Every production’s pipeline will be different, but there are a few key steps in order to be successful.

First, pre-production planning is arguably the most important part. In the meeting, the production team will typically use the script to begin planning the shot list, who is responsible for what, and any other production logistics. People such as the director, producers, technical directors, motion capture actors, animators, compositors, and more may be a part of this discussion.

On the shoot day, the production team will test all the hardware and prep the environment with props. As each shot is captured, the production team can see a real-time visualization (called pre-visualization) of the character in the environment. This is an invaluable tool for directors as they make on-set adjustments and actors to see how their performance will look.

After recording, the production team processes the data and cleans up any errors or glitches. It is then delivered to the animators who do cleanup animation, before handing it over to a compositor to incorporate the VFX and render the final version.