AI fire, smoke & explosions. Practical-looking FX without the sim farm.
An FX department builds every fire and explosion as a simulation, waits on the render farm, then comps it in, and a single hero blast can take weeks. Our AI generates photoreal, practical-style fire, smoke, explosions, sparks and debris in hours, either as elements with alpha or comped straight into your plate, and a compositor matches the light, the interaction and the grain before it leaves.
AI-generated cityscape with smoke and atmosphere · click to play full-screen
ProRes
What an FX department simulates for weeks, the model generates in hours
We are not a VFX lab with a faster render farm. We are an AI lab: the simulate-render-revise loop that fills an FX schedule is replaced by generation, and artists are spent on what makes an effect believable in your shot: light, contact and timing.
| The job | Traditional VFX lab | Pixazo AI |
|---|---|---|
| Making the effect | Fluid and particle simulation, tuned per shot | Generated photoreal, practical-style element |
| Iterating on a look | Re-simulate and re-render for every note | New variants in minutes from the same brief |
| Turnaround | Days to weeks per hero effect, waiting on the farm | Hours per element; days for a comped sequence |
| Cost driver | Artist-hours plus render time | Shot class; one free test shot gives the number |
Where the artist still matters: making the effect belong in the shot: matching its light onto the set and the cast, contact with the ground and props, and frame-accurate timing to the cut. Every frame is checked before it leaves.
What actually comes back
Describe the effect the way you would to a pyro supervisor: what burns, how big, how close to camera, and when it goes off. Then choose elements, a finished comp, or both.
| Deliverable | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FX element with alpha | Per-frame EXR with embedded alpha, or ProRes 4444 | Fire, smoke, explosion, sparks or debris on its own, with a grey-valued matte so the translucent parts stay translucent. Delivered through our matte pipeline. |
| Comped shot | EXR / DPX / ProRes, your frame rate and colour space | The effect integrated into your plate, with interactive light on the set and cast, contact shadows and grain matched. |
| Look variants | 2–3 versions of the element | Bigger, smaller, darker smoke, more debris. Cheap once the first look is approved; ask for them in the same brief. |
| Atmosphere passes | Separate layers | Haze, dust, embers and lingering smoke as their own layers, so the comp can dial them independently. |
| Weather | Element or comp | Rain, snow and wind-blown dust. For time-of-day and sun changes, see AI relighting. |
The question that decides the scope: does the effect touch anyone? An explosion in the background, smoke over a skyline or a burning car down the street is a standard shot. Fire on a performer, debris hitting the cast or an effect that has to land on an exact frame of choreography is quoted as compositing.
AI FX cannot do every shot
Generated effects are very good at looking like real pyro. They are not a physics simulation, and we would rather say so up front than after the notes come back.
- Background and mid-ground effects. Burning buildings, smoke over a city, distant explosions, fires in a window.
- Practical-style elements. Fireballs, flames, smoke plumes, sparks and muzzle flashes that look shot rather than simulated.
- Atmosphere. Haze, dust, embers and lingering smoke that make a plate feel lived-in.
- Look exploration. Several variants of the same effect for a director to choose from before anything is finalled.
- Weather. Rain, snow and blowing dust across a shot.
- Effects on performers. Fire or debris on the cast is comped by an artist with roto and interactive light.
- Choreographed destruction. A building that must collapse a particular way, on a particular beat, is a simulation job.
- Frame-exact timing. Generated elements are retimed to the cut by an artist when a blast has to land on a specific frame.
- Very long continuous effects. A fire that burns through a long oner is built from several elements and blended.
- Real events and real people. We do not generate effects depicting real disasters, real attacks or identifiable people.
What helps most: a reference clip of the look you want, the plate with a mark where the effect sits, and the frame it should start on. With those, the first version is close to final.
What moves the number
We do not publish a rate card, because smoke over a skyline and a car exploding next to the lead are not the same job. These are the drivers; the test shot gives you the actual figure.
| Driver | Cheaper | Dearer |
|---|---|---|
| Placement | Background and mid-ground | Foreground, close to camera, touching the cast |
| Deliverable | Element with alpha | Finished comp with interactive light on set and cast |
| Timing | Free-running effect | Locked to choreography or to an exact frame |
| Length | Under 10 s per shot | Long continuous effects built from several elements |
| Volume | A sequence or a show, priced per shot class | One-off shots |
Faster than a rate card: send one shot and a reference of the look. We return the element, the comp and a firm per-shot number for that class of work. If you are already being quoted elsewhere, tell us the number you need to land under.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI generate realistic fire and explosions?
Yes. Fire, smoke, explosions, sparks and debris are generated photoreal and practical-looking, then a compositor matches the light, contact and grain to your plate.
Do I get the effect on its own?
Yes. Elements come with a grey-valued alpha so translucent smoke and flame stay translucent, or we deliver the finished comp, or both.
Can the effect hit an exact frame?
Generated elements are retimed by an artist to land on the frame you need. Choreographed destruction that must behave a specific way is quoted as a simulation job.
Can you put fire on an actor?
Effects that touch the cast are possible, but they are composited by an artist with roto and interactive light, and quoted as compositing rather than a single pass.
How long does it take and what does it cost?
Hours per element and days for a comped sequence. We do not publish a rate card. Send one shot free and you get a finished result plus a firm per-shot number for that class of work.
Effects rarely arrive alone
An effect has to be composited into the plate, a big blast usually wants the scene relit, and a destroyed street often starts as a clean plate. All of it is inside the Pixazo AI Lab: 15 production capabilities, 200+ models, human-finished on every shot.
Send us the shot that needs a bigger bang.
One shot, no charge, no commitment. You get the element with alpha, the comped shot and a firm number, and you compare them against the cost of a simulation.
Send a test shotFire · Smoke · Explosions · Elements or comp · Artist-finished
