Guiding Principles

Learn the driving principles behind animating effects in any game engine. (1 lesson)

1. Guiding Principles Lecture

Instructor: Jason Keyser

Unreal Fundamentals

Follow along in the YouTube series giving you an introduction to Unreal Engine 4, focusing just on the tools and techniques you'll need in this class. (4 lessons)

1. Intro to Unreal
2. Intro to Cascade
3. Intro to Materials
4. Intro to Kit Bashing

Instructor: Jason Keyser

Unreal Project

Download the Unreal Engine source assets in this session, and get oriented to how this project will fit into your VFX education. (1 lesson)

1. Unreal Project Walkthrough

Instructor: Jason Keyser

Unity Project

Download the Unity source project, and get an overview of how to use the software. (3 lessons) 

1. Unity Introduction Navigation and Project Overview
2. Unity Kitbashing
3. Unity_Particle_Systems_30fps

Artist: Lush VFX
Instructor: Lush VFX

Modeling: Maya Fundamentals

If you're new to Maya, this session will give you a quick overview of how to work in the software. (1 lesson)

1. Maya Basics

Artist: Jason Keyser
Instructor: Jason Keyser

Niagara Block-in

Unreal 5 and Niagara has more flexibility, is more powerful and is gaining popularity. So we decided to build a new series all around this topic!

It's definitely a good place to start, even if you've never made a 3D effect before.

1. Intro to Niagara - Torch
2. Visual Hierarch - Item pick-up 
3. Tech & Tools - Niagara 
4. ...

Artist: Hadidjah Chamberiln
Instructor: Hadidjah Chamberiln

Unity Introduction

Which engine should I use? Which one is better? Unreal? Unity?
The important thing is that you pick one and start your journey. This series will provide everything you need to get going in Unity!

It's definitely a good place to start, even if you've never made a 3D effect before.

1. Intro to Unity - Torch
2. Timing & Punch - Hit Impact
3. Arcs & Easings - Healing Loop

Artist: Hadidjah Chamberiln
Instructor: Hadidjah Chamberiln

Krita Texture Painting

If you're new to texture painting and are looking to get started or if you just want to learn a new software,
then this is the series for you!

1. Texture painting: Impact flair
2. Texture painting: AOE Burst
3. Texture painting: Sprite Sheet
4. Texture painting: Liquid Splatter
5. Texture painting: Tiling Textures

Artist: Ali Sorensen
Instructor: Ali Sorensen

Intro to Modeling for VFX in Blender

In this series you will learn all the functionality and key concepts of modeling in Blender to satisfy all your VFX needs!  (7 lessons!)

1. Domes & Tapered Cylinders
2. Rings, Swipes, Soulercoasters
3. Waterfall
4. ...

Artist: Josh McDonald
Instructor: Josh McDonald

Intro to Shaders for VFX Artists

Shaders can be scary to look at. But once you understand the basics it is really not that bad! In this series you will learn how to use and navigate a node-based Shader interface!  (15 lessons!)

1. Vectors, UV's & Texture Samplers
2. Lerp & Color
3. Distortion
4. Vectors & Fresnel
5. Vertex Offset
6. Depth Fade
7. ...

Artist: Gabriel "Nibilli" Boileau
Instructor: Gabriel "Nibilli" Boileau

Unity : Elemental Studies

Bring the elements to live in Unity!
We teach you the technical way to master elements like water, fire, light and lightning.   (12 lessons!)

1. Ambient Fog
2. Fireball
3. Light Hit Impact
4. Lightning Beam
5. Sword Swipe
6. Waterfall
7. ...

Artist: Nicolas Trevisan
Instructor: Nicolas Trevisan

Texture Painting: Fiery Noise

See the process involved to create fiery noise to be used in an in-game material. (1 lesson)

1. Texture Painting + Commentary

Artist: Jason Keyser
Instructor: Jason Keyser

Unreal Particles: Fire Explosion

See how the fiery explosion is constructed in 3D, with an in-depth explanation of all the moving parts. (1 lesson)

1. Particle System Breakdown

Artists: Jason Chisolm & Luke Mason
Instructor: Jason Keyser

Unity Particles: Fire Explosion

Get a breakdown of how to animate a fiery explosion particle system in Unity. (1 lesson)

1. Unity Fire Explosion Breakdown

Artist: Lush VFX
Instructor: Lush VFX

Texture Painting: Wispy Textures & Meshes

Learn some powerful techniques to create dissolve maps and normal maps using a combination of Photoshop techniques, custom painting, and Maya's 3D painting tools. (3 lessons)

1. Sphere Meshes in Maya
2. Offset & Normal Map in Photoshop
3. Dissolve Map in Photoshop

Artist: David Shovlin
Instructor: David Shovlin

Unreal Particles: Wispy Cloud

Get an in-depth explanation of all the parts that make-up the wispy nether (2 lessons)

1. New Material Setup
2. Particle System in Unreal

Artist: David Shovlin
Instructor: David Shovlin

Unity Particles: Wispy Cloud

Learn how a soft and magical explosion of wisps is created in Unity Engine. (1 lesson)

1. Unity Wispy Cloud Breakdown

Artist: Lush VFX
Instructor: Lush VFX

Texture Painting: Zappy Flipbook & Dissolve

Learn how to create a flipbook texture from scratch, which will be read and animated in-engine. (5 lessons)

1. [Flipbook] Lightning Design Phase
2. [Flipbook] Lightning Animation Phase
3. [Flipbook] Lightning "In-Betweening" Phase
4. [Dissolve Map] Burst Gradients
5. [Dissolve Map] Burst Color Pass

Artist: Jason Keyser
Instructor: Jason Keyser

Unreal Particles: Lightning Zap

See piece-by-piece how this 3D effect is achieved in Unreal Engine. (1 lesson)

1. Zap Particle Breakdown

Artist: Luke Mason & Jason Keyser
Instructor: Jason Keyser

Unity Particles: Lightning Zap

Learn how this impactful bolt of dark magic lightning is put together in Unity. (1 lesson) 

1. Lightning Zap Breakdown

Artist: Lush VFX
Instructor: Lush VFX

Texture Painting: Gooey Dissolve Maps

A detailed breakdown of how to create high fidelity, well designed shapes in your textures. This session covers meshes, dissolve maps, and normal maps. (4 lessons) 

1. Bowl Meshes in Maya
2. Gooey Shape Painting
3. Dissolve Map Photoshop Tricks
4. Normal Maps

Artist: David Shovlin
Instructor: David Shovlin

Unreal Particles: Goo Splat

Learn all the parts that make the gooey splat come to life in all its 3D animated glory, using Unreal Engine. (3 lessons)

1. Material Setup
2. Particle Setup
3. Particle Refinement

Artist: David Shovlin
Instructor: David Shovlin

Unity Particles: Goo Splat

Learn how a toxic splash of viscous goo is brought to life in Unity Engine. (1 lesson)

1. Goo Splat Breakdown

Artist: Lush VFX
Instructor: Lush VFX