The program was focused on the Unreal Engine 5 workflow and presented a two-month prep process for the sixth edition of the CGA conference – particularly for its online edition. All of the four environments created at the Lab were used in the conference livestream production. It is interesting to note that one of them was simulating a level in a video game, the other a movie set, another one a broadcast studio, and there was an atmospheric “general environment” as we like to call it, too.

Here’s how they all turned out… 

This was the CGA’s very first summer program aimed at students and enter-level artists, yet most importantly, it was an exciting opportunity to create such unique projects with the local CG community.

We filmed the entire ordeal in front of the green screen in the studio of our dear collaborators from Atomic Visual Support, while the magnificent Dane Blačić, CGA’s Technical Director, ensured the smooth experience.

The Lab’s art direction was guided by Dimitrije Miljuš andr Stefan Knežević designed the key visuals. To read more about the program, its mentors and guest lecturers, please visit the Lab’s dedicated page.

Or simply take a final look at our little adventure in its official aftermovie. Enjoy!

The environments premiered on September 23rd, 2022, during the streaming of the conference online program. Almost all the sessions will be available for replay at the CGA’s YouTube channel.

Virtual Environments Lab was organized by Crater Training Center and supported by our friends and sponsors from 3Lateral (Epic Games), Mad Head Games, Case3D Proptech Solutions, Crater Studio, Ubisoft Belgrade, UNA TV.

Last Friday we held a mini celebration in our classrooms where we launched Virtual Environments Lab, the first in a long line of programs that will enrich what this year’s CGA conference can offer.

We are talking about an educative program that will give young digital artists a chance to get familiar with different aspects of creating an environment on three different digital sets in Unreal Engine 5. All of these created environments during the summer in Crater are planned to be used in the conference’s production, simulating a level in a video game, movie set, and TV studio (there is a high chance we will come up with a few more exciting additions).

Through these processes, the participants will be led by a team of mentors made up of experienced 3D/ Level artists that come to us from companies like Mad Head Games, Ubisoft Belgrade, Case 3D Proptech Solutions, Una TV and others alike. The project will be led by Dane Blačić, the Technical Director of this year’s CGA program, and the art direction will be done by Dimitrije Miljuš.

We have received numerous applications, and some of the participants arrived directly from courses: Environment Art, 3D Essentials and Unreal Engine Essentials. The chosen twelve were divided into 4 teams that have, by the time of writing this, already long started working on their designated projects. Each team consists of a 3D Modeler, Level Artist, as well as a Materials & Textures Artist. Three candidates that have especially blown us away with their applications, will be aiding the team in their work as mentoring assistants.

On Monday the participants started working on their environments, here is what Bojana Simić our program coordinator, had to say about all of this:

“The first week of Virtual Environments Lab is off to a great start and we are already seeing initial results. The participants entered this project more than ready and we firmly believe that, together with Dane and fellow mentors from the industry, they will successfully manage to create environments that will find their purpose in the upcoming CGA conference. We owe a big thank you to our industry partners that responded to our call, and we can’t wait to delve into their upcoming lectures. The fact that our participants will have a chance to find their future employers through this program makes us that much happier. Reinforcing the ecosystem and taking care of the industry’s talent is one of our main missions!”

The complete list of lecturers and mentors who will support our small virtual construction site with their expertise can be found here. We will keep you updated during the summer about the progress of this project, so make sure to stay tuned.

More information on the CGA conference coming soon!

If there is any course of ours that caught your eye and you would like to talk about all of this in person, feel free to contact us to schedule a consultation.

Marija Rakić-Lovrić & Bojana Simić, Coordinators @ Crater Training Center

This summer, the Environment Art course-goers will be awarded a unique learning experience in creating virtual environments for video games, film, and television called Virtual Environments Lab. The project is intended as a two-month prep process for the upcoming CGA conference, organized by the Crater Training Center.

The program will focus on the Unreal Engine 5 workflow and provide valuable knowledge in this area, both through lectures and specialized master classes, as well as through practical work on specific projects. Namely, all of the three environments created in Crater this summer will be used in the conference production. One of those will be simulating a level in a video game, the other will act as a movie set, and the third will work as a broadcast studio.

Throughout the program, participants will also have access to the mentoring support delivered by senior artists from the leading studios in the country. The Technical Director of this year’s CGA conference and Virtual Environments Lab is Dane Blačić (Mogul Digital), an experienced XR producer, creative broadcast director, and master of virtual production with vast experience working on international projects. Dimitrije Miljus, a senior illustrator and concept artist at the Hexworks game dev studio (currently developing the sequel to the cult fantasy RPG Lord of the Fallen) is the Lab’s Art Director.

