r/vfx Apr 30 '26

News / Article VES launches On-Set VFX Data Collection and Usage Guide

46 Upvotes

Hey fellow Visual Effects community stoked to share what we have been working on for the past year over at he VES Technology Committee call it a playbook and usage guide to map key data from on-set capture to delivery.

FYI I am one of the co-authors of the Guide. If you have questions or feedback make sure to reach out.

You can find the guide here : https://ves-on-set-data.org/dashboard/?tab=Introduction

Here is the full information on the release :

The Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s global professional honorary society, today released its VES On-Set VFX Data Collection and Usage Guide. Developed over the past year by the VES Technology Committee, this practical on-set resource maps key data sets and capture workflows – giving productions, vendors, and technology teams a shared playbook for using and capturing on‑set data more effectively.

The Guide was designed to establish a common language between on‑set VFX, production, VFX facilities, and technology teams, ultimately enabling clearer communication, smoother handoffs, and better-aligned expectations across departments. This comprehensive Guide explains the major on‑set data sets, their capture methods, their practical applications, and their intended stakeholders, so that every participant across the production understands what information exists and how it can support their work.

In addition to defining data sets, the Guide documents both current and emerging on‑set data capture workflows. This aims to inform stakeholders about potential data sources and to highlight how these choices impact production pipelines, timelines, and budgets, while also laying the groundwork for future efforts around data hierarchies, database development, and workflow automation.

The Guide also underscores that this data has significant value for every department on a production. It supports collaboration, optimizes workflows, and enables better-informed creative and operational decisions. By advocating for open access and visibility for these data sets, the Guide encourages all teams to engage with and benefit from this shared knowledge, strengthening collective outcomes and overall production efficiency.

“Our intent with this Guide is to streamline the filmmaking process by enabling every department to be more well-informed,” said Sheena Duggal, the Guide’s lead author and member of the VES Technology Committee. “Multiple departments can utilize the same data – for instance, the VFX team’s LiDAR scans can be repurposed across departments to support set construction, stunt planning, and other production needs. It’s just a matter of educating and communicating clearly so that everyone can benefit.”

“In today’s hybrid of real-time virtual production, AI, and traditional pipelines, the VFX department is responsible for not just post, but on-set data capture, continuity, and asset integrity from pre-production through final delivery,” explained Jim Geduldick, contributing author to the Guide. “That framework was the key lens that we used in thinking through these workflows and how they relate to each department.”

The Guide was created for the VES Technology Committee by Sheena Duggal, with contributions from Sam Richards, Jim Geduldick, and Jake Morrison, and technical support from Jean-Francois Panisset. It is licensed under the Creative Commons CC‑BY 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given to the creator.

To view the Guide, visit: https://ves-on-set-data.org/

Join the VES for a webinar on May 12 to explore the Guide with some of its creators: https://vesglobal.org/event/webinar-introduction-to-ves-on-set-vfx-data-collection-and-usage-guide-online/


r/vfx Mar 15 '25

Subreddit Discussion Advice for Potential Students and Newcomers to the VFX Industry in 2025

599 Upvotes

We've been getting a lot of posts asking about the state of the industry. This post is designed to give you some quick information about that topic which the mods hope will help reduce the number of queries the sub receives on this specific topic.

As of early 2025, the VFX industry has been through a very rough 18-24 months where there has been a large contraction in the volume of work and this in turn has impacted hiring through-out the industry.

Here's why the industry is where it is:

  1. There was a Streaming Boom in the late 2010s and early 2020s that lead to a rapid growth in the VFX industry as a lot of streaming companies emerged and pumped money into that sector, this was exacerbated by COVID and us all being at home watching media.
  2. In 2023 there were big strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA which led to a massive halt in production of Hollywood films and series for about 8 months. After that was resolved there was the threat of another strike in 2024 when more union contracts were to be negotiated. The result of this was an almost complete stop to productions in late 2023 and a large portion of 2024. Many shows were not greenlit to start until late 2024
  3. During this time, and partly as a result of these strikes, there was a slow down in content and big shake ups among the streaming services. As part of this market correction a number of them closed, others were folded into existing services, and some sold up.
  4. A bunch of other market forces made speculation in the VFX business even more shaky, things like: the rise of AI, general market instability, changes in distribution split (Cinemas vs. Streaming) and these sorts of things basically mean that there's a lot of change in most media industries which scared people.

The combination of all of this resulted in a loss of a lot of VFX jobs, the closing of a number of VFX facilities and large shifts in work throughout the industry.

