Some links for inspiration/possibilities/awesome work showcase. Be sure to check them out: - Ryan Brucks' portfolio: shaderbits.com/work - Obduction custom tools GDC talk: www.gdcvault.com/play/1022936/Building-Obduction-Cyan-s-Custom - "Tech Artists - What are You Working On" (Polycount thread): polycount.com/discussion/68788/tech-artist-what-are-you-working-on-forever-edition - Terra Nova UE4 terrain editor: www.therookies.co/projects/next-gen-gaming/terra-nova-dynamic-in-game-environment-builder/ and the rest is on this playlist :) th-cam.com/play/PLF8ktr3i-U4DH3Wh-zJAxsCncINRoi3U4.html
On CP2077 we have 7 (or 10, depending how you count). Which sounds like a lot, but in practice some of our tasks could be called tools development or VFX
I'm working as UI Tech. artist right now, and "negotiator" term is very much describes my job :D Artists and programmers just do things differently. For example - artists may do extra fancy UI just because they don't know the engine limitations. Programmers would prefer rectangular buttons everywhere, cause it's easy to work with. And our job is to push the boundaries of each team. To talk programmers into making additional functionality for this and that. To explain artists why they should use this format because of pipeline, and so on. Kind of mediator. We're all here to make great product, after all
I know I'm a year late but...... Any tips on becoming a UI Tech Artist? Like what should I know/learn? I know how to create a basic UI in UE4 and have some basic Photoshop skills to be able to create my own UI assets but the negotiator side and any programming language knowledge tips would be much appreciated. What do I need to know to land the job that is currently being advertised in my area?
Did the company mentioned any specific requirements? I'm not an UI tech art like Aleksey, so I'll just guess, that negotiation involves explaining to programmers, which data to expose or widgets to implement. While to artists you'll probably need to show how to make things in an optimal way. For example, use 64x1 px image for a gradient and stretch it, instead of wasting space to store the whole border
@@TechArtAid pretty much just says implement and develop front end technology and work with multiple departments to bring UI from the concept phase to working in game.
I remember watching this video some years ago, now I am proud to be employed as a TA and doing what I love in what I would consider one of the best gaming companies in the world. Thanks for your work on this channel!
did you go to school? I haven't watched the video yet. What was the hardest to learn? Did you have any prior coding experience? Did you find it difficult to land a job after you felt adequate enough to work as a technical artist? What was the easiest part to learn? What was your interview process like? What's your workplace like? Have you felt some skills you learned on your journey have more importance than others? What are good things to practice before becoming a Technical Artist?
Hey! My path was more convoluted: 3d artist in games -> making games with a friend at home after hours -> 3d but with scripting, shaders, Houdini on the side in subsequent companies -> actual job as a TA after 7 years. What I always recommend is to have a broad art generalist skillset, then 1-2 solid specialized skills (like shaders or vfx). And try to make the skills complement each other! That way your learning will be much easier. Make an object that reacts to being hit. Make tools that you'll use to populate an interior. Etc etc See my recent Patreon posts for some thoughts about job hunt, expectations. And good luck!
I'm currently interviewing for my first technical artist role and I can't thank you enough for this and the rest of your videos. I feel so much more knowledgeable after watching them. I really appreciate it. 👍
Hello, thank you so much for this video. It was really great to see an experienced professional share its vision. I completed a 3-year course of game development recently and right now I consider myself a generalist programmer, and I'm thinking in specialize as a tool programmer to further down the road turn into a technical artist.
Great video, you made a great job clarifying our profession. I'm myself more of a generalist and I never felt that strong as a Technical Artist. Must of my job is to find solution to simplify the life of everyone in the production team (tools, workflow, rendering features, writing documentations (that no-one reads), ...). Your analysis comfort me in my current position. Cheers man, keep up the good content ;)
+Vassili Etienne Thanks for your comment. Like a tech artist was only supposed to do shader magic, right? That what I was thinking some years ago. My perspective widened since then. The work like you say about is tremendously important to glue the project's pieces together. In the case of the my enviro leader (and tech art) in the previous company, I can't even imagine how the whole team would function without his constant initiative. He was interested in fixing everything, from wrong UV workflow to performance-heavy blueprints that designers wrote. Every day something different. With this myriad of tiny tasks, no wonder he hadn't have time to do GDC-like tech development. I hope he'll strike the good balance at some point. Yet for the completion of the game, this kind of work was so much more important.
Wielkie dzięki za film. Jestem grafikiem 3D, zajmującym się modelowaniem silników samochodowych, łącze z przygotowaniem całej dokumentacji, hierarchii i całego resechu do gier. Od dłuższego czasu zastanawiam się nad zostaniem technical artist. Dzieki Twojemu wyjaśnieniu mogę obrać odpowiedni kierunek w nauce. :) Dzięki !
Twoje doświadczenie brzmi ciekawie! Dobrze wspominam pracę nad "prawdziwymi" obiektami do nie-growych projektów VR. No i powodzenia jako tech artist. W Polsce nadal widzę znacznie większe zapotrzebowanie na technicali niż liczba dostępnych osób :)
Thanks for the video! I have studied computer science in university and was a software engineer a year ago. I hated the job and quit my job to pursue my dream as a concept artist. Then I realized how saturated and competitive it is to be one, but still wish to work at least somewhat art-related. Never knew there's a job that can combine two of my interest! I was wondering if you or anyone could shed some light on my questions below: 1. I've made a concept artist portfolio with some character/environment design and illustrations. Would this be a plus when applying as a TA? How important are your art skills as a TA? 2. Currently in the progress of learning Unity and trying to finish my game and publishing it on Steam. I've got my basic gameplay ready but still need to polish the visuals and get it onto Steam. If my goal is to get a job as a TA, is finishing the game important here? Or it's enough to just show the main gameplay in my demo reel to show my skills? 3. Is Unity experience translatable to Unreal? I've been seeing more Unreal jobs than Unity in my area and was wondering if I could still apply given my experience in Unity? Of course, it would be best to learn Unreal, but I'm thinking about starting applying soon so not sure if I have the time to do so. 4. I've only got some basic Blender experience (the donut lol) and heard making a plugin would be great for a TA demo reel. Any suggestions on what plugin to do and how? Still trying to navigate this new world of technical art. 5. Can my coding skills compensate for my lack of experience in 3D software (Houdini, Maya, 3dsmax)? I've been focusing more on 2D design skills and art fundamentals in the past so I'm not familiar with those mainstream 3D software at all. Given my degree in CS and past work experience, would a company want to hire me despite the lack of 3D experience? Thanks for reading all my questions lol that's a lot of words. I'm very new to this field so any help is appreciated, thank you so much!!!
Good luck on a TA path! I'm sure you can make great of use of your prior experience. 1. An artistic eye allows you to jump into broader roles. Especially in smaller teams, you could find yourself working on actual content. Textures in Substance Designer, shaders, weather cycle, procedural phenomena like water, fog. Many kinds of VFX. Stylized or physical post processes, where your experience with pencil or camera brings unique value to the table. 2. Releasing a game - or any project, really - sends a message that you're good in closing things. You're more than just an "idea person" :) But often it's enough to demonstrate how far have you gotten towards completion. If you have some unfinished projects, try to wrap them into small portfolio pieces anyway (screenshots, description what you learned). 3. Unity is as good for technical artists as Unreal. You'll need to learn Blueprint (or C++) but high-level concepts are the same. Very translatable. 4. I recommend looking at Simon Verstraete's work as inspiration: www.artstation.com/artwork/Vgoxl5 I know, it's Houdini, but I just paste it to fuel your creativity. Try scattering decoration meshes based on slope, for example? One difference is that in Blender it's easier to do "one time actions" than realtime modifiers. Blender 2.92 added Geometry Nodes, a procedural generation framework, so this may be interesting to explore as well. Also make sure to try shaders, which are so powerful in Blender. Take a look at materials by Reynante Martinez: www.reynantemartinez.com/cycles-material-studies.html 5. Coding skills allow you to write tools for the team. Even in 2D games, things like placing grass and fitting ground shapes based on polygons can be useful as hell :) I'd recommend to learn some basics of Blender, Maya or Houdini anyway. Writing a Hello World for them may be more useful than mastering animation, if you're in a rush. And 6. (I know there was no 6 ;] ) ... do what you're already doing, what brings you satisfaction. It's up to you what kind of a creator you want to be. Maybe you want to focus on post processes, release them on the Unity Store and make a small fortune out of it! There's as many valid ideas as the numbers of problems people need to have solved.
