Chapter 01: The Evolution of Visual Effects and Animation
Chapter 02: Current State of the Art
Chapter 03: Emerging Technologies
Chapter 04: The Role of Artificial Intelligence
Chapter 05: Looking Ahead: The Next Decade of VFX and Animation
If the history of VFX is a story of invention, today’s industry is a story of refinement. We’ve entered an era where almost anything is technically possible—but how we build, manage, and integrate those possibilities is what defines the work.
In this chapter, we break down what the modern VFX pipeline actually looks like. Not just the tools, but how they’re used day-to-day—from the first piece of concept art to the final composite. Each stage has evolved, becoming more interconnected, collaborative, and technically demanding than ever before.
We’ll explore the key disciplines that drive high-end film, TV, and interactive projects: layout, animation, matchmove, FX, lighting, lookdev, and more. Along the way, we’ll look at the real-world tools shaping the craft—from Houdini and Nuke to Unreal and USD—and how automation, cloud collaboration, and AI are quietly transforming production from the inside out.
This is where theory becomes practice. It’s the core of how we make the impossible feel real.
Concept art is where the magic begins. Long before any CG or final comp, it’s the sketches, paintings, and visual notes that set the tone for an entire project. It’s how directors, production designers, and VFX teams get aligned—translating the script’s ideas into visual language.
This stage is all about exploration. Concept artists draw on both traditional skills and cutting-edge tools to visualise environments, characters, creatures, and moods. It’s an iterative process, often fast-paced and collaborative, with rough ideas evolving into detailed artworks that guide everything from set builds to final pixels. When done well, concept art becomes the visual bible of a production.
1. Photoshop
Still the industry workhorse, Photoshop offers unmatched flexibility. Recent additions like Neural Filters allow for quick photoreal adjustments, while custom brush dynamics let artists emulate pencils, oils, and inks with surprising nuance. link
2. Corel Painter
Best known for its traditional media emulation, Corel Painter’s RealBristle™ technology mimics the feel of real brushes. It’s particularly popular for artists after that painterly look, simulating everything from thick impasto to delicate watercolour washes. link
3. Procreate
A favourite among mobile artists, Procreate is fast, tactile, and powerful. Its Animation Assist makes simple animation accessible, while Brush Studio gives artists deep control over how their tools behave—ideal for experimenting on the go. Link
Digital Tablets (1980s onward)
The rise of devices like Wacom tablets was a turning point. Suddenly, artists could draw directly into the machine with pressure-sensitive pens—blending the fluidity of hand-drawn work with digital precision.
Immersive VR Art (Late 2010s–today)
Tools like Tilt Brush and Medium brought a new dimension—literally. Artists could step inside their sketches, painting in 3D space and blocking out ideas at scale. It’s still niche, but powerful for certain kinds of concepting.
High-Fidelity Digital Brushes (2020s)
Modern brush engines now simulate physical properties like pigment load, stroke drag, and surface texture. The gap between traditional and digital painting is narrower than ever, allowing for stunning realism and expressive mark-making.
Cloud Collaboration
With platforms like Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma, collaboration has gone global. Artists can now update, annotate, and refine artwork in real time across continents—changing how teams develop ideas together.
The Rise of Photobashing
Once a quick hack, photobashing has become a respected technique. By blending photos, textures, and paint, artists can build complex scenes rapidly. It’s not cheating—it’s smart compositional thinking.
AI & Generative Tools
We’re starting to see AI playing a role in ideation. Generative models can create mood boards, iterate designs, or even generate full compositions based on prompts. These tools won’t replace artists, but they’re already reshaping workflows.
Previsualisation—or previs, as it’s commonly called—is one of the unsung heroes of modern filmmaking. It’s where directors, VFX supervisors, and production teams sketch out the movie in 3D before anyone yells “action.” Think of it as a digital rehearsal space: rough, flexible, and focused on figuring things out before the cameras roll.
By building simplified versions of sets, characters, and camera moves in a virtual environment, previs lets filmmakers experiment with creative choices and spot potential technical hiccups early. It’s particularly crucial for complex sequences involving heavy VFX, stunts, or tight coordination across departments. Done well, it saves time, money, and a lot of headaches.
The previs pipeline spans a few overlapping stages:
Pitchvis helps sell an idea early, often using stylised visuals.
Techvis focuses on practical problem-solving—camera rigs, lensing, blocking.
Postvis blends rough CG into live-action plates to test ideas in context.
Virtual production merges previs with real-time filmmaking tools.
Performance capture adds detailed human motion to the mix, often via studios like Imaginarium.
Each phase contributes to a shared visual language that helps everyone—from the director to the stunt team—stay on the same page.
1. Autodesk Maya
A mainstay in animation and VFX, Maya is also a go-to for previs. Its toolset covers everything from basic animation to lighting and layout, making it ideal for planning out complex sequences shot by shot. link.
2. The Third Floor’s Proprietary Tools
As one of the industry leaders in previs, The Third Floor uses custom-built software tailored for narrative clarity and technical precision. Their tools help bridge the creative with the practical—essential for large-scale productions.
3. Cyclops (AR Simulcam App)
Developed by The Third Floor, Cyclops merges live-action footage with real-time CG overlays using Unreal Engine. It’s like giving the director a live feed of what the final shot could look like, right there on set.
4. Unity3D
Unity brings interactive, real-time flexibility to previs. Directors and artists can tweak lighting, camera angles, and environments on the fly—ideal for iterative, collaborative workflows. link.
5. Unreal Engine (Epic Games)
A game engine turned filmmaking powerhouse. With near-photoreal rendering and tight integration with virtual production pipelines, Unreal is transforming how previs is done—offering instant feedback and real-time scene visualisation. link.
6. Blender
An open-source 3D creation suite gaining traction in previs thanks to its powerful Grease Pencil, Eevee real-time renderer, and non-linear animation tools. Blender’s accessibility and growing community make it a smart choice for teams working on a tight budget without sacrificing capability.
