What Is VFX?

What does VFX mean?

VFX is short for visual effects. It means work that adds to, removes from or changes a filmed shot, so the finished image contains something the camera did not capture on set. The common definition places it in post-production, and Wikipedia's entry on visual effects frames it the same way: combining live-action footage with generated imagery.

The key word is shot. VFX starts from footage, called a plate, and changes it. That separates it from a film built entirely in software, which is CGI without a plate. If you need that distinction in one line: VFX describes what the work is for, CGI describes how an image is made.

What are the main types of VFX?

Seven jobs cover almost everything. Most shots use two or three of them together.

VFX job	What it does	Where you see it in an ad
Clean-up and removal	Erases rigs, wires, reflections, logos, crew	The spotless product table
Set and environment extension	Builds more world than the location offered	A street that goes on forever
CG insertion	Places a 3D object or character into the plate	A product or mascot standing in a real room
Simulation	Computes fire, water, smoke, cloth or destruction	Liquid pouring in impossible slow motion
Compositing	Merges every layer into one image with matched grain and light	Every VFX shot ends here
Screen and sky replacement	Swaps the content of a surface	A phone screen or a grey sky fixed after the shoot
Camera tracking	Reconstructs the real camera so digital elements stick	Invisible, but everything above depends on it

Tracking and compositing are the two that are never optional. If either is weak, the viewer sees the seam, whatever the 3D looks like.

How is a VFX shot made?

Because a plate exists, the order differs from a pure CG shot.

1. Plan before the shoot. Decide what stays real, which lens is used, where markers go and what the lighting is. This is the cheapest stage.
2. Capture the plate. Lens data, a clean plate, a lighting reference such as an HDRI or grey and chrome ball.
3. Track and prepare. Solve the camera, cut out anything that crosses the effect (roto), remove what must go.
4. Build the effect. Model, animate or simulate, lit against the real lighting of the plate.
5. Render in passes. Layers such as diffuse, reflections, shadows and depth, so the compositor can adjust each separately.
6. Composite and grade. Add grain, blur, lens character and contact shadows, then grade real and digital together.

The shoot decides most of the result. A shot that was filmed without tracking points or lighting reference can still be saved, but every missing piece turns into hours later. The full capture list is in what is mixed reality video production.

What is the difference between VFX, CGI, SFX and animation?

They overlap, and clients often use the words interchangeably. This is the practical split.

Term	What it describes	Example
VFX	Changing or adding to a shot, mostly after filming	Extending a set, adding a creature
CGI	Images made by computer	A fully 3D product render
SFX	Effects done physically on set	A real explosion, rain, a prosthetic
Animation	Movement over time	A character walking, a camera fly-through

A single commercial can use all four. A real rainstorm made by a rain rig (SFX) is cleaned up and extended (VFX) with a 3D product added (CGI) that is animated to the music (animation).

What does VFX look like in advertising?

Advertising uses VFX for three reasons: the shot would be unsafe, it would cost more than building it, or it has to exist in many versions. Here is where my own work sits across those jobs. This is the part generic explainers cannot show.

Project	VFX job	What was done
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 (2025)	Camera tracking, CG insertion, compositing	3D animation placed into real footage with precise camera tracking, realistic lighting and clean compositing
Hyperreal CGI portrait studies (2021 to 2025)	Simulation and compositing effects	Glitch, particle erosion and layered effects on photoreal heads, built as a personal series
BASF Design Fabrics (2023)	Simulation and look development	Stylised material animations with composition, where the materials could not be filmed in a meaningful way

Only the Samsung film is a VFX shot in the strict sense, because it starts from a real plate. The other two are CGI with VFX techniques. That difference is exactly why the two words are worth keeping apart: it decides whether you need a shoot, and shoots are where budgets move.

Is VFX or full CGI better for a commercial?

Use VFX when the real environment carries meaning, when a real location or texture is part of the message, or when a real plate makes a digital object more believable than a rendered room would. Use full CGI when the world itself is impossible, when no shoot fits the schedule, or when you need many variants from one build. The longer comparison is in CGI vs live action product commercials.

Music videos are the other place the two blend. Environment extension, objects and transformations on filmed shots are the VFX side, covered in how 3D animation is used in music videos.

What software is used for VFX?

The standard pipeline is compositing in Nuke or After Effects, simulation and procedural work in Houdini, modelling and animation in Maya, Blender or Cinema 4D, and a renderer such as Redshift or Arnold. Foundry describes Nuke as its node-based compositing tool, and SideFX positions Houdini around procedural effects and simulation. I work in Houdini, Redshift and Nuke, and explain when Houdini or Blender is the better call in Houdini vs Blender for commercial VFX.

What does it cost, and how do you hire VFX?

Cost follows shot count, difficulty of the track, amount of roto and simulation, and how many formats you deliver. The structure is the same as for any CG work and is laid out in what a CGI commercial costs. Hiring works two ways: a full shot delivered finished, or FX handed to your team as passes. Taking only the FX shots of a bigger production is a normal setup, described on the Houdini FX page. For footage you already have, mixed reality production covers the tracked and composited route.

Got a shoot planned or footage in hand? Send it in a few lines and you will get a straight answer, including when the right answer is no VFX at all.

Written by Marco Mori, 3D artist and creative director in Lindau at Lake Constance, Germany, working with brands and agencies worldwide.