Virtual Environments Lab is a logical continuation of the Environment Art course in our school, which kicks off on June 6. (Applications are still open!)

All the course-goers interested in enrolling in the Lab’s program will hold a position of Level Artists, as they will already acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to perform tasks in this role.

Read more about the Environment Art course and apply here.

CGA’s educational program on creating virtual environments will be held live in Crater Training Center from July 1 to August 27, 2022. Participation in the program includes mandatory lectures, masterclasses, and practical work under the mentorship of experienced professionals.

Afterward, the teams will test their final works in the studio and will be able to see how their creations interact with the actors and cameras in the production process. The final phase of the Virtual Environments Lab will be organized in September, ending before the CGA Belgrade conference.

Up to 12 artists will take part in the program, and a public competition is currently open for 3D modelers who would like to get involved in this unique educational experience.

Participation is free for all artists, with the obligatory presence during the entire duration of the program, every working day, from 9 AM to 5 PM.

Click here to find out more about Virtual Environments Lab.

What sets our online class apart from the rest is that they are not pre recorded. This decision was made out of the desire to address the problems that arises during learning real time and to enable our teachers a direct contact with the students.

This means that online attendees follow the course at the same time as those who are in the classroom and can communicate with the teacher like they are there, physically, at the Crater Training Center.

Before the initial class, students receive a set of House Rules for online attendees. After that, teachers and students introduce themselves to one another so they could see each other face to face as soon as possible and tear down the barrier that students’ fear created, thinking that them being online will cause them to be less of a priority, which is never the case.

During class teachers regularly check if online students are following along, whether or not did the internet connection break or was there any other technical problems. Furthermore, after attendees finish the assigned task, teachers check whether they were successful, which at the same time reinforces the quality of the online class.

Our online attendees’ testimonials can confirm all of this:

Teacher Saša Živković has done an amazing job with the course this large in a short period of time. We went over very important details in regards to the software and have made a good fundament for further self development and learning. As an online student, I haven’t run into any problems with communication and work. In contrary actually, this method of learning was highly beneficial due to my other responsibilities and personal organization. This was not my first online course that I have attended at Crater Training Center and I would highly recommend anyone to give it a shot.

– says Teodora Černoh, our online student on the course 3ds Max.

However, in the end we had to look into the technical requirements that our potential attendees need to fulfill in order to apply for an online course:

• Computer (desktop PC or laptop) meeting at least the minimal requirements regarding the software in question. However we would recommend a stronger configuration (before starting class, detailed informations are given directly by our coordinators);
• A solid internet connection, around 8mb upload and 10mb download;
• 2 monitors (or a following combination: monitor + TV or monitor + tablet) in order to have one screen for following the teachers lecture and the other for student to work on;
• Mouse (touchpad is not an adequate stand-in);
• Headphones with a microphone.

In case you are interested in enrolling in a course at the Crater Training Center in this learning method you can contact our coordinators for more information at school@craterstudio.com  or calling +381 62 840 1100.

In this article, we will try to explain why feedback is valuable for personal and professional growth, how to give it, and when it might be a good time to seek another opinion on your work. We will take a closer look at real-life experiences and examine why feedback is of the utmost importance in the creative industries today – especially if you are working on projects consumed by millions of users. So, rest assured that feedback is not only good for you but necessary for you to progress.

What is feedback anyway?

The concept of providing and giving professional opinions originated in cybernetics. It is related to the process in which information is “returned to the beginning” to modify a certain behavior. This meaning is retained by the term feedback in the business environment. As such, it implies feedback that is focused on the behavior of an individual or a team aiming to improve their behavior.

During the premiere of the CGAcademy: Portfolio Reviews session, Marija Mitic, Learning & Development Specialist from Mad Head Games, pointed out: 

– There is positive, corrective, and no feedback. In addition to the feedback that gives you the boost (positive), and the one that makes you work harder (corrective), there is also non-existing feedback. This is problematic because when you know what’s wrong, you can always fix it, unlike when you don’t get feedback and don’t know if you need to change something at all or not, says Marija.

The process of giving and receiving feedback goes something like this: you adopt the information, test it, accept it and correct the original work (or not) and extract the information you have learned from the whole process. 

What is the meaning and purpose of feedback for young artists?

