Category: VFX Careers Research

Lighting artists, also known as lighting TD, are mainly responsible for arranging and adjusting virtual lights in 3D scenes of animation, movies and games, increasing the authenticity of rendering, maintaining continuity and the atmosphere required by each scene, such as color and mood; at the same time, they also need to master some external elements, especially time and weather. Therefore, 3D lighting artists need to cooperate with the look development artist to produce assets in the environment and test the rendering effect; meanwhile, they should also work with compositors to ensure continuity between shots. 

3D lighting artists are the most important and indispensable part of the 3D production process since their output is the final effect of the rendering; therefore, their responsibilities are complicated. First of all, 3D lighting artists need to know how to create and select different combinations of light sources according to the reference or conceptual art in order to arouse the correct emotion, use light to set the mood of the scene, add luminous elements to create a magical or futuristic feeling, and represent the real attributes of the scene, such as the time of day. 3D Lighting artists also have to learn the use of volume light settings, including the development of shadows and cucoloris; at the same time, they should use shadows to create the depth and realism of the scene. The color and direction of all light sources in the scene need to be carefully checked. Then, lighting artists should be responsible for creating efficient rendering settings, setting non-lighting passes and AOV passes, and rendering farm use; therefore, if students want to develop in the direction of 3D lighting artists, they should first learn how to use various renderers in different 3D software, such as Maya, Nuke, Arnold, Redshift, Vray and Renderman; meanwhile, they should also have a sharp artistic vision, be proficient in physics-based rendering, have a deep understanding of color, shading, lighting and image, and have experience in effectively processing and assembling complex scenes.

In addition, character lighting and environment lighting are different. Character lighting is used to set lights for characters or assets, including three-point lighting, wood lighting, eye lighting, Rembrandt lighting, and so on. This is a very important and unique light as the shadow, light and specific design elements can make the characters look lifelike, such as capturing  the shape of face, the whiteness of teeth and the wetness of eyes; actually, if the light does not illuminate the character correctly, the effect of rendering may look monotonous, unnatural and dazzling.

Instead, in the aspect of environment lighting, artists should add light and shadows to the scene in order to make it look as realistic as possible. Lighting artists should understand how light and shadow interact in the indoor and outdoor daylight and night scenes in real life, simulate natural lighting involves the perception of the surrounding environment of the scene, the soft illumination from the sky, the direction of the sun and the indirect light mixed with different colors; at the same time, they should also have a deep understanding of the light and shadow in underwater scenes, snow scenes, foggy scenes and other scenes.

If I want to become a 3D lighting artist, I need to spend time on improving my lighting skills and collecting lighting materials of different environments, weather and objects. Although this position does not involve a lot of modeling and texture work, it is also very challenging.

List of figures

Fig.1, Fig. 3 – Fig. 4 Available at: https://www.exp-points.com/asking-the-legends-of-lighting-art

Fig. 2 Available at: https://dreamfarmstudios.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-lighting-fundamentals-for-3d/

Fig. 5 Ahmad, Shuaib, Interior lighting work in Arnold, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rAAWyJ

Environment artist, a comprehensive position, responsible for creating most of the assets and visual effects in the environment of animation, film and game. The content of their work includes 3D modeling, sculpture, texture and design. The environment artist should create and build a 3D digital environment based on conceptual art, real world reference and scanning because there are many scenes in the creative world of animation, movies or games that cannot be shot in real life or do not exist at all, such as historical scenes, science fiction scenes or outer space. The environment artist needs to be skilled in using assets to set scenery; therefore, this position is usually filled by 3D modelers.

As an environment artist, the first thing to master is to make various types of models and texture maps according to art settings and reference materials, such as hard surface or organic model; as a result, not only should the environment artist skillfully use different 3D production software, especially maya, zbrush, substance painter, Unreal Engine, etc., but they also have to know the overall process of building the environment in order to avoid problems, duplicate work and delay the process of the project. At the same time, due to a large number of assets in the scene, there will be a large quantity of meshes and texture maps which is possible to lead to slow rendering or game bugs. Meanwhile, the environment artists should also learn how to optimize the topology, polygonal subdivisions, UV mapping and mesh fixes of assets in the scene in order to reduce the rendering pressure, or let the game run normally at a controlled frame rate. In addition, not only do environment artists need to master a variety of software technologies, but they also have to accumulate experience in various aspects, such as a deep understanding of architectural elements, environment and props. In this aspect, the environment artist should have a keen eye on landscape, urban planning and geography, constantly study and sort out the reference materials of the real world, and produce the elements and textures required by different visual styles for the purpose of helping promote the development of the story or game plots. At the same time, the environment artist also needs to develop their creativity and imagination to build a fantasy world, and add cohesive and visual elements to the game. Furthermore, team cooperation is also the most important professional quality that environment artists must have since the production teams of movies or games are very large, and have many different positions, including directors, screenwriters, programmers, concept designers, etc; therefore, actively communicating with others and listening to others’ feedback is one of the essential skills that environment artists need to exercise.

