For as advanced and as lifelike as CGI effects have become over the last decade, physical props are still the bedrock of modern special effects—especially in movies about a guy in a robotic suit. Gizmodo recently sat down with two of Iron Man 3's effects masters, Shane Patrick Mahan and Lindsay MacGowan of Legacy…

It's one thing to make a giant, robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex. It's another thing entirely to make it look remotely real. Granted, a robo-rex is awesome in its own right, but it's just not quite the flavor of monster fit for a film like Jurassic Park. And so it was practical effects to the rescue yet again with a…

As a young pup watching Jurassic Park, I was in terrified of the T-Rex, fearful of the Raptors, in awe of the Brachiosaurus and annoyed of that little spraying dinosaur. But probably above all, I felt for the Triceratops. It was hurt! It was dying! It was so incredibly detailed. Stan Winston School revealed how they …

Jurassic Park was awesome. Jurassic Park in 3D is awesome layered on awesome. And the tech behind the scenes? You can probably see where this is going.

Unlike other shows who sneakily add special effects without you realizing, The Walking Dead is so overtly gruesome and bloody and gore-y that we're completely aware that what we see is being spiced up with visual effects. Still, it's awesome to see how the effects are added. Stargate Studios shows off the reel of…

In shots where they were seen walking, Jurassic Park's resident brachiosaurs were realized with ground-breaking computer animation. But for shots when the film's human characters interacted with them high in the trees, the brachiosaurs were brought to life with complicated animatronics created by Stan Winston…

The original Jurassic Park came out 20 years ago, and while the FX industry has shifted more towards computer-generated effects since its release, it's still awesome to see how some of the film's practical effects were realized.

New tumblr alert: Before VFX. It's a revealing collection of pictures that show what movies look like before any sort of visual effects are added. Which basically means it makes every movie, even Oscar-worthy movies, look completely ridiculous. The magic of the movies!

Almost a third of The Avengers may have been set in New York, but as this video from Industrial Light & Magic's YouTube channel shows us, hardly any of the filming took place in the Big Apple itself. Since actually filming in New York would have been difficult—what with the many road-blocking restrictions and the…

Industrial Light and Magic has been in the visual effects game since the original Star Wars. And if you need any further proof that they're still one of the top FX shops on the planet, here's another look at the work they did to bring the Hulk to life in The Avengers.