Animation and VFX pipelines keep changing. The applications studios use evolve, production becomes more distributed, new standards emerge, and technical teams continually have to decide what to build themselves, what to adopt and what to replace.

AI is now becoming part of that discussion too.

Our previous pipeline research found that studios expected AI and USD to have some of the biggest impacts on production pipelines over the years ahead. For the 2026 Animation & VFX Pipeline Survey, we want to understand what is happening now: how studios are building and maintaining their pipelines, where the biggest challenges remain, and whether technologies such as AI are beginning to change the way technical and production teams work.

The survey takes approximately 15 minutes and is open to people across animation, VFX and related creative production. You don't need to use AYON to take part.

Take the 2026 Animation & VFX Pipeline Survey

What we're looking at in 2026

This year's survey looks across the wider production pipeline, from the software studios rely on to the people and infrastructure required to keep it running.

We're asking about areas including production tracking and pipeline frameworks, creative applications and render technology, build-versus-buy decisions, open-source adoption, cloud and distributed production, pipeline investment, technical challenges and the value studios believe a well-designed pipeline creates.

We've also expanded the research around AI. In particular, we're interested in whether AI-assisted coding is affecting the decision to build or customise software internally, where studios would like to see AI applied, and how organisations are approaching emerging technologies over the next three to five years. 2026-Animation-VFX-Pipeline-Sur…

The aim isn't to assume that every studio is adopting the same technologies or moving in the same direction. We want to understand where the industry genuinely is, including where tools aren't being adopted and why.

Why take part?

The usefulness of this research depends on hearing from studios of different sizes, locations and disciplines, and from people working across production, pipeline, technology and creative roles.

Once the survey closes, we'll analyse the responses and share the findings back with the animation and VFX community through our State of Animation & VFX Pipelines research.

Responses will be reported in anonymised and aggregated form. We ask for an email address and studio/company name so that we can validate and organise the data, including identifying multiple responses from the same organisation, but individual respondents and studios won't be identified publicly.

The survey closes on 31 December 2026.

Take the 2026 Animation & VFX Pipeline Survey

If you work with or understand your studio's production pipeline, we'd like to hear from you. Please share the survey with colleagues and others across the industry too. A broader range of responses gives everyone a more useful picture of where animation and VFX pipelines are heading.