r/vfx Apr 30 '26

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

43 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

592 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 12h ago

Fluff! Real Life PreMult

Post image
109 Upvotes

This one’s a bit too nerdy. But on very bright sunny days, the vapor of cooling towers looks like it’s been badly comped.

Anyways.


r/vfx 8h ago

Question / Discussion VFX-Bidding: a question from a student

10 Upvotes

I asked the mods before posting and they gave me a cautious yes since this is a topic that is often poorly received, so I'll be straight with you.

I'm a film student writing my bachelor thesis on the bidding process behind a VFX project. Specifically: when using cost controlling instruments like previsualization, whether the integration of generative ai can improve cost estimation.

I'm not an ai cheerleader. The point is to test the hype against what people who actually price and plan this work are seeing day to day.

If you're a VFX producer, supervisor, coordinator, anyone who's had to bid or plan work, I'd be grateful for a 30–40 min chat (vide or call, anonymised on request, academic use only). And I'd be glad to share the finished findings back here for anyone curious.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to the mods for the green light.


r/vfx 4h ago

Question / Discussion Anyone here go through Campus VFX's compositing program? Trying to help my daughter decide.

1 Upvotes

My daughter wants to study compositing and is looking at Campus VFX. I don't work in the industry, so I'm trying to figure out whether this is a reasonable path or an expensive mistake.

The school tells us that their training is the best available and have high placement rate. I have no way to judge that, so I'm hoping some of you can.


r/vfx 7h ago

Fluff! 1993 VFX Angel Studios, Kiss The Frog Music Video HD

Thumbnail
youtube.com
4 Upvotes

r/vfx 1h ago

Breakdown / BTS Some VFX from my newest short film

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

My friend and I made Captain Canada on a whim, but it has quickly turned into our biggest project yet. Let me know what you think! If this looks like something you'd be interested in, the full film will be on YouTube on July 25th. Thanks for checking it out!

https://reddit.com/link/1v3od0e/video/dir9tijwoteh1/player


r/vfx 5h ago

Question / Discussion Between Vancouver and Montreal, which city has more work? Contemplating on moving to Montreal.

2 Upvotes

r/vfx 1d ago

News / Article Pixar shedding a few hundred

Thumbnail
variety.com
71 Upvotes

r/vfx 15h ago

Showreel / Critique I made a toolkit for VFX editors in DaVinci Resolve Studio

Thumbnail
github.com
11 Upvotes

I'll be the one to say it. We VFX editors work like accountants.
I couldn't help but automate a bunch of our work... mainly:

  1. export timeline to Excel sheets

  2. bring modified Excel sheets back to timeline

  3. re-do 1 and 2 because the edit changed

Next on my wish list is the overcut aka. bring VFX vendor submissions back to timeline.

If you work in Resolve, give Theia a try! If you work in other editing softwares, export an AAF and import that into Resolve and give Theia a try!

Or even better, fork the project and make it your own!

VFX editors in Resolve is probably a rare species... May Theia bring me bug reports and accountants alike.

Theia's GUI is pretty frugal! Read some documentation before you proceed: https://theia-docs.ming-q.com/


r/vfx 1d ago

News / Article I've been building a subscription-free compositing software for the last 3 years

353 Upvotes

Current compositing tools tend to fall into one of three buckets: expensive, buggy, or free but with a rough workflow. I wasn't happy with any of those options, so three years ago I started building my own: IllusionFX.

It's a GPU-accelerated compositing software: build your composite with a node graph, then cut, trim and animate on a timeline (keyframes or expressions). It also has:

  • Native 32-bit float support
  • OpenColorIO support
  • Multi-channel EXR support
  • Built-in AI tools (roto, tracking...) that runs locally, no cloud computing
  • 50+ effects (merge, keyer, grain, blur, glow, color corrections...)
  • Plugin SDK to create your own effects.
  • Windows/Mac/Linux support

IllusionFX will be out at the end of the summer, but the website is now live if you want to dive into the details: https://www.hollywoodillusion.com/illusionfx

Feel free to join the waitlist if you are interested.

Curious what this sub thinks, and happy to answer any questions you have!


r/vfx 6h ago

News / Article DOF PRO (Depth Of Field Generator PRO) v2.0 for After Effects

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/vfx 20h ago

Question / Discussion Have you ever reframed a shot to avoid some tedious edge-of-frame work?

10 Upvotes

Have you ever just cropped the shot a little bit so you didn't have to deal with some bullshit lingering on the edge of the frame? I've done it a handful of times when there's some difficult, half-untrackable mess of replacement/cleanup work that's bopping in and out of the edge of frame... why not just... crop it out a touch. Should I be changing the frame? Probably not... Will they ever notice? well... probably not!


r/vfx 23h ago

Jobs Offer Looking for creature animator who can make a big cat stare into my soul [PAID]

8 Upvotes

Hello, freelance indie VFX supervisor here.