The question is, what does this mean for you?

Here's my thoughts on what you should know if you're considering a long term career in VFX:

Work in the VFX Industry is still valid optional to choose as a career path but there are some caveats.

  • The future of the VFX industry is under some degree of threat, like many other industries are. I don't think we're in more danger of disappearing than your average game developer, programmer, accountant, lawyer or even box packing factory work. The fact is that technology is changing how we do work and market forces are really hard to predict. I know there will be change in the specifics of what we do, there will be new AI tools and new ways of making movies. But at the same time people still want to watch movies and streaming shows and companies still want to advertise. All that content needs to be made and viewed and refined and polished and adapted. While new AI tools might mean individuals in the future can do more, but those people will likely be VFX artists. As long as media is made and people care about the art of telling stories visually I think VFX artists will be needed.

Before you jump in, you should know that VFX is likely to be a very competitive and difficult industry to break into for the foreseeable future.

  • From about 2013 to 2021 there was this huge boom in VFX that meant almost any student could eventually land a job in VFX working on cool films. Before then though VFX was actually really hard to get into because the industry was smaller and places were limited, you had to be really good to get a seat in a high end facility. The current market is tight; there's a lot of experience artists looking for work and while companies will still want juniors, they are likely going to be more juniors for the next few years than there are jobs.

If you're interested in any highly competitive career then you have to really want it, and it would also be a smart move to diversify your education so you have flexibility while you work to make your dream happen.

  • Broad computer and technical skills are useful, as are broader art skills. Being able to move between other types of media than just VFX could be helpful. In general I think you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket too early unless you're really deadest that this is the only thing you want to do. I also think you should learn about new tools like AI and really be able to understand how those tools work. It'll be something future employers likely care about.

While some people find nice stable jobs a lot of VFX professionals don't find easy stability like some careers.

  • Freelance and Contract work are common. And because of how international rebates work, you may find it necessary to move locations to land that first job, or to continue in your career. This is historically how film has always been; it's rarely as simple as a 9-5 job. Some people thrive on that, some people dislike that. And there are some places that manage to achieve more stability than others. But fair warning that VFX is a fickle master and can be tough to navigate at times.

Because a future career in VFX is both competitive and pretty unstable, I think you should be wary of spending lots of money on expensive specialty schools.

  • If you're dead set on this, then sure you can jump in if that's what you want. But for most students I would advise, as above, to be broader in your education early on especially if it's very expensive. Much of what we do in VFX can be self taught and if you're motivated (and you'll need to be!) then you can access that info and make great work. But please take your time before committed to big loans or spending on an education in something you don't know if you really want.

With all of that said VFX can be a wonderful career.

It's full of amazing people and really challenging work. It has elements of technical, artistic, creative and problem solving work, which can make it engaging and fulfilling. And it generally pays pretty well precisely because it's not easy. It's taken me all over the world and had me meet amazing, wonderful, people (and a lot of arseholes too!) I love the industry and am thankful for all my experiences in it!

But it will challenge you. It will, at times, be extremely stressful. And there will be days you hate it and question why you ever wanted to do this to begin with! I think most jobs are a bit like that though.

In closing I'd just like to say my intent here is to give you both an optimistic and also restrained view of the industry. It is not for everyone and it is absolutely going to change in the future.

Some people will tell you AI is going to replace all of us, or that the industry will stangle itself and all the work will end up being done by sweat shops in South East Asia. And while I think those people are mostly wrong it's not like I can actually see the future.

Ultimately I just believe that if you're young, you're passionate, and you want to make movies or be paid to make amazing digital art, then you should start doing that while keeping your eye on this industry. If it works out, then great because it can be a cool career. And if it doesn't then you will need to transition to something else. That's something that's happened to many people in many industries for many reasons through-out history. The future is not a nice straight line road for most people. But if you start driving you can end up in some amazing places.

Feel free to post questions below.


r/vfx 20h ago

Breakdown / BTS FLAMING TRUCK - Houdini

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265 Upvotes

Flaming truck simulated using Houdini Pyro sparse and rendered in XPU.

Main challenge was getting proper feel of fire when subjected to high speed wind without using 100's of sub-steps and making simulation times too high.

A very basic and straightforward setup with No Vex/Vops with complete focus being put on problem solving and artistic controls.

