{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp04_retrieval_first_paired20_20260802","cell_id":"layer_decay_and_expiration_management__film_media_production","hypothesis_id":"H2","search_queries":["VFX pipeline orphan asset detection dependency-aware version deletion quarantine","Nuke script archive collect dependencies unused footage cleanup official","Houdini project archive dependency references missing files official","OpenAssetIO dependency graph asset versions media production references","media production asset management delete unused versions dependency graph product","VFX storage cleanup published versions render dependencies production pipeline","patent media asset dependency delete unreferenced version quarantine","digital preservation VFX production assets retention workflow standard archive dependencies"],"sources":[{"source_id":"C1","title":"OpenAssetIO: An Introduction","publisher":"OpenAssetIO / Academy Software Foundation","url":"https://docs.openassetio.org/OpenAssetIO/","source_class":"STANDARD","claims_supported":["OpenAssetIO supplies a common asset-management interface across VFX, animation, virtual-production, and post-production tools.","Its scope includes reference resolution, publishing, and discovery of related assets, but it does not prescribe asset hierarchies, version management, storage, or deletion behavior."]},{"source_id":"C2","title":"OpenAssetIO: Entities, Traits and Specifications","publisher":"OpenAssetIO / Academy Software Foundation","url":"https://docs.openassetio.org/OpenAssetIO/entities_traits_and_specifications.html","source_class":"STANDARD","claims_supported":["Media-production entities may have multiple versions and relationships to other entities.","Relationship and dependency traits can query runtime dependencies of an entity, including to support data relocation."]},{"source_id":"C3","title":"Labs Archive Project 1.0 TOP node","publisher":"SideFX","url":"https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/top/labs--archive_project-1.0.html","source_class":"OFFICIAL_PRODUCT_DOCUMENTATION","claims_supported":["Houdini can scan a scene for external dependencies, present an editable asset list, copy selected dependencies into an archive, and generate a JSON report.","The documentation qualifies coverage as all or most dependencies and exposes ignore options, so the scan is not proof of a complete cross-system inbound-reference graph."]},{"source_id":"C4","title":"Futureproofing Visual Effects: Challenges and Strategies for Preserving Digital Assets and Records","publisher":"International Journal of Digital Curation","url":"https://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/download/689/636/2843","source_class":"PRIMARY_RESEARCH","claims_supported":["Research based partly on interviews with more than 20 VFX practitioners reports very high data volumes, inconsistent retention requirements, and preservation difficulties caused by dispersed assets and software dependencies.","Larger VFX companies select versions for retention, commonly keeping latest asset versions plus dependencies and important shot versions, while smaller companies may retain everything.","The paper reports no consistent industry-wide guidance for holistic appraisal, selection, and disposal of VFX assets."]},{"source_id":"C5","title":"MediaCentral Production Management ReadMe v2022.3","publisher":"Avid","url":"https://resources.avid.com/SupportFiles/attach/MediaCentral_Production_Management_ReadMe_v2022.3.pdf","source_class":"OFFICIAL_PRODUCT_DOCUMENTATION","claims_supported":["Avid identifies rendered effects that are not currently in use, moves them into an Orphan Clips folder, and then permits administrator deletion.","Avid supplies a schedulable tool for deleting obsolete rendered effects and their media after orphan classification."]},{"source_id":"C6","title":"Cleaning your Render Farm","publisher":"AWS Thinkbox","url":"https://awsthinkbox.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4990373363479-Cleaning-your-Render-Farm-Jul-13-2017","source_class":"OFFICIAL_PRODUCT_DOCUMENTATION","claims_supported":["Deadline tracks job dependencies when deciding whether pending jobs may render.","Deleted jobs remain in a hidden location for a configurable period, can be undeleted during that period, and are permanently purged afterward.","The documented dependency processing and reversible-deletion window are separate operations; it does not state that zero job or asset dependencies gate deletion."]},{"source_id":"C7","title":"Disney Digital Supply Chain: Production Archival Elements v2.0","publisher":"Disney","url":"https://disneymasteringspecs.s3.amazonaws.com/Disney_Digital_Supply_Chain_Production_Archival_Elements_2_0_2023_06_01_b6b63a2a74.pdf","source_class":"OFFICIAL_GUIDANCE","claims_supported":["Disney requires animation project files and related source files needed for final renders in an archive.","Recreatable cache files and other large work-in-progress files are expressly not required, establishing reconstruction value as a real media-production disposition criterion."]