@@TechArtAid Thanks so much for this response! Didn't expect to get such a thorough and insightful answer, definitely helped me to get on track. And thanks for the reminder on no.6, it's definitely hard to focus on what really is important! Hope I can start my TA journey soon!
Thanks a lot for sharing. I think this is quite a broad topic and -myself- along with other people had our doubts on what it really is to be a TA. I love all of your videos, and have given my a lot of notion on what I can do to get better at my work. Please, keep up the great work, it really helps! Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words! My role has also changed a bit, gravitating towards programming. But since this video I touched most aspects from the map, even if only for a tiny task (e.g. a crazy 3 seconds of my vfx in the CP2077 gameplay vid :D)
Awesome video! I became a technical artist after working for about half a year on my first job as a junior artist. What i did was making destruction models for buildings and the like (cutting the mesh, modeling the insides, y'know the tedious part) and, on my own volition, the dynamic destruction of said objects. After a while i started learning python, in order to simplify a lot of the boring stuff that i did on the daily basis. thus saving hours on the production of the asset. I also was responsible for version control help for my fellow artists who ware afraid of git (it can really damage the project if you don't know what you are doing). So i say, adding version control maintenance and file flow is also a thing that could be put on this position. You could also describe a tech artist as a "problem solver", since a lot of people seek your opinion because of your unique perspective on production.
+OWASeph Nice path. The "problem solver" definition is brilliant :) Seems like you ended up doing all this useful stuff by watching for places for improvement. Once you know some Python and APIs and you hear somebody complaining, you can finally reply - you know, I can do a tool that will fix that for you
What educational model do you suggest for a technical artist for animated films, particularly for a high schooler preparing for post secondary education? I'm coming from an animator background and it's difficult to figure out where to begin my programming studies when my goal isn't necessarily to make things such as websites or video games, but rather tools for filmmaking specific projects and pipelines. As a beginner I don't have the exact lingo on what to learn beyond syntax and bad ideas are inevitable, but as a professional what would you advise for someone who just really wants to work on movies? Software development? Computer graphics? At the beginner levels, what project ideas are good to just get your foot in the door for making the path clearer? I ask this because the last time I tried to pursue game dev, I fell into a loop that could more or less be described as drawing circles all day in order to learn how to make a square. While nobody starts with their dream projects, I didn't really care much for games in general, so the advice of just making more games to understand the mechanics of game development was wearing thin, and didn't feel I was any closer to knowing how to apply this knowledge for an animated short, so I found myself quitting and going back by the month. What do you think any technical artist, regardless of pipeline, should begin studying to at least have the tools to communicate their ideas?
It's actually a good thing that you already know that game dev is not for you. *TLDR: learn Python* and the API (aka how to use it) in your tool of choice, be it Blender or Maya. Write a collection of little tools that would make your life easier as an artist in said editor. For example, automate repetitive steps, like generating a three point lighting setup for any scene scale. Drive material's emission color and displacement with a music track. Make a procedural rig for fish, that reacts with proper waviness to sharp turns. As for the next steps after high school, I started computer science, but my uni didn't have *any* classes related to graphics before Masters degree. It was all about databases and Java. I quit after 1 semester, then I finished bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. Computer graphics classes got me a well-rounded understanding of the Adobe package, e.g. After Effects and Premiere, but no 3D (just modelling a mug...) I had continued learning to program on my own, on the weekends. If I regret anything, it's math. I'm seriously behind when it comes to trigonometry and linear algebra, which is extremely useful for all kind of tech art, rigging included. Please take my advice with a heavy grain of salt, as I can't know your exact situation. Is it possible for you to apply somewhere, but take short online courses during vacation? They can get you far in terms of knowing the possibility space. With some luck and work they can kickstart a self-learning path, as once you understand the basics, you will develop your own ideas, mastering new tools as you go. I understand of course that this is not for everyone, and wanting proper guidance is all right. IMO: if a computer science course can teach you math, more math, software architecture (i.e. well-structured programming, not hacking), then C++ or Python, then it's worth it. 3D graphics programming would be a nice bonus on top. If it's just Java, iOS or website development, then I'd look for other options. Most important thing: once you get any script working, don't be afraid to apply for internships every year. Ask them specifically for feedback and what to learn, what to improve. But keep in mind it's just their opinion, not a judgment :) There are at least 3 disciplines relevant for a tech artist in films: animation, rigging and visual effects. I'd like to add shading to the list. What's your preference towards these areas? For a common lingo, definitely put your time into learning Python. Start with basics, like writing an array of numbers into a JSON file. Then jump into programming a plug-in for your tool of choice, be it Blender (super nice to program) or Maya (PyMEL). You can find decent cheap courses for both options. Utilize the experience you have as an artist (user) to automate or procedurally generate some of these actions. If simulations or visual effects sound like your thing, learn Houdini. It's a backbone of modern VFX production. The education version is completely free. Programming is optional in Houdini, but only makes things better, as then you can create your own reusable setups, parameter-driven, that are independent of a particular scene or model. There's a nice Learn section on their website. Any Rohan Dalvi's tutorials will easily get you through basics. Steven Kipping's detailed tutorials on GCircuit are expensive but can land you a job. Let me know your thoughts
@@TechArtAid Thank you so much for responding! A lot of my confusion has came from trying to deconstruct just what I wanted to do and how when the most I had to know that combining programming, math and art for films was a field that even existed was insider articles and since it seemed to be more of a field one jumped into after programming experience with projects that weren't specified, I had no idea what information was or wasn't universally important in the jump from programming for video games or databases to making a custom mograph effector, or any other tool, but I had no time to waste trying to take apart every sentence in my gamedev book in order to avoid having to make a million PAC man games to acquire the universal knowledge to switch into "creative programming". I've been trying to double down on my math studies, and it's difficult when I don't have a project to apply them to. As you mentioned, pursuing a foundational study of software development topics would be best and possibly wouldn't involve traditional college. While I can't ask for an entire layout of the process, what foundational tech questions should one have in mind while blueprinting a program? I assume this problem happens to most developers regardless of subject matter, but sometimes I'll have silly ideas such as "what if I had an add-on which could make a static object such as a ball mesh be automatically rigged and follow a premade bounce animation?" Then my mind responds with "how is that even possible, and why on earth wouldn't you rig it traditionally?" I can't exactly follow a traditional programming project tutorial for this niche, so at least I want to be able to at least develop more technical terminology on why these ideas are bad to then develop new, achievable ones as a technical artist. What would you suggest for this? Thank you for being so patient and resourceful, I don't even think I'd view this as possible without your videos and guidance :).