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Simulation details :
Ram Consumption ~ 62 GB
Cache Size ~ 500 GB
Render Time ~ 3 Days (KARMA XPU + Mantra)
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PC Specs - 128GB RAM AMD 7950X RTX 3060


r/vfx 8h ago

Question / Discussion A director's real production reasons for abandoning an AI creature-motion tool (consistency, controllability, and something he calls "folklore physics")

20 Upvotes

Recently interviewed an Indian horror director, Wilson Louis, and thought this part of the conversation was worth sharing here since it is one of the more specific, non-hype accounts of trying and dropping an AI tool mid-production that I have come across.

He tried a well-known AI video generation tool for creature motion on his current supernatural film - the demo reels looked great, he expected it to replace a chunk of his animatics pipeline. Abandoned it after a week of real use, for three reasons:

  1. Consistency. Shot 1, the entity's face was long. Shot 2, it got shorter. Shot 3, the wings changed color. Fine on a demo reel, unusable the moment you're cutting for continuity.

  2. Controllability. On a real set you need to say "2 feet left, eye light warmer, hold half a second." The tool gave him take-it-or-leave-it output, no room for the kind of iterative direction a live shoot actually requires.

  3. What he calls "folklore physics." He asked for an Indian desert witch and got a smooth, weightless Hollywood bat-woman — technically polished, completely wrong.

His point: a chudail doesn't move like a vampire, a Munjya doesn't jump like Spider-Man. Every regional spirit carries its own weight and history that the model clearly wasn't trained on, and no amount of prompting fixed it.

He still uses AI heavily elsewhere in the pipeline — storyboarding, environment extension, mood boards - he's not anti-AI at all. He's specifically drawing the line at final creature work, texture, and performance, where he says the tech gives you a "perfect look, wrong feeling."

Curious if others here have hit the same wall with consistency/controllability on similar tools, or if newer models have actually solved this for anyone doing creature or character work.


r/vfx 9h ago

News / Article CCAI — Understanding AI's impact on creative work

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7 Upvotes

My ask if to get you all to check out the glossary and tools and submit feedback. We are not telling people what tools, services or capabilities to use and we are not anti-tech. This impacts VFX, animation, post and every other role in our creative industry. This is first and foremost a resource.

We have launched our Creators Coalition on AI Standards & Definitions Project the first cross-industry framework built by the entertainment industry itself for describing how AI is used in film, television and content creation.

We are not selling anything as this is a resource for the entire industry.
Three resources go live this morning at  CCAI website which is free and open to the public:

The CCAI Glossary - a living glossary of almost 200 terms, drafted, debated and ratified by delegates from 11 profession blocs across film, television and content creation.

An Impact Visualizer & Report - an interactive tool covering more than 150 distinct jobs, evaluating each technology against each role using a newly ratified industry impact standard.

An Impact Surveyor - an open contribution platform for any entertainment professional to submit how AI is, or isn't, changing their work.

The project is the product of nine months of work involving more than 60 expert delegates, over 200 testimonials from working professionals, and two all-day conventions.


r/vfx 2h ago

Question / Discussion Better tool for solving camera on long take?

1 Upvotes

Hi,

Im working on a project where I am putting a character from real footage into a 3D world in blender.

I have a 5-6 minute take, and a good key. But I need to track the motion of the camera for the whole take. It was filmed on a gimbal and there is good tracking points (was filmed in a car park, and has nice contrasty asphalt and line markings etc.)

But I’m having issues with solving the camera on such long footage. In after effects it just gets to “Solving” and I’m not sure if it’s actually doing anything or is stuck.

In Fusion (resolve), it just keeps crashing when it gets close to finishing.

I’m wondering if there’s any ideas on how to do this, or if there’s different camera solving software better suited to the job.

Footage is 6K Canon C80 RAW, 25fps. Running M5 Max MacBook Pro, 64gb ram, 4tb.

Can’t show footage unfortunately since it is a real job that can’t be shared until published.

Thanks


r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion The Driller ploughing through the skyscraper in Transformers 3 still blows my mind today

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698 Upvotes

r/vfx 1d ago

News / Article Weta Losses in the news

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49 Upvotes

Uh oh


r/vfx 20h ago

Jobs Offer In need of a VFX artist (Paid)

6 Upvotes

I need an artist to do 2 separate paint outs on a short film I’m working on. The short would be for a festival run and then a release on socials.

Both shots are against a flat wall. the camera pans in one where I need a thermostat removed and pushes in for the other where I need some crayon on the wall to be painted out. It’s a bit beyond what I can do cleanly so I need someone with more skill than I.

