Weekly progress from a begginer

[SwingBill]

Hello,
glad to meet everyone. I am studying real time VFX in Unreal right now.
My goal is to get into the video game industry.
Time constraint 6 months from now.
In that time: learn basic concepts, make my demo reel, show my progress and network.

The reason I am learning VFX it’s because it seems to be more in demand.

I tried Environment concept art but I ended up burning out. VFX seems to give me a fresh start and continue with other artistic abilities that I put aside. Also, I’m trying to avoid some mistakes such as not showing my progress, network or searching for a community. Having actual professionals reading my questions and taking the time to answer is a game changer for me.

That being said, I officially started on May 7th but I was finishing other projects.

I did the “Unreal Engine - VFX for Games - Beginner to Intermediate” by Gabriel Agilar

And I am currently in " Complete VFX Niagara in Unreal Engine 5" by Raffi Bedross
At the same watching the series of Ben Cloward called “UE4 Material Editor - Shader Creation” (Until vid 6)

I’ve checked a nice amount of junior portfolios in order to have a visual idea of what level I should achieve in order to get a job.

For this month my goal is to see what it’s possible to do. Like learning how the ingredients’ flavor interacts with each other and making some smaller decisions.

My way of learning is to have first contact. In other words, see as much as I can and then it’s when I start brushing off again. I believe that making small projects and finishing them off would help me a lot to recall what I learned until it’s in the back of my mind.

So far I’m just copying and adding some extra things as I said

Seems that materials are a very powerful tool. It feels more useful to learn about that instead of going back and forth on 3D software.

For this week I’ve checked in total:

“UE4 Material Editor - Shader Creation” Vids: 3 to 5

“Complete VFX Niagara in Unreal Engine 5” Section 1 to 8

Personal view:

• List item

Materials seem less difficult since watching “What Are Data Types? UE4 Materials 101 - Episode 3”
I understand Niagara’s structure. I can jump easily from one node to another without getting lost.

I tried to make an area of attack effect from scratch almost by memory but I ended up wasting 2 hours. What I learned is that for now it’s better to make small changes from existing effects and try to check the resources more. It’s better to do even smaller effects and try to learn enough for next month.

I want to try to be consistent with this post and make updates every week.

This post helped me a lot. Here is the advice to set a goal and a junior VFX porfolio.
I've been learning Real-Time VFX for a 45 days, and here’s what I’ve realized

[SwingBill]

Second week posting

So far this week progress in terms of the online course (Complete VFX Niagara in Unreal Engine 5”): from section 9 to 18 (atom, shield, nuke explosion, regular slash, fire slash and ice attack)

I’m recording what I’ve done so far so now I have some gifs to show. I hadn’t time to make small changes in order to avoid making them too similar to the course.

Not much to say really. I’m happy with the course so far. The more I work on this field the more I realize that materials are very important and I’ll take time in the future to learn it as much as I can.
Posted this gif here I might add the other effects done this week

[SwingBill]

Third week posting

Publishing today instead of tomorrow since personal stuff.

"Complete VFX Niagara in Unreal Engine 5” course is finished. YAY!!!

I couldn’t try the fluids section because my computer can’t handle UE5 but it’s okay.

The course briefly introduced me to substance designer and I love it. Plus follows the logic of blueprints so it’s satisfactory to apply some things that I already saw on UE.
The following effects are some of what I’ve done this week. Did a couple more experimenting with waves and sprite facing. I like to upload this even though it’s straight away from the course.

I recommend the course but take into consideration that some sections are not finished like the last one about substance designer.

Quite a useful course so you get the handle on creating effects from scratch and getting used to creating materials.

All in all, as an introduction it’s nice.

I started the other course that I bought, “Unreal Engine 5: One Course Solution For Niagara VFX”. So far it looks interesting.

At the beginning of this month I set a goal of doing 4 different effects from scratch before this month ends so I can put into practice what I’ve learned so far. In addition, I definitely should set a scene on UE so I don’t have to rebuild all over again folders, change scene settings and so on…

I’m the kind of artist that does a lot of studying before doing anything. I’m too afraid of failing so I think for the next week I’m going to do 4 different VFX: fire slash, shield (either energy or ice), an area of attack and a projectile. I’ll make them from scratch by checking tutorials and the previous courses that I’ve done and I’ll post next week whatever I manage to do.

The fire slash is already almost done, I need to fix something but the rest I’ll make from scratch.

The main goal is to recall as much as I can from the past course and get used to the creation pipeline.

Since next week is a busy one for me I’ll do my best.

Have a nice day!

[SwingBill]

Fourth Week
Weekly mini challenge finished. You can check the results here:

https://x.com/Centellesart/status/1839238748812333158

This mini challenge wasn’t too bad actually. I was scared at the beginning. During the week, I realized that I just need to focus on: check things and finish.

I managed to do 3 of them because the slash effect was already done a month ago. I just need to add some sparks. If the timing of the radial effect it’s copied from the tutorial. I played more on timings in the Area of attack effect.

In my personal opinion, I spend too much time on debugging materials. As well as trying to bend the inner ice panels from the ice ring bend towards a point.

