Key points
- The 2026 Atlas counts more than 140,000 VFX and animation professionals at 2,900 companies, with net workforce growth of 2.7 percent over 12 months.
- AI-specific roles are 0.1 percent of roles at traditional VFX and animation studios, up 68 percent in a year; the data shows no evidence of AI-driven job cuts.
- Los Angeles contracted 1.5 percent while Vancouver rebounded 11.3 percent; Mumbai is now the largest VFX hub in the world, and roto and paint roles grew 8.7 percent.
Summary
The third annual edition of Joseph Bell's Visual Effects & Animation World Atlas, released in August 2026 by his analytics practice HDRI Intelligence, is a census rather than a survey: it draws on about 1.1 million datapoints to count more than 140,000 VFX and animation professionals working at 2,900 companies across more than 400 industry hubs. The headline findings are a net workforce growth of 2.7 percent over the past 12 months (up from 1 percent the year before), AI-specific roles at just 0.1 percent of roles at traditional studios despite 68 percent growth in a year, and no evidence in the data of AI-driven job cuts. Los Angeles contracted 1.5 percent, Vancouver rebounded 11.3 percent, and Mumbai is now the largest VFX hub in the world. Roto and paint, the roles most confidently declared obsolete, grew 8.7 percent. The report is a free download behind a short registration form. Bell spent two decades as a VFX producer, executive producer and company leader, with stints at Industrial Light & Magic, The Mill and FuseFX.
Related items
- Otis College Report on the Creative Economy 2026: Creative Disruption, AI and California's creative workforce
- Artificial Imagination: Industry Attitudes on the Impact of AI on the VFX Process
- Generative AI adoption in 3D animation production: a pipeline-wide empirical benchmark of early-career practitioner perceptions and the HGAI hybrid pipeline framework
Source
Source: HDRI Intelligence (Joseph Bell) ↗ (Research)
Cite this item
Joseph Bell (2026). ‘2026 Visual Effects & Animation World Atlas’, HDRI Intelligence (Joseph Bell). Available at: https://www.vfxatlas.com/download
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