Made in UE by: Marc Carratala Arce
Start your journey towards becoming a real-time 3D technical artist with CG Spectrum's virtual production 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:
[more]More[/more]
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.
Certificate
9 months
20 hrs weekly
Intermediate
Intro to Real-time 3D or portfolio submission
Weekly online classes, feedback and support
Unreal Engine, Quadspinner Gaea, Quixel Bridge, CapturingReality RealityCapture, DaVinci Resolve
Jul 10, 2023
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.
Plan your studies around your work and family commitments
Learn from mentors who have worked in the film and games industry
Build practical, relevant job skills that studios are looking for
Options to help you pursue your passion and start working sooner
Note: The Foundations of Real-Time 3D and Virtual Production Certificate (or equivalent experience) is a prerequisite for this course.
Discover what it takes to build a believable virtual world. You'll start by learning different methods of creating landscapes within Unreal Engine, and QuadSpinner Gaea before moving on to advanced texture blending, auto materials, and water systems. Next, you'll look at all lighting, VFX, and the post process volume to bring your scene to life. Finally, you'll work to set up a basic camera shot to take your scene to a final film quality render.
Portfolio project: A cinematic ready real-time environment scene.
This part of the virtual production course will help you understand how to work with cameras, rigs, lights, and digital humans to create a compelling scene for your portfolio. These skills are essential not only for new content creators but also traditional filmmakers wanting to transition their existing skills to the virtual production environment.
Portfolio project: A short film-quality sequence.
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 Development Manager.
Dive right into the full study pathway and be industry ready in 1 year.
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 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.
Read full bioDept. Head of Real-Time 3D
Known for Batman: Arkham Knight
Deepak is the Producer for film, TV, and virtual production at Epic Games' Unreal Online Learning platform and is sharing his real time production expertise with students at CG Spectrum.
Read full bioMentor of Virtual Production
Known for Gen: Lock
Mentor of Real-Time 3D
Known for Visual storytelling
Mentor of Real-time 3D
Known for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
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.
Read full bioMentor of Foundations
Known for Mortal Kombat Franchise
Mentor of Real-Time 3D
Known for Get Out
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.
Read full bioMentor of Real-Time 3D
Known for Marvel's Avengers
Mentor of Real-Time 3D
Known for Star Wars Squadrons
Mentor of Real-Time 3D
Known for Real-time innovation
Mentor of Real-time 3D
Known for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Mentor of Real-Time 3D
Known for Rocket Arena
Mentor of Real-time 3D
Known for Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
The most affordable way to learn from top industry mentors in a fun, collaborative environment, while still getting plenty of personalized feedback.
Progress faster and enjoy more flexiblity with private mentorship. Ideal for busy schedules, career-changers, or artists upgrading skills or changing specialties.
(9 x payments)
Save 10%
(3 x payments)
Save 25%
(1 x payment)
(9 x payments)
Save 10%
(3 x payments)
Save 25%
(1 x payment)
This course requires the successful completion of the Foundations of Real-time 3D and Virtual Production Certificate, or the Foundations of Game Art & Animation course, 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:
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.
Hardware:
Students will need a dedicated graphics card, and a computer that meets the minimum requirements for Unreal Engine and Gaea.
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.
General animation rigging is covered in the Foundations of Real-Time 3D and Virtual Production course and basic compositing concepts are covered in the virtual production term within this course.
Visual effects is a large subject, so besides the water and clouds covered in this course, those seeking a deeper understanding of VFX are encouraged to explore our VFX courses.
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.
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:
Discover more about these jobs, tips, and salary expectations on our careers page:
With a focus on portfolio preparation, we help students build their competitive edge with high quality work that gets noticed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.