What would be the best advise for someone who has started tech art

[Dencorius]

Greetings everyone, I have been a lurker on this site for quite a while but I have picked up the courage to register and create an account. I wanted to ask advice and where I could start as a Technical Artist. I’m very interested in finding methods that would be beneficial for game development, methods that wouldn’t require you to do things twice (repetitive task such as placing fences by hand instead of using splines to assist) .

So here I am asking for your advice and hoping to learn from you wonderful people here. I’m currently learning Python so that I can perhaps create tools and menus for 3d Packages (Made a simple mesh menu for Blender using Python). I have a curiosity to learning new things and I’m interested on the technical aspects of Tech art and it’s leaning more towards that than the art side of me. What places would be the best to learn more about technical art?

[bob.w]

So the forum here is probably one of the better resources, though it doesn’t really have a good “getting started” tutorial as such.

Though there are quite a few threads asking for similar-ish advice.

What would be a good use of my time?

Im transitioning from vfx/animation to technical art, Im currently learning c++, and trying to learn opengl but while is very interesting its quite extense, there is just too much ground to cover. I think that maybe should focus first on be solid in python and good programming practices. I would like to ask what would be wise to master first, could someone summarize a list of problems a TA might face on a daily basis (real world excersices that maybe I could flex) just to picture a clear idea of…

Becoming a technical artist with no art background

Hi everyone, I’ve been googling and looking around on the threads here for advice on becoming a technical artist. I have compiled somewhat of a roadmap, however most of the threads here asking come from an perspective of an artist. As for my background, I am currently a junior (heading into senior after summer) at an university studying Computer Science. However due to a combination of my previous projects, my current hobby game dev with an artist friend, and my short experience as a music majo…

Fresh TA looking for advice regarding expanding my skills set

Hello TAO, I’d like to ask your opinion about on what should I focus my personal/career growth. I’d the kind of guy that starts a lot of stuff but hard to finish or focus on one, so maybe getting some help from you will help me be more focused. Some context/background: Background in QC/QA, self learned 3D and eventually ended up in TA role after problem fixing/firefighting in general studio wide issues. (p4v, max/maya, tools, engines etc). Since I always want to improve and learn new things…

How to stay informed

Hey everyone, looking for a list of websites, slack channels, social media …etc where I can stay up to date on advances in tech art. New ideas, research, cool tech improvements or possible new tools. What is your favorite sources?

[Dencorius]

Thank you, I shall check these out, do you guys have slack or discord?

[bob.w]

Yes, we have a slack channel.
If you want just PM me your email and I’ll send you an invite.

[Dencorius]

How can I PM you? I just made this account by the way

[Theodox]

Click on names in a post, you should get a popup which includes a “message” button

[Dencorius]

Thanks for the response, I figured it out earlier.

[Nightshade]

That’s a very… open question.
In my case I got started on this path reading the tech-artist.org forums, CGTalk (Maya programming section) and Polycount. Look at all the amazing things that other people do and remind yourself that you too, can do these things - as long as you put your head to it.

I think that as long as you always keep learning things and always work on something (personal project or some TA-related stuff at work) you are well off - you will become a TA sooner or later.
I think that’s the key to becoming a Technical Artist to begin with: learning. Of course you will never stop learning - that’s the charm of this discipline. But I would say that in the beginning, acquiring different types of hard skills is very important.
It’s fine to specialize in an area (tools, animation, shaders, whatever) but don’t get lazy and/or comfy with -only- that. The best TA’s I’ve known have always been the people who are not afraid of learning - the ones who say “I’ll take this task” at standup without really knowing much about it.

About learning: The best way of knowing if you are learning something is to ask yourself if you are feeling stupid.
If you are not feeling stupid then you are probably not learning (or learning what you need to learn).
Feeling stupid is what you should aim for. Feeling stupid is good.
I’ve never felt more stupid than I did during my first year as a Junior Technical Artist - and never in my career did I learn as much as I did during that year. Of course people don’t like to feel stupid and this is the main reason people are afraid to learn new things: it’s an ego thing.

[Dencorius]

Thank you for your advice, the thing is I’m on that part of feeling stupid and it’s a feeling that I don’t want to be “feeling stupid” you are right, it seems something about the ego or low self esteem that I’m having. I’ve always been the type to try out many things in fact right now I’m learning a lot about making my own personal project and using tools that I never thought I would ever use and they are helping me a lot in accomplishing my personal project.

I have experience in Blender for almost 5 years already and I have done many things from modding video games, coding in python and lua, rigging, animating, modelling and texturing but I still feel like that there is a whole world out there to learn more about into becoming a Tech artist which I’m hoping to become at some point. There is this curiosity that strikes me all the time, wondering how things are done? How they are achieved, What are the ways of doing it and what goes under the hood.

That sort of curiosity and even the will to learn and to be a team player (if working with a team which I sadly have not as of yet) in taking things to learn about which I have 0 knowledge on and wanting to learn it. There is a saying we have in Iraq which it goes: “There’s no shame in not knowing a thing or two but it’s a shame to not learn about them.” So thank you so much, Nightshade. I hope I’m going the right path into becoming a tech artist.