I think at the level of simple tools there's nothing like a wrong idea. Usually I see an interesting problem, that leads me to thinking whether I could "codify" it. If yes, then it's possible to automate it to some extent :) But you're right that after the initial tinkering, it's good to come up with a plan. If you want other people to use it, then some basic research is needed too, to spend the development time on a right thing. Often, it's perfect to start with a small concept (this automatically rigged bouncing ball) before undertaking a huge project (full-character rig transfer). First, I always start with preparing an example manually. It helps me understand the process. For a vehicle destruction tool, I started with manually sculpting the first "result". This was the goal and a proven test case of what I was going to generate. Later comes the above-mentioned "codification" process, where I break it down into steps and think how can I approach each of them. Does it need to prepare the input in some way, e.g. calculate its volume? Will the export path be chosen automatically or provided by the user? That leads straight to a methodology of "user stories". A story is a detailed description of a typical set of actions that a user will perform in our tool. It's done before you even start to design the interface. When you describe the whole process, you'll know what buttons or features are needed, and what can be left out. Here comes an important idea: minimum viable product (MVP). You set on to prototype the tool, doing only as little and as quickly, as to reach a functional basic version. It can have a ton of limitations. Most options will be just placeholders. It won't support undo. You make it just to check if your idea works and if it's satisfying for the user. You can learn a lot from an MVP, for example which steps take the most time. It can prove if the tool is intuitive. Send it to a couple of people and ask what they think. Organize a screen sharing session when you watch someone use it (and don't guide them too much, just let them try). Don't be afraid to go back to the drawing board and restarting everything at this point. Good luck! And thanks so much for letting know that the channel was useful in discovering a path for yourself. See you around. Btw, if you're into motion graphics effectors, I'd like to recommend again to check even just the basics of Houdini. It has a C-like programming language VEX for moving the vertexes, manipulating volumes, which is surprisingly powerful and realtime. The Entagma channel has brilliant short tutorials about various abstract, aesthetically pleasing effects in Hou: entagma.com/quicktip-signed-distance-outlines/ Maybe it will prove not to be your thing, but I believe it can provide a unique perspective. Also this book, even though it's about 2D: natureofcode.com/book/
@@Hey-ti9zv It sounds like the major you're going for that's most relevant would be Computer Graphics. This isn't a common major, and only a select few schools offer Bachelor's degrees in this--it's more common to be offered as a Masters degree. I graduated with a B.S. last year in Software Engineering at San Jose State University. They have Computer Graphics A & B as electives which will teach you how to render 2D/3D objects on a screen using C++. The final project for the first class, you have the option of coding a key frame 3D animation (which sounds like what you're looking for) or a beautiful pictures with 3D shapes. The school is also really well known for their animation department so you can join the Shrunken Headman club and befriend a ton of animation majors. I also recommend the ACM Siggraph club (formerly Computer Graphics club) as they focus on combining technology with art; half of the members are in computer science/software and the other half are animation/illustration/digital media majors. You may find this helpful: www.khanacademy.org/computing/pixar Pixar In a Box is a course created by Pixar to be a friendly introduction to the stuff to create their animated films Tech Art Aid is correct, you will want to pay attention in geometry, trigonometry, linear algebra. I also found physics to be really helpful to understand lighting, gravity, forces, kinematics etc. which is super important in realistic simulations. Pixar has internships, but you'll have to show something eye-catching on your portfolio. The 2 people I know that got jobs at Pixar and Disney had final/senior projects involving face detection and turning it into simulation, and the keyframe animation program from the class I mentioned above. Many people that major in Computer Science/Software largely go into it for the money and to work at FAANG companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) as the starting salaries are over $100k and close to $200k at those companies. I am also an artist at heart and am trying to pivot my CS skills to cater to companies that make video games or films like Pixar. I interviewed for a position at Pixar and they offered around $90k, and would take take that over business corporations any day, but they found other people with more experience that they preferred to hire. It's hard, but I'm not giving up. I always drew when I was younger but never had formal education in art, until this summer when I started taking art classes at a private studio nearby. I'm making amazing progress using charcoal and now oil painting. Art is the best, and it's so therapeutic for me. I hope soon I can incorporate it into a day job. Good luck on your journey.
Thank you so much for the great video! It's really a pain starting this road when there are not many leads ahead, but the hints you gave sure helped! ;)
Fantastic overview but I am surprised that you didn't mention cinematics, game cameras or audio at all. Then I would also be interested to know if a tech artist would be involved in other sub-systems of the game, like inventory, weapons systems, vehicles, NPCs, enemy AI etc.
Hmm in my current company, the engine and tool programmers would be involved in the topics you mentioned. Inventory would be done by UI programmers. Closer to the art side you'll find technical animators, technical designers (people implementing game rules in RPGs, for example). As for vehicles, I created the car destruction pipeline & workflow (Houdini, import scripts). Then a fellow technical artist actually used the tech.
Wow :D thanks for this video ! I am a 3d artist, but i do more and more tech stuff in my work (cause the team is small and i am the tech guy ), and i love it so much. I was considering to change job and be a 100% tech artist and search a new tech art job . But i always thought a "true" tech art was something like a rendering programmer, and i never had the confidence to call myself a techart. But you truly open my eyes ^^ I am 100% into this ! It's what i do every day x) Thanks for the confidence boost ;)
Awesome! So you haven't applied as a technical artist, just one day you were called one :D I just saw this poll yesterday twitter.com/HighlySpammable/status/1371965778182905859?s=19
This is a great video, and it cleared a lot of questions I had, but I would like to ask another. I am really into lighting for games, I have been diving into it and even working as a lighting artist and I really enjoy it, but I would like to get more technical, mainly I would like to create tools for use by artists and me related to the lighting art, but not strictly for it. I am doing my art in Unreal and there is a good flow of information about tool creation and bluetilities, but almost every job opening I see is requiring at least one coding/scripting language (Python/C#/C++ etc.) and I am trying to figure out if I need to start learning coding (I have 0 knowledge of it and 0 background) for me to be really competitive, because I feel like doing tools solely in Unreal is limiting me for the big studios, where they have proprietary engines and using Blueprints and all that will not get me a job. So, should I start learning coding or I should begin creating tools in Unreal and after I get a hang of it expand my knowledge with a coding language? :)
Yes. Good luck! My friend youtuber, Tech Art Corner, has a nice Udemy course on Python in UE. Though I'd do a few days of Real Python's text or videos too. That's to learn the basics in pure console, out of Unreal
Thank you for the video! I originally was a game designer in the studio I work at but found myself getting more and more interested in technical art. I found everything you mentioned in the video to be very true, especially the shader and optimization parts. I actually have very little artistic skills, but somehow I'm fascinated by shaders and node-based shading. I am very weak with Maya and the other 3D software, but I made some nifty shaders for our game (in Unity using Shader Forge node-based shader scripting). I'm interested in working as a technical artist (and game designer), so what do you think I should do - pick up more 3D skills (even though we have talented artists in our studio), spread out and learn more technical artist responsibilities outside 3D modeling/animation, or rather focus more on what I know and sharpen those skills? Thank you again, I'm looking forward to more videos!
+Creepy Pie I don't know what the structure of your team is, so I'd rather not give a specific advice. If experimenting with art tech is rewarding to you creatively, then I'd say sure, learn and experiment there. You may end up having an unorthodox, valueable skill combo! There's also a role of technical designers - people who have skills to prototype and implement mechanics, tweaking the design as they do so.
Asset (prop) artist you missed they fill the rooms and the world with interesting stuff. I can follow tutorials for modelling and have a perfect result but forget the steps the day after its a never ending cycle. Is it ok as a professional to look up tutorial videos on how to do a certain thing whilst on the job?
Of course it is! A good portfolio, though (varied, showing interest and patience) is crucial, even for an internship. Watch "Killer Portfolio, Not Portfolio Killer" from GDC
Hi Oskar. We need more videos from you, espacially about UE4 rendering pipeline. There is little to find about this topic on the web and you seem to know a lot about it so keep those coming ;) Thanks!
+Dawid Bujak Dzięki! I hope this map here will also be a nice general roadmap for future topics. Though there's more coming about the rendering pipeline/optimization, in the form of the online book
Just one question: what to google for when indi studio hired you on TA position after roughly looked at your artstation (a year-ish progress)? People think you're skilled, and de-facto you have less experience than they are, you know it, they aren't. That's TA job, I understand, to know that others don't and to find answers for them, but what to google for at first?
Hi. I'm currently in high school in Poland and i guess you are polish too. And I'm going to write this comment in English becouse practice is always good. But, my question is what should I do after high school and is it even possible to get job i game industry in without college straight after high school. I ve been learning c++ and opengl for some time now. I even have my 'own' little 3d graphics engine which is mostly code from tutorials and other people but im still proud of it. I m currently learning unity, i made and published my first 3d mobile game. It's not polished but it works, render procedural terrain and other things. I am planning to learn Houdini and blender so I could make really beautiful game for my dreams. I am not that good with art but I'm gonna try anyway. And here is my question, after a lot of words said by me. Should i apply and try get some job in some studio after high school or should I focus on getting to good college. I'm learning math and computer science in school but i don't think math is my strong hand and i don't know should I focus more on school and or on making nice things on my computer at home. Ps. Is there a lot of studios at Poland that i could try to apply for an internship or sth like that. Most of them for all type of position need college degree and/or 2+ years of experience.
Your path sounds great & just continue on it! Houdini + Blender + rendering experience is a combo that would potentially get you an interview at several good companies. Just remember to have at least several small but finished examples in your portfolio. Show not only the result but also the behind-the-scenes (settings tweaked by sliders in real time, wireframe etc). As for higher education, I obviously don't know what motivates you. Do you have a need to do a research project at a university? Do you plan to stay or move abroad? A bachelor's diploma is important for Canada, for example. I had my own goals and for me, these 4 years felt like an eternity. There are so many good courses now, and game dev community will be glad to talk with you. I'd start with that for the 1st year after school. But hey, it's just my 2 cents :) Speaking of communities - we have a Discord, discord.gg/sXwmMZ6W
If you don't mind i have another question. Is it hard to get a job abroad after some work experience. I mean, assuming that ive worked here in some studio for couple of years is it hard to get job in country like Canada or USA. You asked whether I'm planning to move abroad. I would love to move to some nice place abroad but i don't know if that's even possible to get a job and visa to work in such a country like Canada or USA.