In addition, I couldn’t add many environmental effects like floor cracks when the sword hits the ground nor many small particles to add some extra effects. I felt that I couldn’t remember how to make a simple burst if I didn’t check it. Therefore, I would practice it a little bit more and pay more attention to how it’s made.

All in all, happy with the results and eager to learn more. I’ll continue with the tutorial “Unreal Engine 5: One Course Solution For Niagara VFX”. And when it’s finished I might do a mini challenge like this one.

Have a nice day!

[SwingBill]

Fifth Week

So another week, another entry.
The day after the challenge I continued the “Unreal Engine 5: One Course Solution For Niagara VFX”. Therefore, from last Friday to today I watched videos 9 to 71 of this course. [Wow! Quite a lot actually. I might have done more if I studied more hours but for now 4 hours is bearable] (Another note, some videos are 1 min long and I skip some parts since I already knew that info I used mostly to recall basic things).

I’ll try to finish it next week. I might be able to do it if not that’s okay. So far I can follow the course easily and I understand everything. I’m quite happy. In addition, the instructor explains things very well.

Personally, I feel more comfortable using Niagara. I have more clear in my mind where stuff is. I can easily do simple bursts and they kind of work (visually). However, I still can’t do without looking anywhere, an Area of Attack for example.

I think I’ll take a little bit longer to be “fluent” [for me any art form it’s like speaking a language] on making VFX. All in all, happy with the progress.

I’ll add here one of the nine VFX that I did this week.

Have a nice weekend!

[SwingBill]

Sixth Week

Pretty happy with the results so far. I’m capable of understanding everything. I managed to see 21 videos. Pace went slower since I needed more time to assimilate this new info. Not concerned about it. My main focus was understanding concepts so I took some notes and watched videos if needed. In the past (not VFX related) stopping would bother me since it felt like I was falling behind. However, if you think about it it’s the other way around. If you don’t understand it well at some point you’ll have to revisit the “basic information that you’re supposed to already know” [realizing this while I’m writing this tbh]. I am capable of being smart and dumb. [It’s surprising that “you’re supposed to” makes you do…]

I’m using notes as a way to go slower and build a clear image in my mind of the logic behind. In addition, I might use it in the future as a shortcut to check something. At the beginning I was trying to be familiar with the engine and I don’t know how notes would have been more useful than using the actual engine.

So basically for now I’ve been working like this:
Be familiar with the engine → be familiar with the VFX pipeline creation → “start again” with the new course and recall basic info → start taking notes for more advanced info.

For now I’ll try to start as many times as I can before moving to more complex VFX. In my traditional art training they taught us this: small quick paintings/drawings and once you’re more familiar with the blocking part then you can move on to longer paintings/drawings. [To be honest Naerly on this reply I've been learning Real-Time VFX for a 45 days, and here’s what I’ve realized - #14 by Naerly gave me this thought when they mentioned that they made very small projects and I thought “Oh didn’t I do the same when I was studying Fine Arts?”]. VFX seems to me like any other artistic field in which you have to know some non-traditional (or at least not very common) info like math and coding. At the end of the day it has to work visually not only perform well in the engine.

Talking of moving on, next week I’ll finish this course and I do a mini challenge. Would be the same as the previous 3 to 4 VFX for the end of the week (probably 3 who knows), post it online, and make a new entry here hehe.

I’ll add here some VFX that I did this week.

All in all, I’m happy that I’m happy learning this and not feeling anxious about the many things that I still don’t know.

Have a nice weekend!

[SwingBill]

Seventh Week

Finished the course “One Course Solution”. I finished this past wednesday. I finished the base scene so the environment is not distracting and it feels a little bit more professional. I started making the challenge on thursday.
Unfortunately today I can’t do anything except this post.

So far I still feel curious about this art discipline and I managing pretty well on not overwhelming myself on “there’s too any staff to know”.

See you next week with the challenge completed.

For now I’ll show the dissolve effect that I did.

Have a nice weekend!

[SwingBill]

Eight Week

So 2 months since I officially started this weekly post. Nice nice.
Finished my 3 day challenge on doing VFX you can see the result on here:
https://x.com/Centellesart/status/1848688294143406115

It was nice to practice a little bit. Still the timing and animation is a bit floaty. Still a beginner, I’ll start working on it when I finish another project.

Last Wednesday I started doing the " Unreal 5 Materials Course Bundle" from tharlevfx. So far very happy with it. It’s exactly what I needed to improve my technical skills. So far very well explained and easy to follow. I’ll take me at least 2 to 2,5 weeks to finish but as long as I understand everything it’s fine.

I started taking notes seriously and it’s working pretty nice. On today’s videos he mentioned some nodes that I totally forgot and I could check the notes quite quickly. Glad to make them useful hehe.

My plan for now would be to finish this last side project and in the afternoons try to practice some animation without adding any fancy material and stuff. I’ll get to do fancy dressing once I finish with this course. Therefore I’ll be checking boh material and animation.

For now the goals of this month would be to improve in animation and learn about materials. Once I finish the material and Niagara course, I’ll start checking what type of VFX I want to do and study the market needs.

