Jamie Pilgrim, who recently served as creature technical director on The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, has been named research and development technical director at LA-based visual effects facility CFX.

Pilgrim's work as creature technical director on The Lord Of The Rings included writing proprietary software for muscle systems, tree and branch generation and articulated body dynamics as well as developed the look for several key particle effects for the film. He was lead animator on The Matrix and served as technical assistant on Air Force One and Desperate Measures.

CFX, formerly Centropolis Effects, has developed visual effects for films including Stuart Little, The Patriot, Vanilla Sky, Independence Day, K-Pax and Monkeybone.