real-time-3d-virtual-production-course

Real-time 3D Specialization

Online virtual production course to kick-start your career as a real-time 3D artist

Made in UE by: Marc Carratala Arce

Overview

Learn virtual cinematography and production online

Create film-quality environments and scenes in Unreal Engine with specialized mentorship from a different real-time expert each term.

Start your journey towards becoming a real-time 3D technical artist with CG Spectrum's Real-time course. Tell compelling stories, and create a film-quality cinematic using your new world building, lighting, and camera skills.

Why study virtual production at CG Spectrum:

Unreal Academic Partner & Unreal Authorized Training Center
Mentorship from industry pros
Job-focused career training and 100% online
Private 1-on-1 or small group classes (max 4 students)

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CG Spectrum–one of the Top 50 Best Creative Media & Entertainment Art Schools in the World–has partnered with Epic Games and industry professionals to develop a job-focused study pathway to ensure you are well-positioned to enter the real-time 3D and virtual production field and make a productive contribution from day one on the job.

Gain speed and confidence with Unreal Engine, learn cutting edge real-time 3d techniques, and create a high-quality scene for your professional portfolio to show prospective employers.

unreal-authorized-training-center

Qualification

Certificate

Study duration

36 weeks

Commitment

20 hrs weekly

Skill level

Intermediate

Prerequisites

Real-time 3D Foundations course or portfolio submission

Delivery

Weekly online classes, feedback and support

Software

Unreal Engine, Quixel Bridge, DaVinci Resolve

Start date

May 6, 2024

Why study with us

Learn virtual production and real-time 3d technical art from industry pros

Our expert-led courses prepare you for an exciting career as a realtime 3d technical artist. Learn virtual production techniques and build practical job skills studios are looking for.

Flexible Scheduling

Plan your studies around your work and family commitments

Industry Mentors

Learn from mentors who have worked in the film and games industry

Job-Ready Skills

Build practical, relevant job skills that studios are looking for

Payment Plans

Options to help you pursue your passion and start working sooner

Curriculum

Intensive real-time 3D technical art career training

Note: The Real-Time 3D Essentials Certificate (or equivalent experience) is a prerequisite for this course.

Term 1: 6 weeks

Camera Tracking

Dive into the world of immersive filmmaking with our specialized class on Camera Tracking within Unreal Engine 5. This course is tailored for filmmakers and visual effects artists looking to blend live-action footage with CG elements seamlessly. You'll learn how to utilize UE5's robust camera tracking tools to anchor virtual objects to real-world spaces, enabling the creation of stunning visual effects that interact naturally with live-action scenes. By mastering these techniques, you'll elevate your filmmaking process, opening up new possibilities for storytelling and visual creativity.

Understanding the basics of camera tracking and its importance in VFX and virtual production.
Setting up customizable virtual cameras to deal with live capturing environments.
Practical applications of camera tracking in Unreal Engine 5 for film, television, and immersive media projects.
Assembling customized premade characters from various sources to build up shots.

Cine-Cameras and Offline Workflow
Utility Blueprints for Virtual Cameras
Utility Blueprints for Camera Recording
Tracked Camera and Take Recorder Workflows
Digital Humans
Character Setup for Virtual Production

Term 2: 6 weeks

Real-time Previsualization

Explore the transformative power of real-time previsualization with Unreal Engine 5 in our immersive course designed for filmmakers, animators, and visual storytellers. This course offers a deep dive into the tools and techniques for leveraging UE5's unparalleled rendering capabilities to visualize scenes, set designs, and character actions in real-time, revolutionizing the pre-production process. Through hands-on learning, you'll discover how to streamline workflows, enhance collaboration, and bring creative visions to life with instant feedback, setting a new standard for efficiency and creativity in the industry.

Fundamentals of Unreal Engine 5's interface and tools specifically tailored for previsualization.
Techniques for creating and manipulating dynamic lighting, camera movements, and scene setups in real-time.
Strategies for effective collaboration within teams, using UE5's live editing features.
Best practices for integrating UE5 previsualization workflows into traditional film and animation production pipelines.

Interior Pre-vis Blockout
Vehicle Chase PT1
Vehicle Chase PT2
Exterior Night Scene
In-Camera VFX
Virtual Production Interviews

Term 3: 6 weeks

Materials and Proceduralism

Unlock the secrets of creating visually stunning and efficient materials in Unreal Engine 5 with our focused class on Materials and Proceduralism. Learn how to harness the power of UE5's material editor and procedural techniques to craft dynamic, realistic surfaces and effects that respond to game environments and player interactions. This course will empower you to elevate the visual fidelity of your projects while optimizing performance, making your game worlds more immersive and interactive than ever before.

Mastery of Unreal Engine 5's material system for the creation of complex, lifelike surfaces.
Techniques for developing procedural materials that adapt dynamically to game conditions.
Strategies for leveraging material functions and blueprints to automate and enhance visual detail.
Optimization tips for ensuring high-quality visuals with minimal performance impact.

