Seeking guidance!

Professional
1

Hello everyone,

I’ve been finding it bored modeling all day long and would like to eventually go into VFX. I’ve found the technical side to many things in the past to be fun and challenging, and I am actually an IT Tech and understand enough about computing as it is I believe.

However I am not a fully fledged programmer, nor advanced at maths but rather basic (which I heard only requires some algebra, subtraction/addition & multiplication). With basic maths, how far might I be able to go as a tech artist if at all?

I currently hold a cert 2 in basic 3D in Maya and just started attending the cert 4. Would anyone know of any books or dvds I could purchase to ease myself from my current level with Maya into the technical side with vfx?

I also heard that tech artists have many different rolls within many areas. I’d like to know if there’s certain tech artist specialization that one can choose, such as “Tech artist, spec in. blah & blah” and allowing another tech artist in their specialization do their part alongside you. If so, what type of categories are there? (maybe I should use the forum category page as a reference sheet for the time being).

Cheers.

2

theres a few threads in here that answers most of your questions…and another one

3

One of UncCheesy’s links contains some of my thoughts on entering tech art. Here is another.

When you say “VFX”, what do you mean? One thing it usually means when it comes to tech art in games is “particle systems”. Is this what you mean, or are you talking in the broader “visual effects for film” sense? The latter sense can mean “anything that didn’t come from a camera, and sometimes things that did.”

Also, thanks to the internets, I now know more about the (I assume) Australian higher education system than I did yesterday. For an American, the idea that you can be “certified” in 3D sounds strange. Certifications in The States are limited to professions such as air conditioner repair where the government has some sort of requirement that to work on them you have to prove you aren’t a complete idiot. Thus I imagined you to be in some sort of government sanctioned testing facility where they made sure that you knew the difference between a model with well layed-out UVs, and one that was crap. Because of course, the safety and welfare of the public depends on you knowing the difference.

4

Thanks for the links, read through them.

Figured I should’ve defined “VFX” more clearly earlier, thought passed me after posting. Particle systems (dynamics and such so I’ve heard?) for games is what I’d like to go into.

I’d like to work more on the artist side, however I love technical aspects and would love to work with them. Particle systems seem a hell of a lot more fun to me than modeling all day :wink:

Troubleshooting systems/software & optimization is already what I’ve done as an IT Tech, regardless that it’s not based on maya or other 3D packages, I’d love to swing into action and see what pesky bugs are lurking to stop Maya from opening. Pretty much I love to know how things work, and knowing how to fix them.

Still wouldn’t like to be a fully fledged programmer. Not sure if this can be categorized better for what TA role I’d like…

As for the certificate 2/4, so far Australia lists that under screen film and media and whatnot. Also attending a private college, which lists their second year as “Professional games dev” - whether or not that actually appears as a qualification, I haven’t a clue.

Edit:
Scrolled down and read Brett’s post:

  1. I get loads of satisfaction :wink:
  2. I become absolutely fixated and try everything I can think of and going beyond trying to piece together how to solve things. I love understanding how it works, how to fix it, etc, it’s just a huge fascination of mine.
    2.5. Sadly, yes.
  3. I guess so.
  4. Sure. Messing with new tech that hasn’t got a manual yet will be fun.
  5. Not entirely sure, haven’t needed to go anywhere near an example like this in the real world yet.
  6. I feel sorry for those that haven’t a passion to begin with and need to work by necessity. I’d like to become one of the top on the ladder in majority of situations in my spec.

Edit:
From Eric’s post on one of the above linked threads, from an EA job listing:

TA – Effects
They are responsible for the design and implementation of the technical aspects in-game effects. They create and maintain tools, systems, and setups used to create particle effects, cloth, hair, procedural effects, lighting, and compositing.

This is pretty much what I’d like to go into. With the spec. chosen, is there a thorough in-depth “what I should know” as well as in general for any TA regardless of spec.?

5

Dear All

I have a friend who is looking for a change. He is an MBA-Marketing with 10 months of experience in Marketing in an IT company. He would like to associate himself with a product company (not services) in Mumbai. In case anyone comes across such opportunity.

Thanks
srasota antiques

6

Being TA is all about constantly pushing yourself on the tech side of things so you have to constantly try to learn as you go. Sometimes work drives you to learn something new like a new scripting language. The most important thing is that you need to be strong with the fundamentals so that you can adapt and learn fast on anything that comes to your way. If you can do this you will work + evolve at the same time and before you know it, you will be sitting in an managers chair directing other TA what to do. Haha! :smiley:

7

I just happened to check back on this thread.

As the saying goes, “The great thing about standards is that everybody has them”. This goes for FX systems as well. No two projects seem to use the same FX systems. When they do, they almost certainly use different versions with different capabilities. Since this is the case, someone wanting to enter the field will need to learn the basics of effects in general, and then be able to apply that knowledge to different systems. Take a look at the particle systems in the major 3D packages, and in the game engines that are available to “the public”, such as the Unreal Engine. The principles you learn here are applicable across a number of different engines/systems. The good news is that since there are so many different systems out there, someone looking to hire you is unlikely to expect you to have knowledge of a specific system. Being able to demonstrate a general knowledge of related tech is more important.

Games FX artists are not typically “tech artists”, though they do need to be technical. Tech art in general is more of a planning / support role, and FX artists tend to “work solo”. In fact, dedicated FX work is typically one of the few art disciplines that is largely separate from the rest of content production. FX rarely gets the design or engineering support that other disciplines will. From a production standpoint, they are more along the lines of audio production: they are neglected till the last minute, and then expected to swoop in and work miracles.

8

[QUOTE=btribble;9327]This goes for FX systems as well. No two projects seem to use the same FX systems. When they do, they almost certainly use different versions with different capabilities. Games FX artists are not typically “tech artists”, though they do need to be technical. Tech art in general is more of a planning / support role, and FX artists tend to “work solo”. In fact, dedicated FX work is typically one of the few art disciplines that is largely separate from the rest of content production. FX rarely gets the design or engineering support that other disciplines will. From a production standpoint, they are more along the lines of audio production: they are neglected till the last minute, and then expected to swoop in and work miracles.[/QUOTE]

Brett speaks the truth!

I have been a dedicated FX Artist on 2 games so far, the other games I was a support fx artist while being a level designer. Coming from Unreal3 to Hero Engine, for example was a huge difference in technology. All those wonderful tools that Epic added were non-existent in Hero Engine which is designed for MMOs. No shaders, no additive meshes, animated sprite sheets, it required me to rethink a lot. Some abilities took multiple tries to get the look that unreal could easily do. Eventually as Faxion Online progressed as a game, the features I asked for were created and I could give the abilities some polish and rework.

I’d like to learn the Tech Artist side, scripting some automation tools into the FX pipeline. Learning photoshop scripting to make a DDS quick export is frustratingly hard for an artist :frowning: If we get a dedicated TA on the next project, it will be awesome!!

9

Games FX artists are not typically “tech artists”, though they do need to be technical. Tech art in general is more of a planning / support role, and FX artists tend to “work solo”. They are responsible for the design and implementation of the technical aspects in-game effects. They create and maintain tools, systems, and setups used to create particle effects, cloth, hair, procedural effects, lighting, and compositing.:):