From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Visual effects (or 'VFX' for short) is the term given in which images or film frames are created and manipulated for film and video. Visual effects usually involve the integration of live-action footage with computer generated imagery or other elements (such as pyrotechnics or model work) in order to create environments or scenarios which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film. They have become increasingly common in big-budget films, and have also recently become accessible to the amateur filmmaker with the introduction of affordable animation and compositing software.

Visual effects are frequently integral to a movie's story and appeal. Although most visual-effects work is completed during post-production, it usually must be carefully planned and choreographed in pre-production and production. A visual effects supervisor is usually involved with the production from an early stage to work closely with production and the Director to achieve the desired effects.

Visual effects may be divided into at least four categories:

• Models: miniature sets and models, animatronics
• Matte paintings and stills: digital or traditional paintings or photographs which serve as background plates for keyed or rotoscoped elements
• Live-action effects: keying actors or models through bluescreening and greenscreening
• Digital animation: modeling, computer graphics lighting, texturing, rigging, animating, and rendering computer generated 3D characters, particle effects, digital sets, backgrounds, etc..

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article. (Discuss)

• Animal Logic (Sydney, AU and Venice, CA)
• Boss Film Studios (Marina Del Rey, CA) - closed
• Bird Studios (London UK)
• CA Scanline (München, DE)
• Cinesite (London/Hollywood)
• C.O.R.E. (Toronto, ON, Canada)
• Def2shoot (Paris, France)
• Digital Domain (Venice, LA, CA, US)
• Double Negative (VFX) (London, UK)
• DreamWorks (LA, CA, US)
• Fell Visual Effects (LA, CA, US)
• Flash Film Works (LA, CA, US)
• Framestore CFC (London, UK)
• Giantsteps (Venice, CA)
• The Mill (London, UK; NY and LA, US)
• Hydraulx (Santa Monica, LA, US)
• Image Engine (Vancouver, BC, CA)
• Industrial Light and Magic (San Francisco, CA, US)
• Intelligent Creatures (Toronto, ON, CA)
• Mac Guff (LA, CA, US; Paris, FR)
• Moving Picture Company (Soho, London, UK)
• Moving Picture Company (Soho, London, UK)
• Pixomondo (Berlin, Germany; London, UK; )
• Red Chillies VFX (Mumbai, India)
• Rhythm and Hues Studios (LA, CA, US and Mumbai, India)
• Rising Sun Pictures (Adelaide and Sydney, AU)
• RIOT (Santa Monica, CA and Manhattan, NY, USA)
• Surreal World (Melbourne, AU)
• Sony Pictures Imageworks (Culver City, CA, US)
• Sway Studio (Culver City, CA, US)
• The Orphanage (company) (LA and San Francisco, CA, US; Vancouver, BC, CA)
• Tippett Studio (Berkeley, CA, US)
• Two Door Productions (Orlando, FL)
• Weta Digital (Wellington, NZ)
• Zoic Studios (Culver City, CA, US)
• Intrigue FX (Canada)
• M5 Industries (San Francisco)
• TATA Elxsi Limited - Visual Computing Labs (Mumbai,IN)

• Animation
• Computer Generated Imagery
• 3D Computer Graphics
• Physical Effects — another category of special effects
• Bluescreen
• Front projection effect
• Rear projection effect
• Compositing

• VFXY - Visual Effects Portal

• T. Porter and T. Duff, "Compositing Digital Images", Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '84, 18 (1984).
• The Art and Science of Digital Compositing (ISBN 0-12-133960-2)
• McClean, Shilo T. (2007). Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects in Film. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-13465-9.