Animation production Gantt chart template: lock the animatic, then animate
An editable Gantt chart for a short animated film: script and design, storyboard, an animatic lock before costly animation, sequences staggered by start-to-start lags, render time, a mix after picture lock and delivery.
What the animation production gantt chart template: lock the animatic, then animate process is
Animation is the one production where changing your mind late costs a lot more than changing it early. A line cut from a script costs an afternoon. The same cut after a sequence has been animated and rendered costs the animation, the render and the sound that was built on it. So the plan is built around a single gate: the animatic, a timed film of the storyboard with scratch voices, is locked before any animation starts, and every later task waits for it, directly or through the voices.
This template has five groups, Development and design, Storyboard and animatic, Animation and rendering, Voice and sound, and Finishing and delivery, with 22 tasks and 3 milestones: "Animatic locked", "Picture locked" and "Film delivered". "Approve the brief and treatment" (3 working days) is the only starting task. "Draw the storyboard" (8) waits for "Write the script" (8) and may begin 4 working days after "Design characters and key backgrounds" (10) starts, which is when the first designs exist to draw from. "Record scratch dialogue" (2) follows the script, "Cut the animatic" (4) needs both, and "Animatic locked" closes the pre-production half after 23 working days.
The gate then feeds two things. "Record final voices" (3) comes after the lock, and "Animate sequence 1" waits for those voices and for "Build rigs and assets" (8), because animators match mouths and timing to the final performances. The score, "Compose and record the score" (10), also starts at the lock, and in the template it ends well before the mix needs it. Rigs are built while the storyboard is drawn, which is safe: a character rig depends on the designs, not on how long a shot lasts. Sequence 2 starts 6 working days after sequence 1 starts and sequence 3 starts 6 days after that, so each 12-day sequence overlaps the next by half. Each render task (4) follows its own animation, so the render farm works on sequence 1 while the animators are still on sequence 3.
Rendering and compositing set the date. "Composite and colour-grade" (8) starts once the first render exists, finishes 4 working days after "Render sequence 2" and 2 days after "Render sequence 3", and so ends 2 days behind the last render. "Picture locked" follows, and only then "Mix dialogue, music and effects" (6), because a mix built before picture lock has to be redone for every changed frame. "Final review and fixes" (3) and "Deliver the master" (2) end the plan at 67 working days. The chain that sets that date runs through the script, the storyboard, the animatic, the final voices and the three staggered sequences, and every task on it is a place where a late change moves the finish. The durations are illustrative; replace them with your own animators' speeds, your render times and your sound team's availability.
A timeline schedules the work. It does not clear music or voice rights, secure a licence or make a delivery spec acceptable to the broadcaster or platform. If you add review rounds as tasks, see /guides/review-rounds-gantt-chart; for how overlapping work is drawn, see /guides/gantt-chart-overlapping-tasks. For live action, plan the shoot and edit with /templates/video-production-gantt-chart, and for a game, where art, audio and code run in parallel for much longer, use /templates/game-development-gantt-chart. For the general method across creative work, see /guides/creative-production-gantt-chart.
What this flowchart covers
In this template
- Five groups, Development and design, Storyboard and animatic, Animation and rendering, Voice and sound, and Finishing and delivery, with 22 tasks and 3 milestones: "Animatic locked", "Picture locked" and "Film delivered".
- A lock before the expensive work: "Record final voices" and "Compose and record the score" start at "Animatic locked", and "Animate sequence 1" waits for the voices and for "Build rigs and assets".
- Staggered sequences: "Animate sequence 2" starts 6 working days after "Animate sequence 1" starts and "Animate sequence 3" 6 days after that, with a 4-day render task behind each.
- Compositing that follows the renders: "Composite and colour-grade" starts after the first render and ends 2 working days after "Render sequence 3".
- A mix after the picture is fixed: "Mix dialogue, music and effects" waits for "Picture locked" and the score, then "Final review and fixes" and "Deliver the master" close the plan.
When to use this template
- You are planning a short film, series episode, explainer or title sequence in drawn, 3D or stop-motion animation and need one plan the director, animators, composer and sound team share.
- You want the animatic lock to be a visible gate, so a script change after it shows what it pushes back.
- You want to see how far apart sequences can start while the same animators and render capacity are shared, and which render sets the finish.
- You need to show a producer or commissioner when the picture will be locked, since the mix and delivery cannot move before it.
