Daenerys Targaryen's dragons on HBO's Games of Thrones are fan favorites, and WIRED has an incredible, exclusive look at how they were brought to life with feature film quality by the visual effects artists at Pixmondo. Virtual wind tunnels, water simulations and real world references all played a part in constructing their realistic behaviors.

At the National Museum of Play, Chris Kohler visits an exhibit all about classic video game maker Atari, and he gets hands-on inside the museum’s lab of rare games.

A signature sequence in Gavin Hood’s newest film Ender’s Game is the zero-G battle room, a place where the titular character played by Asa Butterfield trains in space. Hoping to create a sense of weightlessness, the filmmakers shot actors in a mix of harnesses and on wires against a greenscreen set.

To create the world of Asgard in Thor: The Dark World, filmmaker Alan Taylor enlisted the help of digital effects company The Third Floor. Using a process called previsualization, The Third Floor created fully rendered low-res CG sets and characters, allowing the director to see, plan out, and experiment with scenes before shooting them.

Find out how animation company Animal Logic used complex feather and muscle simulation systems to depict the prehistoric animals in Walking With Dinosaurs.

Strong and stiff and materials comprised of mostly air are well on their way to commercialization. In this World Economic Forum Discussion, Caltech materials scientist Julia Greer talks about their use in "hierarchal design," and the impact it will have on increased efficiency and the prominence of solar cells.

Director Peter Jackson and FXguide’s Mike Seymour reveal how a pivotal seven-minute action sequence in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was created with a combined 98 hours of footage from aerial shots, green-screen sets, live-action shoots, and complex CG environments.

For the latest reboot of sci-fi classic RoboCop, filmmakers opted for a mix of visual effects to achieve a realistic look. Fxguide’s Mike Seymour dives into the combination of creating a special effects suit for star Joel Kinnaman to wear, and the post CGI work that helped bring the half-man/half-robot to life.

And on the eighth day, we got apps. Fxguide’s Mike Seymour details the how the upcoming blockbuster, Noah, was able to control the mechanics of a giant custom rain machine in a studio that size of two football fields with the use of a single iPad app.

Industrial Light & Magic was tasked with updating the helicarriers in the new film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. FXguide’s Mike Seymour talks to the visual effects company to find out what new details were added to the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircrafts, and how the effects team created a digital modeling environment for the epic helicarrier crash scene.

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Jamie Foxx stars as Electro, the glowing antagonist to Andrew Garfield’s Spidey. In this video, learn how Sony Pictures Imageworks used a combination of makeup and CGI to turn the Academy Award winner into a blue, electrically-charged villain--with inspiration from lightning, neurological networks, and nebulas.

After Roland Emmerich missed the mark with Godzilla in 1998, we had reason to be skeptical of Gareth Edwards’ new remake. Fxguide’s Mike Seymour goes inside the special effects behind the latest incarnation, in which effects company MPC designed the largest Godzilla yet, featuring an animalistic appearance with anthropomorphized traits.

Angelina Jolie stars in Disney’s new Maleficent, featuring a forest world of detailed visual effects. Mike Seymour delves into how facial movement experts Digital Domain, worked to re-create realistic, fully digital counterparts to the story’s three fairies.

Condé Nast présents WIRED by Design, a two-day live magazine exploring the intersection of cuture and design. Held from September 29-October 1 WxD will feature personal stories from today’s most influential creative thinkers — from architects and filmmakers to artists and chefs — along with wide–ranging conversations, live performances, and amazing meals. For more information visit live.wired.com.

In X-Men: Days of Future Past, the mutant clan goes head-to-head with the Sentinels—a group of dystopian-era robots. Effects experts MPC created the Sentinels’ special effects using a follicle-like animation, comprised of tiny scales. Mike Seymour explains how they accomplished the technically complicated designs.

Designer Greg Smith walks us through the process of scaling up the massive beast to see how much volume is needed to create it. After taking photos and videos of the rough frame and superimposing it onto an image of the creature, the team is able to get a better idea of what dimensions they'll need to bring it to life.

