Tech Artist skill requirements and Education

Professional
#21

Hi my first post on the forums, I have my mind on a school in Sweden that will introduce “Technical Artist” as a 3 years program this autumn. They still have not got their site up with the whole course plan(should be up very soon), however I have had a chat with the one in charge of it and seen some key features.

Their key features are:
3D-modelling
Character modelling, animating, anatomy
Construction of special effects
Directx and OpenGL
A game project with a team(which will start in the third and last year together with all the other programs(artist, programmers ect))
Basic game design
C++
C#

Also some key names within these features: maya, zbrush, shaders, python, blender ect.

How does this sound?(will update it once I get my hands on their official technical artist site) I am thinking of trying this out.

(I am not trying to highjack your thread thought I might just give you an example of a school that will)

#22

Hi All

I thought I Would post an update on the progress of this course.

The focus of the course is now on scripting for 3d Apps, with the game engine scripting elements replaced with Python and MEL Scripting,

There is a focus on modelling in the 1st year with modelling modules in 3ds Max (Games Modelling 1a&1b) and Maya (Introduction to CGI) there is still modules in shader development and Rigging. The student is able to focus their studies in the final year with their research dissertation.

It is intended that the student would work with the year long game development project (games design 2a & 2b) and provide a solution to their problems; either technical development or complex rigging

any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I’ve emailed around a few people but if anyone would like to contact me to discuss this it would be very much appreciated

here is the award breakdown and some more details

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Introduction to 3d Modelling for Games 1A & 1B:Introduction to the fundamentals of 3D model creation in 3ds Max, 3d manipulation, uv’s & texturing, rendering and animation using a games specific pipeline. This looks at an introduction to normal maps and texture creation.

Games Engines and Physics 1A&1B: Introduction to the fundamentals of Game Engine architecture: Rendering Engines and pipelines, AI Engines, Physics Engines, building levels and using UEd

Introduction to CGI: Introduction to the fundamentals of modelling in Maya. This module focuses on the fundamentals of the modelling and rendering pipeline for CG and VFX

++MAXScript 1A&1B: This would look at using MAXScript to develop tools and UI to speed up workflows within 3ds Max.

++Scripting Concepts for VFX: This module introduces the fundamental concepts of programming but relates them to practical tasks one may encounter when using a 3D Application ( this is done in python)

++Further Scripting Concepts for VFX: This module builds on the scripting concepts for vfx module, allowing students to create more intricate scripts and approach the applications programming interface (API) allowing interaction between programs. (using MEL script)

Character Rigging: This looks at developing a complete custom biped rig using controllers, constraints and MAXScript UI

++Game Shaders and Effects: This would look at developing the ability to develop custom shaders, looking in depth at UT3 materials and shaders, real time shaders in 3d Application(something like ShaderFX), and possibly writing a simple Shader.

many thanks for your time

Dave Edwards

#23

Learning maxscript and programming while learning how to model and using 3ds max! This could work very well to bring more focus to the 3d package or it could be a bit to much to handle for the student. I guess you can only know by trying.

What do you mean by introduction to engines, etc. Does this mean you have to program yourself or only theory about what the structure is?

Where are they learning to communicatie between different softwares? It is not really clear for me in which module that is.

Is there a moment where you look at normalmap creation of sculptures or do you stay in max or maya?

I like where this is going. Good luck

#24

Hi ho a little update on the info about the education I’m planning to take.
(you can take the points = time spent on it)
Year 1:
Object oriented game programming 15p
Basics in game development 7.5p
Basics in 3D-modeling and sketch techniques 7.65p
Math for technical artists(basic math about 3D-graphic and modelling, linear algebra) 7.5p
Interior and exterior environment with sketch technique7.5p
Object oriented design 4p
Plugin and scripts 3.5
Character modelling with anatomy 7.5p

Year 2:
3D print and scanning of 3D objects 7.5p
Digital Sculpting - Zbrush 7.5p
3D programming 7.5p
3D programming II 7.5p
Give your model life and proportion 7.5p
Animation 7.5p
From graphic to game - construction of exporters/importers 7.5p
A small game project 7.5p

Year 3:
Special effects 7.5p
Special effects and their implementations 7.5p
A large game development project (with the other courses) 22.5p
Candidate task/work 15p
Free course 7.5p

Softwares

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Microsoft Office 2007
Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite 2010
Maya 2010
3ds Max 2010
Softimage
Motionbuilder
Mudbox
Pixologic ZBrush 3.5
Blender
Adobe Photoshop CS4
Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2008

I have already basic knowledge of object oriented programming(Java), linear algebra, animation/modelling(blender) and I have started to focus on learning how to draw properly(and learn the evil ways of maya animation >:D). I will probably have some time over which I will spend on mod projects probably, and enhance the things I learn and take them further during these 3 years.

