Unreal Engine Workflow

Technical Artist, Conrad J. Schmidt: Design, modeling, rigging, surfacing, animation and lighting. Tools: Zbrush, Blender, Substance, Unreal Engine 5.5.

Learning Unreal Engine 5? Try these helpful tutorials:

ASSETS, LIGHTING & ANIMATION

1. Unreal Sequencer and other animation-related UE tools - easy to learn!

2. Master Materials! I love this tutorial, step-by-step materials, and instances.

3. Lighting! This step-by-step tutorial is thorough and concise.

4. Modeling Tools! A demonstration of all the modeling tools in Unreal 5.

5. Foliage Brush! How to use the foliage brush, optimization tips.

6. Render Que! How to set up a good render.

7. Painting Layers in Landscape Mode!

GAME DEVELOPMENT

1. Mobil Game Development - How to set up a play test on your phone.

2. How to set up a damage component!

3. How to throw a rock and stun an actor.

4. Animation Blueprint and Blend Space set up.

5. How to set up a side scroll controller.

6. Set up your HUD.

7. Create collectables (inheritance).

8. Build a UI for your game.

9. Behavior Trees - Advanced AI

Learning Blender? Try these helpful tutorials:

1. Retopology Settings! Set up your workflow for retopology.

2. Animation Settings and set up need to know!

3. Animation Deep Dive!

4. The Camera…

5. AutoRig Pro - Face rigging

6. AutoRig Pro - Human Rig

Production Design - Sets

"Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life." ―Mark Twain

With the introduction of new tools, my approach to design is evolving. Mostly, I evaluate the needs of a project or assignment and grow from that. Most recently, I worked as a set designer on a soon to be released DreamWorks animated and live action feature film. The experience involved exploring and successfully implementing a variety of applications and techniques, including 3D scans, Zbrush sculpts, and pre vis in Unreal Engine - as well as a photoshoot with Dragon Frame. It was fast-paced, result-oriented design on an epic level. I look forward to sharing some of that work soon.

CS

VR Painting - Vis. Dev. Deep Dive

“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.” - Alberto Giacometti

My reason for getting into VR was because of the design tools. Admittedly, I couldn't put it down when I started playing Robo Recall from Epic Games. I'm jumping back into the design application - a three-week deep dive and I'm feeling proficient. You can check out some of my VR paintings here (painted in 'Quill):

https://vimeo.com/268909697

https://vimeo.com/268911546

https://vimeo.com/268913075

https://vimeo.com/268920576

Working as an environment designer, I would concept a set, then use the headset as a camera and cut a video for presenting to the showrunners. It made quite an impression compared to the usual rough sketch. Once approved, I would generate a 3D (.fbx) file and use it to finalize orthos and paint over it in Photoshop. Also, I demonstrated how it could be a tool for directors to move the camera around and record pre-viz. All of which worked great.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the experience. I might try again someday, but I consider VR a novel tool. AR has more potential - as long as I don't have to wear a headset all day.

Traditional Character Animation & The Digital Devolution

'Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.' -Vincent Van Gogh

Imagine animating with a pencil, then a quill, then a copy machine of a pencil drawing, a paint brush, and then suddenly… a mouse.

However, we have evolved since then, and there are some beautifully contemporary examples of 2D animation. Even 3D animation can be made to invoke a hand-made feel.

In the beginning, every animator must be familiar with at least two books: 'Cartoon Animation' by Preston Blair and 'The Illusion of Life' by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.