I’ve taught Tech Art classes in the past (at S4G) and released my prepared materials. But recently, I focus on this new course (which I’ve already taught at SAE, Enjmin, Nord, Howest/DAE & Vertex School).
FAQ
Booking
If you’ve questions or want to book me to give the course, you can reach me via LinkedIn.
Realisation
The course can be held in person or online (e.g. via Zoom).
Duration
The course can be adjusted between 1.5h and 4h.
Target Audience
This course is a good introducation into VFX & Shaders for students but can also serve as a good overview for people who already know the field.
Course Content
Important: We will not re-create the whole effect! The course is based on a personal project which is build around a simple principle: Almost all VFX Materials are based on the same shader (called: Super Duper Shader): https://simonschreibt.de/gat/the-unreal-stencil-dragon/
Part 1
We’ll start with a breakdown of the project (see video above) to make the students capable of opening and understanding its structure and learn from it on their own.
Part 2
Then I’ll demonstrate different use-cases for the Super Duper Shader by using it to create three examples very quickly (Shield, Nova, Flame). This shows the capabilities of the shader and how to control it via material instance, Niagara and Sequencer.
Part 3
The next step is to teach the most important techniques of VFX shaders (UV offset/distortion, Alpha Erosion, LUT) by building a simpler fire shader from scratch. With the help of Blender & Photoshop I’ll explain these basics also in a non-technical way so that everyone should be able to follow the lecture. Additional topics: channel packing, shader math & shader debugging.
After this demonstration, the students will not only know how to create a nice fire shader for their projects, but they will also be able to understand the more complex Super Duper Shader as it is based on the same three techniques mentioned above.
Additional Content
- I’m preparing a document which gathers all information and references in one spot. It is also the place where students can add questions and feedback.
- The students get access to the Unreal Project Files to learn from it and do their own experiments.
- If the students wish, there can be a follow-up meeting 1-2 weeks later, to give the students feedback if they used their gained knowledge for their projects.
Expected Outcome
After the lecture the students will be able to: Use the Super Duper Shader directly for their Unreal projects (or re-create their own version for e.g. Unity), create a simpler but effective fire shader, open the project and/or shader to learn from it and apply the newly gained knowledge for their own projects.
Feedback
I’ve given this course to several schools and here is some feedback from the students:
“fantastic. showing examples in Photoshop (channels etc) and 3D package (UV deform) were extremely helpful for us to understand concepts you are explaining in UE. Thankyou Simon. Great pace, explained at a great level (even for this old brain to keep up) Really engaging. Much appreciated”
“amazing: Going through how to do stuff step by step and explaining everything that is happening.”
“It was lovely! I feel like I learned a lot. Can’t wait to play with the files. Thank you 🙂 I have so many fun ideas now”
“It was very interesting! Most of this information is new to me, but its good to get a picture of what the course will look like! Keep up your good work.”
“Very informative and well structured!”
“Presented with clear passion for the things that were talked about, is really nice!”
“Great talk, lots of interesting information, would attend again.”
“Really cool class , learned a lot and the teacher is really cool”
“Amazing class! Already have ideas to play with in my project.”
“Excellent Class – Unreal is so big, a lot is just knowing what is possible. Thank you!”