligns to the neighboring edge. The visual focus is on the proximity-based magnetism between two color-coded blocks, illustrating precise temporal alignment without manual coordinate entry. — The snapping system uses magnetic "faded handles" to ensure phase events and tasks align perfectly with existing timeline boundaries.

Copy, Paste, and Duplicate:
- Standard Ctrl/Cmd + C/V shortcuts work.
- Pasting uses the mouse position as the anchor point.
- Duplication: Right-click to duplicate Down (same dates), Right (after), or Left (before).
- Pro-Tip: Advanced Duplication Use the Shift + Option + Arrow Keys shortcut to "stamp" duplicates of an event.
  - Down: Creates a copy on a new row with the same dates.
  - Right: Creates a copy that starts exactly where the previous one ends (perfect for back-to-back tasks).

AYON Planner interface highlighting clipboard and duplication mechanics. A right-click context menu is active over a phase event, showing the "Copy" and "Paste" commands for standard clipboard operations. The focus then shifts to "Advanced Duplication" using keyboard shortcuts: Shift + Option/Alt + Arrow Keys are used to "stamp" identical event blocks. Duplicating "Right" creates a perfectly contiguous sequence, while duplicating "Down" creates a copy on a new row at the same temporal position. The visual demonstrates how pasted events use the mouse cursor position as the anchor point for precise placement on the timeline. — The Planner supports both standard copy-paste workflows and advanced duplication shortcuts to quickly build out repetitive production schedules and sequences.

Spreadsheet Integration: Copied events use a standard spreadsheet format. This allows you to paste AYON events directly into Excel or Google Sheets for external reporting, or conversely, paste compatible data from a spreadsheet back into the timeline.

Undo & Redo

The planner and scheduler both support up to 50 local undo and redo actions. These work across changes to events, tracks and scenarios.

Use the buttons in the toolbar or the standard ctrl+z and shift+ctrl+z shortcuts.

Timeline Settings

Color By: Quickly change event coloring via right-click. Options include Task Type, People, Status, and Priority.
Event Sorting:
- Auto Sorting: Stacks events efficiently to save space.
- One Row Per Event: Traditional Gantt style where every event has its own lane, sorted by Start Date, Duration, or Label.
Granularity: By default, events snap to days. Zoom in to a Day view to enable Hourly granularity for precise scheduling.

AYON Planner interface detail focusing on the "Settings" side panel for timeline customization. The panel includes dropdown menus for "Group by" and "Color by" (both set to Track), "Event sorting" (set to Start Date), and "Pinned tracks" (with Character pinned). A "Snap to events" toggle is enabled. The background timeline displays color-coded phase events such as "Modeling," "Rigging," and "Lookdev." The visual demonstrates the chronological "One Row Per Event" layout, where each event occupies a unique horizontal lane within its track, ordered by its specific start date to create a clear, stepped Gantt-style sequence. — The Timeline Settings allow managers to customize the visual organization of the planner, including chronological sorting and track pinning for improved navigational clarity.

Views Support

Both Planner and Scheduler fully support the Views system. You can save your specific filters, groupings, sorting, pinning, and zoom levels as a reusable View to share with the team.

AYON Planner interface demonstrating the integration with the Views system. A dropdown menu is open from the toolbar, displaying the current "Working view" alongside a list of "My views" (e.g., Shot Prods) and "Shared views" (e.g., Frozen Characters). A "+ Create new view" option is visible at the bottom of the list. — The Views system in the Planner Addon allows users to save and share custom timeline configurations, including specific filters, groupings, and zoom levels.

Subtasks

Management: Use the floating button on the left of a task to view and manage its subtasks.
Task Wrapping: By default, the parent task "wraps" around its subtasks, automatically expanding its duration to cover the earliest start and latest end dates of its children.
Splitting: Right-click a task schedule and select Split into Subtasks to divide a single block of work into smaller, manageable items at your mouse position.
Live Sync: Like tasks, subtask changes in the Live Scenario update the production task data instantly.

AYON Planner interface demonstrating subtask management within the Scheduler. A subtask list modal is open for a parent task, showing three subtasks—Head, Body, and Feathers—with specific date ranges and assigned user initials (MT, ER, FO). On the timeline, the parent task block "dog - modeling" is shown wrapping around these three subtasks, which are displayed as distinct colored segments within the same lane. A floating management button on the left of the task entry in the table allows users to toggle this subtask view and add new items via an "Add subtask" button. — The subtask system allows for granular scheduling within a single task, featuring automatic parent wrapping and live synchronization with production data.

Export & Import

You can export events from the planner to be used in different softwares.

Export to CSV file (spreadsheet)
Export to ICS file (calendar)
Copy and paste to spreadsheets directly
Select specific tracks and scenarios to export

AYON Planner Addon interface demonstrating event exporting functionality. A red arrow and bounding box highlight the 'Export events' action within a context menu triggered from a project track. — Exporting production phases from the AYON Planner.

AYON Planner Addon 'Export Events' modal dialog showing options for file formats, including 'Spreadsheet (CSV format)' and 'Calendar (ICS format)'. UI elements allow users to select 'Included tracks' (Pre prod, Production) and 'Included scenarios' (Budgeted). Bottom controls include 'Copy to clipboard', 'Data preview', and a primary 'Export 10 events' action button. — Configurable event export options in the AYON Planner

Data importing is planned for the roadmap, pending feedback from the data exporting update.