INTRODUCTION
• History of Matte Painting; analog vs digital
• Matte painting today – recent technology in use
• Matte painting as a part of VFX industry
• Types of Matte painting shots; production workflow, pipeline, demands (creative and technical)
• Intro to environment design/ concept art; Correlation between matte painting and concept art/ design, pre and post production.

PREPARATION
• Projects organization, conventions and rules
• Using a pen tablet in Photoshop
• Basic drawing and painting techniques for environment design processing

INTRO TO PERSPECTIVE
• Types of perspective
• Using one point perspective system in natural environment creation process
• Aerial perspective and value; Using values in establishing space and volumes (value blocking)

THUMBNAILS SKETCHING
• Tools and techniques of digital sketching
• Adjusting, management and brush customizations
• Using linear and aerial perspective elements in creating sketches
• Basic design rules
• Brush economy, stylization and simplification
• Speed paint techniques and tools
• Photo study techniques

COMPOSITION
• Basic rules and elements of visual composition
• Composition as an instrument of visual narrative and environment design
• Practical use of composition techniques in creating sketches

INTRO TO MATTE PAINTING – PHOTO EDITING (project 01)
• Digital photography – cinematography and matte paint – conventions, terms, attributes
• Photo referencing – research and management ; aesthetic and technical aspects
• Basic photo editing tools; photo retouching, photo adjusting
• Attributes of convincing photo composite (I) – light, color, atmosphere; comparative analysis
• Day to night conversion

PHOTOBASHING (project 02)
• Photo manipulation and extraction techniques and tools
• Working with smart objects and masks
• Non-destructive photo editing techniques
• Attributes of convincing photo composite (II)- image planes, local contrast , aerial perspective…
• Scale and proportions, structures and image plane attributes

LANDSCAPE MATTE PAINTING (project 03)
• Project preparation – analyzing assignment, gathering and organizing photo references, making mood-boards, hero reference break down
• Working with the plate; term, conditions and properties
• Creating paint over sketch
• Photo elements extraction and integration – block in composition
• Color correction; planes values reference matching; light articulation, final tuning

CITYSCAPE MATTE PAINTING (project 04)
• Types and usage of linear perspective
• Using linear perspective in architectural environment creation; rules, distortion, converging lines; creating geometric volumes
• Setting up a perspective grid
• Making concept sketches following the perspective grid
• Architectural photo elements – extraction and manipulation; transferring perspective from photo into orthographic view; perspective grid matching and aligning
• Photo elements block in following perspective layout
• Color correction, atmosphere, light …
• Details and final tuning

CITYSCAPE MATTE PAINTING II – night version (optional)
• Day to night conversion
• Artificial light types and properties
• Light integration into pre-made matte (matte from previous assignment)
• Final tuning

Upon completion of the course students will receive the Crater Training Center Certificate.

Dejan Vukadinović
Lecturer @ Belgrade Polytechnic School

One of the first Crater Training Center instructors, Dejan is an expert in Concept Design, Digital Illustration and Matte Paint currently teaching Character and Concept Design at Belgrade Polytechnic School. A member of many award-winning projects, he has tried his hand in gaming, film, and advertising and participated in many competitions in the country and abroad. Graduated in Industrial Design from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, he has been with Crater Training Center since 2012 teaching Matte Painting and Environment Design course.

Week 1
• Introduction, reference study, – Houdini interface basics, simple shot setup. Becoming familiar with interface, importing objects, animating them, animating camera
• Simple shot layout and first render – Continuation of previous class. Setting up everything for first draft render.

Week 2
• SOP modeling – In this class students will use SOP operators to model architectural elements in non destructive manner, which is also applicable in procedural generation for game development.
• SOP modeling II – Creating organic environment elements. Using curves, point VOP nodes and ramps to control shapes.

Week 3
• modeling III – Packaging asset as Houdini digital assets. Scattering assets in the scene, controlling distribution, orientation via attributes.
• SOP modeling IV – Making our environment richer, packing everything in smart and memory efficient manner.