},{"source_id":"C8","title":"Delete assets","publisher":"Perforce","url":"https://help.perforce.com/helix-core/helix-dam/current/Content/HelixDAM-User/deleting-assets.html","source_class":"OFFICIAL_PRODUCT_DOCUMENTATION","claims_supported":["Helix DAM permits deletion only of the latest asset version.","Deleted asset versions retain a Moved/Deleted state marker and cannot be downloaded, overlapping with explicit post-deletion state but not dependency-gated quarantine."]}],"proximity":"SUBSTANTIAL_COLLISION","closest_analogues":[{"name":"Avid MediaCentral orphan rendered-effect cleanup","similarity":"High: it automatically identifies unused production intermediates, segregates them as orphans, and supports subsequent administrative or scheduled deletion.","remaining_difference":"The opened documentation covers rendered effects in an Avid database, especially an upgrade cleanup, rather than proving zero inbound references across source scenes, published versions, vendor exchanges, conforms, and render-farm jobs; it also lacks an impact-sized rollback window.","source_ids":["C5"]},{"name":"AWS Deadline dependency processing plus delayed purge","similarity":"High at the component level: the same render-farm product represents job dependencies and implements reversible deletion followed by timed permanent purge.","remaining_difference":"The documentation does not connect dependency traversal to the deletion gate, applies the grace period to jobs rather than VFX asset versions, and configures purge timing rather than deriving it from deletion impact.","source_ids":["C6"]},{"name":"OpenAssetIO relationship/dependency API","similarity":"Medium-high: it is expressly cross-tool media-pipeline infrastructure for versioned entities and runtime dependency queries.","remaining_difference":"It standardizes communication but neither guarantees a complete dependency graph nor defines orphan proof, deletion policy, quarantine, impact scoring, or audit disposition.","source_ids":["C1","C2"]},{"name":"Houdini Labs Archive Project","similarity":"Medium: it discovers scene dependencies, supports review, packages retained files, and records a dependency report.","remaining_difference":"It is an outbound, scene-local archive collector with acknowledged coverage limits, not a cross-system inbound-reference deletion gate or reversible cleanup process.","source_ids":["C3"]},{"name":"Disney dependency-and-recreatability archive selection","similarity":"Medium: it distinguishes final-render dependencies that must be retained from recreatable WIP caches that need not be archived.","remaining_difference":"It is a delivery and archival rule, not automated orphan tracing, deletion quarantine, or impact-based rollback sizing.","source_ids":["C7"]}],"overlapping_components":["asset and version identity","dependency and relationship querying","scene-level dependency collection","orphan or unused-intermediate classification","staged administrative deletion","scheduled cleanup","soft deletion with an undelete interval","permanent purge after a grace period","explicit deleted-state marker","dependency-aware archive packaging and reporting","retention decisions based on reconstruction value"],"remaining_contrastive_claim":"No opened source discloses a project-wide process that proves each VFX version has no live inbound references across DCC scenes, published assets, vendor exchanges, conforms, and render-farm jobs, then derives that version's quarantine duration from a quantified deletion-impact estimate before purge.","claim_falsifier":"An official implementation, patent, standards profile, or documented production case showing cross-system inbound-reference enumeration that automatically blocks VFX-version deletion until orphanhood is proven and assigns the rollback period from per-version deletion impact would falsify the remaining claim.","problem_support":"STRONG","recommendation":"RESEARCH","world_novelty_boundary":"This is a bounded ordinary-web-search result from eight queries and eight opened direct sources as of 2026-08-02. Dependency discovery, orphan cleanup, reconstruction-based retention, deletion markers, and reversible timed purge are already documented in media-production systems, creating substantial collision. The search did not surface a patent or direct source combining complete cross-vendor/conform/render dependency proof with impact-sized quarantine, but that narrow absence is not evidence of worldwide novelty; proprietary studio pipelines and patents not indexed by these queries remain material blind spots."}