The environment artist has become an indispensable position in the production of animation, films and games. Although some studios offer the entry level position of environment artists, applicants must also show their proficiency in software, creativity and high-quality unique art works in the portfolio to let recruiters know that candidates can quickly enter the work of the project. The survey reflects some problems which I have to improve, especially the accumulation of real world materials, creativity in visual style, and lack of complete and high-quality art works. For the following study and creation, I have directions and goals of improvement and development.

List of figures

Fig.1 Kurabi, Mike, Ancient Cathedral, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xYly14

Fig. 2 Kumar, Sourav, Medieval Village, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z59WQX

Fig. 3 Kumar, Sourav, Medieval Village, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z59WQX

Texture artist, a very interesting profession, mainly works on making texture maps for 3D models of various characters, props and environment. In the production of movies, animations and games, they often need to cooperate  with modeling artists and lighting artists to the best texture which is consistent with the visual style of the project. The basic process of texture production is to unwrap the correct UVs of 3D models first, and then press the requirements of the project to make texture in Substance Painter, Substance Designer or Mari which is the mainstream software of creating texture in the 3D industry at present. At the end, the texture artists will collaborate with the lighting artist to import the prepared maps into the specified renderer for rendering, such as Arnold, Redshift, Vray, and so on.

Becoming a texture artist requires mastering many different skills. First of all, Texture artists have to learn and have a good grasp of the process of 3D production and the use of software, especially Maya, Substance Painter, Zbrush and various renderers. This is the most basic and important requirement of skills to become an employable texture artist. Texture maps mainly include base color map, metalness map, normal map, roughness map and displacement map which the artist needs to import into the renderer to make models become more vivid.

Nikie Monteleone, an experienced texture artist, creats many different kinds of 3D textures which are worth learning. She often shares the breakdown of her works online.

Furthermore, since the texture artist needs to cooperate with the director and art director to make suitable textures for different lenses, they need to have a solid understanding and use of visual language, such as color, scale, composition, perspective, etc. In addition, nowadays, animation, movies and games increase demands of realistic and stylized production. Creating unique textures for real or imaginary creatures, objects and environments is always based on reality; therefore, the texture artist should constantly find, understand and accumulate the texture or surface of various objects in the real world, such as textiles, skin, metal finishes, fur, scales, rock, etc.

In many movies, in order to integrate the texture of the model with the real world, artists need to take photos or scan real objects, and then use these resources and reference to make texture on the blank model; at the same time, especially in science fiction and magic movies, as there are many objects that do not exist in the real world, artists have to use their imagination and combine the textures of real objects to create new textures that do not exist, but can make the audience feel they are real. As a result, a competent and experienced texture artist needs keen eyes to constantly explore diverse textures and details in the real world as a reference for their works in order to maintain a high level of design and realism.

It can be seen that making texture is a very challenging but interesting work. If movies, animations and games want to present a unique visual style, they cannot be separated from the creation of texture artists. Since this research provides the job requirements for this position, and makes me aware of the skills and professional qualities I lack now, it has a significant impact on my current creation and what I need to learn in the future. My current understanding and accumulation of various textures in reality is still too shallow; as a result, the textures in many works did not achieve the desired visual effect. I have to improve this aspect which is a very fatal weakness for me.

List of figures

Fig.1 The process of creating texture. Available at: https://game-ace.com/blog/3d-modeling-in-unity/

Fig. 2 Substance Painter. Available at: https://substance3d.adobe.com/documentation/spdoc/substance-3d-painter-20316164.html

Fig. 3 Substance Designer. Available at: https://substance3d.adobe.com/documentation/sddoc/customizing-your-workspace-129368159.html

Fig. 4 Mari. Available at: https://www.foundry.com/products/mari/new-releases

Fig.5 Faustino, James, Seamless PBR Rocky Ground Texture. Available at: https://www.renderhub.com/jamesfaustino/seamless-pbr-rocky-ground-texture

Fig. 6 Monteleone, Nikie, The Process of Chameleon (2018) Available at: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/01/21/rtx-bakers-substance-painter/

Fig. 7 Monteleone, Nikie, Chameleon in Substance Painter (2018) Available at: https://www.nikiemonteleone.com/#/chameleon/

Fig. 8 Monteleone, Nikie,. Texture Maps of Chameleon (2018) Available at: https://www.nikiemonteleone.com/#/chameleon/

Fig. 9 Romanowski, Jeremy, PBR Textures for architectural rendering. Available at: https://www.arch2o.com/architectural-rendering-free-graphics-3d-models/