Every Thursday we're opening the studio doors and answering all of your questions. Technical, industry, fandom or otherwise - drop your question in the comments below - and we'll hop to it. (We're fielding Q's on Facebook, Twitter and G+ too, if that's easier!)

First up this week is from Dani Abram:

@BrownBagFilms #AMA I'd love to know what bespoke animation tools/plug ins you use in your pipeline? Anything cool? Most useful? :)

— dani abram (@bintykins) February 27, 2014

I asked our R&D team:

We use a large number of bespoke Tools that are available to the artists in BBF that make the creation of animation more efficient and guarantees that pipeline and workflow requirements are adhered to.

One Tool that stands out is “BBF ShotBuilder” which accesses the BBF Production Database and pulls all the information that is required for a shot. It then uses that information to automatically generate the Maya Scene containing all the correct assets ( Charatcers,Sets etc), Camera, Audio Track, Frame ranges etc. The Scene is then ready for the Animator to start working on, safe in the knowledge that the scene is setup correctly.

While we're talking Q&A's ... I really loved Ted Mathot's, story supervisor at Pixar, Storyboard answers on his Tumblr.

Great questions and answers on storyboarding! http://t.co/8lseNtFQFm

— Denzel De Meerleer (@DDeMeerleer) February 28, 2014

Thanks for sharing Denzel!

@BrownBagFilms What kind of things would you say to someone interested in getting into production?

— Fiona Hill (@fionachill) March 6, 2014

Lorraine Morgan, Line Producer on Bing Bunny, tackled your question Fiona: Honestly, you need to be very organised, good at multi-tasking and stay calm under pressure.

@BrownBagFilms Hi there, what would you be looking for in a 2D background artist?

— Sarah Walsh (@sarahtwalsh) March 6, 2014

Eddie Gribbon, our 2D Artist on Peter Rabbit answered:

Drawing skills! Brown Bag works a little different than other studios, because the output is mostly in 3D, the majority of the 2D work is on props. Great drafting skills are essential, being able to draw an object 360 degrees and keep the proportions and its design. It's no mean feat! A 2D artist needs to be passionate about drawing.