@article{vfxanimationworldatlas2026,
  title = {2026 Visual Effects \& Animation World Atlas},
  author = {Joseph Bell},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {HDRI Intelligence (Joseph Bell)},
  url = {https://www.vfxatlas.com/download},
  abstract = {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.},
  keywords = {labour-and-workforce, workforce-data, vfx-production, generative-ai, graduate-outcomes},
  note = {AI \& Animation Education Knowledge Base}
}