So yeah, they will probably require at least 3 years of relevant experience. That's because visa and relocation is an expensive - and costly - process. At the same time, tech art or rendering are rare skills in the job market, so it works in your favor. Try applying after less years, just to see for yourself what's the response :)
As someone whos dabbled in basically everything on the artistic side of production side of things and am picking up python and c# for maya and unity, but doesn't have professional experience, are there many if any entry level Technical Artist jobs or what roles would develop more-so into that?
Maybe try applying as a technical artist, but emphasize your art experience & what will you bring to the company? For example, "Environment/Technical Artist" - "I'd like to develop my tech art skills (tools, shaders) if your company would benefit from such solutions"
Hi, Aid. What do you think about splines - as far as I know they don't use "HISM" and each point separate mesh with own draw call. but splines very flexible tool. in the same time it's not usable on a large scale because of drawcalls. The question is - do you recommend use HISM instead?
+Igor Vasilyev Okay. Do you have a problem with draw calls already when you add fences and pipes to the scene? I mean: that measured values are too high or they affect frame rate? If not, I won't bother with additional trouble of using ISMs. Though it won't hurt to experiment how far you can go with them (to discover limitations for your workflow). ISMs are culled as a whole group. That is fine when you see your entire pipe systems or fences at once, for example in an RTS top-view game. However, in an FPS game you'd likely see 1% of the pipe at once, so it may be actually better with separate objects.
I'm just right now in a process of recording a series. It will cover all basic nodes in materials, like sine, lerp. Here's are examples: th-cam.com/video/tj1ECbHPZTk/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/M4-V_E_p1R4/w-d-xo.html Let me know if it answered your questions. I'll appreciate all feedback, at support@techartaid.com :)
@@TechArtAid Really thanks for your kind reply. Definitely, this series is one of tech art courses I'm looking for. What actually makes me confused is that there are few courses that teach your how to be a tech artist in a special field. For example, they may tell me I should learn shader, UE, or houdini. Yet these goals are still broad and vague. Because either of them contains countless points. What are the essential parts of them that should be mastered as a junior tech artist？Few people talk about it, and there are also few online courses that teach these essentials. It seems that there is not a clarified and systematic way to become a tech artist. Most of them are self-taught and talented. Though I still want to become a tech artist, I often get lost and feel frustrated because of this situation.
A very good point. What do you think would be the best way to address that? Teaching about foundations in engine-agnostic way, that for sure. But do you mean like, job requirements, skill development paths? Resources?
@@TechArtAid Again, really really thanks for your response. Yes, I think you are totally right. For me, or for most newbies, we truly want to know what the industry exactly asks for (the detailed job requirement, not simply master of houdini or master of shader. Though I hope I can be, I know it may take years of works and often make me distracted because of their too many functions), and where we can learn these things (The path and resources).
There is! November can't come soon enough. But I just got a grant from Epic - an equivalent of 1 month full-time work - so keep fingers crossed 🔥 btw, watch today's Night City Wire
Hello, thanks for your video I have something to help with I am a 3d animation and modeling student and I take courses that include game and computer graphics development (coding). Being unlike my friends, I like to do both subjects(some of them choose pure modeling/pure coding path), I feel wrong when I neglect one of them, How can I choose my career? Is technical artist the right choice for me?
Sounds exactly right. You can also try to augment rigging with Python. Or technical animation, meaning connecting animations to gameplay (in game engine)
Great video! Is a TA must good at all 9 skills in your picture or he just good at One of it? If a artist can't coding program like C++ or python,Is there possible to be a TA?
+Yan Hu I think you don't have to be great at everything at once. What are your current best skills or favourite areas? But being curious and at least trying is useful - because if a problem emerges during a project, you will know the topics to search for. For example, if there is a need to do a water caustics effect, you will remember that lights can be textured with "Light Functions" in Unreal - even if you have never used them. In the end, the expectations depends on the company that needs a technical artist. You may do check job offers from the companies in your area (or wherever you want to move), like I did at the end of the video. Also, requirements for small narrative games are different then those of multiplayer PC games and even different from mobile. If you'd like to learn Python basics, I recommend python.swaroopch.com/ or learnpythonthehardway.org/ while for C++ I recommend this course (they have discounts often, up to 90%) - www.udemy.com/unrealcourse/
I understand corect the tenical artists Is people like my the did all the work all by ther shelf ? Bescily I'm artistis i make 3D model and 2D arts as well I didn't the environment textures consent art ui sheder with note System I did as well I did animation but I don't make skeleton animation yet ass well I know html and very besic codes in unity I allredy have mack 1 playble video game by myself if all this stuff make tenical artists ? If yes I think I'm looky but i work without team I make video game all by myself I need know if I'm tech artists or something else If want to my work in the order to tell me tell me to send you lings
Then you are an independent game developer (often abbreviated as "indie"). Making your own game can (but doesn't have to) include procedural art creation or shaders, which are often technical artists' duties. But are you also a writer, level designer, gameplay programmer? I think you are, to an extent :) But the need for a specific name of a role would appear mostly in bigger teams, where a person is dedicated to a narrower set of duties.
@@TechArtAid ok that mean if find team I will by tenical artists because im indi developer i all ready have make my first video game and i make arts 3D model sheders and many other arts even if the codes is not my strongest part i still make codes in unity? Second question do you know eny tips in the order to finding team? I don't want to by solo developer forever Bescily I'm most off this stuff allredy except the writer because all the project i try the don't need written that maby I problem and I'm not sound disgusting this the second problem the therd problem is I'm not voice actor I have no idea haw to promote my stuff and the last and most important problem is I have no idea haw to find team And I have at least 2 people thar indressing for my work but the one of them don't knows unity and the second works already in other team or friends I'm not sure
+Max Puliero Yeah! And Blender is actually great for scripting. This feature that every button's tooltip shows its command or data path in Python? I miss it in every other software
i didnt watch the whole thing becasue i worked with tech artists and i know a lot about tech art already awesome content nontheless so if my following question is answers in the vid am sorry but it seem that there is quite a gap in the market when it come to tech art now i day what do you thing about that and i started with houdini - programming python - scripting for fun xd so i thought i could do tech art in the future how ever i dont quite now where the gap is in the industry
Py + Houdini? Perfect combination! And I absolutely agree. There's an accelerating demand for Houdini, procedural placement and validation. Sytemic games are on the rise. But there's an an equally big void in the job market, with not enough specialists who know *existing* pipelines. Because what's holding studios back from diving deep into proceduralism is a lack of a bridge between the old skillset and the new ones. You can't just replace all your workforce, you have to train them and make the transition. Physically based lighting was a small glimpse of that kind of challenge.
awesome ,id love to keep in touch with you mate am been doing art for 4 years now i study fine art "lol yeah i study fine art and i do coding now" and been working on a short 3d animation if you dont mind i have problem with my notifications so here is my discord ASH55#2707 if not i would contact you on twitter later as soon as i fix my desktop otherwise its up to you i respect that "lack of a bridge between the old skillset and the new ones." i though i wasted a lots of time learning old techniques xd glad to hear that
Be somewhat experienced, sure, but first of all an open-minded person. The attitude of a problem solver & a negotiator is what matters the most. Houdini - not so many TAs know it, actually
Some links for inspiration/possibilities/awesome work showcase. Be sure to check them out:
- Ryan Brucks' portfolio: shaderbits.com/work
- Obduction custom tools GDC talk: www.gdcvault.com/play/1022936/Building-Obduction-Cyan-s-Custom
- "Tech Artists - What are You Working On" (Polycount thread): polycount.com/discussion/68788/tech-artist-what-are-you-working-on-forever-edition
- Terra Nova UE4 terrain editor: www.therookies.co/projects/next-gen-gaming/terra-nova-dynamic-in-game-environment-builder/
and the rest is on this playlist :) th-cam.com/play/PLF8ktr3i-U4DH3Wh-zJAxsCncINRoi3U4.html
So currently how many tech artists usually are in a game studio?
On CP2077 we have 7 (or 10, depending how you count). Which sounds like a lot, but in practice some of our tasks could be called tools development or VFX
wow you are working on cp2077, sounds like such a fun project to be involved in:D
Yes! It's hard to get bored as a TA here
I'm working as UI Tech. artist right now, and "negotiator" term is very much describes my job :D Artists and programmers just do things differently. For example - artists may do extra fancy UI just because they don't know the engine limitations. Programmers would prefer rectangular buttons everywhere, cause it's easy to work with. And our job is to push the boundaries of each team. To talk programmers into making additional functionality for this and that. To explain artists why they should use this format because of pipeline, and so on. Kind of mediator. We're all here to make great product, after all
Very well said Sir.