Machine Learning Integration (2020s)
AI now supports previs by automating routine tasks—animating characters, filling crowds, even suggesting lighting setups—freeing up artists to focus on storytelling and timing.
High-Fidelity Simulation (2020s)
Today’s previs isn’t just blocky grey boxes. Tools can simulate physics, environmental effects, and lighting behaviour, giving teams a much closer approximation of what’ll end up on screen.
Immersive VR and AR Tools (2020s)
With VR headsets and AR overlays, directors can walk through virtual sets before they’re built. It’s a game-changer for spatial planning, especially in VFX-heavy or large-scale scenes.
AI-Driven Storyboarding
New tools can turn script pages into illustrated boards automatically, using generative AI. It’s still early days, but it’s already speeding up the transition from text to visual.
Simulcam Evolution
Simulcam isn’t just a novelty—it’s a practical on-set tool. By overlaying CG elements onto live camera feeds, teams can line up shots with greater precision, especially in virtual production.
Camera Path Automation
Some previs systems now suggest or auto-generate camera paths based on the scene’s emotion or pacing—like giving the DOP a digital assistant during pre-planning.
Look development—or lookdev—is where assets find their final form. It’s the process of refining the visual appearance of characters, props, and environments, combining modelling, texturing, shading, and lighting into a cohesive, production-ready look.
Lookdev artists are responsible for making sure that every asset—whether it’s a photoreal creature or a stylised vehicle—looks right under a variety of lighting conditions and holds up from every angle. It’s not just about how something looks in a still frame, but how it behaves in motion, how it reacts to light, and how it sits in the world of the film.
It’s a role that demands both technical knowledge and a strong artistic eye, acting as a bridge between asset creation and lighting/compositing. Consistency, realism, and storytelling are all part of the brief.
1. Katana
Beyond lighting, Katana is also used for shader assignment and lookdev workflows—especially in asset-heavy productions. Its ability to manage large scenes and render across multiple shot contexts makes it ideal for lookdev pipelines. Link.
2. Maya with Arnold or V-Ray
Maya’s shading tools, combined with industry-standard renderers like Arnold or V-Ray, allow artists to test materials, tweak shaders, and dial in the details that define an asset’s final surface appearance.
3. Mari
Crucial for high-resolution texturing, Mari allows artists to paint and preview complex shaders in context. It’s particularly valuable for skin, fabrics, metals, and weathered surfaces. Link.
4. Substance 3D Painter
Increasingly used in stylised or game-engine lookdev, Substance provides procedural materials, real-time feedback, and integration with engines like Unreal and renderers like Arnold or Redshift. Link.
Physically Based Shading (PBS)
PBS workflows have become the standard, ensuring materials behave consistently under different lighting scenarios. This standardisation has helped bridge the gap between departments and between studios.
ACES Colour Pipeline Integration
With colour science now baked into lookdev workflows, artists can develop assets in linear space and be confident they’ll appear correctly in the final grade. ACES standardisation has been crucial for cross-studio consistency.
Real-Time Shader Preview
Modern GPUs allow lookdev artists to see near-final results in real time, using tools like MaterialX Viewers, USD View, or game engines. This has drastically improved iteration speed and visual accuracy.
Digital Doubling with Lookdev
In Logan, lookdev artists worked closely with scanning teams to ensure Hugh Jackman’s digital double matched down to skin pores and micro hair—used for subtle enhancement in close-ups.
Stylised Shading in Animation
Films like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish used painterly shaders and custom lookdev tools to create a unique visual language that set it apart from traditional CG animation.
Cross-Department Collaboration
Lookdev sits at the intersection of assets, lighting, and comp. Artists often create “turntables” under multiple lighting rigs to ensure consistency across sequences, avoiding surprises in shot lighting and rendering.
Layout is where ideas start to feel like cinema. It’s the crucial step between concept and animation—where 3D environments, camera angles, and character placements begin to take shape in a digital space. Think of it as digital cinematography’s first draft.
Layout artists take the director’s vision and block it out scene by scene, deciding not just where things go, but how we see them. They work closely with storyboard artists, VFX supervisors, and animators to define the flow, scale, and rhythm of each shot. A strong layout sets the tone for everything that follows—animation, lighting, effects—and ensures real-world elements blend seamlessly with CG.
Like everything in VFX, it’s iterative. As shots evolve, layout teams adapt, refine, and relay changes down the pipeline—always balancing technical constraints with creative intent.
1. Maya
A bedrock of the VFX toolkit, Maya is often the first port of call for layout. It’s used to block scenes, position assets, and establish camera language—all in a flexible 3D environment that speaks the same language as animation and rigging teams. Link.
2. Houdini
While best known for FX, Houdini’s procedural workflow makes it incredibly useful for layout, especially on projects with large-scale or dynamic environments. Its node-based system allows artists to test variations quickly without rebuilding scenes from scratch. Link.
3. Unity
More than just a game engine, Unity’s real-time capabilities make it a valuable tool for interactive scene planning. Directors can explore layout ideas live, adjusting cameras, lighting, and staging with instant visual feedback. Link.
4. Unreal Engine
The layout powerhouse in virtual production. Unreal’s real-time rendering and photoreal output mean filmmakers can frame shots on a digital set and see results immediately—bridging the gap between previs and production in a way that’s reshaping the industry. Link.
‘The Lion King’ (2019)
Jon Favreau’s team used VR to scout and layout scenes in a fully digital savanna. The crew could pick lenses, frame shots, and move cameras as if they were on a real location—completely changing how animated films are staged.
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (2022)
Weta’s combination of Simulcam and an advanced eyeline system helped align CG and live-action with uncanny accuracy. Layout played a key role in ensuring performers’ eye lines matched virtual characters and environments.
‘The Mandalorian’ (2019–Present)
ILM’s StageCraft, powered by Unreal Engine, let filmmakers compose scenes in-camera using massive LED volumes. This tech changed not just how layouts are planned—but how they’re lit, filmed, and adjusted in real time.
