Hello everyone! I’m a Houdini FX artist (film/tv) but looking to transition to an UE technical artist if possible. I’m basically hoping to get into a more programming type role with less shot work as such.
I have some small experience with C++ and python, I’ve also used UE in production to a limited degree as an FX artist. Just wondering if this is a realistic move and what I can spend time learning now to be as prepared as I can and get my first gig. Are junior tech artists a thing?
I’m guessing I will need to revise C++ in general and definitely how it’s used in UE. What skills should I be developing? Any good resources out there? Any advice would be muchly appreciated!
Heyy ! I am currently a Junior Tech in Games so yes they are a thing, they are becoming more and more common I would say but they are still kind of a niche thing.
I am personally more on the graphic side of things so I don’t know what are some of the required things but to me, what makes a good technical artist is being a good problem solver. Being able to know how the stuff works, having basic knowledge of all the different aspect of developing a game or a film and being able to help someone that is not directly attached to your working pole is really a big plus.
I hope this help and clarify some stuff, I can gather some interesting resources about Houdini for games and such later if that’s what your interested in.
Out of curiosity why do you want to transition to Technical Artist and not games VFX Artist?
For myself I went from a Houndi FX Artist to a games VFX Artist. Although I also do a lot of work in a Technical Art capacity. I had to learn a lot along the way as game art is very different from film/tv. But it might be an easier transition than going to Technical Artist. A good Technical Artist knows how workflows and processes are supposed to go and it is hard to know those things if you are new. So if you get a job as a VFX Artist you can get real world experience on how game development works and then maybe transition to a Technical Artist role later.
As a general reasource I have made a wiki with lots of resources: http://techartwiki.net/
I also wrote an article called “What is a Technical Artist?” that might help you with which direction you want to go, as Technical Art is a vast discipline and you do not need to know everything to be a good TA.(I am still writing up more articles but life got in the way for a while. I hope to pick it back up next month)
So the first thing is to decide which fields suit you and make you happy to work. Start learning these skills in a game development context and other knowledge will come along the way.
For example: the amount of coding might differ on what the company needs in a TA are. I know TAs that never need to touch anything else than just python (if even!). Because their strengths lie elsewhere. But in other cases, a TA builds a whole pipeline of tools using python, C++, or whatever else is used in the company (many also use Lua or create standalone tools in Rust).
