Post-shoot previz of complex VFX sequences—animators show final motion and effects in real time. Bridge between VFX supervisor and editor.
After shooting, you're in the editing room and realize: the camera only captured half the action, the explosion needs to be rethought, or the dissolve isn't working as planned. This is precisely where postvis comes in – not previz as before shooting, but a post-visualization of VFX sequences based on the shot material. The VFX animator quickly creates animations and effect previews directly over your edited cut to show what the final composition will look like.
Practically, it works like this: You have your rough cuts, the VFX supervisor looks at them and identifies where digital elements are needed. Instead of going through lengthy final renders – which takes weeks – the postvis artist creates quick, low-resolution animations in Maya, Houdini, or directly in the compositing software. These "greybox" versions already show you the spatial effect, the timing rhythm, and the effect intensity. You see live whether the digital character is running too fast, whether the particle explosion is the right size, or whether the camera shake is synchronized with the sound.
The advantage lies in communication: Instead of long meetings where words become blurred, you concretely show the producer and director what's coming with animations. "The alien head explosion timing here – would that work for you?" Feedback can be incorporated immediately. This massively speeds up the VFX pipeline because misunderstandings are killed early. For a classic action sequence with multiple digital double shots or a complex green screen composite, postvis saves two to three weeks in the final rendering phase.
Important: Postvis does not replace previz (planning before shooting), but comes after it – a second layer of visualization based on actual footage. Many studios also conduct postvis review sessions where all stakeholders comment on the material together. This then forms your basis for the final VFX brief to external VFX houses. Without clear postvis, a feature film can quickly waste 200k Euros on corrected renders because the wrong direction was pursued.