I know I'm a year late but...... Any tips on becoming a UI Tech Artist? Like what should I know/learn? I know how to create a basic UI in UE4 and have some basic Photoshop skills to be able to create my own UI assets but the negotiator side and any programming language knowledge tips would be much appreciated.
What do I need to know to land the job that is currently being advertised in my area?
Did the company mentioned any specific requirements? I'm not an UI tech art like Aleksey, so I'll just guess, that negotiation involves explaining to programmers, which data to expose or widgets to implement. While to artists you'll probably need to show how to make things in an optimal way. For example, use 64x1 px image for a gradient and stretch it, instead of wasting space to store the whole border
@@TechArtAid pretty much just says implement and develop front end technology and work with multiple departments to bring UI from the concept phase to working in game.
I remember watching this video some years ago, now I am proud to be employed as a TA and doing what I love in what I would consider one of the best gaming companies in the world.
Thanks for your work on this channel!
Congrats 🤩
did you go to school? I haven't watched the video yet. What was the hardest to learn? Did you have any prior coding experience? Did you find it difficult to land a job after you felt adequate enough to work as a technical artist? What was the easiest part to learn? What was your interview process like? What's your workplace like? Have you felt some skills you learned on your journey have more importance than others? What are good things to practice before becoming a Technical Artist?
@frankerzed973
Hey! My path was more convoluted: 3d artist in games -> making games with a friend at home after hours -> 3d but with scripting, shaders, Houdini on the side in subsequent companies -> actual job as a TA after 7 years.
What I always recommend is to have a broad art generalist skillset, then 1-2 solid specialized skills (like shaders or vfx).
And try to make the skills complement each other! That way your learning will be much easier. Make an object that reacts to being hit. Make tools that you'll use to populate an interior. Etc etc
See my recent Patreon posts for some thoughts about job hunt, expectations. And good luck!
I'm currently interviewing for my first technical artist role and I can't thank you enough for this and the rest of your videos. I feel so much more knowledgeable after watching them. I really appreciate it. 👍
Awesome! Good luck with the interview and art tests 💎
How did it go? :)
Hello, thank you so much for this video. It was really great to see an experienced professional share its vision. I completed a 3-year course of game development recently and right now I consider myself a generalist programmer, and I'm thinking in specialize as a tool programmer to further down the road turn into a technical artist.
Great video, you made a great job clarifying our profession. I'm myself more of a generalist and I never felt that strong as a Technical Artist. Must of my job is to find solution to simplify the life of everyone in the production team (tools, workflow, rendering features, writing documentations (that no-one reads), ...). Your analysis comfort me in my current position.
Cheers man, keep up the good content ;)
+Vassili Etienne Thanks for your comment. Like a tech artist was only supposed to do shader magic, right? That what I was thinking some years ago. My perspective widened since then. The work like you say about is tremendously important to glue the project's pieces together. In the case of the my enviro leader (and tech art) in the previous company, I can't even imagine how the whole team would function without his constant initiative. He was interested in fixing everything, from wrong UV workflow to performance-heavy blueprints that designers wrote. Every day something different. With this myriad of tiny tasks, no wonder he hadn't have time to do GDC-like tech development. I hope he'll strike the good balance at some point. Yet for the completion of the game, this kind of work was so much more important.
This is such a great check list! I am a TA intern and I definitely will use this as a standard to see where I should specialize and can improve:)
how do you even become a TA intern?
Thanks for the help, still in 2020
Wielkie dzięki za film. Jestem grafikiem 3D, zajmującym się modelowaniem silników samochodowych, łącze z przygotowaniem całej dokumentacji, hierarchii i całego resechu do gier. Od dłuższego czasu zastanawiam się nad zostaniem technical artist. Dzieki Twojemu wyjaśnieniu mogę obrać odpowiedni kierunek w nauce. :) Dzięki !
Twoje doświadczenie brzmi ciekawie! Dobrze wspominam pracę nad "prawdziwymi" obiektami do nie-growych projektów VR. No i powodzenia jako tech artist. W Polsce nadal widzę znacznie większe zapotrzebowanie na technicali niż liczba dostępnych osób :)
Thanks for the video! I have studied computer science in university and was a software engineer a year ago. I hated the job and quit my job to pursue my dream as a concept artist. Then I realized how saturated and competitive it is to be one, but still wish to work at least somewhat art-related. Never knew there's a job that can combine two of my interest! I was wondering if you or anyone could shed some light on my questions below:
1. I've made a concept artist portfolio with some character/environment design and illustrations. Would this be a plus when applying as a TA? How important are your art skills as a TA?
2. Currently in the progress of learning Unity and trying to finish my game and publishing it on Steam. I've got my basic gameplay ready but still need to polish the visuals and get it onto Steam. If my goal is to get a job as a TA, is finishing the game important here? Or it's enough to just show the main gameplay in my demo reel to show my skills?
3. Is Unity experience translatable to Unreal? I've been seeing more Unreal jobs than Unity in my area and was wondering if I could still apply given my experience in Unity? Of course, it would be best to learn Unreal, but I'm thinking about starting applying soon so not sure if I have the time to do so.
4. I've only got some basic Blender experience (the donut lol) and heard making a plugin would be great for a TA demo reel. Any suggestions on what plugin to do and how? Still trying to navigate this new world of technical art.
5. Can my coding skills compensate for my lack of experience in 3D software (Houdini, Maya, 3dsmax)? I've been focusing more on 2D design skills and art fundamentals in the past so I'm not familiar with those mainstream 3D software at all. Given my degree in CS and past work experience, would a company want to hire me despite the lack of 3D experience?
Thanks for reading all my questions lol that's a lot of words. I'm very new to this field so any help is appreciated, thank you so much!!!
Good luck on a TA path! I'm sure you can make great of use of your prior experience.
1. An artistic eye allows you to jump into broader roles. Especially in smaller teams, you could find yourself working on actual content. Textures in Substance Designer, shaders, weather cycle, procedural phenomena like water, fog. Many kinds of VFX. Stylized or physical post processes, where your experience with pencil or camera brings unique value to the table.
2. Releasing a game - or any project, really - sends a message that you're good in closing things. You're more than just an "idea person" :) But often it's enough to demonstrate how far have you gotten towards completion. If you have some unfinished projects, try to wrap them into small portfolio pieces anyway (screenshots, description what you learned).
3. Unity is as good for technical artists as Unreal. You'll need to learn Blueprint (or C++) but high-level concepts are the same. Very translatable.
4. I recommend looking at Simon Verstraete's work as inspiration: www.artstation.com/artwork/Vgoxl5
I know, it's Houdini, but I just paste it to fuel your creativity. Try scattering decoration meshes based on slope, for example? One difference is that in Blender it's easier to do "one time actions" than realtime modifiers. Blender 2.92 added Geometry Nodes, a procedural generation framework, so this may be interesting to explore as well.
Also make sure to try shaders, which are so powerful in Blender. Take a look at materials by Reynante Martinez: www.reynantemartinez.com/cycles-material-studies.html
5. Coding skills allow you to write tools for the team. Even in 2D games, things like placing grass and fitting ground shapes based on polygons can be useful as hell :) I'd recommend to learn some basics of Blender, Maya or Houdini anyway. Writing a Hello World for them may be more useful than mastering animation, if you're in a rush.
And 6. (I know there was no 6 ;] ) ... do what you're already doing, what brings you satisfaction. It's up to you what kind of a creator you want to be. Maybe you want to focus on post processes, release them on the Unity Store and make a small fortune out of it! There's as many valid ideas as the numbers of problems people need to have solved.
@@TechArtAid Thanks so much for this response! Didn't expect to get such a thorough and insightful answer, definitely helped me to get on track. And thanks for the reminder on no.6, it's definitely hard to focus on what really is important! Hope I can start my TA journey soon!
Thanks a lot for sharing. I think this is quite a broad topic and -myself- along with other people had our doubts on what it really is to be a TA.
I love all of your videos, and have given my a lot of notion on what I can do to get better at my work.
Please, keep up the great work, it really helps!
Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words! My role has also changed a bit, gravitating towards programming. But since this video I touched most aspects from the map, even if only for a tiny task (e.g. a crazy 3 seconds of my vfx in the CP2077 gameplay vid :D)
Awesome video! I became a technical artist after working for about half a year on my first job as a junior artist. What i did was making destruction models for buildings and the like (cutting the mesh, modeling the insides, y'know the tedious part) and, on my own volition, the dynamic destruction of said objects. After a while i started learning python, in order to simplify a lot of the boring stuff that i did on the daily basis. thus saving hours on the production of the asset. I also was responsible for version control help for my fellow artists who ware afraid of git (it can really damage the project if you don't know what you are doing). So i say, adding version control maintenance and file flow is also a thing that could be put on this position.
