VFX Job Roles

Compositor

Compositor’s work at the end of the production process, responsible for constructing the final image by combining layers of previously created material. They creatively combine all the elements into the final image, ensuring that the established style of the project is respected and maintained.

To achieve this they enhance the lighting, match blacks and other colour levels, add grain where required, add motion blur where required, and create convincing shadows. They make sure levels combine together seamlessly, keying, rotoscoping and creating mattes where necessary. They also work closely with ‘lighters’ and need to have a technical knowledge of how 3D lighting works in order to understand the ‘multi passes’ that the lighters create.

Concept Artist

Concept Artists work at the beginning of the pre-production process up to six months before the filming is due to begin, responsible for producing illustrations that are striking, accurate and clear. They work on illustrations throughout the shoot and may often be required to change and adapt their original ideas as filming progresses.

Additionally they could potentially being involved in the development process, producing a series of illustrations that help to sell the film to potential Financiers and/or Distributors. Concept Artists work on big budget sci-fi, fantasy or historical films where visual and special effects create design spectacles, fantastical creatures or other invented elements.

Digital Preparation Artist

Paint/Prep Artists are responsible for rig removal tasks, painting out markers, wires and rigging before the shot can move along the pipeline. High-level quality control and a keen eye for repair work is necessary, as the work must be invisible. The work of a Paint/Prep Artist is likely to be reviewed by a VFX Supervisor, often one frame at a time, and compared back to the original plate on a cinema screen.

It is their job to digitally prepare the plate for the Compositing Department to layer in CG, digital matte painting, graphics or other photographed elements, sometimes using green screen, or effects photography. In addition, there are sometimes mistakes on the shoot, such as boom mics or crew members accidentally appearing in the frame. Sometimes images need to be restored too, removing damage in the shape of scratches and dust. The Paint/Prep team will fix these problems before the footage moves to the next department.

Layout Artist (3D computer animation)

Layout Artists break down the 2D storyboards into 3D shots by using production designs and models as a reference to build locations as well as major props. They are responsible for stagin every shot, posititioning the characters, props as well as establishing camera angles to plot the camera moves.

They ensure that everything which will be animated, such as characters and props is set up correctly and may also be responsible for deciding the lengths of each shot within a scene. However it is likely a Director and Editor will view it and make comments so the Layout Artist can make any necessary changes before the scene is passed on to animators.

Lightning Technical Director

A Lighting Technical Director or ‘Lighter’ is responsible for ensuring that there is consistency in lighting, colour balance and mood within the scenes, as well as being responsible for making sure that computer generated imagery looks photo-realistic where appropriate in order to match the live action plates.

Lighters also create the lighting that adds atmosphere to a scene, increasing the realism, tone and depth as well as clarifying the location, weather and time of day. They refer to production designs, ensuring that the aesthetics applied are as faithful to visual style as possible in order to maintain continuity.

Match Move Artist

Match Move Artists position the tracking points in live action shots and uses those
tracking points in order to create a CG scene with realistic movement. The information they provide enables the CG geometry to fit more accurately and convincingly to the live action plates so that everything in the scene feels realistic and as if it belongs there.

Match Move Artists must be meticulous in their work.

Without accurate match moving, the later stages of production will not work. 3D tracking is very time consuming and requires a lot of focus, accuracy and patience.

Animation Director/Supervisor

Animation Directors are responsible for the quality of the animation, for keeping it on brief and for delivering consistent performances by assigning, or casting, the appropriate Animators. The role of Animation Director may only exist on larger projects and is often combined with the Director role on smaller productions.

They interpret the brief from the Director and other relevant departments. They then guide, supervise and review the work produced by the Animators and Assistant Animators. They need to understand the implications of performance, style, quality, continuity, technical, scheduling and budgetary requirements.

Matte Painter

Matte Painting itself is as old as the history of VFX, originally done by oil painting directly onto glass in front of the camera in order to help with the creation of wonderful worlds as seen in the original Star Wars movies for example.

A Matte Painter is responsible for creating virtual backgrounds used in order to either replace or enhance live action photographed plates. The artist works with stills taken from live action photography, digital still photography, rendered CG elements and digital paint to create believable ‘environments’ that are seamlessly integrated into the film by compositing artists.