Career Path of a Technical Artist
Basic Math Functions Part I
Basic Math Functions Part II
Material Parameters and Functions
Rendering and Post-Processing Materials
Substrate Overview

Term 4: 6 weeks

Niagara

Dive into the world of real-time visual effects with our comprehensive course on Niagara in Unreal Engine 5. Master the cutting-edge techniques to create stunning visual effects, from intricate particle systems to dynamic simulations, all within the powerful Unreal Engine ecosystem. Elevate your VFX skills and bring your creative visions to life, setting a new standard for interactive and immersive environments.

Fundamental principles of Niagara VFX system in Unreal Engine 5.
Techniques for creating and manipulating particle systems for realistic visual effects.
Strategies for integrating visual effects with game logic and environmental interactions.
Advanced simulations with Niagara, including fluid dynamics and particle collisions.
Best practices for optimizing visual effects for performance without compromising quality.

Embergen Overview
Flames and Smoke
Cinematic Bullet Impacts
Electricity Powerup
Chaos Destruction
VFX Polish and Rendering

Term 5: 12 weeks

Mentored Studio: Real-time 3D

This final term is dedicated to getting you job-ready! With your mentor’s guidance, you’ll polish your best work for your portfolio and learn how to develop your competitive edge, market yourself, and make the best possible impression in front of employers. You'll also receive additional 1-on-1 career support, portfolio reviews, and industry insights from CG Spectrum's Career Coach.

How to polish your portfolio to impress employers
Interview and negotiation strategies
Effective networking and self-promotion
Accessing the hidden job market

Career Pathways
Industry Overview
Portfolio Upgrade
Networking and Online Presence
Resume and Cover Letter
Job Hunting
Freelance Work
Interviews and Pitching
Personal Projects and Challenges
Working in a Studio
Contracts and Negotiations
Personal Roadblocks

Course structure

Your pathway to the industry

Dive right into the full study pathway and be industry ready in 18 months.

Pathway illustration for Career Track (18 months)

Mentors

Get direct access to seasoned developers and real-time artists with years of experience

To be the best, learn from the best. Real-time 3d and virtual production classes are taught by industry professionals who have worked with top studios. You'll receive expert guidance from a new mentor each term!

Simon Warwick's Work

Simon Warwick

Simon has been working in the game industry since 2005, and was credited as the only technical cinematic animator for Batman: Arkham City at Rocksteady Studios.

Dept. Head of Real-Time 3D

Known for Batman: Arkham Knight

Nida Arshia's Work

Nida Arshia

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Visual storytelling

Enric Joanmiquel's Work

Enric Joanmiquel

Mentor of Foundations

Known for Bleeding Edge

Victoria Lyons's Work

Victoria Lyons

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Lucas Esposito's Work

Lucas Esposito

Mentor of Real-time 3D

Known for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

Justin Mohlman's Work

Justin Mohlman

Justin has brought dozens of games to life in his 2-decade career. Credits include Tony Hawk, Mortal Kombat, and other AAA titles like Singularity and Stranglehold.

Mentor of Foundations

Known for Mortal Kombat Franchise

Luke Yalva's Work

Luke Yalva

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Get Out

Jon Robins's Work

Jon Robins

Jon currently works as a Lead Character Technical Artist at Striking Distance Studios where he loves solving problems and helping teams in as many ways as he can.

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Marvel's Avengers

Addison DeBolt's Work

Addison DeBolt

Mentor of Real-time 3D

Known for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Brighton Gardiner's Work

Brighton Gardiner

Brighton is a Sr Tech Animator at Final Strike Games, working with game designers and artists to bring characters to life and create compelling gameplay. His credits include The Sims and Rocket Arena.

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Rocket Arena

Kaya Jabar's Work

Kaya Jabar

Mentor of Real-time 3D

Known for Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Matthew Lee

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Avatar: The Way of Water

Adam Fligsten's Work

Adam Fligsten

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Marvel v Capcom: Infinite

Harshit Penamata's Work

Harshit Penamata

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Technical Art

Lightfoot Buckeyne's Work

Lightfoot Buckeyne

Mentor of Real-Time 3D

Known for Immortals of Aveum

Study Options

Small Class

The most affordable way to learn from top industry mentors in a fun, collaborative environment, while still getting plenty of personalized feedback.

Max. 4 students per course
Affordable high-quality education
Network while you learn

Study Options

1-on-1 Private

Progress faster and enjoy more flexiblity with private mentorship. Ideal for busy schedules, career-changers, or artists upgrading skills or changing specialties.

Maximum level of mentor interaction
Greater flexibility to schedule classes
Customized learning experience

Monthly

$1,185 USD

(9 x payments)

Save 10%

Per Term

$3,200 USD

(3 x payments)

Most popular

Save 25%

Upfront

$8,532 USD

(1 x payment)

Monthly

$1,750 USD

(9 x payments)

Save 10%

Per Term

$4,725 USD

(3 x payments)

Most popular

Save 20%

Upfront

$12,600 USD

(1 x payment)

Frequently asked questions

Realtime 3D & Virtual Production Course FAQs

This course requires the successful completion of the Real-time 3D Foundations or a portfolio submission demonstrating professional experience and an accompanying reel/resume.

