Your Journey
Stories have the power to transform our lives, inspiring and empowering minds all over the world. The potential to unlock that power lies inside each of us, ready and waiting to be awakened… and today is your time! It’s never too late — or too early — for your journey to begin.
Imagine this site as your portal of career possibilities — a digital hallway of doors to discovering the job of your dreams in Visual Effects [VFX], Sound, or Virtual Reality [VR]. But how do you figure out which door is right for you? How did someone else do it? And what can you do to get there?
Explore Get in the Door, a documentary series created by Lucasfilm, and Industrial Light & Magic featuring the stories of employees across a myriad of disciplines. Learn how they got started, achieved their goals, and most importantly, how you can turn your creativity into a career too.
The Pipeline
The Pipeline represents the collaborative journey from script to screen, bringing stories to life through the magic of visual effects. Where does your passion fit into the process? Explore potential positions to unlock your creative power.
Concept Artist: Concept artists take the first step toward realizing the vision of the story, translating ideas from words on the page into tangible visuals. This includes illustrating key elements of films, video games, animation, and a lot more.
Modeling: 3D Modelers use geometry and computers to transform flat, two-dimensional objects like characters, creatures, and vehicles into three-dimensional models designed to live inside the story’s realized environment.
![LookDev/Texture: Look Development [Look Dev] artists are responsible for developing the look and feel of 3D models. Their texture mapping work focuses on defining details from surface textures to colors.](https://www.lucasfilm.com/app/uploads/LFL-GITD_Pipeline_003_LookDev.jpg)
LookDev/Texture: Look Development [Look Dev] artists are responsible for developing the look and feel of 3D models. Their texture mapping work focuses on defining details from surface textures to colors.
![Rigging: Rigging is where 3D models meet motion — establishing an architecture of interconnected parts [“bones”] to collectively form a skeleton with a hierarchy of controls that work together to bring objects to life with movement.](https://www.lucasfilm.com/app/uploads/LFL-GITD_Pipeline_014_Rigging.jpg)
Rigging: Rigging is where 3D models meet motion — establishing an architecture of interconnected parts [“bones”] to collectively form a skeleton with a hierarchy of controls that work together to bring objects to life with movement.
3D Generalists: 3D Generalists create life-like scenes and landscapes, often filling a variety of roles by leveraging their expertise in lighting, look development, modeling, and texturing. This affords 3D generalists the opportunity to produce an entire shot themselves.
Layout: Layout artists develop how and where the things we see on-screen are placed by recreating live-action set-ups in a computer-generated environment. Their animated cameras within those CG environments help shape objects and landscape movements to provide a template for how a scene will be shot.
Motion Capture: Motion Capture — sometimes referred to as mo-cap or mocap — is the process of digitally recording movements of actors on a stage to be translated into computer software, and translated onto computer-generated characters and creatures on-screen.
3D Animation: 3D animators take the elements built during modeling and rigging and manipulate them in concert in order to bring characters to life, allowing those previously inanimate objects to emote and act in a realistic way.
Lighting: Lighting adds context and realism to scenes, and is often used to evoke emotion and to set the mood. Lighting also helps seamlessly blend elements like computer-generated characters and objects into live-action scenes.
![Effects (FX): FX artists utilize their deep technical and aesthetic knowledge to recreate atmospheric elements on-screen — from the natural [fire, water, wind, and smoke] to the fantastical [hyperspace, fairy dust, and portals to other worlds].](https://www.lucasfilm.com/app/uploads/LFL-GITD_Pipeline_009_FX.jpg)
Effects (FX): FX artists utilize their deep technical and aesthetic knowledge to recreate atmospheric elements on-screen — from the natural [fire, water, wind, and smoke] to the fantastical [hyperspace, fairy dust, and portals to other worlds].
Compositing: Compositing combines visual elements created by separate sources into one single image, creating the illusion that those separate elements exist within the same scene as it would in a real world.
VFX Editorial: VFX editors are the liaison between visual effects artists and a studio editing team. They are responsible for shepherding every frame of footage through the pipeline and into the final production, as well as creating sizzle reels showcasing artists’ work.
Production: The Production team makes sure the work is getting done on time and on budget. Through strong partnerships with studios and directors, and each person in Production plays a significant role in producing the final product and achieving a director’s vision.
Pipeline Support: A team of pipeline technical directors, technical assistants, and software engineers are charged with developing, maintaining, and improving artist workflows and tools across the pipeline to ensure efficacy throughout an entire project at every level.
Sound: Sound is a robust element of every project that enhances the visual story — from reproducing everyday sounds like footsteps to creating unique sounds like lightsabers, recording original music scores, and even re-recording dialogue captured on-set.
Virtual Reality: ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s award-winning immersive entertainment studio, is pioneering a new era of interactive storytelling through virtual reality and more. The studio combines artistic techniques from film and VFX production with interactive techniques from the video game industry to produce fun and compelling immersive experiences of the highest visual caliber.
Our Stories
Every hero’s origin story is unique, but ours begins with a passion for storytelling. Explore our stories to find a new perspective — or discover one just like yours.