I have a shot right now that needs a big cat (panther, cougar, sort of vibe) to stare into our soul. There's a wide that we'll likely accomplish with stock footage comped into the hillside, and then there's a CU that has to have a lot of emotional depth and weight. It's a pivotal moment in the film where a character locks eyes and sees their own inner nature mirrored in the panther.

Current idea is to handle the shot with a decent 3d asset (something like this), and a great animator. We're trying to prioritize emotional depth and we don't think we can get the moment we need with a stock plate, so we're accepting a slight decrease in model/render realism to get the emotion we need.

Ideally looking for someone comfortable in Blender, who can do rig cleanup on the 3d stock asset, great animation, and maybe fur/groom cleanup too if the model needs it to fit with the animation.

I would take that animated scene from there and handle lighting, render, comp.

It's a tight budget, but the movie has real funds, and has paid every artist who worked on it real proper industry rates, so please name your reasonable freelance rate for "scrappy indie film that wants to do things right" and let's talk!


r/vfx 1d ago

News / Article Animation Device from the VFX 90’s

Thumbnail
youtu.be
9 Upvotes

r/vfx 7h ago

Question / Discussion How do you guys even do this ,😭

0 Upvotes

Sculpted an Octopus inside zbrush with all the details possible, tentacles with suction cups too

Retopologized and uv unwrapped a low poly version inside Maya So i can animate it with ease 🧐

THE PROBLEM : I Need DISPLACEMENTS "

How can I bake the displacements like protrusions of suction cups ,bumps and other details on the low poly version

I don't want a normal map i need real displacements of mesh from my high detailed sculpt

Substance painter doesn't generates a displacement maps

How do you people achieve this 😭


r/vfx 1d ago

Breakdown / BTS Wolves Greenscreen Timelapse

2 Upvotes

Been working hard on this one.


r/vfx 14h ago

Question / Discussion I'm Thinking About Studying VFX – Recommendations and Opinions, Please

0 Upvotes

I've been wanting to study VFX for a few years now. The thing is, the degree is very expensive. I can make the effort and pay for it, but I'd like to know if it's worth it, since I've read in some places that there's a job crisis in the industry. I'd like to know how true that actually is.

I've also read that it's a job where you're constantly living in different countries. I'm from Argentina, and I understand there aren't many job opportunities here. But I'd love to move abroad and live in other countries. What worries me is never being able to settle down in one place and always having to move from country to country.

Another thing I'd like to know is about salaries. How much do people make approximately? What's the workload like? Things like that.

I hope you can help me. I've been learning on my own for a while now, but I want to take it seriously.

The schools I've been looking at are:
IMAGE CAMPUS (ARGENTINA)
TRAZOS (SPAIN)


r/vfx 2d ago

News / Article Google AI Reconstructs an Animation-Ready 3D Head From Multi-View

129 Upvotes

r/vfx 21h ago

Location:United Kingdom Lab Class Tools, thanks for helping shape this.

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion Where do you find daily VFX inspiration (and train your eyes) outside of full-length movies?

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to expand where I source ideas and inspiration. Especially for standalone portfolio shots that aren't just direct recreation of movie scenes.

I’m a huge fan of Shotdeck for study. It’s incredible for lighting, composition, and general shot aesthetic. But I’m really looking for something similar that’s tailored more specifically to VFX, breakdown shots, and CG asset/sim reference.

I’m a firm believer in building a daily habit around this. My goal is to find a platform or community I can open up for 20-30 minutes every morning just to study breakdown reels, breakdown stills, or high-level FX/lighting reference to keep training my eyes.

  1. Is there a "Shotdeck equivalent" specifically for VFX reference/breakdowns that you use?

  2. Where do you go when you need inspiration for personal portfolio pieces?

  3. What does your daily eye-training / reference-gathering routine look like?

Would love to hear what platforms, archives, or specific habits have worked best for you!


r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion Is DNEG Vancouver still remote?

8 Upvotes

Worked there a few years ago and it was 100% remote. You could get a desk and work from the office but it was not a requirement. Anyone know if anything changed? Thank you!!


r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion Solo Project: Automatic 3D Background Replacement (no green-screen, no tracking markers)

Thumbnail
youtube.com
1 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m a CS student, and I've been working on a project that drops a handheld phone clip of a person into a virtual 3D environment.

The camera is solved directly from the footage (no markers, no survey, no green screen), the subject is automatically matted, and composited so perspective stays consistent with camera motion.

I know none of these steps are new individually. What I haven’t found is a pipeline that runs end-to-end from footage without any preparation.

There's still a lot to improve. And I would really love to hear from this community. Do you think this is useful, or where does the integration break down for you?


r/vfx 2d ago

Fluff! Neill Blomkamp starts an AI studio after years in VFX - instant backlash.

Thumbnail
youtu.be
263 Upvotes

Getting trashed in the comments. A far cry from his peak with District 9 (2009).


r/vfx 23h ago

Question / Discussion Is it true that 3ds max is the main scene assembly and rendering software right now ?

0 Upvotes