Week 4
• SOP fx I – Doing simple effects like laser beams, hitting spaceships and environments. Lightning effects, from interaction of ships and environment.
• SOP fx II – In this class we will set up portal effect using simple VOP operators. Goal of this class is to show you how math can be used to design memory efficient effects.

Week 5
• Particles I – Creating particle sparks, snow, rain. Rendering particles as points, volumes, sprites.
• Particles II – Using particles to create swarms of spaceships. Adding particles to our portal.

Week 6
• Rigid bodies I – Rigid body simulations for debris hits, collapsing walls.
• Rigid bodies II – Rigid body simulations for spaceships destruction, combining animation with rigid bodies.

Week 7
• Pyro I – Off the shelf pyro, that will be used for ship explosions. Creating several variations and caching them. Instancing explosions.
• Pyro II – Adding pyro effects to our portal, integrating particles and pyro.

Week 8
• FLIP simulations I – Using flip simulations to create waterfall for our shot. Caching our first flip. Whitewater setup.
• FLIP simulations II – Waterfall refining. Whitewater refining, caching. Render setup.

Week 9
• Rigid bodies III – Bridge collapse, use of constraints.
• Rigid bodies IV – Bridge collapse refining, integrating with pyro, particles.

Week 10
• Ocean spectrum – Adding water elements to the scene. Use of ocean spectrum.
• FLIP Flat Tank simulation – Water – collapsing bridge interaction. Using FLIP Flat Tank to create collapsing bridge interaction with water.

Week 11
• Materials and lights – Setting up procedural material assignments. Use of 3D textures. Separating different elements as render layers.
• Render review and compositing.

Week 12
• Export to Unreal as static geometry. Use of Houdini Engine inside Unreal.
• Export of FX to Unreal via SideFX Labs tools.

Upon completion of the course students will receive the Crater Training Center Certificate.

Bogdan Amidžić
Digital Effects Supervisor @ Crater Studio

A rare breed of artist and programmer, Bogdan is a VFX Supervisor at Crater Studio with more than 12 years of experience in VFX production of feature films, commercials, and music videos. Always driven by the thrill of new challenges, he combines his love for scripting (MEL, Python, VEX) and illustration/ concept art to provide creative solutions and overcome insurmountable obstacles. Working many years as compositing artist, in the past few years, he has mostly been involved with 3D VFX in Maya and Houdini. Eager to share his vast knowledge with friends and colleagues, Bogdan teaches Digital Compositing and VFX in Houdini courses at Crater Training Center.

IMDb LinkedIn

Theory of rigging and tools
• Theory of rigging
• Getting acquainted with the tools used for rigging

Skeleton menu
• Getting acquainted with the skeleton menu

Joint orientation, controls for animation
• Explaining the orientation of joints and making controls for animation
• Setting up joints and the correct orientation of joints on a character (”Tips and tricks” how to most efficiently set up the joints on a character)
• Finalizing settings of joints on a character, naming and mirroring joints
• Exercise for setting up joints

Rigging legs
• Reverse foot controls technique
• Questions and exercises
• Advanced techniques for rigging legs (IK-FK system, IK stretch, pole vectors)
• Questions and exercises

Rigging spines and heads
• Rigging spines and heads (IK stretch and FK system)
• Questions and exercises

Rigging arms
• Rigging arms (IK stretch and FK system, forearm twist)
• Questions and exercises

Rigging fingers
• Rigging fingers, making predefined poses and enabling the manual movement of each individual finger
• Questions and exercises

Preparing a rig for animators
• Preparing a rig for animators and connecting all rig systems (cleaning excess attributes on controls, color coding controls for easier visual selection, making an accurate hierarchy for the global scale of the entire rig)
• Questions and exercises

Theory of skinning
• Theory of skinning
• Getting acquainted with tools for skinning
• Preparing a model for skinning
• Skinning techniques (smooth and rigid)

Skinning a rigged character
• Skinning a rigged character (part one)
• Questions and exercises
• Skinning a rigged character (part two)
• Questions and exercises

Advanced techniques for skinning
• Advanced techniques for skinning (techniques that give the effect of real bodily deformities)
• Questions and exercises

