FMX is back for its 30th edition, and the program is looking seriously good this year. The conference runs May 5 to 7 on site in Stuttgart’s Haus der Wirtschaft, with an online and on-campus day on May 8, followed by on-demand access from May 9 to June 9.
This year’s theme is “The Road Ahead,” and the lineup covers everything from blockbuster VFX breakdowns to generative video, virtual production pipelines, and a nostalgic look back at three decades of digital filmmaking. Whether you’re deep in animation, VFX, real-time graphics, or archviz, there’s something worth your time.
Here are our top 10+1 picks from this year’s program, in no particular order:
1. Avatar: Fire and Ash, Behind the Scenes with Weta FX
Senior VFX Supervisor Eric Saindon and VFX Supervisor Sam Cole from Weta FX will walk through their work on Avatar: Fire and Ash. The studio delivered over 3,100 shots for the film, so there’s a lot to unpack. Expect deep dives into native stereo photography, fully digital performance-captured characters, and physics-based coupled effects simulations. They’ll also talk about Kora, a new in-house tool built to give artists more direct control over fire behavior while keeping things physically grounded.
2. Pixar’s Hoppers: Stylization as a System
Visual Effects Supervisor Beth Albright from Pixar will present their approach to Hoppers, exploring how the team balanced physical realism with stylized surfaces across the entire pipeline. The session covers coordination between modeling, animation, simulation, and lighting to keep things visually consistent and emotionally grounded. If you’re into the craft of making CG look “designed” rather than just “rendered,” this one is for you.
3. Predator: Badlands, a Cross-Studio VFX Deep Dive
Laurens Ehrmann from The Yard VFX and Dominik Zimmerle from TRIXTER will break down their collaborative work on Predator: Badlands. The talk focuses on how two European studios handled shared assets, look development, and creative exchange to maintain visual continuity across environments, characters, creatures, and effects. A great example of how modern VFX production works across borders.
4. Le mal aime, Feature-Level Animation in a Commercial
Animation director Benoit Bargeton from Illogic Studios will present the making of the Intermarche commercial Le mal aime, the viral campaign featuring a wolf going vegetarian to win over the other forest animals. The session covers how the studio achieved feature-film quality animation on a commercial schedule and budget, including the artistic, acting, and technical decisions that made it work. If you’ve seen the ad, you already know why this one’s exciting.
5. Roland Emmerich Celebrates 30 Years of Independence Day
This is a big one. Director Roland Emmerich returns to his hometown of Stuttgart to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Independence Day. The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was a landmark in combining large-scale miniature work, practical effects, and early digital compositing. Emmerich will sit down with Ian Failes from befores and afters to share behind-the-scenes stories and reflect on the film’s place in VFX history. A perfect fit for the conference’s own 30th anniversary.
6. The History of Softimage, with Rejean Gagne
Speaking of looking back: Rejean Gagne, who was involved in the early days of the legendary 3D software Softimage, will walk through how the tool was developed, how it found a home at studios like ILM (where it was used on Jurassic Park), and how its architecture influenced the tools we use today. If you’re a CG nerd who appreciates knowing where the industry’s building blocks came from, this session is a treat.
7. Generative Video in Production, the Moonvalley Perspective
Ben Lock, Head of Production Strategy at Moonvalley, will talk about what happens when studios try to actually use generative video in a real production pipeline. Instead of hype, this session focuses on the practical stuff: shot intent, continuity, versioning, iteration, and the failure modes that show up in review. It closes with a look at multimodal inputs from standard production artifacts as control surfaces. A down-to-earth take on a topic that usually gets more buzz than substance.
8. RENO: Virtual Production and ML Workflows in Practice
The Shorts track features a session on RENO, an original sci-fi short that doubled as a live testbed for virtual production and machine learning workflows. Speakers Tav Flett, Rob Hifle, James Pollock, and Paul Silcox will discuss how a traditionally post-driven VFX studio re-engineered its pipeline for a newly opened virtual production stage. The session also covers Gaussian splat scanning, automated rotoscoping, and marker removal as practical tools for streamlining production.
9. VFX Notes LIVE Podcast at FMX
Ian Failes and Hugo are bringing VFX Notes to the FMX stage for a live podcast recording. If you follow the show (and if you don’t, you probably should), this is your chance to catch it in person. Expect behind-the-scenes industry chat, strong opinions, and a good time.
10. The 30th Anniversary Vibe in General
This isn’t one session, it’s the whole atmosphere. FMX turning 30 means the event is leaning into nostalgia and celebration. The Then and Now track alone is packed with retrospectives, including the Emmerich and Softimage sessions mentioned above, plus an exploration of stop-motion techniques. Add to that the hundreds of professionals from studios like Weta FX, Pixar, ILM, Framestore, Trixter, and The Yard VFX all under one roof, and you’ve got a special edition of an already great event.
+1. Come Say Hi at the Pulze Stand
And here’s the bonus: we’re not just attending FMX this year, we’re proud to be a partner of the event. Come visit us at the Pulze stand (Booth number: 1.3) to chat about Scene Manager, RenderFlow, or Project Dream. Whether you want to see a live demo, ask questions about your workflow, or just talk shop about archviz and 3ds Max pipelines, we’d love to meet you in person.
Stuttgart in May is always a good idea. See you there!
FMX 2026 runs May 5 to 7 on site, May 8 online, and May 9 to June 9 on demand. Check out the full program and grab your tickets at fmx.de.
Cover image: FMX official website