Oh, hey guys. I just posted a series of 5 videos covering the artistic principles (or fundamentals as the case may be) of real-time VFX, through the lens of League of Legends. This is inspired by the talk @hadidjah and myself gave at GDC last year, combined with some learnings from the League of Legends style guide. Excited to see how these help you, and especially what you’d want to add to them, to help all of us level up in our craft. Enjoy!
This! This is the good stuff. So often we forget all of this and focus on the technical details. I’ve only seen the first episode so far, but if it continues in the same vein it’ll be required viewing for students and veterans alike.
Holy crap. There is something I’ve been working on that I’ve been planning to post soon for awhile. I’m actually finishing it up RIGHT NOW. Yet, I was going to post a week ago. My gut told me - “You need to post this now”, even though I felt it wasn’t yet ready. I quite obviously ignored it.
My gut feelings have proven right - AGAIN.
I’m still going to post the darn longread (one of the tags) - but DANG IT! To the little I’ve seen at this moment, this is good stuff. This is the pure BASICS, but in a VFX mindset. GOOD!
Thank you for that, i just finished watching all of them. I learned most of these by practicing since i started as a VFX Artist less than a year ago. Though it wasn’t always easy to put it into words since some parts are quite abstract. These videos helped a lot in that way, specially the one about the timing.
EVERY artist should keep this in mind, specially those who just started.
Excited to see what you post! I was just looking to start a baseline discussion for these topics. I look forward to seeing how the conversation around the artistry of VFX evolves over the years.
Not just the artistry. Teaching the artistry. I (probably) won’t be able to watch this till after I post. Yet I don’t need to watch it to say how much what you have posted is needed.
Oh this was most definitely needed. Thanks a bunch for these @Keyserito ! I am not the best when it comes to color theory and values. Your videos on those topics in specific were pretty helpful in relaying these out! Definitely going to help me up my texture design game.
For those who missed it, here’s the link to the post about the guide Jason uses:
Great series Jason, thanks for putting it together!
There must be something in the water at the moment as I’ve got a whole bunch of notes written up on a similar subject which I’ll probably post in the next couple of weeks, hopefully building on the great stuff here.
Just watched them all, and really appreciate the time and effort you put into this!
Timing is def. my weakest point, so that particular video might get quite a few views from me over the next few weeks to really get it embedded into my brain! I’ll be watching the rest a few times as well since its good to keep remembering myself how important shape, value, color, timing, and how it all relates to gameplay is.
Its funny, I was watching them while working on a specific vfx pack and I think I went over all the effects at least once per video and tried applying what I learned/realized/remembered from your videos.
They are a treasure trove.
Thanks for putting this together Jason, it really helps to have an auditory explanation and visuals with motion to accompany the vfx style guide. I feel like I understand everything that’s in there more completely now, thanks to your videos
This is great, thanks so much for making these videos! I myself am only just now getting onto VFX, (My school, although having a Game Art degree, doesn’t go over VFX all that much.) so these are a huge help on understanding what I should look out for and how I should work around my effects.
Since this is all great stuff to learn early on and develop good habits with, I added a link to this thread and the YouTube playlist to the Getting Started wiki
haha. So glad they’re helpful to you. Yes, i tried to make them short enough to be re-watchable without being too burdensome. Glad to hear they’re being used like that.
Yah! I’m driven to try and help fill the gaps until the current generation of real-time VFX talent starts making their way into schools eventually. Other art disciplines are quite a bit more mature education-wise. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover before we can catch up.