Watch how ILM created Rogue One’s beautiful space battles

Rogue One recently earned an Oscar nomination for its special effects, and earlier this week, we got a chance to see how Industrial Light and Magic created the effects for the scene Jedha and Scarif. ILM has released a new digital effects breakdown of from the film: the epic space battle from the film’s final act.

The clip takes us through the layers of digital effects as the X-Wing fighters swoop into battle, going from wireframe models to realistic-looking ships. What’s also really intriguing to see is how practical effects played a role with the digital work: giant LED arrays gave the actors in the cockpits realistic lighting, and physical models of Star Destroyers were laser scanned used as the basis for their digital counterparts.

The end result of all that effort? One of the most beautiful space battles ever put together for a Star Wars film.