In the latest incarnation of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Andy Serkis and Toby Kebbell deliver human motion-capture performances to help bring the realistic apes to life. Shot with a combination of high-speed cameras, Mike Seymour breaks down the tech behind shooting the motion-capture scenes on location versus on a sound stage.

In season four of Game of Thrones a combination of CGI and live character action were used to create impressive fight scenes and stunning visual effects. Mike Seymour breaks down the tech behind the hit HBO show.

In Brett Ratner's new big-budget flick Hercules, the title star portrayed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson battles mythical creatures, including a three-headed dog, giant boars and lions, and multi-headed serpents. Mike Seymour shows how the visual effects experts at Double Negative created the complicated, yet lifelike beasts.

What inspires a 17-year-old to go into cancer research or a 19-year-old to develop an obsession with astrophysics? Find out, as the 2014 Thiel Fellows explain how they first discovered their passions and why they've decided to turn them into careers.

Mike Seymour breaks down the tech behind the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flick, including the facial animation effects. Plus, find out how an improvised, off-camera moment turned into one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

Based on the hit YA novel of the same name, the upcoming flick The Maze Runner takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. To create the vast maze and relentless mechanical creatures called Grievers, FX experts Method Studios used technical and complicated special FX. Mike Seymour breaks down the tech behind the film.

Thanks to 40 years of increasingly cheap and tiny processors, new software, cheap sensors, and digital manufacturing, we can build products that seemed impossible a decade ago. WIRED has dubbed this new design renaissance Silicon Modern. Our editors collected 10 great exemplars of this movement, encompassing big ideas, inspiring projects, and new forms of expression. Silicon Modern is here, and design will never be the same. Original Composition by Nico Bergmann Recorded at First Voice Studio

Architect Bjarke Ingels at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Mythbuster Adam Savage at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Dava Newman and Gui Trotti at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Designer Ethan Imboden at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Greg Petroff at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Jake Barton at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Sarah Stein Greenberg at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Michael Hendrix at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Natasha Jen at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

David Chang at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Christina Tosi at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Jennifer Colliau at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

On ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” Disney characters like Snow White, the Queen of Hearts, and Peter Pan are set against a modern backdrop. Realistic visual effects bring to life the magic and mystery of Storybrooke—the town they now inhabit. Mike Seymour from fxguide goes behind the stunning FX and animation that are needed to create the fairytale mashup.

Dan Winters at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Commune at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Carl de Torres at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Ije Nwokorie at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Ian Bogost at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

YACHT at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

Weta Digital was behind the striking effects in two of this year's big-franchise films: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”—which picked up an Oscar nomination for best visual effects—and “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” Mike Seymour takes an exclusive look at the impressive, large-scale battle sequences that Weta designed for the final installment in The Hobbit trilogy.

In the new series “Agent Carter” Marvel expands its universe to the small screen with help from Industrial Light & Magic. Creating high-quality visual effects was nothing new for the the award-winning team, but working against grueling weekly delivery dates proved to be a monstrous challenge. Mike Seymour finds out how they did it.

Neill Blomkamp's new dystopian sci-fi thriller "Chappie" stars a fully digital A.I. robot as the title character, acted out by Sharlto Copley. Mike Seymour goes behind the scenes of the CG robots.

Designer and JimmyJane Founder Ethan Imboden at The 2015 Adult Novelty Expo, Las Vegas

The new DreamWorks film “Home” commits the worst of all CGI sins. In an attempt to make cute, kid-friendly characters, “Home” ended up with shapeless purple blobs and uninteresting features. What happened to strange and kind of creepy aliens like E.T.?

The Avengers return in Age of Ultron. Mike Seymour sat down with the men behind the special effects.

See how Industrial Light & Magic created the futuristic tech and magical world in Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland.

Shot mostly in Africa with real vehicles and complex stunts, “Mad Max: Fury Road” brings a high intensity to the post-apocalyptic franchise. Mike Seymour breaks down the complicated camerawork and VFX behind the action-adventure flick.