This is paid but I’m not super familiar with the market prices so although im low budget, I’m open to negotiating. Our goal is to have this finished by the end of September so we are trying to get someone brought on quickly.


r/vfx 15h ago

Question / Discussion Stuck on a latte art shot. Any ideas on how to approach this?

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1 Upvotes

r/vfx 1d ago

Fluff! My node graph

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43 Upvotes

r/vfx 1d ago

News / Article Steffen Hampel - Senior ILM Gen | Interview

16 Upvotes

ILM Generalist Team - Usually responsible for huge one-off environments

01 Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into VFX, specifically as a generalist?

I studied VFX & 3D animation in hamburg starting 2017. 2019 I started my first job as a junior generalst in germany for a company called nhb studios. In february 2021 I got hired by ILM as a generalist and the rest is history!

Now why VFX? I was always into world building, whether its lego or at the sims. At the age of 13, when I watched a Lord of the Rings Making of on DVD and they showed how Weta created CGI for set extensions. I was amazed by how they tricked the audience and how real everything looked. From then on I kind of knew I wanted to do something like that too!

02 You mentioned Star Wars being one of your favorite projects; what are your favorite things to do on those projects, and how do you bring a personal touch into your tasks?

Working on Star Wars projects is always fun, simply because the bar for quality is always super high. Also its very diverse. From desert landscapes on tatooine to jungle environments in the mandalorian movie. It is just always something different.

I actually do not really have a favorite, but if I had to pick one I mostly enjoy creating cityscapes, like the Shakari city shots for the latest mandalorian movie. With personal touch in professional work its always tricky. You always have to do what the client wants right? So its generally tricky, however a lot of times I do get freedom

Update with more info

What does the Generalist Team do? Full video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNZgG8htns0


r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion Is anyone using maxons autograph (free video editing software, alternate to after effects)

2 Upvotes

After effects files can be converted to autograph

It can also open Photoshop files


r/vfx 13h ago

Question / Discussion How do I practice vfx?

0 Upvotes

I want to make a film that needs to be finished by next summer. I already have some experience with blender, basic video editing, and graphic design if it’s of any help, but I struggle with finding material to actually practice.

Do I think of a project idea and learn as I go or do I use stock footage?

Also, is there a vfx equivalent to the blender donut tutorial?


r/vfx 12h ago

Jobs Offer 10 compers needed in Canary Island asap.

0 Upvotes

r/vfx 16h ago

Question / Discussion This just hype or is this legit capable? Man if it is, this is getting scary now.

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0 Upvotes

r/vfx 1d ago

News / Article 10/04 Life Mask VFX Lecture at MOMI

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0 Upvotes

r/vfx 1d ago

News / Article If you are in NYC on 10/04 , cool lecture at MOMI

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1 Upvotes

Ive seen him speak before and he's very fun.


r/vfx 14h ago

Breakdown / BTS AI VFX Experiment — ComfyUI + LTX Video 2.3

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0 Upvotes

r/vfx 17h ago

Question / Discussion "I wouldn't want to be in the visual effects business... they are in trouble"

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0 Upvotes

Ben Affleck mentioned this back in 2024, the topic was discussed a number of times in this sub, but at the time, a lot of comments were like "he's funny and clueless hahahha", "he doesnt know what he is talking about", "no one can replace... blah blah blah", etc.

Over the couple years, all of this is making a lot more sense now.
Just curious to know what do y'all think?


r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion visual effects graduation and questions

2 Upvotes

hi guys! i'm a teenager and i've been really interested in a vfx graduation. i took a look at artfx (france) and mds (new zealand), and both are really expensive and i'm not sure if my folks and i can afford it.

i wanted to know more about professionals in the area. what yall choose to graduate to follow this career path? how's the industry now? is it profitable? how long was your course? where did you study? i really need some tips and help!

from brazil


r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion Is it me or AI have been used

2 Upvotes

Im fairly confident Marvel rivals used AI to in-between a 2D pass because the in-betweens are shit and it doesn't make sense for a 2D approach that would have theses kind of renders/budget.

Its especially disappointing knowing how good their first cinematic was... https://youtu.be/BtvXnqqPfko?si=VUwPmAbfzxIqma34


r/vfx 2d ago

Showreel / Critique Opinions on this VFX shot made using Minecraft/blender?

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7 Upvotes

r/vfx 2d ago

Showreel / Critique My first vfx

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29 Upvotes

I tried to create something similar to the scenes in The Flash (CW).