Rigging faces
• Face rigging (theory section)

Blend shapes
• Getting acquainted with blend shapes
• Blend shape techniques for rigging faces, making controls for animation of blend shapes
• Questions and exercises

Techniques for rigging faces
• Bones technique for rigging faces and making controls for animation
• Questions and exercises
• Cluster technique for rigging faces and making controls for animation
• Questions and exercises

Connecting face and body rigs
• Connecting face and body rigs, making a low res model for fast feedback after animation
• Questions and exercises

Advanced techniques for rigging
• Advanced techniques for rigging (corrective shapes)
• Questions and exercises

Upon completion of the course students will receive the internationally recognized Adobe Certificate of Completion, as well as the Crater Training Center Certificate.

Milicko Mijatovic
Lead Rigger @ Crater Studio

A CG superstar with the privilege of having worked with Emir Kusturica, Nikita Mihalkov, Netflix and many other big industry names, Miličko has been building his career in 3D animation for more than two decades. Starting as a 2D animator, he quickly moved into 3D and found his focal point in Rigging. He works at Crater Studio as a Lead Rigger, where he grows every day through work on numerous film and animation projects. He has collaborated with Mercedes, Coca-Cola, Heineken and numerous domestic studios. He has also worked in the gaming industry, where he is certainly worth mentioning for his work on Casino Gaming. At Crater Training Center, Miličko teaches Rigging.

Basic course ZBrush Organic Modeling
• General introduction to the ZBrush software.
• History of the software and its origin.
• Applicability of the software in different industries.
• The place of the software in the film and gaming industry.
• Representative examples of its application from the mentioned industries.
• Getting acquainted with the graphic environment and adapting it.
• Introduction to the tools and main features of the software.
• Get to know the most commonly used tools in more detail.
• Introduction to tools that facilitate repetitive actions.

Application of learned tools on simple shapes
• Application of the Standard Brush tool.
• Application of the Clay Buildup Brush tool.
• Apply the Move Tool Brush.
• Application of the Damian Standard Brush tool.
• Application of the Clay Brush tool.

Surface masking
• Introduction to the tool for masking surfaces on the basic mesh.
• Application and typical situations when used.
• Graphical environment of tools and modes.
• Apply masks to get the shape, color or texture on a simple shape.

DynaMesh tool
• Introduction to one of the most important functions of the software for which he became famous.
• Introduction to the graphical environment of tools and applications on simple forms.
• Exercise for applying DynaMesh tools with learned Brush tools.

ZRemesher tool
• Introduction to the tool for automatic topology change.
• Familiarity with the graphical environment of the tool and when applied in accordance with the “ZRemesher Guides Brush”

Guides Brush
• Coordinated application of DynaMesh and ZRemesher tools

Plugin Decimation Master
• Introduction to the process of decimating a large number of polygons by triangulation without losing detail.
• Situations in which it is used and what are the additional functions.
• Use value of the decimating.

Upon completion of the course, students will receive the Crater Training Center Certificate.

Milan Krstić

Milan Krstić is a 3D Artist from Belgrade with vast experience in the video games and film industry. He graduated at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, and during his career he found himself in positions such as 3D Character Artist, 3D Environment Artist and 3D Concept Artist.

His portfolio consists of various interesting projects, including video games Scorn and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, films Extinction and Knives Out 2 (Netflix), as well as TV shows The Arc and Krypton (extended DC universe).

Milan currently works at the Belgrade Polytechnic where he teaches Digital Modeling and Character Design.

Getting to know the industry
• History of the VFX and Gaming industry.
• Current affairs and trends in the VFX and Gaming industry.
• The future of computer graphics.

Getting to know the Autodesk Maya 
• History of the Maya software.
• Industry fields in which it is used and why.
• Basic concepts of working in Maya.

Maya interface I
• Basic components of the interface.
• Navigating the Maya interface.
• Use of masks for selection.
• Transform tools.
• Snap tools.

Maya interface II
• Editors in Maya (Outliner, Attribute Editor).
• Parenting and hierarchy.
• Duplicate command.