Large-Scale Photogrammetry
Blade Runner 2049 used photogrammetry to digitise entire city blocks. These ultra-detailed environments allowed for more authentic layouts, preserving scale, lighting reference, and texture fidelity.
AI-Guided Composition
At Marvel, internal R&D tools analyse comic book panels to suggest cinematic shot setups. It’s an experimental workflow, but one that helps maintain visual continuity with the source material.
If layout is about staging the shot, then modeling is about building the stage—and everything on it. From creatures and characters to vehicles, props, and entire cityscapes, modeling artists create the digital assets that make up a film’s visual world.
This is where 2D designs or photo references start taking shape in three dimensions. Modeling isn’t just about shapes—it’s about believability. Artists need to think about anatomy, surface detail, edge flow, and how the model will hold up under lighting, animation, or simulation. In many studios, character modelers also handle texturing and displacement, sculpting everything from muscle structure to skin pores.
It’s a craft that demands both technical discipline and a strong eye for form—and when done right, it’s a huge part of what makes CG feel tangible.
1. ZBrush
The go-to tool for high-resolution digital sculpting. Whether it’s wrinkles, scales, or alien anatomy, ZBrush lets artists push detail to extremes—ideal for character and creature work. Link.
2. Maya
A VFX all-rounder, Maya’s modeling tools are perfect for building both organic shapes and hard-surface objects like vehicles or machinery. Its robust topology and rig-prep features also make it central to animation-ready workflows.
3. Mudbox
Often used in tandem with Maya or ZBrush, Mudbox shines in the detailing and texturing stages. It’s especially useful for artists looking to refine surface detail or paint texture maps directly onto models. Link.
NeRFs in Production
Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) are changing the game. Used on Avatar: The Way of Water, this technique allows artists to generate 3D models from 2D photographs—capturing intricate details like refracted underwater light with stunning fidelity.
VR-Based Modeling Workflows
Some studios—Pixar, ILM, and others—are experimenting with VR sculpting tools. Being able to walk around a model and shape it in 3D space adds an intuitive, physical dimension to the digital workflow.
Subdivision Detailing in Dune (2021)
The Sardaukar armour and props were built using subdivision surfaces in Maya, allowing for brutalist, hyper-detailed designs that looked hand-crafted, even under close-up scrutiny.
AI Variants for Creature Design
Marvel’s art departments often use AI to quickly generate variations of creature designs. This gives concept artists and modelers a broader visual sandbox, speeding up iteration in early development.
Photogrammetry at Lucasfilm
To keep the Star Wars universe grounded, Lucasfilm regularly scans real-world props and environments using photogrammetry. Even fantastical elements benefit from this grounding—it’s part of what makes the galaxy feel so tangible.
Once the model is built, it’s texturing that gives it life. This is where we define how a surface looks and feels—its colour, glossiness, roughness, and fine details. A dragon’s scorched scales, a rusted mech suit, a crumbling wall in a war zone—none of it reads as real without texture work.
Texturing artists translate design intent into visual surface properties. It’s not just about making things pretty; it’s about grounding CG in physical reality. Done well, texturing allows digital elements to sit convincingly in live-action plates—interacting with light, responding to distance, and helping sell the illusion.
Whether you’re painting directly onto models, generating materials procedurally, or scanning real-world objects, texture work demands both artistry and technical understanding of how materials behave.
Digital Painting & Procedural Texturing
Digital Painting: Software like Adobe Substance 3D Painter and Mari lets artists paint directly onto 3D geometry. Ideal for adding surface detail like scuffs, rust, or grime—layering history into every asset.
Procedural Texturing: Instead of painting by hand, this approach uses algorithms to generate patterns like tiles, fabrics, or corrosion. It’s perfect for large-scale environments where manual work would be too time-consuming.
Photogrammetry & Scanning
Photogrammetry tools like Agisoft Metashape capture fine surface detail from real-world objects. Once processed, these scans provide hyper-realistic base textures. Tools like Agisoft De-Lighter remove baked-in lighting, making the data usable under any lighting setup.
Physically Based Rendering (PBR)
PBR has become the industry standard for material realism. Artists work with maps like albedo (base colour), roughness, and metallic to define how a surface interacts with light—ensuring consistent realism across different lighting scenarios.
1. Substance Painter: The go-to for texturing—blending painting and procedural workflows, with a huge material library and real-time feedback.
2. Mari: Favoured in high-end film work for handling ultra-complex models and massive resolution textures.
3. Photoshop: Still essential for texture prep—masking, clone-stamping, and designing hand-made patterns.
UDIM Tile Workflow
UDIM changed the game by allowing artists to split textures across multiple UV tiles. This lets you work in much higher resolution without bogging down the pipeline—especially useful on hero assets or characters seen up close.
Real-Time & Dynamic Textures
In games and VR, dynamic textures adapt to player interaction or environmental changes—like footprints forming in sand or rain soaking fabric. It’s bleeding-edge tech, but it’s starting to influence VFX too.
Cultural Texture Libraries
Black Panther built bespoke libraries of African-inspired textures—clothing, beads, ceramics—to reflect its cultural narrative. It’s a reminder that texture isn’t just surface—it’s story.
Terrain from Space
Satellite imagery has been used to texture large-scale environments, from planetary flyovers to open-world games. It’s how you make a desert feel endless—or a planet feel real.
Style as Texture
In Mad Max: Fury Road, the dirt, oil, and rust aren’t just aesthetic—they are the story. In contrast, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse used halftones and offset printing textures to evoke comic books, turning the visual style itself into a storytelling device.
Rigging is where your digital characters come to life—on the inside. It’s the process of building a skeletal structure beneath a model, allowing it to move, emote, and interact believably within a scene. Without rigging, there’s no animation—just static geometry.
At its core, rigging is about control. Artists set up bones, joints, and deformers that define how a character bends, stretches, or squints. Riggers create control systems that animators use to pose characters—whether it’s a dragon flapping its wings, a mech loading a weapon, or a subtle eyebrow raise in a close-up.
