In undergraduate academic studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, the final project within the Design of Video Games curriculum is an original video game that students create from scratch in smaller teams. The participant of our initiative, professor Ivica Milarić encourages the students to start their projects exactly in the UE tool and highlights that the program Train the Trainers drastically helped him on an educational level, as well as with personal, creative endeavors:

“Right after the course, I started to create short Unreal Engine tutorials for beginners and publish them on my YouTube channel. Alongside this, in September 2022, I finished my master’s presentation on the animation module at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. The theme was titled Meta Vergilije: Simulation of Escapism Towards Oblivion, and this theory art project included the short experimental video game that I made from scratch with Unreal Engine 4.26. I would highlight that the knowledge I acquired on the Crater course helped me to better understand the evolution of the platform itself, as well as the possibilities it will be able to offer through the development of elements like MetaHuman and many others.”

“All 16 students that are currently in their fourth year in the Department for Design in Video Games are separated into 3 teams tasked with making an original game, and one of the teams is doing it in Unreal Engine 5,” adds Milarić.

At the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, Unreal Engine is currently studied in 4 subjects within the undergraduate academic studies in the Department for Animation in Engineering, while within master studies in the Department for Architecture, it is present in the subject Interactive Visualizations. Furthermore, it is interesting that their new accredited subject Introduction to Extended and Virtual Reality Technologies is primarily focused on Unreal Engine.

“All of this is a big step compared to several previous years,” says Miloš Obradović, a participant in the initiative and assistant in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning – Theories and Interpretation of Architectural Space.

“I sincerely hope that we will continue in this direction. In my opinion, Unreal Engine is constructed in a way that you can always learn something new, so the new knowledge is constantly updated, so I would say that the new knowledge is always welcome. It is in this way that I collected some new information from your course that I used in further education and projects. More specifically, I implemented one segment within the practical part of a subject that studies non-immersive systems of interactive visualization. Currently, I implemented most of what I heard about light because this is very important to students, behind modeling and texturing.”

Straighten by the initiative Train the Trainers, University Metropolitan formed and accredited the subject Unreal Environment for Video Game Development for the students majoring in Game Development and Interactive Media Design in the autumn semester of 2022. Special focus was put on the highly detailed introduction to technical engineering processes that bring global illumination in real-time, as well as best habits when it comes to optimization and quality development with the help of the Epic ecosystem. On the subject, we teach students about contemporary tendencies regarding real-time graphics as well as how acquired knowledge of this tool can be applied in other creative industries when it comes to stylized or hyper-realistic digital experiences.

The aforementioned subject is studied at Metropolitan centers in Niš and Belgrade, and we are particularly proud of the fact that 3 of our participants are involved in it: docent Dr. Igor Savelljić, teaching associate Vuk Mihailović Takimoto, and docent Milan Ličina whose activities after the completed initiative present a tremendous success for us as a training center.

Namely, in the spring of 2022, Milan Ličina took over our commercial course and changed its plan and curriculum. With this, Unreal Engine Essentials stops being a project-oriented course. Instead, it has been designed in a way that participants can understand how the tool works and all it can offer, so they can ask further questions, give them purpose and create their own challenges.

“The specificity of this course is that the students got a chance to talk to somebody who does visual and interactive programming firsthand. With that said, I use engines for the necessity of creating an interactive design, in other words, I am not developing video games but rather activations. When I manage to show that you don’t necessarily have to build a shooter game in the engine but activate anything and everything in your virtual set, people are quite pleased – whether that is a visualization of an archeological dig site or interactive content within an exhibition”, said Milan in our recent interview.

Last year Milan was granted the title of an authorized Unreal Engine instructor from Epic Games and managed three successful groups of students who studied this tool in our center. For the most part, the groups were gathered within the Train the Professionals initiative that targeted professional 3D artists in the region. In realization of this initiative, we once more got big support from our longtime partners at 3Lateral and Epic’s educational department Unreal Engine Education.

Finally, we would like to mention a move that is not directly tied to our initiative but presents an important step for the growth of the local CG scene, and that is the opening of the Department for Visual Effects, Animation, and Game Art at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. Presently one of the professors in this department is Darko Subotin, the original instructor on Train the Trainers: Game Development with Unreal Engine for which we are forever grateful.

In case you are interested in improving your skills in the Unreal Engine tool and further researching its capabilities, you will be more than happy to hear the news that starting this spring in Novi Sad 3Lateral is initiating a row of educative programs in their Community Lab. Follow their LinkedIn page to keep up with the upcoming adventures.

Until our next collaborative success!

CTC: How much has your attitude changed towards the industry compared to the period when you studied film production up until today when you play a big part in it?

Vesna: Many new possibilities of financing have arisen, as well as new platforms for releasing a film, but at the same time the sovereign domination of series has limited the maneuver space of film in this respect. These new possibilities, before all else, require a bigger creativity of the producer in his attempt to make film visible and relevant in the global market. This, of course, does not apply to Hollywood blockbusters that have this path completely open and guaranteed right from the announcement of their production.

How has the local scene changed during this time? What has surprised you the most?

Vesna: The social, political, and cultural circumstances are changing, which inevitably reflect on the films being made. It is quite refreshing to see films by young authors who most often decide to speak about wider social circumstances, by translating them to the intimate experience of their characters. Immediacy and unpretentiousness of the visual, narrative as well as acting style, is the key to their honesty that brings the film art back to its genuine gist.

What fruition from your production period was the most challenging, and which set was the most pleasant to work on?

Vesna: Our professors always taught us that working on student films with almost zero production budget is much harder than working in professional conditions. If we can manage them, everything after will seem much easier. That filmophile-like enthusiasm and feeling that the world is ours got us through all the hardships of student filming, even straight to the awards that further gave an alibi to that zest. However, I will remember those sets as the most fun ones. The real problems came much later.

