Getting started in VFX
polycounter lvl 4
Hey everyone,
I'm entering my last year of school and am super interested in getting into VFX and things for games. I was searching for a good place to start by following a few youtube tutorials, reading up on the Unreal Cascade docs, etc., and I'm looking for a bit more direction.
But I wanted to ask, where did most of you guys get started in VFX? Is there a better place for starting to learn these things than youtube? How did you break into the industry as a VFX artist? Can anyone suggest any reading or videos?
Thanks for any advice.
I'm entering my last year of school and am super interested in getting into VFX and things for games. I was searching for a good place to start by following a few youtube tutorials, reading up on the Unreal Cascade docs, etc., and I'm looking for a bit more direction.
But I wanted to ask, where did most of you guys get started in VFX? Is there a better place for starting to learn these things than youtube? How did you break into the industry as a VFX artist? Can anyone suggest any reading or videos?
Thanks for any advice.
Replies
No real idea of how to break in into the industry as a vfx artist, I started of as a 3D artist.
My general advice is to start with pick an engine and learning the basics of several fields. I'm biased but I would (as you seem to have done) start with the Unreal Engine. Download the Unreal Tournament version of the editor so you can go through their content if you haven't done so.
If you have the basics of modeling, uvmapping, texturing, animation, lightning, camera interaction, content export and content integration it is a lot easier to create effects. There are tons of videos on the Unreal Engine on each of these subjects. If you aren't feeling up to date on any of these areas I would take a few days first to get some level of understanding of them.
My biggest thing when it comes to effects is to try to create a complete package. Try to create more than a standalone sprite particle effects, add lightning, maybe some camera shake, aftermath components (such as tiny fires, smoke, decals and maybe some modeled debris for an explosion), blur and so on. Try to gradual introduce these elements in your fx. In a smaller company you might be expected to do each of these and do export + engine integration and it is good idea to practice all of it, more knowledge of how other people processes and tools work if never a bad thing.
In your position I would pick one smaller effect that you would like to do, gather what reference you can find and just start working. None of your first effects are going to be masterpieces, but one of the important things is that you try to figure out what went right and what you could improve on and that only comes from making mistakes by yourself.
You can look through the riot games fx competition forum for getting an idea of how people approaches making fx: http://polycount.com/categories/vfx
Unfortunately one of the better resources for vfx tutorials (of which there never seems to be enough
The free tutorials are still here: https://www.youtube.com/user/imbuefx/videos but the commercial ones seems to be missing.
There are a bunch of discussions about effects on the Unreal Engine twitch channel:
http://www.twitch.tv/unrealengine/v/13926101
http://www.twitch.tv/unrealengine/v/12749804
http://www.twitch.tv/unrealengine/v/16480921
There is a lot more, try searching the channel, but these ones discusses different aspects of effects work.
Good luck and post your progress!
Thanks a lot for the info, and this sounds like a great game-plan! I really appreciate the time and info!
I started doing FX around 5 years ago, first just doing simple texture replacements, then working on a few Source engine mods after I got to know the particle editor. A few of the members of my mod teams moved over to work on the standalone version of Insurgency, and they offered me a job as the FX artist. I've been working with them for 3 years now, mostly in the Source engine, but recently I've been working in UE4 as well. As far as getting into the industry goes, working with smaller mod or indie teams is always a good bet. You gain a lot of experience both in your work and working with a team as well, and it helps build a portfolio that can net you a bigger job.
VFX is tricky, because it's kind of an imprecise art. There isn't really any "right" way to do anything, just so long as it looks good and feels good. You'll want some 2D art and photoshop experience to create the textures you'll use in your FX, as you're going to be hand drawing a fair amount of them. Pulling elements from photos is always useful. You should also familiarize yourself with 3D fluid simulation software, like FumeFX, or Maya Fluids. That way you can simulate elements like smoke and fire, then export them as 2D animations for use in your FX.
Now one of the most important aspects of an effect is how it "feels". I've seen plenty of FX that look beautiful in still images, but as soon as they're moving they feel weak. Some animation knowledge can help you in getting the feel down for your FX, as a lot of similar principles apply. Animation rules like anticipation, follow through, and secondary action can all apply to FX as well. You want your effects to feel like they have a presence in the world.
Now if you want help with feel, watch a TON of reference. Pretty much all my spare time is spent watching reference videos. The more reference you watch, the better understanding you'll have of the energies at work that contribute to your effect.
It's like knowing your anatomy if you were going to be a sculptor. It's not just about knowing what an explosion looks like, but what forces cause it to look like that. What kind of fuel is exploding? What kind of debris is it kicking up? Is it a deflagration or a detonation? Knowing stuff like that helps especially when you need to fictionalize something.
It also helps to study other people's work. If there's a game that you really like the VFX in, take a close look at them. Try and figure out how the artists created them. As an exercise, you can even try to create a copy of another game's VFX to better understand their process. It'll teach you a lot of techniques on how better to handle different types of FX. Personally, I'd recommend pretty much any game by Relic Entertainment, especially Company of Heroes. They've got some of the most detailed and intricate VFX I've ever seen in a game.
Hope that helps!