It’s a discipline that blends engineering and anatomy with creative thinking. And with the rise of AI and procedural workflows, rigging is becoming faster, smarter, and more scalable—giving artists more time to focus on the nuances that sell performance.
1. Maya
Still the industry’s go-to for rigging, Maya offers deep control over skeleton building, skin binding, and control rig creation. Its flexibility and compatibility across departments make it essential for any character-driven pipeline.
2. Houdini
Once the domain of FX artists, Houdini’s procedural power is now a secret weapon for rigging too—especially for crowd rigs, muscle simulations, or dynamic setups where custom behaviour is key.
3. Tissue (Wētā FX)
A proprietary system developed by Wētā, Tissue simulates realistic muscle and skin behaviour. It’s a powerful tool for adding depth and realism to anatomical motion—used in everything from facial rigs to full-body deformation.
AI-Driven Rigging Systems
Recent tools integrate machine learning to predict motion and automate rig setups. These systems can generate base rigs faster and more accurately, especially for secondary characters or background assets—freeing riggers to focus on hero builds.
Real-Time Rig Feedback
Modern workflows let riggers see changes instantly, even with high-res assets. This speeds up iteration and makes it easier for animators and riggers to collaborate in real time, especially in virtual production settings.
Modular Rig Frameworks
Studios now build reusable rig components—think of them as digital LEGO pieces. Once a module is built (e.g., a hand, a tail, a facial system), it can be adapted across multiple characters, increasing consistency and saving time.
Biomechanical Rigging in Game of Thrones
To bring dragons and direwolves to life, the VFX team used biomechanical simulations—applying real-world principles of motion and weight to creatures that don’t exist. It’s what made their movement feel grounded, not cartoonish.
Facial Rigging in Avatar: The Way of Water
Wētā’s facial pipeline uses APFS (Anatomically Plausible Facial System) to mimic the movement of real human muscle and tissue. The result? Subtle, believable expressions that carry emotional weight—even in full-CG performances.
Automated Rig Stress Testing
Advanced rigging tools can now simulate a range of extreme poses and interactions to test rigs before animation begins. This pre-emptive QA ensures flexibility, reduces errors downstream, and avoids costly surprises in final shots.
Matchmoving is one of those invisible crafts that, when done right, nobody notices—but without it, the illusion falls apart. It’s the process that aligns digital assets with live-action footage, ensuring that CG creatures, environments, or effects stick convincingly to the camera’s perspective.
Whether you’re adding a spaceship to a skyline, extending a building, or replacing an actor’s arm with a robotic prosthetic, matchmoving provides the data that anchors everything in the shot. It captures the real camera’s position, movement, and lens characteristics, then recreates that virtual camera inside 3D software—so the CG behaves exactly as if it were filmed alongside the live action.
Matchmoving is often the first step in a VFX shot and sets the stage for compositing, animation, and lighting. Its accuracy directly impacts the realism of the final result—making it an essential part of modern filmmaking.
1. 3DEqualizer
Arguably the gold standard for high-end film work. 3DEqualizer offers unrivalled precision and control, especially on complex, multi-camera, or lens-distorted shots. Link.
2. PFTrack
PFTrack stands out for its ability to integrate survey data and solve tricky tracks involving complex environments or erratic motion. It’s a favourite for large-scale sequences. Link.
3. SynthEyes
A versatile tool supporting both camera and object tracking. SynthEyes is used across film, TV, and VR for its robust feature set and affordability. Link.
4. Mocha Pro
Specialises in planar tracking—ideal for surfaces like walls, screens, or floors. Mocha is also often used for cleanup, insertions, and stabilisation, especially when traditional point tracking fails. Link.
Deep Learning in Tracking
AI-enhanced tracking algorithms now improve accuracy in challenging shots—fast camera moves, shaky handheld footage, or heavy motion blur. Films like Avengers: Endgame relied on these advances for complex action scenes.
Real-Time Tracking on Set
Virtual productions like The Mandalorian use real-time matchmoving, combining live camera metadata with LED volumes and CG assets. It means fewer surprises in post and more accurate integration straight from the shoot.
Object Removal and Scene Clean-Up
Modern tools can now remove objects and reconstruct backgrounds with astonishing precision. In John Wick: Chapter 3, this enabled seamless action edits and flexible reworking of set elements after the fact.
Digital History Reconstruction
In historical dramas, matchmoving is used to rebuild lost architecture digitally—mapping real-world plates onto accurate period models. It’s how productions blend modern locations with past eras believably.
Invisible VFX
Not every shot is dragons and explosions. Matchmoving often supports subtle effects—fixing continuity errors, adjusting set dressing, or extending skies and weather to maintain mood and consistency.
When you think of fireballs, crashing waves, swirling dust storms, or magical sparks—it’s the FX artists behind the scenes making that happen. FX (short for “effects”) covers the simulation of natural and fantastical phenomena, blending physics and creativity to enhance the spectacle of storytelling.
Done well, FX is invisible. It reacts believably to characters, light, and camera motion, making the impossible feel grounded. Whether it’s a gentle breeze in a period drama or an intergalactic explosion, FX brings texture, movement, and atmosphere to shots—adding tension, scale, and emotion.
FX artists often work hand-in-hand with layout, animation, lighting, and compositing teams to ensure their simulations fit seamlessly into the broader shot. With increasingly powerful tools and smarter workflows, FX has become one of the most dynamic and technically demanding areas of VFX.
1. Houdini
The industry leader in simulation, Houdini’s procedural approach gives artists immense flexibility. From explosions to cloth, water, and crowd systems, it’s the Swiss Army knife of FX.
2. RealFlow
A specialist in fluid dynamics, RealFlow is often used for high-end liquid sims—whether it’s a glass of wine being poured or a storm surge slamming into a building. It integrates well with other 3D packages and offers fine control over fluid behaviour. Link.
