With movie theaters reopened, 2021 has seen big-budget tentpoles 'Dune,' 'Jungle Cruise' and 'Ghostbusters:Afterlife' with cutting-edge visual effects back on the screen and in Oscar contention.

Ephemeral, amorphous elements like smoke, fire, and dust are all critical to a game’s presentation, and they’re all nearly impossible to real-time render in 3D.