If you want to skip the foundations of real-time course you must show that you have a fundamental understanding of how Unreal Engine works and how to work with characters and animation within a real-time environment. You need to provide a portfolio of work that demonstrates an understanding of the topics taught in the course.

These include:

Importing static meshes, skeletal meshes and animations
Retargeting between different skeleton types
Sequencer animation blending and graph editor experience
Level, character and animation blueprint experience
Basic Control Rig understanding

You will also need a computer that meets the minimum specifications (see next question).

Software:

Students can sign up for an educational license for Unreal Engine and a student license of Gaea will be provided. Instructions for how to obtain an educational license for this software will be provided upon enrollment.

Hardware:

Students will need a dedicated graphics card, and a computer that meets the minimum requirements for Unreal Engine, Gaea, Quixel Bridge, RealityCapture, and DaVinci Resolve.

Please note: as the software we use is regularly updated, please check the specs against the latest available version at the time of enroling.

No, we do not currently plan to support physical hands on training, our focus is more on story telling through Unreal Engine.

It can be if it's specifically using Unreal Engine to build a more immersive experience.

3D animation is explored within Real-time 3D Essentials Term 1 ("Essentials to 3D"), using Maya, and again in Real-time 3D Foundations Term 1 ("Core Real-time 3D Principles"), using Unreal Engine, including general 3D animation rigging principles. For those who want to learn animation in more detail, we recommend exploring our 3D animation courses.

Real-time 3D students will also study elements of visual effects using Niagara, Unreal Engine's next-generation VFX system. There is one lesson on Niagara in Foundations Term 1 ("Core Real-time 3D Principles"), however, the Real-time 3D Specialization course covers it in much more detail, dedicating a full term to it (six weeks).

FX is a broad discipline, so besides the fire and power-ups covered in this course, those seeking a deeper understanding of FX and simulation are encouraged to explore our FX courses.

Basic post production concepts are included within Foundations Term 2 ("Professional Worldbuilding") course, however, to continue understanding professional compositing workflows using Nuke we offer Compositing courses that can be explored further.

Matchmoving is not part of the virtual production curriculum but is introduced in another compositing course.

Contact the student admissions team about possibly accomodating this within the course.

This real-time 3D course would provide excellent technical knowledge required for architectural presentation in the sense of characters, lighting, camerawork and rendering.

It doesn't specifically aim for the architectural industry, so missed topics might be related to the design, layout and material matching standards required for architecture visualizations.

For those interested in architectural development, visit our 3D Visualization course pages.

Skilled real-time artists are in demand across the film and game industries and beyond. Read more about the role of a real-time 3D technical artist and how real-time workflows are being adopted by a wide range of industries.

This 9-month course is designed to prepare you for a career as a real-time technical artist. It also includes personalized career services and 1-on-1 time with our Career Development Manager which can help when applying for junior level jobs such as:

Real-time Artist for Film
Real-time Artist for Games
Real-time Artist for Commercial Industries (e.g. Arch-viz, Broadcasting, Architecture, Automotive, Engineering, Marketing etc).

Discover more about these jobs, tips, and salary expectations on our careers page:

EXPLORE VIRTUAL PRODUCTION JOBS

Student Showcase

See what our students are creating!

With a focus on portfolio preparation, we help students build their competitive edge with high quality work that gets noticed.

realtime3D-showcase-2022-thumbnail-01

Studios that hire our students

Currently halfway through real-time world building with William Faucher, and I cannot recommend it enough.

The ability to have your level gauged and directed as to where it needs to be by someone within the industry in real-time is priceless. The personal feedback is also second to none.

Matt C
Real-Time 3D & Virtual Production

I can't stress enough how much I'm enjoying studying here!

I started the course out of curiosity, I was brand new to this world but I feel like I got all the answers that I needed and even more.

Antonino C
Real-Time 3D & Virtual Production

I enrolled looking for a career change...

I didn't have any knowledge about digital arts. Now I can accomplish my dream of creating cinematics within fantasy worlds to tell stories or apply any artistic idea and make it happen with all the new tools under my belt. If you have passion, and need time flexibility, consider joining the amazing community and start your new journey exploring, exchanging, sharing and, most importantly, learning.

Marc C
Real-Time 3D & Virtual Production

I left every session feeling inspired.

Having studied on my own before CG Spectrum, I realized that there are a lot of things you just can’t get from Google. My mentor was very generous in sharing his own experience and lessons learned along the way. I was able to gather so much knowledge on light theory, post-production workflows, tips to add realism to a scene, and more.

Aurora C
Virtual Production

CG Spectrum offers unconditional support.

I want to thank the entire CG Spectrum staff and mentors for their unconditional support, for sharing beyond the course syllabus, and for always giving 100% in everything.

Jorge R
Real-Time 3D & Virtual Production

I can't speak highly enough about the school.

When I came to CG Spectrum I had 20 years of live entertainment experience, and they seamlessly transferred me from physical to virtual production.

Chris F
Real-Time 3D & Virtual Production