3. Loki (Wētā FX)
Loki is Wētā’s proprietary tool for simulating complex natural elements. Built for high realism, it handles everything from foam and spray to embers and flame trails—always calibrated for cinematic lighting and detail.
GPU-Accelerated Simulations
Thanks to modern GPUs, FX simulations that once took days now happen in hours—or minutes. Aquaman is a standout example, with GPU-accelerated water sims enabling vast, dynamic underwater battles full of swirling currents and volumetric lighting.
Real-Time FX for Virtual Production
In The Mandalorian, FX teams used real-time previews to visualise dynamic effects—like wind, fog, or sparks—on LED volumes during filming. It’s a huge step forward for creative control on set, and it reduces post-production guesswork.
Adaptive Particle Resolution
To balance quality with performance, FX tools now use adaptive resolution—concentrating detail where the camera looks, and simplifying elsewhere. Avengers: Endgame used this technique for its massive battle sequences, optimising both visual fidelity and render times.
Sustainable Simulations
More studios are turning to digital pyrotechnics and water sims instead of practical effects. It’s not just safer—it’s greener. Digital FX reduce environmental impact while still delivering big-screen spectacle.
Cross-Platform FX Pipelines
Standards like USD (Universal Scene Description) are helping unify FX workflows across different tools and studios. On The Lion King (2019), this allowed global teams to share and refine simulations without translation errors or data loss.
In visual effects and animation, lighting does far more than illuminate a scene—it shapes how we feel about what we see. Good lighting directs the eye, sets the mood, and brings emotional depth to every frame. It’s what makes CG look real—or magical, or terrifying, or serene.
Lighting artists work to ensure digital elements blend seamlessly with live-action footage. That means matching colour, direction, intensity, and shadow detail, all while enhancing the narrative tone. Whether it’s the golden glow of a sunset or the harsh blue flicker of a security light, lighting gives CG its soul.
It’s both an art and a science—requiring creative vision, technical skill, and a strong understanding of how light behaves in the real world.
1. Katana
Designed specifically for high-end lookdev and lighting, Katana excels at handling complex scenes. It offers node-based workflows and deep integration with renderers like Arnold and RenderMan—perfect for large-scale productions with intricate lighting needs.
2. Maya
Often used for initial lighting setups and smaller sequences, Maya provides straightforward lighting tools and easy interoperability with other pipeline stages. It’s a solid choice for everything from TV animation to blockbuster films.
LED Volume Lighting (Virtual Production)
Pioneered on The Mandalorian, LED volumes project digital environments in real time—casting accurate light and reflections on actors and props. This blend of physical and digital lighting has transformed how scenes are shot and lit on set.
AI-Assisted Lighting Tools
Machine learning is now being used to suggest light placements, balance exposure, and simulate natural falloff based on scene geometry. These tools help speed up iteration while keeping creative decisions in human hands.
HDR Rendering
High Dynamic Range has become standard in cinematic lighting. In Blade Runner 2049, HDR allowed the team to create rich lighting contrasts—preserving subtle glows and deep shadows with incredible depth and realism.
Real-Time Ray Tracing
Thanks to modern GPUs, artists can now preview lighting with ray tracing in real time. That means faster feedback, more nuanced tweaks, and a better understanding of how light will behave in the final comp.
Global Illumination in Coco
Pixar’s Coco used sophisticated GI algorithms to mimic how light bounces within a scene. The result was vibrant, emotional lighting that captured the warmth and spirit of the story’s world.
Virtual Sunlight for Gravity
For Gravity, the lighting team created a custom “virtual sun” to mimic real orbital conditions—ensuring that every glint, shadow, and reflection felt scientifically plausible and emotionally grounded.
Rendering is the final transformation—from digital scene to cinematic image. It’s where all the upstream work—modelling, texturing, lighting, animation—comes together and gets turned into pixels we can actually see. Whether you’re aiming for photorealism or stylised flair, rendering is where the magic is locked in.
At its core, rendering is the simulation of how light interacts with surfaces, volumes, and materials. It’s both a technical and artistic challenge, requiring accuracy, efficiency, and a deep understanding of visual storytelling. It’s also one of the most computationally demanding parts of the pipeline—so speed, optimisation, and smart workflows matter just as much as image quality.
With advances in GPU rendering, AI denoising, and cloud scalability, rendering has evolved into a faster, smarter, and more collaborative process—helping artists deliver better images under tighter deadlines.
1. Arnold
A robust ray-tracing renderer known for its ability to handle complex geometry and lighting setups. Arnold is especially popular in VFX for its physically accurate approach and excellent support for features like subsurface scattering, volumetrics, and deep AOVs. Link.
2. RenderMan
Pixar’s legendary renderer, built for film-quality output. RenderMan excels in stylised and physically plausible lighting, especially on character-driven films, with its RIS architecture designed for photoreal shading and Pixar’s signature look. Link.
3. Manuka (Wētā FX)
Designed for large-scale, high-fidelity rendering, Manuka handles intricate light transport and heavy geometry with ease. Used on Avatar and other Wētā blockbusters, it’s tailored for high-end photorealism under real production pressure. Link.
4. MoonRay (DreamWorks Animation)
Built in-house at DreamWorks, MoonRay is engineered for speed and scalability in animation. It supports multi-threaded, distributed rendering with near real-time feedback—ideal for big animated productions. Link.
5. V-Ray
A versatile renderer used across VFX, architecture, and product design. V-Ray’s hybrid CPU/GPU approach makes it a flexible choice for teams who need both speed and quality across varied shot types. Link.
Real-Time Rendering for Virtual Production
Unreal Engine 5 and similar tools have pushed real-time rendering to near-final quality. Used heavily in The Mandalorian, this shift allows for live, in-camera VFX previews, shortening the gap between idea and image.
AI-Powered Denoising
AI tools like NVIDIA’s OptiX Denoiser use machine learning to reduce noise in renders, allowing artists to use fewer samples per frame. It speeds up renders without sacrificing visual fidelity—especially useful in lookdev and lighting iterations.