The plan, task by task
Every task in the chart with its length in working days and what it waits for. A dependency is a step number; SS is start-to-start, FF is finish-to-finish, and +n is a lag in working days.
| # | Task | Group | Working days | Depends on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approve the brief and treatment | Development and design | 3 | |
| 2 | Write the script | Development and design | 8 | 1 |
| 3 | Design characters and key backgrounds | Development and design | 10 | 1 |
| 4 | Draw the storyboard | Storyboard and animatic | 8 | 2, 3SS+4 |
| 5 | Record scratch dialogue | Storyboard and animatic | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Cut the animatic | Storyboard and animatic | 4 | 4, 5 |
| 7 | Animatic locked | Storyboard and animatic | Milestone | 6 |
| 8 | Build rigs and assets | Animation and rendering | 8 | 3 |
| 9 | Record final voices | Voice and sound | 3 | 7 |
| 10 | Animate sequence 1 | Animation and rendering | 12 | 8, 9 |
| 11 | Animate sequence 2 | Animation and rendering | 12 | 10SS+6 |
| 12 | Animate sequence 3 | Animation and rendering | 12 | 11SS+6 |
| 13 | Render sequence 1 | Animation and rendering | 4 | 10 |
| 14 | Render sequence 2 | Animation and rendering | 4 | 11 |
| 15 | Render sequence 3 | Animation and rendering | 4 | 12 |
| 16 | Compose and record the score | Voice and sound | 10 | 7 |
| 17 | Composite and colour-grade | Finishing and delivery | 8 | 13SS+4, 14FF+4, 15FF+2 |
| 18 | Picture locked | Finishing and delivery | Milestone | 17 |
| 19 | Mix dialogue, music and effects | Voice and sound | 6 | 16, 18 |
| 20 | Final review and fixes | Finishing and delivery | 3 | 19 |
| 21 | Deliver the master | Finishing and delivery | 2 | 20 |
| 22 | Film delivered | Finishing and delivery | Milestone | 21 |
How it works
Rename the groups and sequences
Replace the three sequence tasks with your own scenes or episodes, and add a sequence by copying one animate and one render task. Keep each render behind its own animation.
Set the animatic lock
Adjust "Write the script", "Draw the storyboard" and "Cut the animatic" to your pre-production pace. Everything after "Animatic locked" depends on it, so this is the first place to add time.
Set the stagger
Change the start-to-start lags on "Animate sequence 2" and "Animate sequence 3" to how soon your animators can take the next sequence. A shorter lag finishes sooner but needs more people at once.
Put in your render time
Set the duration of each render task to what your pipeline needs. If renders are slow, the last one sets the finish, so check it before the animation durations.
Add review rounds where you have them
Insert a director review task between an animation and its render, with the review time you really get. Each round you add moves everything behind it.
Add owners, share and export
Put the director, animation lead, composer and sound designer in People, share the chart as a link with the commissioner, and export a PDF or CSV for the production file.
Frequently asked questions
Why lock the animatic before animating anything?
Because animation is the most expensive part to redo. In the template "Animatic locked" comes after 23 working days and gates "Record final voices", the score and "Animate sequence 1". A change after the lock shows up as moved tasks behind it, which is the point: you see the cost before you agree to the change.
How do I fit the fact that animators and the render farm are shared?
With the start-to-start lags. QueryChart does not plan capacity or level resources, so the 6-day lag between sequences stands for how soon your team can take the next one. Shorten it if you add animators, lengthen it if you cannot.
Can I fix the delivery date?
Yes, as a check. Give "Approve the brief and treatment" a fixed Start on the day work begins and "Film delivered" a fixed Start on the date you have committed to. The plan is scheduled forward from the earliest fixed Start, so if the chain cannot finish by then, the milestone is flagged with a conflict naming the earliest date its dependencies allow.
Why does the mix wait for picture lock?
A mix is built to picture, so any change to timing after the mix has to be conformed and often remixed. In the template "Mix dialogue, music and effects" starts only after "Picture locked", 56 working days in. If you start sound work earlier, keep it to the score and sound design, which tolerate change better.
Does the plan track progress against a target?
You can set a percentage on each task and it is drawn inside the bar, but progress never moves the dates. If a sequence runs long, change its duration and the tasks behind it move. For delays, see /guides/gantt-chart-delays.