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Real-time 3D Foundations

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

Made in UE by: Oliver Rotter

Overview

Learn to create immersive virtual worlds in Unreal Engine

Become a real-time 3D technical artist with training from an Unreal Academic Partner. Learn how to tell compelling stories through film-quality cinematics using the world building, lighting, and camera skills you'll learn directly from industry experts.

Why study virtual production with us:

We are an Unreal Academic Partner and Authorized Training Center
Receive mentorship from real-time 3D professionals
Learn to use industry-standard tools and techniques
Choose private 1-on-1 or small group classes (max. 4 students)

Gain speed and confidence using Epic's Unreal Engine, learn cutting-edge real-time 3d techniques and learn how to build high-quality scenes that you can add to your professional portfolio to show prospective employers.

unreal-authorized-traning-partner

Qualification

Industry Certificate

Duration

9 months

Commitment

20 hrs weekly

Skill level

Beginner to
Intermediate

Start date

July 1st, 2024
August 5th, 2024
September 9th, 2024

Tuition

Group Class: $9,999 USD
Private Class: $13,999 USD
Ask about our payment plans

Why study with us

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

Our expert-led courses prepare you for a fulfilling 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

Industry-focused online course to help launch your career as a real-time 3D artist

Term 1: 12 weeks

Foundations 1: Essentials of 3D

In this term, you'll start with the fundamentals of 3D, learning how to set up models, scenes, rigs, and animation to set the stage from which all other 3D skills be built. Developing a good foundation in this area is essential for moving on to the more advanced terms where you'll apply your new skills to the world of Unreal Engine to bring your visions to life.

3D Modeling basics and geometry
Texturing and lighting techniques
Foundational animation principles
Rigging basics

Introduction to 3D Space
Modeling Projects and Pipeline
Modeling Tools and Techniques
Modeling Workflows
Modeling for Real-time 3D
Principles of UV Mapping
Principles of Materials and Rendering
Animation Principles
Applied 3d Animation
Animation Cycles
Principles of Rigging
Lighting and Rendering

Term 2: 12 weeks

Foundations 2: Core Real-time 3D Principles

In this subject you'll start with the fundamentals of Unreal Engine, learning how to set up animated characters in the engine, along with a wide variety of features, plus rigging and motion basics. Developing a good foundation in this area is essential for moving on to the more advanced Real-Time 3D topics where you'll apply your new skills to creating a film-quality cinematic shot.

How to use a wide range of Unreal Engine features
Basic animation and rigging skills
Working with motion capture
An overview of real-time and virtual production pipelines

Intro to Unreal and White-boxing
Modeling in Unreal and File Management
Basics with Materials
Intro to Niagara
Exporting and Importing Meshes and Animation
Intro to Sequencer Animation
Animating with Control Rig
Metahuman and Interactive Characters
Facial Performance Capture
Introduction to Rigging
Character Rigging Basics
Unreal Control Rig

Term 3: 12 weeks

Foundations 3: Professional Worldbuilding

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.

How to create landscapes using Gaea & Unreal Engine
Advanced texturing & lighting
Optimizing your scenes for render
Camera set-up & rendering film-quality cinematics

Portfolio project: A cinematic ready real-time environment scene.

Scene Blockout and Project Management
Creating a Landscape
Advanced Landscapes & Blending Materials
Lighting Systems in Unreal Engine
Planning & Layout
Foundations & Photogrammetry
Detailing Your World
Good Practices & Polishing
Lighting & Atmosphere
Adding Life, & Optimization Workflows
Rendering with Movie Render Queue
Color Grading & Delivery with Davinci Resolve

Course structure

Your pathway to the industry

The 9-month Foundations Course is the first half of our Career Track, helping you pave your pathway into the creative industries. Gain foundational skills and knowledge that will prepare you for advanced industry training.

Pathway illustration for Foundations 9 Month Course

Mentors

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

Our real-time 3D and virtual production courses are taught by industry pros. 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

Lucas Esposito's Work

Lucas Esposito

Mentor of Real-time 3D

Known for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

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

Enric Joanmiquel's Work

Enric Joanmiquel

Mentor of Foundations

Known for Bleeding Edge

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

Student Showcase

High-quality work that's out of this world!

We help students build their competitive edge by learning the tools and techniques used in the industry. This helps them produce impressive content that stands out. See some examples below!

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Studios that hire our students

Our commitment to job outcomes and a focus on career development has helped graduates find work at studios all over the world.

Frequently asked questions

Realtime 3D & Virtual Production Course FAQs

Age Minimum
The minimum age to be able to enrol in our career track courses is 16. We require parent or guardian consent during the enrollment process for applicants under 18.

English Proficiency
We expect our students to have a good understanding of written and spoken English. There’s no specific ’level'; however, you must be able to understand video tutorials in English (no subtitles) and speak with your mentor in English during your live Q&A session.

Computer Literacy
To be successful in this program, you will need basic computer skills and a computer that meets the minimum specifications (see next question).

Preparation
If you would like to prepare before starting the this course, you could work on the following basic skills:

Polygonal modeling principles and workflows
UV unwrapping workflows
Animation timeline and graph editing workflows
3D Rendering workflows

Software:

This course requires you to purchase/download the following software:

Unreal Engine (free)
Autodesk Maya (educational license [there is also a free trial available])
Substance Painter (Adobe Substance 3D Texturing plan)
QuadSpinner Gaea (educational license)
DaVinci Resolve
RealityCapture (free)

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, 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 storytelling through Unreal Engine.

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

3D animation is explored within Term 1 ("Essentials of 3D"), using Maya, and again in Term 2 ("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 2 ("Core Real-time 3D Principles"); however, the Real-time 3D Specialization course covers it in much more detail, dedicating a full term (six weeks) to it.

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 3 ("Professional Worldbuilding"), 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 our Digital Compositing Foundations course.

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

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

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

For those interested in architectural development, explore 3D Visualization courses.

This course gives you an excellent understanding of real-time 3D and virtual production fundamentals, and depending on your level of commitment, skills, and portfolio pieces, you may be ready to start applying for entry-level artist positions.

To further hone your skills and increase your hiring potential, the Real-time 3D Artist Specialization course (available early 2025) is recommended. It covers more complex techniques and includes an entire term dedicated to career development and building your portfolio to prepare you for junior real-time 3D jobs such as:

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.

EXPLORE VIRTUAL PRODUCTION JOBS

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

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