Cloud Rendering at Scale
Big shows like Avengers: Endgame relied on cloud rendering to manage peak loads. This approach lets studios scale up their compute power on demand—delivering hundreds of shots without building out massive in-house farms.
Hybrid CPU/GPU Rendering
On Jurassic World: Dominion, hybrid rendering was used to handle enormous dino-filled environments. CPU strength tackled complex geometry, while GPUs sped up lighting and shading—balancing performance and quality.
Green Computing for Rendering
Studios are increasingly conscious of rendering’s environmental cost. From choosing energy-efficient hardware to optimising render passes, there’s a growing push toward more sustainable rendering pipelines.
Cultural Lighting in Moana
For Moana, Disney crafted custom shaders and light setups to accurately reflect Polynesian culture and environments—from the way light dances on tropical waters to the intricate glows of traditional island crafts.
Matte painting is the unsung art of building the world beyond the lens. Whether it’s a war-torn city skyline, a lush alien jungle, or a sun-drenched medieval kingdom, matte paintings extend and enhance what’s captured on camera—quietly transforming real locations into cinematic worlds.
Historically painted on glass, today’s matte paintings are crafted digitally using a mix of photography, 3D elements, and hand-painted textures. The goal is always the same: to create believable environments that seamlessly support the story. Matte painting is often invisible when it’s at its best—an elegant illusion that frames the action, sets the mood, and guides the viewer’s eye.
Modern matte painters must balance traditional artistic skills with deep technical knowledge. It’s not just about painting pretty pictures—it’s about creating assets that work under moving cameras, interact with lighting, and integrate flawlessly with CG and live-action footage.
1. Photoshop
Still the primary tool for digital matte painters. Photoshop’s painting tools, masks, and layering system allow for precise control over image composition, texture blending, and photoreal detail.
2. Nuke
Essential for compositing matte paintings into moving shots. Nuke allows artists to project 2D paintings onto 3D geometry, align them with live-action footage, and adjust lighting and depth for seamless integration. Link.
HDR Imaging for Light Accuracy
High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI) has been a game-changer. Used in films like Avatar, HDRI captures the full range of real-world lighting, allowing matte paintings to reflect accurate light behaviour—even in fantastical settings.
Projection Mapping for Camera Moves
Projection techniques let artists map 2D matte paintings onto simple 3D geometry. This allows the camera to move within a shot, creating depth and parallax that sells the illusion of a vast environment—as seen in the Harry Potter series.
VR-Assisted Matte Painting
VR tools are making it possible for artists to walk through their environments in 3D. This immersive approach improves spatial planning and makes creative collaboration easier—especially when directors want to “explore” digital sets before finalising a look.
AI-Enhanced Workflows
AI is now being used to upscale textures, automate lighting tweaks, and generate fine environmental details—speeding up workflows without compromising quality.
Modular Digital Libraries
Studios build libraries of reusable digital assets—rocks, trees, buildings—that can be dressed and retextured for different projects. What might have been a snowy mountain in one film becomes a desert cliff in the next.
Historically Informed Design
On Dunkirk, matte painters worked with historians to recreate the beaches and towns as they appeared in 1940. This blend of research and artistry is key to making historical VFX feel authentic, not staged.
Rotoscoping—often just called “roto”—is one of the most meticulous but essential tasks in VFX. It’s the process of isolating elements in live-action footage, frame by frame, to create masks (or “mattes”) that allow artists to integrate, replace, or manipulate parts of a shot.
Need to place a CG creature behind an actor? Remove a boom mic from a moving shot? Isolate a hand so it glows with magic? You need a clean matte—and often, that means roto. It’s a foundational part of compositing, enabling clean plate replacements, seamless green screen work, and convincing interaction between real and digital elements.
While it’s sometimes seen as entry-level, good roto demands a sharp eye for motion, edge detail, and timing. And thanks to AI and automation, it’s evolving rapidly—freeing artists from some of the frame-by-frame grind while still demanding precision and artistic judgement.
1. SilhouetteFX
Purpose-built for rotoscoping and paint work, Silhouette is known for its precision and robustness. It handles high-resolution footage and tricky motion with ease, making it a go-to for complex shots.
2. Nuke
As the backbone of many VFX pipelines, Nuke includes strong roto tools that integrate seamlessly with its compositing workflow. Artists can animate shapes, track motion, and apply roto directly within the context of a full composite.
Machine learning has transformed roto workflows. On The Irishman, AI helped automate mattes for de-aging work—saving hundreds of hours and making otherwise impossible deadlines achievable.
With GPU acceleration and improved interfaces, artists now get immediate feedback while rotoscoping—vital for fast-turnaround shows like Game of Thrones, where every frame counts.
Advanced roto tools can now sync with mocap data to track body parts more accurately. In Avengers: Infinity War, this helped integrate actors with digital environments and props in high-action scenes.
In They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson’s team used roto to isolate soldiers and objects in century-old footage, allowing for colourisation, retiming, and subtle 3D camera movement that made the images feel alive.
Roto reduces the need for extensive green screen setups and exotic location shoots. By giving more flexibility in post, it helps cut down on travel, waste, and production footprint.
Roto isn’t just for film. It’s used in music videos, installations, and animation hybrids—like A-Ha’s “Take On Me”, where hand-drawn line art was composited with live-action footage to create a timeless, stylised look.
Compositing is where it all comes together. It’s the last stop on the VFX journey—where CG, live-action, matte paintings, FX, and grading are layered and blended into the final shot. If it’s done right, you shouldn’t notice it. Everything just works.
But behind that seamless image is an enormous amount of craft. Compositors adjust lighting, match shadows, balance colours, remove unwanted elements, and stitch multiple sources into a single, believable frame. It’s part technical, part artistic—and often where the magic becomes visible for the first time.
In many ways, compositors are the gatekeepers of visual continuity. They pull all the moving parts into one coherent image and shape the final emotional impact of a shot. It’s a role that demands both a keen eye and a cool head—especially when deadlines loom and changes ripple through the pipeline.