Artists + Creatives
ILMxLAB | Production
Join ILMxLAB's production team as they define the multiple digital reality experience types and discuss creating visual effects for these interactive projects.
ILM | Digital Model Shop
Join ILM’s Digital Model Shop team to learn about how they design the digital characters we see on screen.
Dan | 3D Storyboard Artist
Join Dan, 3D storyboard artist at Lucasfilm Animation, as he discusses being a "digital puppeteer," constructor of animated scenes, and how his work helps create computer-generated worlds.
Sonia | Sr. Layout Artist
Join Sonia, layout artist at ILM, as she discusses what it’s like to work with cameras and facial technology, and how her work translates to the finished scene.
Sean | Jr. Environment Artist
Join Sean, environment artist at ILMxLAB, as he discusses creating imaginative worlds in innovative projects.
Rebecca | Lighting Technical Director
Join Rebecca, lighting technical director at ILM, as she discusses her ability to bring images to life through light and shadows and how her role supports the director's filmmaking vision.
Raymond | Sr. VFX Generalist
Join Raymond, senior VFX generalist at ILM, as he discusses pushing himself outside of his comfort zone to become an expert in many areas.
Paris | Jr. Compositor
Join Paris, junior compositor at ILM, as he discusses the complex integration of separate elements into a finished visual effects shot and how self advocacy helped his career growth.
Marko | Sr. Model Supervisor
Join Marko, senior model supervisor at ILM, as he describes the tools most commonly used amongst 3D modelers and sculptors, and the collaboration it takes to achieve high quality work.
Karessa | Experience Designer
Join Karessa, experience designer at ILMxLAB, as she discusses bringing stories to life in virtual reality and how her work taps into her love of art and design.
Harsh | Sr. Texture Artist
Join Harsh, senior texture artist at ILM, as he discusses how his passion for painting and for technical things led him to a career that combines both.
Harrison | Sr. Graphic Artist
Join Harrison, senior graphic designer at Lucasfilm, as he discusses bringing abstract ideas to fruition. Related
Hannah | Jr. Texture Artist
Join Hannah, junior texture artist at ILM, as she discusses how her interest in making things inspired her career and how she “brings color to the world" by applying color and texture to blank digital models.
Dane | Sr. Creature Modeler
Join Dane, senior creature modeler at ILM, as he discusses making movie monsters and recounts his career journey.
Clarisa | Jr. Roto Artist
Join Clarisa, junior roto artist at ILM in Singapore, as she discusses channeling a creative passion that began with fashion design to become a visual effects artist.
Casey | Jr. Concept Artist
Join Casey, junior concept artist at ILM, as she discusses how her childhood dream of becoming an animator eventually led to a dream career in concept art development.
Adeline | Lighting Technical Director
Join Adeline, lighting technical director at ILM, as she discusses becoming the first person in her family to pursue a career in art and how she uses lighting tools to make visual effects look believable.
April | Jr. Compositor
Join April, junior compositor at ILM, as she shares her journey from South Korea to Canada, studying movies to learn the culture and language of her new home, and how she broke into the visual effects industry.
André | Supervising Sound Editor
Join André, supervising sound editor at Skywalker Sound, as he discusses how an early interest in movies inspired him to explore the possibility of editing audio for a living.
Alberto | Sr. VFX Animator
Join Alberto, senior VFX animator at ILM, as he discusses bringing digital puppets and art to life.
Producers + Supervisors
Sophie | Sr. Talent Manager
Join Sophie, senior talent manager at ILM, as she discusses empowering artists to find their next projects and the wonderfully collaborative nature of work in visual effects.
Remal | Production Assistant
Join Remal, production assistant at ILM, as she discusses how the role allows exploration of many interests within the entertainment industry.
Julie | Assoc. Post Production Manager
Join Julie, post production manager at Lucasfilm Animation, as she discusses her journey from communication studies to a career in quality control.
Jamie | Production Assistant
Join Jamie, production assistant at ILM, as she discusses how opportunities to learn new things have been essential to her success.
Christina | Assoc. Virtual Production Manager
Join Christina, associate virtual production manager at ILM, as she discusses her career path from studying English literature in college to learning the language of working in live-action production.
Engineers + Technologists
Rachel | Gameplay Engineer
Join Rachel, gameplay engineer at ILMxLAB, as she discusses overcoming obstacles to launch her career, and making all of the elements of a video game function.
Kirk | Sr. Production Engineer
Join Kirk, senior production engineer at ILM, as he discusses how his early interests in computer science and narrative storytelling inspired him to work in visual effects.
Frank | Lead Media Systems Engineer
Join Frank, lead media systems engineer at ILM, as he discusses how media systems and IT cover so much more than people realize.
Bridgette | Software Engineer
Join Bridgette, software engineer at ILM, as she explores her career path and how it’s possible to combine analytical skills with a creative imagination.
Allie | Technical Assistant
Join Allie, technical assistant at ILM, as she discusses the many teams she collaborates with and why her role is a good stepping stone into visual effects.
Check out all of the Get in the Door videos, and more, on the official Lucasfilm YouTube channel.