Roto Artist

Roto Artists trace the areas of live action frames where computer graphics will overlap or interact with live images. This creates clear areas (mattes) within the frame to allow all elements of the scene to be layered convincingly. This enables Compositors to combine all the various elements accurately.

This process is called rotoscoping and originated in 2D animation when live action was traced as reference for movement or to establish where drawings needed to match to areas of live action. Rotoscoping is the first skill required by Compositors and continues to be part of a Compositor’s role. On smaller projects, Compositors may do their own rotoscoping.

VFX Producer

As the VFX industry continues to grow, the role of the Producer is becoming more and more necessary to a working studio. A good Producer effectively manages the project, making sure everyone is working to a deadline and is working correctly, while also making sure the project is staying within budget and project is profitable.

Some of the more specific details of the job may vary from studio-to-studio – some Producers will end up meeting a lot more with clients than others, for example – but the basics of making sure the project is running on time and within budget is the same.

Technical Director

A Technical Director is a somewhat broad term for a range of disciplines within VFX. Generically, they are in charge of running simulations and programs in order to create desired effects, but the science and artistry involved means that nearly all Technical Directors are very specialised. For example, a Groom Technical Director would be responsible for generating realistic hair and fur.

Technical Directors will write script to generate the effects, and will experiment with various attributes and figures until they achieve the perfect result. This makes things impossible to animate by hand easy to create for artists later in the pipeline, like realistic water, fire and smoke.

VFX Supervisor

Working with the director or producer of a project, the VFX Supervisor will decide on the VFX needs for every shot. For bigger productions, sometimes prototype effects may be required for the director to examine before production. During production, the VFX Supervisor would need to spend time on-set making sure the shots that require visual effects are being filmed correctly to allow for a clean edit.

VFX Supervisors are the leaders of a team of artists in the visual effects studio. They are responsible for ensuring the creative aims of a director or producer are met. They need to maintain a good relationship with their own artists, the editor and the client to ensure the end result is exactly as intended.

Runner

A Runner in a VFX studio will find that a lot of their job relies on making sure the site itself remains operational and the atmosphere remains positive. Whether this is acting as a messenger between two departments, gathering resources for an artist or simply making a cup of tea, the Runner is an integral part of any studio.

The added benefit of working in a VFX studio is all of the knowledge and artistry involved. Budding VFX artists will find plenty of teachers and opportunities to impress while working as a runner, and can use it as a platform to move on to greater things.

Rigger

A VFX Rigger is responsible for creating the “skeleton” of a 3D model, ensuring that all the joints and muscles work correctly and accurately so the animators can start to position the models creatively.

This process is done by using a 3D Animation software like Maya or 3D Studio Max. You create the skeleton by manipulating a model and placing joints where necessary, making sure everything fits and looks natural as you do so. A rigger will have to work closely with the modeller to make sure the model’s design allows for the type of movement a rigger will seek to implement.

Modeller

Modellers build three-dimensional computer models of everything that is needed for a CGI project. They work to established designs and need to produce an accurate translation of the design reference, staying on model (in style). They may do their own research or scan in a sculpture as reference.

The models they produce need to meet the creative requirements of the Production Designer, Art Director and/or client, but it is just as important that they should satisfy the technical needs of the CG department and be efficient, reliable, to scale and to be easy to rig and animate.

Further on in the process, Riggers will rig the models to enable them to be animated and Texture Artists will apply texture which will be further enhanced at the lighting stage when tone and depth are added.

Texture Artist

The texture artist’s main duty is to create photo-realistic textures for mapping onto 3D objects. These textures will often be created from scratch, but may also be created from existing materials. Familiarity with the requisite software is required, as well as familiarity with the process of UV mapping.

To create the appropriate finishes, a texture artist may scan photographs and then digitally apply the textures to objects and environments previously created by other members of the effects team, or they may create custom textures that go far beyond what appears in nature. As members of the visual effects team, texture artists must maintain a high level of photo-realism in whatever surfaces they choose so as to enhance the 3D environment and fit the requirements of the model pipeline and shading setup.