1. Nuke
The industry workhorse for film and episodic work. Nuke’s node-based system and deep 3D integration make it ideal for handling complex composites, deep data, and stereo workflows. It’s the backbone of most high-end VFX studios. Link.
2. After Effects
A staple for motion graphics, title work, and lighter compositing. After Effects shines in 2.5D workflows and integrates smoothly with other Adobe tools, making it a favourite for commercials, trailers, and short-form content. Link.
3. Fusion
From Blackmagic Design, Fusion is a powerful node-based compositor used across film and broadcast. It’s particularly popular in realtime workflows and can handle both 2D and 3D compositing with a user-friendly interface. Link.
4. Flame
Autodesk Flame is a high-end visual effects, finishing, and grading system designed for fast-paced, high-quality post-production, especially in advertising, broadcast, and short-form content. It’s a powerful hybrid of node-based compositing, timeline editing, colour grading, 3D visual effects, and client-facing tools — all rolled into one tightly integrated system. Link.
By storing depth information per pixel, deep compositing allows artists to layer volumetrics like fog, smoke, or particles with much greater precision. It revolutionised how complex, layered scenes are rendered and composited.
Machine learning tools are now automating complex masking and roto work. On John Wick: Chapter 3, these tools helped turn around complex action shots faster, freeing artists to focus on higher-level integration.
Working in HDR allows compositors to maintain a full range of light and colour, resulting in richer, more cinematic images. Mad Max: Fury Road made excellent use of this, delivering visuals that were both stylised and photoreal.
Thanks to GPU acceleration, artists can now make adjustments and see results instantly. This is especially valuable in live broadcast and fast-turnaround environments like Saturday Night Live or sports graphics.
On Gravity, LED rigs lit actors in sync with digital lighting setups, and compositing ensured these interactive cues matched the CG environment—blurring the line between physical and virtual light.
Compositing techniques have been co-opted into deepfake tech—raising important questions about consent, authenticity, and digital manipulation. It’s a powerful tool, but one that demands responsibility.
In The Mandalorian, compositing became part of the shoot. LED walls rendered backgrounds live, with foreground and background elements lit and aligned in-camera—reducing the need for post and speeding up delivery.
The pipeline is the invisible engine of any VFX production. It’s not a single tool or software—it’s the system that keeps everything running smoothly, from the first concept sketch to the final rendered frame. A well-built pipeline connects departments, tracks assets, manages data, and allows artists to do their best work without stepping on each other’s toes.
As projects grow more complex and teams become more distributed, the pipeline has become critical to both creative flexibility and production efficiency. It ensures that files are versioned correctly, that renders are delivered on time, and that every department—from modelling to comp—can work in sync.
Modern pipelines aren’t just about structure—they’re about agility. The best ones balance automation with adaptability, allowing teams to scale quickly and respond to creative changes without grinding production to a halt.
1. Shotgun/Shotgrid
Developed with the VFX and animation industries in mind, Shotgun provides robust tools for tracking tasks, assets, and feedback. It integrates directly with Maya, Nuke, and other major packages, helping artists stay focused and supervisors stay informed. Link.
2. FTrack
Another powerful production tracker, FTrack stands out for its clean interface and strong automation tools. It’s designed for cross-team collaboration—especially handy in global, multi-vendor workflows. Link.
In productions like The Lion King (2019), artists around the world accessed shared assets and scenes via cloud infrastructure. This kind of global pipeline made real-time collaboration possible across time zones and continents.
Machine learning is starting to streamline the repetitive stuff—naming conventions, asset tagging, even basic quality control. On Avengers: Infinity War, predictive tools helped manage version control and accelerated rendering pipelines across thousands of shots.
Pixar’s USD format is changing how 3D data moves through a pipeline. It allows multiple departments—and even different studios—to work on the same scene structure with consistency. Toy Story 4 made full use of USD to standardise asset management across the entire production.
Today’s pipelines often include live review tools, allowing supervisors to give feedback on animation, layout, or comp as it happens—cutting down on back-and-forth and keeping creative momentum high.
With enough historical data, pipelines can now forecast render times, storage needs, and manpower weeks in advance. That kind of insight helps producers allocate resources smarter and stay ahead of bottlenecks.
Modern systems can detect version mismatches or asset clashes before they become problems—alerting artists when they’re working with outdated files or conflicting changes. It’s like Git for 3D, and it’s saving a lot of headaches.
Colour is more than just an aesthetic choice—it’s a technical process that affects every stage of production. From the first concept art to final grading, the colour pipeline ensures that what’s seen in dailies matches what ends up on the big screen. For VFX, colour consistency is crucial to integration: if a CG creature doesn’t match the plate in contrast, saturation, or exposure, the illusion falls apart.
A modern colour pipeline standardises how images are displayed, interpreted, and finalised. This involves working in linear colour space for compositing and lighting, applying LUTs (Look-Up Tables) to preview the final grade, and adhering to frameworks like ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) to ensure consistency across vendors and platforms.
Final grading usually happens in the DI (Digital Intermediate) suite, where all shots—live action and VFX—are brought together for colour balancing, mood adjustments, and delivery. It’s the last step where the film’s visual tone is shaped and locked.
1. DaVinci Resolve
One of the industry’s leading tools for colour grading, Resolve supports HDR workflows, ACES, and deep integration with editorial timelines—ideal for conforming and finishing VFX-heavy films. Link.
2. OpenColorIO (OCIO)
A colour management framework used across VFX pipelines, OCIO ensures that every department sees colours the same way—whether working in Maya, Nuke, or Katana. Link.
3. Baselight
Popular in high-end grading suites, Baselight is known for its precision and real-time performance. It integrates well with editorial and VFX workflows, often used in finishing for features and high-end episodics. Link.
Switching from gamma-based to linear colour space allowed lighting and compositing to behave more like real-world physics. This shift was key to achieving photoreal VFX in films like Gravity and The Jungle Book.
