Introduction to Visual Effects is the first single introduction to the computational and mathematical aspects of Visual Effects, incorporating both computer vision and graphics. It provides the reader with the source code to a library, enabling them to follow the chapters directly and build up a complete Visual Effects platform.

Bruno Madeira is a computer engineer from the Military Institute of Engineering (IME). He received his master's and DSc degrees in mathematics with emphasis on computer graphics and vision at IMPA. He has more than 15 years of experience teaching computer graphics at IME and is a member of the Simulators Group at CTEx, Brazil.

Luiz Velho is a senior researcher, professor, and a VISGRAF Laboratory leading scientist at the National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), Brazil. His academic background includes a BE in industrial design from ESDI-UERJ, an MS in computer graphics from MIT Media Lab, and a PhD in computer science from the University of Toronto. His experience in computational media spans the fields of modeling, rendering, imaging, and animation.

1. Introduction. 2. Virtual Camera. 3. Optimization Tools. 4. Estimating one camera. 5. Estimating two cameras. 6. Feature Tracking. 7. Estimating many cameras. 8. Modeling Tool. 9. Light Transport and Monte Carlo. 10. Image Based Lighting.