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I recommend this book for anyone thinking about a career in the VFX industry: Admittedly (as you can tell by the cover)...it is not a happy tale and the villain's of the book are producers squeezing the VFX company to the point of bankruptcy and anyone you report to with less talent than you but a bigger ego. If you read this and are still enthused about the work, then you have faced the worst case scenario's and are going into it with eyes wide open. Of course, all VFX experiences are different and mileage will vary. But this did strike a chord with me based on my own experience.....and remember, I am a hobbyist who has never even been to a VFX studio. It happened at Siggraph 2009 held in Boston, MA. Roger Guyette (ILM VFX Supervisor) was presenting on Mission Impossible 3. He said at the beginning that we could ask questions. So I did...just to get clarification. Usually the questions started with "well wait, you had to transition at some point back from the live action camera to the 3D camera" or "well wait, HDRI doesn't work that way". With the first two questions his polite response was "Yes. You are right...I have left out steps to simplify the presentation". And then I raised my hands for the 3rd question (okay....as I write this, I realize that I was annoying but didn't mean to be as I do have a passion for this stuff)...and that is when Mr Guyette lost it. He screamed "WHO ARE YOU!!!". Every head in the audience turned to look at me....but it felt like every head in all of Siggraph was looking at me. I slowly lowered my hand and muttered "No one really". After his presentation ended, I walked up to him to apologize. Mr Guyette actually apologized to me first before I could say anything. I asked why he yelled at me for asking questions when he said we could ask questions, and his response amazed me and gave me some insight to what life is like in the VFX industry - even for top-shelf companies like ILM. He said, "I thought you were sent by a rival VFX company to discredit me". I said, "Really...no I am worse than that. I am a VFX enthusiast sitting in the movie theater picking everything apart". He laughed. I then mentioned that magazines like Cinefex always paint VFX studios working and collaborating together all for the "advancement of the art". He laughed again. "No, we are not a loyal brotherhood like the magazines portray. We are very competitive companies just like in any other industry". Fair point. He then took the time to sit down with me at the ILM booth for a good long time (I think 45 minutes) to talk about the industry, where it was going, making the change from mechanical/photo-chemical processes to CGI and fluid simulations. He is really great guy (IMHO). Kim Libreri showed up (now CTO for Epic Games), he sat down with us for a short bit. John Knoll was also there, but he did not join us (though I did get a picture with him). Best day ever. In 1983 I graduated from an engineering school in New England (on the US east coast about as far away from California as you can get) with a degree in mechanical engineer and applied to ILM. They were all staffed for Return of the Jedi and no longer hiring but I still have the rejection letter. In 1993, Pete Travers graduates from the exact same school with the exact same degree in mechanical engineering. He is now a VFX supervisor working on movies like Midway (2019), Terminator-Dark Fate, etc. Life is funny. Dave