Basics of poly modeling I
• Approaching the problem of modeling.
• Getting acquainted with polygon geometry.
• Poly components.
• Basic tools for poly modeling (Create Polygon Tool, Merge Vertices).

Basics of poly modeling II
• Advanced tools for poly modeling.
• Understanding the term good geometry.

Basics of poly modeling III
• Techniques for model optimization.
• Testing technical defects of a model.
• Applying deformers in modeling.

Basics of poly modeling IV
• Applying advance techniques in modeling.

Custom user interface
• Advantages of adjusting a custom UI.
• Methods of increasing comfort and speed of work.
• Creating a shelf.
• Creating a marking menu.
• Creating custom hotkeys.

Digital camera & Camera tracking
• How a practical camera works.
• Differences between a camera in Maya and a practical camera.
• Application in the industry.

Basics of rigging
• A look at the most common techniques.
• Using rigging techniques in your every day work.

Basics of dynamics
• Fundamentals of nCloth.
• Usage of Dynamics in modeling.

UV mapping I
• Theory of UVing, purpose and examples of good and bad UVs.
• Why having a good UV is essential for further production.
• Difference between VFX asset and game asset (UDIM vs game vs environment).
• Demonstration of the UV toolkit inside Maya.
• Other applications for UVing.

UV mapping II
• Demonstration of creating UVs for a VFX asset (UDIM).
• Demonstration of creating UVs for a game asset (as well as UV environment kits).

Texturing in Adobe Substance 3D Painter I – Introduction to Adobe Substance 3D Painter and PBR
• For what it is used and why.
• Introduction to the interface and its tools.
• What is PBR?
• PBR components.

Texturing in Adobe Substance 3D Painter II – Basics of Adobe Substance 3D Painter I
• Creating materials, creating masks.

Texturing in Adobe Substance 3D Painter III – Basics of Adobe Substance 3D Painter II
• Application of other tools (Brushes, Projections, Text, Anchor Point…).

Texturing in Adobe Substance 3D Painter IV – UDIM
• What is UDIM?
• UDIM Workflow.
• Industry examples.
• A practical example of UDIM.

Texturing in Adobe Substance 3D Painter V – Work in Production
• Preparation for production.
• Tips and Tricks.
• Common mistakes.

VFX and Game production (VFX and Game pipeline)
• Project management.
• Work ethic.
• Approaching work with the goal of achieving the best possible results.
• Interpersonal relations in the workplace.

Upon completion of the course, students will receive the internationally recognized Autodesk Certificate of Completion, as well as the Crater Training Center Certificate.

Milos Jovanovic
Freelance Character Rigger and 3D Generalist

One of our most experienced lecturers, Miloš Jovanović, is a 3D Generalist and a Maya expert with vast experience in rigging, animating, and rendering at Crater Studio. Challenges are his natural habitat, as he is constantly exploring new software. Familiar with both studio and freelance work environments, he shares his experience with the students and provides them guidance through all the stages of building a career in the VFX industry. As a team player, he enjoys getting the best out of people and helping them develop their skills. In the 3D Essentials course, he teaches hard surface modeling.

Stefan Lukić
Technical Artist/Playstudios

He got into the gaming industry as a result of his love for games and movies. Stefan started his career as a Texturing and Modeling Artist at Bunker Studio, and he continued to develop his career at Ubisoft as an Environment/Level Artist and a Prop Artist. Currently he is working as a Technical Artist at Playstudios and Lecturer at SAE Institute Belgrade. Among the projects he participated in The Crew 2, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Frontline and Assassin’s Creed VR.

Dimitrije Dimoski
Assistant @ Crater Training Center

Dimitrije is a seasoned professional in the field of photo and video production, boasting extensive experience in understanding the intricate interplay between cameras and light. His fascination with the inner workings of major VFX productions spurred him to pursue a deeper understanding of the craft. Upon completing the 3D Essentials course at our school, Dimitrije swiftly transitioned into the role of an assistant instructor, where he imparts his knowledge and guides aspiring artists in their first steps within the VFX and Gaming industry.