You could also describe a tech artist as a "problem solver", since a lot of people seek your opinion because of your unique perspective on production.
+OWASeph Nice path. The "problem solver" definition is brilliant :) Seems like you ended up doing all this useful stuff by watching for places for improvement. Once you know some Python and APIs and you hear somebody complaining, you can finally reply - you know, I can do a tool that will fix that for you
Cool experience, I had to learn alot from this video. Thank you so much
What educational model do you suggest for a technical artist for animated films, particularly for a high schooler preparing for post secondary education? I'm coming from an animator background and it's difficult to figure out where to begin my programming studies when my goal isn't necessarily to make things such as websites or video games, but rather tools for filmmaking specific projects and pipelines. As a beginner I don't have the exact lingo on what to learn beyond syntax and bad ideas are inevitable, but as a professional what would you advise for someone who just really wants to work on movies? Software development? Computer graphics? At the beginner levels, what project ideas are good to just get your foot in the door for making the path clearer? I ask this because the last time I tried to pursue game dev, I fell into a loop that could more or less be described as drawing circles all day in order to learn how to make a square. While nobody starts with their dream projects, I didn't really care much for games in general, so the advice of just making more games to understand the mechanics of game development was wearing thin, and didn't feel I was any closer to knowing how to apply this knowledge for an animated short, so I found myself quitting and going back by the month. What do you think any technical artist, regardless of pipeline, should begin studying to at least have the tools to communicate their ideas?
It's actually a good thing that you already know that game dev is not for you. *TLDR: learn Python* and the API (aka how to use it) in your tool of choice, be it Blender or Maya. Write a collection of little tools that would make your life easier as an artist in said editor.
For example, automate repetitive steps, like generating a three point lighting setup for any scene scale. Drive material's emission color and displacement with a music track. Make a procedural rig for fish, that reacts with proper waviness to sharp turns.
As for the next steps after high school, I started computer science, but my uni didn't have *any* classes related to graphics before Masters degree. It was all about databases and Java. I quit after 1 semester, then I finished bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. Computer graphics classes got me a well-rounded understanding of the Adobe package, e.g. After Effects and Premiere, but no 3D (just modelling a mug...) I had continued learning to program on my own, on the weekends. If I regret anything, it's math. I'm seriously behind when it comes to trigonometry and linear algebra, which is extremely useful for all kind of tech art, rigging included. Please take my advice with a heavy grain of salt, as I can't know your exact situation. Is it possible for you to apply somewhere, but take short online courses during vacation? They can get you far in terms of knowing the possibility space. With some luck and work they can kickstart a self-learning path, as once you understand the basics, you will develop your own ideas, mastering new tools as you go. I understand of course that this is not for everyone, and wanting proper guidance is all right. IMO: if a computer science course can teach you math, more math, software architecture (i.e. well-structured programming, not hacking), then C++ or Python, then it's worth it. 3D graphics programming would be a nice bonus on top. If it's just Java, iOS or website development, then I'd look for other options.
Most important thing: once you get any script working, don't be afraid to apply for internships every year. Ask them specifically for feedback and what to learn, what to improve. But keep in mind it's just their opinion, not a judgment :)
There are at least 3 disciplines relevant for a tech artist in films: animation, rigging and visual effects. I'd like to add shading to the list. What's your preference towards these areas? For a common lingo, definitely put your time into learning Python. Start with basics, like writing an array of numbers into a JSON file. Then jump into programming a plug-in for your tool of choice, be it Blender (super nice to program) or Maya (PyMEL). You can find decent cheap courses for both options. Utilize the experience you have as an artist (user) to automate or procedurally generate some of these actions.
If simulations or visual effects sound like your thing, learn Houdini. It's a backbone of modern VFX production. The education version is completely free. Programming is optional in Houdini, but only makes things better, as then you can create your own reusable setups, parameter-driven, that are independent of a particular scene or model. There's a nice Learn section on their website. Any Rohan Dalvi's tutorials will easily get you through basics. Steven Kipping's detailed tutorials on GCircuit are expensive but can land you a job. Let me know your thoughts
@@TechArtAid Thank you so much for responding! A lot of my confusion has came from trying to deconstruct just what I wanted to do and how when the most I had to know that combining programming, math and art for films was a field that even existed was insider articles and since it seemed to be more of a field one jumped into after programming experience with projects that weren't specified, I had no idea what information was or wasn't universally important in the jump from programming for video games or databases to making a custom mograph effector, or any other tool, but I had no time to waste trying to take apart every sentence in my gamedev book in order to avoid having to make a million PAC man games to acquire the universal knowledge to switch into "creative programming". I've been trying to double down on my math studies, and it's difficult when I don't have a project to apply them to.
As you mentioned, pursuing a foundational study of software development topics would be best and possibly wouldn't involve traditional college. While I can't ask for an entire layout of the process, what foundational tech questions should one have in mind while blueprinting a program? I assume this problem happens to most developers regardless of subject matter, but sometimes I'll have silly ideas such as "what if I had an add-on which could make a static object such as a ball mesh be automatically rigged and follow a premade bounce animation?" Then my mind responds with "how is that even possible, and why on earth wouldn't you rig it traditionally?" I can't exactly follow a traditional programming project tutorial for this niche, so at least I want to be able to at least develop more technical terminology on why these ideas are bad to then develop new, achievable ones as a technical artist. What would you suggest for this? Thank you for being so patient and resourceful, I don't even think I'd view this as possible without your videos and guidance :).
I think at the level of simple tools there's nothing like a wrong idea. Usually I see an interesting problem, that leads me to thinking whether I could "codify" it. If yes, then it's possible to automate it to some extent :) But you're right that after the initial tinkering, it's good to come up with a plan. If you want other people to use it, then some basic research is needed too, to spend the development time on a right thing.
Often, it's perfect to start with a small concept (this automatically rigged bouncing ball) before undertaking a huge project (full-character rig transfer).
First, I always start with preparing an example manually. It helps me understand the process. For a vehicle destruction tool, I started with manually sculpting the first "result". This was the goal and a proven test case of what I was going to generate.
Later comes the above-mentioned "codification" process, where I break it down into steps and think how can I approach each of them. Does it need to prepare the input in some way, e.g. calculate its volume? Will the export path be chosen automatically or provided by the user?
That leads straight to a methodology of "user stories". A story is a detailed description of a typical set of actions that a user will perform in our tool. It's done before you even start to design the interface. When you describe the whole process, you'll know what buttons or features are needed, and what can be left out.
Here comes an important idea: minimum viable product (MVP). You set on to prototype the tool, doing only as little and as quickly, as to reach a functional basic version. It can have a ton of limitations. Most options will be just placeholders. It won't support undo. You make it just to check if your idea works and if it's satisfying for the user. You can learn a lot from an MVP, for example which steps take the most time. It can prove if the tool is intuitive. Send it to a couple of people and ask what they think. Organize a screen sharing session when you watch someone use it (and don't guide them too much, just let them try). Don't be afraid to go back to the drawing board and restarting everything at this point.
Good luck! And thanks so much for letting know that the channel was useful in discovering a path for yourself. See you around.
Btw, if you're into motion graphics effectors, I'd like to recommend again to check even just the basics of Houdini. It has a C-like programming language VEX for moving the vertexes, manipulating volumes, which is surprisingly powerful and realtime. The Entagma channel has brilliant short tutorials about various abstract, aesthetically pleasing effects in Hou: entagma.com/quicktip-signed-distance-outlines/
Maybe it will prove not to be your thing, but I believe it can provide a unique perspective.
Also this book, even though it's about 2D: natureofcode.com/book/
@@Hey-ti9zv It sounds like the major you're going for that's most relevant would be Computer Graphics. This isn't a common major, and only a select few schools offer Bachelor's degrees in this--it's more common to be offered as a Masters degree. I graduated with a B.S. last year in Software Engineering at San Jose State University. They have Computer Graphics A & B as electives which will teach you how to render 2D/3D objects on a screen using C++. The final project for the first class, you have the option of coding a key frame 3D animation (which sounds like what you're looking for) or a beautiful pictures with 3D shapes. The school is also really well known for their animation department so you can join the Shrunken Headman club and befriend a ton of animation majors. I also recommend the ACM Siggraph club (formerly Computer Graphics club) as they focus on combining technology with art; half of the members are in computer science/software and the other half are animation/illustration/digital media majors.