A lot of you seems to see technical artist as 90% programmer even though I love drawing, animating, modelling and sculpting also and not only programming and would almost like to focus more on it(though I have not been working with shaders and designing special effects from scratch, which I would suppose are hybrids between art and programming). But it would be a lot of fun bouncing between programming/problem solving and art.

Would be happy with some feedback/thoughts and tips about this :slight_smile: I’m sorry if I’m a bit messy. I’m sorry if I’m being a bother:(: but thanks for taking your time!:D:

#25

Hey Dave,

Looking at your outline, personally I think it’s pretty important to know how an artist works for sure. At the same time I wonder if there is a more generic way of training TA’s without being script language centric. C#, or Python with PyQt seems like something to consider as well. I know I write a lot of tools that work outside of any app using PyQt. Personally, I think python is an excellent platform for sub-programmer TA’s like myself. Something on OOP would be very good, that’s really improved the quality of my TA life a lot.

You could also pair specific rigging with specific modeling types. Facial Modeling, Facial rigging, they are very related. Poor facial edgeflow = poor facial deformation, same with the body.

My Path to being a TA:
I pretty much taught myslef, starting with maya 1. So working my way through every module in maya, until I decided I like the scripting and rigging aspect.

Just some random thoughs,
Cheers,
-s

#26

Well being a staffs student myself this is quite interesting to read. Its good to see that they are developing courses and approaching the TA aspect of things.

I just wish it was specifically aimed at games, the games students seem to get all the good stuff.

#27

I went though a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in studio art. We have a small games program at UNC-Charlotte (www.playground.uncc.edu) inside the CS department. Because it was a general games program with a concentrated focus on A.I, Gameplay, Graphics, and Other (make your own) I was able to push towards my own goal of technical art.

Basically each class in the games program was designed to teach concepts, technical and design, and then finish the class with a game made by 3-9 people, depending on the class. At the end of the program you have one class where you make a 3D game and theres really no teaching at that point. I was able to choose my position on the team, and this helped develop my art skills and programming skills. Sometimes I was writing projectile code, other times modeling, drawing pixel art, as well as writing lighting equations and shaders.

I like the idea of a school for just technial art, because as much of the things I got from school, I would have like to spend more time doing just technical art. Game A.I. and other parts of games don’t interest me as much, and just took away the time I could have been working on tech art.

#28

@SpiderSpy

Just so you know, the majority of all game developers in Sweden uses Maya, not Max (about 80% of the devs including all the big ones), in Europe overall it’s a bit lower but still Maya majority. Grin was the last large developer that used Max in Sweden and it’s no more (and was converting to Maya much due to it being hard to find senior Max artists up here these days). Massive is going towards Max because Ubisoft owns them now, so I guess that’s your best bet if you want to stay in Sweden and work with games after you graduate.

On the VFX side we are also Maya dominated in Sweden.

Odd that an education like that decided to go with Max though. Guess they are not that updated on the industry today or they decided that everyone else educates on Maya (almost) so we’ll use Max to stand out. :stuck_out_tongue:

#29

[QUOTE=Wolfsong;6686]@SpiderSpy

Just so you know, the majority of all game developers in Sweden uses Maya, not Max (about 80% of the devs including all the big ones), in Europe overall it’s a bit lower but still Maya majority. Grin was the last large developer that used Max in Sweden and it’s no more (and was converting to Maya much due to it being hard to find senior Max artists up here these days). Massive is going towards Max because Ubisoft owns them now, so I guess that’s your best bet if you want to stay in Sweden and work with games after you graduate.

On the VFX side we are also Maya dominated in Sweden.

Odd that an education like that decided to go with Max though. Guess they are not that updated on the industry today or they decided that everyone else educates on Maya (almost) so we’ll use Max to stand out. :P[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the response!

I am aware of that maya is the most commonly used software for game development, though their large audience is the film industry. You did perhaps miss that among the software it also said maya 2010, I’m also confident to say that most of it will be maya and that 3D max is probably included in some kind of autodesk package.

I do not really care where I live too much as long as I can work and survive on something awesome as developing games either through programming or through artistic As it looks now I think I will start out as an artist and if I am given the time, I will try to make time for scripting on my spare time. That way get to know the industry and perhaps later switch to TA of some kind.

#30

Haha. True, I missed that line.

But no C# and no Python looks to be more oriented towards 3DSMax from my experience.

#31
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