The purpose of this thesis was to cover the major characteristics about different tech- niques presently used in the field of CG and visual effects by giving a variety of examples from the famous movies. Moreover, the history of visual effects and CGI, and how the de- velopment process of it changed the industry of cinematography were studied. The practi- cal part of this study is dedicated to analyzing what modern software are the most popular ones among professionals. Several studios were surveyed to find out the most preferred contemporary software for production of CG and visual effects in the motion picture among Finnish based and international studios.