You may find this helpful:
www.khanacademy.org/computing/pixar
Pixar In a Box is a course created by Pixar to be a friendly introduction to the stuff to create their animated films
Tech Art Aid is correct, you will want to pay attention in geometry, trigonometry, linear algebra. I also found physics to be really helpful to understand lighting, gravity, forces, kinematics etc. which is super important in realistic simulations. Pixar has internships, but you'll have to show something eye-catching on your portfolio. The 2 people I know that got jobs at Pixar and Disney had final/senior projects involving face detection and turning it into simulation, and the keyframe animation program from the class I mentioned above.
Many people that major in Computer Science/Software largely go into it for the money and to work at FAANG companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) as the starting salaries are over $100k and close to $200k at those companies. I am also an artist at heart and am trying to pivot my CS skills to cater to companies that make video games or films like Pixar. I interviewed for a position at Pixar and they offered around $90k, and would take take that over business corporations any day, but they found other people with more experience that they preferred to hire. It's hard, but I'm not giving up.
I always drew when I was younger but never had formal education in art, until this summer when I started taking art classes at a private studio nearby. I'm making amazing progress using charcoal and now oil painting. Art is the best, and it's so therapeutic for me. I hope soon I can incorporate it into a day job. Good luck on your journey.
Thank you so much for the great video!
It's really a pain starting this road when there are not many leads ahead, but the hints you gave sure helped! ;)
Good luck 🔥 The position may not be the easiest but is a very interesting one!
Great overview video for those who not familiar with TechArtist position. Totally agreed with everything you said. Thank you!
God bless you! Thank you so much for such informative explanation, man 👍
Sure! Thanks for listening
Fantastic overview but I am surprised that you didn't mention cinematics, game cameras or audio at all. Then I would also be interested to know if a tech artist would be involved in other sub-systems of the game, like inventory, weapons systems, vehicles, NPCs, enemy AI etc.
Hmm in my current company, the engine and tool programmers would be involved in the topics you mentioned. Inventory would be done by UI programmers. Closer to the art side you'll find technical animators, technical designers (people implementing game rules in RPGs, for example). As for vehicles, I created the car destruction pipeline & workflow (Houdini, import scripts). Then a fellow technical artist actually used the tech.
Wow :D thanks for this video ! I am a 3d artist, but i do more and more tech stuff in my work (cause the team is small and i am the tech guy ), and i love it so much. I was considering to change job and be a 100% tech artist and search a new tech art job . But i always thought a "true" tech art was something like a rendering programmer, and i never had the confidence to call myself a techart. But you truly open my eyes ^^ I am 100% into this ! It's what i do every day x)
Thanks for the confidence boost ;)
Awesome! So you haven't applied as a technical artist, just one day you were called one :D
I just saw this poll yesterday twitter.com/HighlySpammable/status/1371965778182905859?s=19
@@TechArtAid haha it's exatly this ! we had a problem, i read the documentation of the engine and well ... they called me tech art :'D
This is a great video, and it cleared a lot of questions I had, but I would like to ask another.
I am really into lighting for games, I have been diving into it and even working as a lighting artist and I really enjoy it, but I would like to get more technical, mainly I would like to create tools for use by artists and me related to the lighting art, but not strictly for it.
I am doing my art in Unreal and there is a good flow of information about tool creation and bluetilities, but almost every job opening I see is requiring at least one coding/scripting language (Python/C#/C++ etc.) and I am trying to figure out if I need to start learning coding (I have 0 knowledge of it and 0 background) for me to be really competitive, because I feel like doing tools solely in Unreal is limiting me for the big studios, where they have proprietary engines and using Blueprints and all that will not get me a job.
So, should I start learning coding or I should begin creating tools in Unreal and after I get a hang of it expand my knowledge with a coding language? :)
Good intuition. First editor utility blueprints, then code their logic in Python instead :)
@@TechArtAid So Unreal blueprints, editot tools etc. and then try to learn a language. Got it, thanks :)
Yes. Good luck! My friend youtuber, Tech Art Corner, has a nice Udemy course on Python in UE. Though I'd do a few days of Real Python's text or videos too. That's to learn the basics in pure console, out of Unreal
Beautiful video.
Nice video. Thanks for creating this.
Solid Video! Very inspiring
when people need TA = somethings broken and nobody know how to fix it. (TA also doesn't know too)
lol
Thank's alot for this video, it was very helpful!
thank you for this video! great information for freshers like me..
You're welcome!
Thank you for the video! I originally was a game designer in the studio I work at but found myself getting more and more interested in technical art. I found everything you mentioned in the video to be very true, especially the shader and optimization parts. I actually have very little artistic skills, but somehow I'm fascinated by shaders and node-based shading. I am very weak with Maya and the other 3D software, but I made some nifty shaders for our game (in Unity using Shader Forge node-based shader scripting). I'm interested in working as a technical artist (and game designer), so what do you think I should do - pick up more 3D skills (even though we have talented artists in our studio), spread out and learn more technical artist responsibilities outside 3D modeling/animation, or rather focus more on what I know and sharpen those skills?
Thank you again, I'm looking forward to more videos!
+Creepy Pie I don't know what the structure of your team is, so I'd rather not give a specific advice. If experimenting with art tech is rewarding to you creatively, then I'd say sure, learn and experiment there. You may end up having an unorthodox, valueable skill combo! There's also a role of technical designers - people who have skills to prototype and implement mechanics, tweaking the design as they do so.
Asset (prop) artist you missed they fill the rooms and the world with interesting stuff. I can follow tutorials for modelling and have a perfect result but forget the steps the day after its a never ending cycle. Is it ok as a professional to look up tutorial videos on how to do a certain thing whilst on the job?
Of course it is! A good portfolio, though (varied, showing interest and patience) is crucial, even for an internship. Watch "Killer Portfolio, Not Portfolio Killer" from GDC
Hi Oskar. We need more videos from you, espacially about UE4 rendering pipeline. There is little to find about this topic on the web and you seem to know a lot about it so keep those coming ;) Thanks!
+Dawid Bujak Dzięki! I hope this map here will also be a nice general roadmap for future topics. Though there's more coming about the rendering pipeline/optimization, in the form of the online book
Just one question: what to google for when indi studio hired you on TA position after roughly looked at your artstation (a year-ish progress)? People think you're skilled, and de-facto you have less experience than they are, you know it, they aren't. That's TA job, I understand, to know that others don't and to find answers for them, but what to google for at first?
But did they give you some tasks? Why do you wonder what to search for exactly?
@@TechArtAid they do not give me a task yet, said only, it is job to optimize... so, after research I think I will learn python
Hi. I'm currently in high school in Poland and i guess you are polish too. And I'm going to write this comment in English becouse practice is always good. But, my question is what should I do after high school and is it even possible to get job i game industry in without college straight after high school. I ve been learning c++ and opengl for some time now. I even have my 'own' little 3d graphics engine which is mostly code from tutorials and other people but im still proud of it. I m currently learning unity, i made and published my first 3d mobile game. It's not polished but it works, render procedural terrain and other things. I am planning to learn Houdini and blender so I could make really beautiful game for my dreams. I am not that good with art but I'm gonna try anyway. And here is my question, after a lot of words said by me. Should i apply and try get some job in some studio after high school or should I focus on getting to good college. I'm learning math and computer science in school but i don't think math is my strong hand and i don't know should I focus more on school and or on making nice things on my computer at home.
Ps. Is there a lot of studios at Poland that i could try to apply for an internship or sth like that. Most of them for all type of position need college degree and/or 2+ years of experience.
Your path sounds great & just continue on it! Houdini + Blender + rendering experience is a combo that would potentially get you an interview at several good companies. Just remember to have at least several small but finished examples in your portfolio. Show not only the result but also the behind-the-scenes (settings tweaked by sliders in real time, wireframe etc).
As for higher education, I obviously don't know what motivates you. Do you have a need to do a research project at a university? Do you plan to stay or move abroad? A bachelor's diploma is important for Canada, for example. I had my own goals and for me, these 4 years felt like an eternity. There are so many good courses now, and game dev community will be glad to talk with you. I'd start with that for the 1st year after school. But hey, it's just my 2 cents :) Speaking of communities - we have a Discord, discord.gg/sXwmMZ6W
Thanks very much for the answer. It feels really good to see that someone that experienced is telling you, that your plan makes sense 😂
If you don't mind i have another question. Is it hard to get a job abroad after some work experience. I mean, assuming that ive worked here in some studio for couple of years is it hard to get job in country like Canada or USA. You asked whether I'm planning to move abroad. I would love to move to some nice place abroad but i don't know if that's even possible to get a job and visa to work in such a country like Canada or USA.