Can you tell us something about your academic career? How do you like working in education?

Vesna: There is nothing more beautiful than sharing your passion for something with others. The exchange of opinions with my students is an inspiration for me that I later converse to my writing about this art. I do hope that our discussions are at least half as much inspiring to them as they are to me.

In the last few years the VFX industry has had its own boom, how do you look at all of this? What are the advantages, and where do the biggest challenges of this situation lie?

Vesna: The advantages are surely the fact that there are no limits to our imagination anymore. You can get close to the visible reality completely, but also make vivid fantasy worlds come to life. Whether or not you succeed exclusively depends on the time and the money that you will invest into this venture, because the technology allows you to do whatever you wish.

Our country has always been an attractive location for foreign productions. The American film has especially leaned on its own “runaway” productions that make up over a third of its annual film production. It was only a matter of time before the foreign producers would lean on our VFX resources as well, and with every new big project, the knowledge, as well as the ambitions of our artists, inevitably grow, making them competitive in a global market.

How much has your knowledge of film theory and your research helped you to adjust to the environment in postproduction?

Vesna: Not much. Theory and practical work most often don’t have a strong connection, especially when you do film analysis from a perspective of philosophy and aesthetics, and in practical work, you get in touch with mostly commercial projects.

Overall, how do you like working in post after all the time spent “on the other side” of the production itself? What are the main challenges as a coordinator?

Vesna: Postproduction is just one phase of film development, and visual effects are just one of its segments. In that sense, the challenge is diving into that microworld and seeing how that connection is made between the live-action image and her imaginative made-up counterpart.

Can you highlight a few important qualities, better said skills that a coordinator or a producer in postproduction needs to have?

Vesna: I think that team spirit is something that certainly makes the job easier for the production department during the work on the project. There are a lot of mutually dependent steps, which means that the artists’ collective work, good mutual communication, and solidarity, become key factors that determine how efficiently the desired results will be achieved. I see the encouragement of that teamwork as a main task of a coordinator.

What are the biggest challenges of working in a studio like Crater whose collective is made up of predominantly artists?

Vesna: I have an honest admiration for the people creating art, and this position enables me to be a close witness to that process. However, managing clients’ requests, ambitions, and inevitable deadlines is most often a merciless task that requires from the artists understanding toward me and my position. I think that this mutual respect we have for each other is the key to our good cooperation.

What is the dearest project that you worked on in Crater?

Vesna: That is without a doubt a Marvel series “Moon Knight”. My first film after graduation was an American one because there is no better way to learn production than becoming a part of the strongest one in the world. Marvel for me was exactly that, just in a field of postproduction – learning from the greatest.

CTC: When did you begin exploring matte painting skills, which ultimately led you to Crater?

Marija: For those of us who are more inclined towards traditional forms of expression in art, digital space has become a platform for further growth and development. Even at the start of my journey it was clear to me that a traditional approach to painting has far greater prospects in digital media than in any contemporary art competitions, so digital painting became a logical choice. That’s how I took an interest in your course. I wanted to transfer the knowledge gained through art studies into digital media and thus initiate a career and establish a professional direction.

How did you like the Matte Painting and Environment Design course?

Marija: The course has a great concept and structure, and the teacher, Dejan Deki Vukadinović, is very dedicated and interesting in his own right. Classes and exercises provided me with enough to enable me to work in the studio. I remember one of the first classes when Deki tasked us with picking several publicly available matte painting works close to our own artistic sensibilities and presenting them. Such an individual approach seems really good to me, as it nurtures our specific qualities. Some of us preferred concept art, and others were more inclined towards the quick matte painting collage which we quickly mastered through the course.

How did you eventually become a part of Crater?

Marija: Once we completed the course, some of us got an opportunity for an internship at Crater Studio. I was fortunate to remain at the studio after the internship, and thus began my professional career as a VFX artist. At the studio, I quickly expanded my knowledge. Projects were dynamic and diverse, including films, commercials, and animated films. Over time I have gained a new skill – texturing. My delight was even greater once I discovered just how broad was this area that I just entered and how much room there was to learn and further improve.

Are there any projects from your time in the studio of which you are particularly proud?

Marija: In the early days, the most satisfying thing was to see a film we worked on get released, to catch the premiere together. Those moments of joy and pride are carved into my memory for life. Some of the projects from that time that I was involved with are Eden, Muhammad: The Messenger of God, Na mlečnom putu, The King’s Daughter and many others.

How did your career progress further?

Marija: Later on, I have expanded my interests to include 3D, and after a while I have joined another Belgrade studio, Bunker, which primarily creates video game cinematics. Excluding minor breaks, I have remained at the studio to this point, where I am now a Senior Matte Painter and Texture Artist. A few cinematics from this stage of my career I would like to highlight are Plants vs Zombies, Summoners War, Dawn of Titans, Phageborn…

Marija: Another turning point in my career was working in the Fried studio, where I worked on two series, Leverage: Redemption and Besa 2. The biggest challenge I experienced was at the beginning of the epidemic in 2020. Entire industry had shifted to work-from-home mode, and I realized that this profession is sustainable even in such extreme conditions, because it can work entirely online, from home or any other work-friendly environment. As other industries shut down or slowed down during the pandemic, creative industries continued to grow. Nowadays, 10 years after my professional beginnings, VFX and gaming have become familiar professions and people are no longer puzzled when they hear that you’re creating visual effects for a film or a TV show. With globally popular titles such as Game of Thrones, The Rings of Power or Avatar more and more people are keen to enter the industry.

We are encouraging students to enrol the Matte Painting and Environment Design course all year round, so be quick to add your name to the list of course goers. We hope that this conversation has provided encouragement to take that step.