ACES has become the go-to standard for managing colour across diverse production environments. On The Lego Movie, ACES helped unify a wildly stylised CG look across multiple vendors while keeping consistency in projection.
HDR delivery has become common on both cinema and streaming platforms. Films like Blade Runner 2049 used HDR and WCG grading to enhance depth, realism, and atmosphere—pushing visuals into new expressive territory.
Look-Up Tables are often used during shooting to preview how footage will look in the final grade. This allows directors and DOPs to make informed lighting decisions—and helps VFX teams line up their comps from day one.
In Chernobyl, colour grading was used not just for realism, but to subtly shift audience perception—desaturating over time to mirror the emotional descent of the narrative.
Some VFX shots receive their own “pre-grade” before DI, especially if they’re composited under neutral lighting. These grades act as visual targets to ensure CG matches across a sequence before final tweaks in DI.
In a VFX production, managing assets isn’t just about neat folders—it’s about keeping the entire project running. As shots get bigger and teams more distributed, asset management becomes essential to tracking everything from 3D models and textures to rigs, shots, and reference material.
Data wranglers and pipeline TDs play a critical role here, ensuring that assets are versioned correctly, accessible to the right teams, and compatible with every stage of the pipeline. Good asset management prevents rework, avoids data loss, and keeps everyone working from the same source of truth.
It’s one of those areas that rarely gets the spotlight—but without it, the entire production can grind to a halt.
1. Shotgun
Beyond task tracking, Shotgun allows studios to manage asset libraries, track shot dependencies, and connect metadata directly to pipeline tools. It’s often the central hub for asset status and reviews.
2. FTrack
FTrack provides asset tracking alongside task and feedback management. It integrates with most DCC apps and supports custom asset workflows, especially useful in multi-site productions.
3. OpenAssetIO
A developing open-source initiative from the Academy Software Foundation, OpenAssetIO aims to unify asset referencing across tools, helping studios build more flexible and tool-agnostic asset systems.
4. Custom Studio Tools
Many major studios build their own asset management systems—tailored to their specific pipeline structure, naming conventions, and production needs. These tools often plug into Maya, Nuke, and other core apps.
Modern systems now support granular tagging of assets by shot, sequence, or department. This allows teams to instantly identify dependencies—especially useful in large, overlapping productions like The Hobbit trilogy.
Global teams now rely on cloud platforms to share assets in real time. The Lion King (2019) is a standout example, where artists in LA and London accessed the same environment builds and character rigs via the cloud.
Universal Scene Description (USD) is transforming asset management. Instead of passing files between departments, USD allows teams to share live scene structures, reducing duplication and improving version control.
On shows like Gravity, data wranglers were embedded with on-set teams to log camera metadata, lens information, and onset scans in real time—ensuring smooth integration with CG builds later on.
Studios have strict naming conventions for assets—sometimes with automated version checks to prevent overwriting files. A rig or model can go through dozens of iterations, and tracking changes is key to avoiding chaos.
Some productions generate so much data that unused or redundant assets need to be audited and archived regularly. This “digital spring cleaning” is a major part of final delivery prep—especially when cloud storage costs are in play.
As we wrap up this deep dive into the current state of visual effects and animation, one thing is clear: we’re living through a period of remarkable evolution. Across every stage of the pipeline—from concept art to final grade—technology is reshaping how stories are visualised, built, and brought to life.
The rise of high-fidelity tools, procedural workflows, and real-time rendering has unlocked new creative freedom, while machine learning and cloud collaboration are streamlining production like never before. These advancements aren’t just making things faster—they’re making the impossible feel real, expanding what’s achievable both technically and artistically.
Recent projects like Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Half-Life: Alyx show just how far the craft has come. They blend performance, design, and technical innovation to deliver experiences that are visually stunning, emotionally rich, and globally resonant.
But with progress comes complexity. The demand for processing power is rising. Pipelines are becoming more intricate. Integrating new tech—without compromising artistic integrity—remains a key challenge. And in areas like AI and deepfakes, we’re facing urgent ethical questions about authenticity, manipulation, and trust.
Looking ahead, the next chapter in this series will explore where we might be going. What new tools are on the horizon? How might the boundaries between real and virtual continue to blur? And what role will artists, storytellers, and technologists play in shaping the next era of VFX and animation?
The future is wide open—and full of potential.
Concept art in VFX is the foundational stage where visual ideas are sketched, painted, or digitally designed to represent key characters, environments, and moods. It acts as a visual blueprint that guides directors, production designers, and VFX teams throughout the project.
Top tools include Adobe Photoshop (for flexibility and neural filters), Corel Painter (for traditional brush feel), and Procreate (for mobile workflows and brush control). Many artists also integrate 3D tools and AI generators during ideation.
Previsualisation (previs) allows filmmakers to plan camera moves, scenes, and effects digitally before filming. It reduces risk, saves budget, and aligns teams early—especially for VFX-heavy sequences.
Leading previs tools include Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine, Unity3D, and The Third Floor’s custom tools like Cyclops. These enable real-time scene planning, AR overlays, and pitchvis/techvis/postvis workflows.
Lookdev is the process of defining the final visual appearance of assets. It blends shading, texturing, and lighting to ensure assets look correct across sequences and match the film’s style.
Professionals rely on Katana, Maya with Arnold or V-Ray, Mari, and Substance 3D Painter to handle shading, lighting tests, and high-res textures in complex scenes.
With tools like Unreal Engine and Unity, layout artists can now plan scenes interactively—adjusting cameras, blocking, and lighting in real time. This reshapes how directors and VFX teams collaborate from pre-production onward.
AI supports many areas: from auto-generating concept sketches and previs camera paths, to assisting in rigging, texturing, and compositing. It’s accelerating workflows without replacing creative control.
Absolutely. Traditional skills in drawing, composition, and lighting remain crucial—especially in concept art, matte painting, and lookdev. Even as AI and 3D tools advance, the human eye and artistic judgement are irreplaceable.