So yeah, they will probably require at least 3 years of relevant experience. That's because visa and relocation is an expensive - and costly - process. At the same time, tech art or rendering are rare skills in the job market, so it works in your favor. Try applying after less years, just to see for yourself what's the response :)
As someone whos dabbled in basically everything on the artistic side of production side of things and am picking up python and c# for maya and unity, but doesn't have professional experience, are there many if any entry level Technical Artist jobs or what roles would develop more-so into that?
Maybe try applying as a technical artist, but emphasize your art experience & what will you bring to the company? For example, "Environment/Technical Artist" - "I'd like to develop my tech art skills (tools, shaders) if your company would benefit from such solutions"
@@TechArtAid ahh I see, I'll give that a try, thx!
Hi, Aid. What do you think about splines - as far as I know they don't use "HISM" and each point separate mesh with own draw call. but splines very flexible tool. in the same time it's not usable on a large scale because of drawcalls. The question is - do you recommend use HISM instead?
+Igor Vasilyev I'd say it depends on your exact use case. And if you need baked lighting. What do you plan do use it for?
fully movable, for roads, fences, pipes, wires
+Igor Vasilyev Okay. Do you have a problem with draw calls already when you add fences and pipes to the scene? I mean: that measured values are too high or they affect frame rate? If not, I won't bother with additional trouble of using ISMs. Though it won't hurt to experiment how far you can go with them (to discover limitations for your workflow). ISMs are culled as a whole group. That is fine when you see your entire pipe systems or fences at once, for example in an RTS top-view game. However, in an FPS game you'd likely see 1% of the pipe at once, so it may be actually better with separate objects.
yeap hism take a lot of time. Thank you!
😔 I'm still confused. It's hard to find related educational resources. Do you have plans to make a academy or course?
I'm just right now in a process of recording a series. It will cover all basic nodes in materials, like sine, lerp. Here's are examples:
th-cam.com/video/tj1ECbHPZTk/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/M4-V_E_p1R4/w-d-xo.html
Let me know if it answered your questions. I'll appreciate all feedback, at support@techartaid.com :)
@@TechArtAid Really thanks for your kind reply. Definitely, this series is one of tech art courses I'm looking for. What actually makes me confused is that there are few courses that teach your how to be a tech artist in a special field. For example, they may tell me I should learn shader, UE, or houdini. Yet these goals are still broad and vague. Because either of them contains countless points. What are the essential parts of them that should be mastered as a junior tech artist？Few people talk about it, and there are also few online courses that teach these essentials. It seems that there is not a clarified and systematic way to become a tech artist. Most of them are self-taught and talented. Though I still want to become a tech artist, I often get lost and feel frustrated because of this situation.
A very good point. What do you think would be the best way to address that? Teaching about foundations in engine-agnostic way, that for sure. But do you mean like, job requirements, skill development paths? Resources?
@@TechArtAid Again, really really thanks for your response. Yes, I think you are totally right. For me, or for most newbies, we truly want to know what the industry exactly asks for (the detailed job requirement, not simply master of houdini or master of shader. Though I hope I can be, I know it may take years of works and often make me distracted because of their too many functions), and where we can learn these things (The path and resources).
Thanks for this amazing video! I would love to work under you and learn your ways...
As I understand there is a lot of work with Cyber but are we going to get more vids in the near future? :)
There is! November can't come soon enough. But I just got a grant from Epic - an equivalent of 1 month full-time work - so keep fingers crossed 🔥
btw, watch today's Night City Wire
@@TechArtAid Nice, holding thumbs. Yeah that's the THING so I will be watching the event with TK Games folk.
@@TechArtAid November ;) Take care out there xD
😫 So close!
@@TechArtAid sending positive vibes your way
Hello, thanks for your video
I have something to help with
I am a 3d animation and modeling student and I take courses that include game and computer graphics development (coding).
Being unlike my friends, I like to do both subjects(some of them choose pure modeling/pure coding path),
I feel wrong when I neglect one of them,
How can I choose my career? Is technical artist the right choice for me?
Sounds exactly right. You can also try to augment rigging with Python. Or technical animation, meaning connecting animations to gameplay (in game engine)
Great video! Is a TA must good at all 9 skills in your picture or he just good at One of it? If a artist can't coding program like C++ or python,Is there possible to be a TA?
+Yan Hu I think you don't have to be great at everything at once. What are your current best skills or favourite areas?
But being curious and at least trying is useful - because if a problem emerges during a project, you will know the topics to search for. For example, if there is a need to do a water caustics effect, you will remember that lights can be textured with "Light Functions" in Unreal - even if you have never used them.
In the end, the expectations depends on the company that needs a technical artist. You may do check job offers from the companies in your area (or wherever you want to move), like I did at the end of the video. Also, requirements for small narrative games are different then those of multiplayer PC games and even different from mobile.
If you'd like to learn Python basics, I recommend python.swaroopch.com/ or learnpythonthehardway.org/ while for C++ I recommend this course (they have discounts often, up to 90%) - www.udemy.com/unrealcourse/
Thanks for the reply. I only have some modeling and texture skills, and i feel there is so many skills to learn in the furture.
+Yan Hu And many activities are just pleasant, creative. They don't have to be your daily job.
Is he basically like a generalist?
I understand corect the tenical artists Is people like my the did all the work all by ther shelf ?
Bescily I'm artistis i make 3D model and 2D arts as well I didn't the environment textures consent art ui sheder with note System I did as well I did animation but I don't make skeleton animation yet ass well I know html and very besic codes in unity I allredy have mack 1 playble video game by myself if all this stuff make tenical artists ? If yes I think I'm looky but i work without team I make video game all by myself I need know if I'm tech artists or something else
If want to my work in the order to tell me tell me to send you lings
Then you are an independent game developer (often abbreviated as "indie"). Making your own game can (but doesn't have to) include procedural art creation or shaders, which are often technical artists' duties. But are you also a writer, level designer, gameplay programmer? I think you are, to an extent :) But the need for a specific name of a role would appear mostly in bigger teams, where a person is dedicated to a narrower set of duties.
@@TechArtAid ok that mean if find team I will by tenical artists because im indi developer i all ready have make my first video game and i make arts 3D model sheders and many other arts even if the codes is not my strongest part i still make codes in unity?
Second question do you know eny tips in the order to finding team? I don't want to by solo developer forever
Bescily I'm most off this stuff allredy except the writer because all the project i try the don't need written that maby I problem and I'm not sound disgusting this the second problem the therd problem is I'm not voice actor I have no idea haw to promote my stuff and the last and most important problem is I have no idea haw to find team
And I have at least 2 people thar indressing for my work but the one of them don't knows unity and the second works already in other team or friends I'm not sure
Please which country
a blender guy! coool! :D
+Max Puliero Yeah! And Blender is actually great for scripting. This feature that every button's tooltip shows its command or data path in Python? I miss it in every other software
i didnt watch the whole thing becasue i worked with tech artists and i know a lot about tech art already awesome content nontheless so if my following question is answers in the vid am sorry
but it seem that there is quite a gap in the market when it come to tech art now i day what do you thing about that
and i started with houdini - programming python - scripting for fun xd so i thought i could do tech art in the future how ever i dont quite now where the gap is in the industry
Py + Houdini? Perfect combination! And I absolutely agree. There's an accelerating demand for Houdini, procedural placement and validation. Sytemic games are on the rise. But there's an an equally big void in the job market, with not enough specialists who know *existing* pipelines. Because what's holding studios back from diving deep into proceduralism is a lack of a bridge between the old skillset and the new ones. You can't just replace all your workforce, you have to train them and make the transition. Physically based lighting was a small glimpse of that kind of challenge.
awesome ,id love to keep in touch with you mate am been doing art for 4 years now i study fine art "lol yeah i study fine art and i do coding now" and been working on a short 3d animation
if you dont mind i have problem with my notifications so here is my discord ASH55#2707
if not i would contact you on twitter later as soon as i fix my desktop
otherwise its up to you i respect that
"lack of a bridge between the old skillset and the new ones." i though i wasted a lots of time learning old techniques xd glad to hear that
So basically you have to be a masterclass wizard houdini that somehow learned all of this. Great....
Be somewhat experienced, sure, but first of all an open-minded person. The attitude of a problem solver & a negotiator is what matters the most. Houdini - not so many TAs know it, actually