That’s it for today. Quite happy with the progress. Never thought that one day I would understand the material nodes. However, I think it’s a matter of taking the time to learn it.

Have a nice weekend!

[SwingBill]

Ninth Week

This week was full “Unreal 5 Materials Course Bundle”. I was able to watch this week from video 51 to 100. The following 2 weeks would be the exact same until I get to the Niagara course.

So far this tutorial it’s very very useful to understand the basics on material creation. It’s very well explained and with lots of examples. This course is exactly what I needed in order to understand material creation. So far the past courses didn’t explain much about mathematical nodes. This course explains them very well and much much more.

The landscape part wasn’t useful for me. I could’ve skipped it but sometimes he explains some basic concepts so it’s useful for recalling things. In any case, it was interesting to know what you can do with it.

All in all, I’m glad that despite the huge number of hours of this course I’m still motivated. Can’t wait to get into the Niagara course.

My original plan gets “delayed” but I’m understanding the basics to make materials. Which makes it easier to build on top. Again, what I’ve learned so far in the past courses was useful, don’t get me wrong. However, as an artist you can’t rely on recipes, you need to know how it’s actually working. If not, when a problem comes across it’s difficult to solve it since you didn’t understand how it worked in the first place.

Now that my afternoons are free I’m thinking of either doing small projects of VFX focusing only on improving my animation skills or starting the niagara course from this bundle. I’ll think about it this weekend.

Btw I gathered every video time length in an excel file and numbered each one of them. That’s how I could schedule how many videos or rader how many hours of videos I should watch per day. I used the tool ASAP Utilities so in a couple of seconds it created a list. I checked if I could do it using Windows Shell but I didn’t understand how it worked so ended up using this. Very easy and useful.

That’s it for this week. Have a nice weekend!

[SwingBill]

Tenth Week

As I mentioned the previous week, this week was also full “Unreal 5 Materials Course Bundle”. I was able to watch this week from video 101 to 168. Which means I’m going to finish this course two days earlier than planned. I scheduled so every day I would watch between 1h and 50 min to 2h of videos because at the beginning I had to pause the videos and take notes.
Since many things reference previous videos and I don’t have to pause that much, I could increase that time by 20 to 30 min of videos. In short: watch as much as I could but always making sure I watched the minimum that I set for that day.

In relation to the actual content of the course, I fell in love with vertex painting and World Position Offset. What a magical tool. I currently don’t have a Maya license and I tried to replicate the Transfer Attributes too, the one that transfers a gradient to any mesh and paints your vertex colors, on Blender 3.2 . Surprisingly for nobody, I ended up wasting 2 hours. It seems that this specific functionality it’s barely supported in blender (I’ll try a newer version). Apparently, there’s ways to bake from vertex to base color but haven’t found much the other way around. It was distressing. It’s such a shame that Blender doesn’t support such a powerful feature. If anyone knows how to Transfer Attributes like Maya does but in blender, please let me know.

Apart from that, finally my afternoons are free. I decided to replicate most of the environmental effects from this video The Environmental Impact of VFX by onetupthree . By the way, the vertex paintings were for replicating the dummy so I could animate it when hitted (I’ll check this afternoon if this hypothesis actually works).
Managed quite well to do the previous ones and It was a nice practice. Yeap I diverged from improving my animation skills. When finished I’ll go back on improving this because It feels like procrastinating again for fear of doing things wrong. I should be more specific about what I’m looking for from the animation “improving sessions”. That might help. I’ll think about this weekend.

All in all, happy with the progress so far and grateful that this course exists. It makes the learning curve way easier.

Have a wonderful weekend!

PS: Made myself a self portrait for the avatar. Hope u like it!

[SwingBill]

Eleventh Week

“Unreal 5 Materials Course Bundle” DONE!
I decided to review my notes and the UE project that came from the course since I want to make sure I don’t miss any important detail.

I finished this thursday. I finished early on the day I marked which content should I check from notes, check on the UE project, and what not to bother.
I specified what I need to check from the unreal engine project.

Since today I finished cheching what was set for today I decided to do this tutorial Unreal Engine 4 Tutorial: Painting With Render Targets | Kodeco
[My intention was to do part three but since I realized late I decided to do it first. It was a waste of time. I was tired and couldn’t pay much attention.]

In addition, I finished doing the The Environmental Impact of VFX by onetupthree video. It was nice to make that little practice.

And finally made some different animation for the same effect. I didn’t felt that learned much. It was useful for setting variables that I want to change later. I don’t know why but editing curves on the detail panel it’s awful.

That’s it for this week. I’m planning to finish the review next week and start the VFX course on monday 25. My original schedule got delayed 2 months but it was worth it to actually understand how mathematical nodes work. Well, it’s essential. At least for creating nice materials.

In any case I’m going to upload the 3 things that I worked with:

• Unreal Engine 4 Tutorial: Painting With Render Targets:
  

• The Environmental Impact of VFX by onetupthree
  I was planning to spawn a cat. However, I remembered that I downloaded this duck mesh from a Caravan Palace post.
  

• 4 shield animation practice. This tweet from Giacomo Driussi /@doctor_iussi) gave me the idea:
  

Have a nice weekend!