In the film and video game industry, the feedback you fear the most is the one you get after releasing a video game or movie in front of an audience. Then, even though the material has previously passed through numerous hands and eyes, you are still afraid of the first reaction and comments. However, a much more common example of the opinion exchange happens among employees or in a superior-employee relationship. Although Q&A teams review video games before they get released, up until one game gets out, there is always some apprehension about what the audience might see.

During the first independent Portfolio Reviews session, Vladimir Kuzevski, Character Artist from 3Lateral, explained how this process works in the video game industry, especially for 3D artists working on AAA titles.

– Let’s say you start creating a 3D model of a video game character, and after a few hours, you’re working on the creature’s facial expression. Due to you being focused on details, sometimes you miss the bigger picture and fail to notice other, perhaps more obvious flaws of the model. Therefore, whether you work in 2D or 3D, you should always have two pairs of eyes. That’s why there are teams of experts working in the same field because they can give more specific feedback on the work of their colleagues, concludes Vladimir.

And so we come to the next chapter, in which we explain why context is the key in giving feedback.

What is good feedback? What should you pay attention to when receiving or giving it?

When giving feedback, one must always pay attention to the context. Provide feedback only when you know the context and have good arguments. Otherwise, you will only distract your colleagues. 

Vladimir Janković, Art Lead at Nordeus, spoke from the role of team leader about the consequences of not respecting the context when providing feedback on the colleague’s work:

– The person you ask for review needs to understand the context in which you have created some of your work. Otherwise, the feedback will not be valid. Understanding the context helps the subject provide accurate feedback on someone’s work and thus provide valuable information, explains (the other) Vladimir.

In Discussing Design, authors Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry offer a simple framework for giving feedback to designers. However, this feedback method is adaptable to all creative industries and consists of several key questions to ask yourself before providing feedback.

• Question 1: What is the goal of the design?
• Question 2: What design elements are related to the goal?
• Question 3: Are these elements effective in achieving the goal?
• Question 4: Why or why not?

These questions should help you take a few steps away from the project and observe what is not working. If something is wrong with a scene or design you must first understand its purpose. If you do not understand the goal of a particular project, there is no way to be sure if the scene works. So, break down the project into even smaller modules and ask yourself: What are the fundamental elements of this design, and do they work? Once you understand the goal, it should be fairly simple to determine whether the elements are working accordingly or not.

Another book on the art of feedback, set in the film industry, was written by Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. In Creativity Inc., he writes about an in-house feedback group known as Braintrust. 

This group is not only responsible for the success of Pixar, but it also helped prevent more than a few disasters. Braintrust enrolled not only the employees of the studio but also people who are not directly involved in Pixar’s projects. Since these people are not emotionally attached to the production, they can give the most objective feedback possible.

The point of feedback is to adopt it, but you should also be careful when giving it. Giving good feedback is most certainly harder than accepting it. It is a discipline that takes a long time to master.

Feedback is there to help teams strengthen their design, products, and services, rather than being used to establish authority or push different agendas. 

Great feedback comes from people who care about the project because it is hard to fix something you do not care about. If you are being asked to provide feedback, try to find a way to connect with the project you are reviewing. Figure out its purpose. However, if you don’t feel any connection to the project, there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that you might not be the best person to give feedback.

A good note says what is wrong, what is missing, what isn’t clear, what makes no sense. A good note is offered at a timely moment, not too late to fix the problem. A good note doesn’t make demands; it doesn’t even have to include a proposed fix. But if it does, that fix is offered only to illustrate a potential solution, not to prescribe an answer. Most of all, though, a good note is specific. “I’m writing with boredom,” is not a good note.

– says Ed Cattmul on providing feedback (notes)

When is it OK to ask for feedback?

In the world of visual arts, it is common for everyone to have their particular perception, so when you apply for a job and send your portfolio, do not hesitate to ask for feedback for your work. Whatmore, a good employer will respect that move since it shows your enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

Our upcoming lecture on feedback is scheduled for November 19 as part of the Portfolio Reviews, an opening session on the second day of the CGA Belgrade online conference. On that occasion, in the CGAcademy’s virtual classroom, we will be joined by experienced 2D and 3D artists from Serbia’s leading game dev studios. Ivana Radović (PlayrixRS), Milica Mastelica (Playstudios), and Nenad Nešović (Nordeus) will be reviewing the audience portfolios’ live in-stream. If you wish to submit your work for review and  test how well you accept feedback, you can do it HERE.

Source:
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, Ed Catmull, Amy Wallace (Random House, 2014)
Discussing Design: Improving Communication and Collaboration through Critique, Adam Connor, Aaron Irizarry (O’Reilly Media, 2015)

Author: Bosiljka Đikanović

Author:
Branka Malenica