7 Amazing Career Opportunities in the VFX Industry

India’s Visual Effects domain, or VFX & Animation industry, has been growing from strength to strength in recent years and has ushered in a new era of success for the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry on our shores.

Massive international projects, that are household names the world over, outsourced their VFX to India. Let’s look at a few examples – the fearsome dragons in HBO’s hit TV series were created in Mumbai, Method Studios – who have worked on all the Marvel hits like Black Panther, Infinity War, and more have a presence in Pune, and Digital Domain (a company co-founded by James Cameron and the studio behind hits such as Beauty and the Beast, Deadpool, and X-Men: Apocalypse) have just opened their fifth presence in India. Toolbox Studio, Seamedu’s sister concern, also boasts an enviable portfolio that includes the likes of Pixels, Godzilla, Hunger Games, Jupiter Ascending, and San Andreas among others.

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All of this international attention has led to a massive surge in India’s VFX industry with the FICCI-EY report 2018 showing that the valuation for India’s animation & VFX industry has grown from Rs. 54 billion in 2016 to an estimated Rs. 80 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow to Rs. 114 billion by 2020, making it the third most prosperous of all the verticals in the Media and Entertainment industry. From just 2016-2017, the animation & VFX industry grew by staggering 23%, that’s 10% over the average growth of the media industry as a whole.

A career in VFX is today a rewarding and creatively satisfying option for young minds and the job opportunities in the VFX industry are booming. However, while this success, and projected growth of the industry, has a lot of aspiring VFX artists excited, oftentimes students don’t know what different roles are on offer in the VFX industry in India.

So here’s a breakdown of the 7 different key positions that are available to VFX professionals in India.


VFX Career Opportunities in India


1. Layout Artist

Usually part of the pre-production and previsualization process, a layout artist, as the name suggests, lays the foundations for how the visuals will eventually look. Typically, a layout artist is tasked with interpreting the script and storyboard and creating templates for how to transfer the script or storyboard into the visual medium. Everything from scene creation to camera angles and more falls under this remit.


2. Compositing Artist

Well done visual effects merge seamlessly with the rest of the background, and don’t distract the viewing experience at all. One glitch though, and it can ruin the entire experience for the viewer. A compositor’s job is to ensure that this seamlessness between VFX and live action is intact, and any visual disturbances are eliminated.


3. Lighting Artist

Lighting is one of the most crucial aspects of any film production – live action or animated. A lighting artist is in charge of understanding the behavior of light and its interaction with real world subjects and translating that into the visual effects world. Lighting plays a very important role in visual continuity and even the storytelling process, and a lighting artist has to be able to deliver the perfect amount of illumination to make a scene pop.


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4. Rendering Artist

When it comes to VFX career opportunities in India, rendering artists are in high demand across major VFX studios and production houses. In a similar vein to lighting artists, rendering artists are responsible for turning the 3D models into the real world-esque visuals we see on the screen. A delicate and highly technical job, rendering artists make sure that the project is transformed from an idea to a visual.


5. Roto Artist

A rotoscoping artist or roto artist has the difficult and imperative task of tracing all those areas of a frame where CG meets real life, in order to provide compositors with a framework from which to begin their work. A job that offers great foundation in VFX, and often a starting point for VFX professionals, there is a great demand for roto artists today.


6. Matte Painter

You know those beautiful, almost magical tapestries that only VFX films seem to have? A matte painter has a huge hand in their creation. A matte artist takes visual reference cues such as photographs, sketches and other references and turns them into realistic VFX scenes that all the action will take place in.


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7. Match Mover Artist

A match mover is typically an expert in both 2D and 3D as he or she has to work at the confluence of both worlds. An artist that works in CGI, tracking movements is an important part of the match mover’s responsibilities, as in this role, you would be typically responsible for ensuring that the computer-generated graphics integrate properly with the live-action footage, and proportions, movements and more all have a natural, seamless look and feel.

Do you wish to be a part of the ever-evolving VFX world? The VFX industry in India is thriving and the VFX career path promises a whole bunch of career options for you – explore our bouquet of Animation & VFX courses that can help you achieve your ambitions.

You can also go through our comprehensive career guide that will help you to kick-start your career in VFX & Animation.

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Written by: Rahul Singh

Last updated: 26-02-2024

Rahul has more than ten years of experience in Digital Media & Advertising as a Visual Effects Artist, Professional Educator and also in handling department. He has been teaching various Graphic & Visual effects software and working on them to create designs and VFX work.

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