Visual Tech ArtIn this video I'm showing a unique way of improving the voronoi pattern procedurally, directly in the shader, so that it generates a distance gradient that fits exactly the cells shapes. In this way it is possible to run a simple threshold for edge detection and obtain a much wider range of possible materials out of it.
I'm thinking about implementing this in Sunstance Designer or Shadertoy too, in the future, if you're interested (let me know in the comments or in my Discord Server).
ADVANCED VORONOI fixes problems you didnt know about (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2022-08-10 | In this video I'm showing a unique way of improving the voronoi pattern procedurally, directly in the shader, so that it generates a distance gradient that fits exactly the cells shapes. In this way it is possible to run a simple threshold for edge detection and obtain a much wider range of possible materials out of it.
I'm thinking about implementing this in Sunstance Designer or Shadertoy too, in the future, if you're interested (let me know in the comments or in my Discord Server).
A downloadable package of this Voronoi is coming in the near future, stay tuned :)Physically Based Cel ShadingVisual Tech Art2024-07-15 | In this video we go through the break-down of the most common approach to create toon looking images in Unreal Engine, we'll see what works and what doesn't. Then we'll build up to a new Cel Shading approach that doesn't break physically based rules. Following with few sample tricks to improve the image and re-purposing elements as the outlines to work better with this new concept. __________________________________________
TIMESTAMPS AND LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED:How to Approach Character Lighting - Intro to Light Art for VideogamesVisual Tech Art2024-04-29 | This is a little segment of the long chat I had with my friend Eros, a professional Videogames Lighting Artist that currently works in Massive and has shipped the recent Avatar and has worked on the recently announced Star Wars Outlaws.Three Point Lighting Setup - Intro to Light Art for VideogamesVisual Tech Art2024-04-22 | This is a little segment of the long chat I had with my friend Eros, a professional Videogames Lighting Artist that currently works in Massive and has shipped the recent Avatar and has worked on the recently announced Star Wars Outlaws.Next Level Triplanar Mapping: Assets, Skeletals and Dithered [UE5]Visual Tech Art2024-04-15 | This video is the continuation of my previous one, in which we go through a correct implementation of the triplanar projection mapping technique for locally map textures in our shaders.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtTonemapper Introduction - Intro to Light Art for VideogamesVisual Tech Art2024-04-15 | This is a little segment of the long chat I had with my friend Eros, a professional Videogames Lighting Artist that currently works in Massive and has shipped the recent Avatar and has worked on the recently announced Star Wars Outlaws.Whats a Lighting Artist? - Intro to Light Art for VideogamesVisual Tech Art2024-04-08 | This is a little segment of the long chat I had with my friend Eros, a professional Videogames Lighting Artist that currently works in Massive and has shipped the recent Avatar and has worked on the recently announced Star Wars Outlaws.Intro to Physically Based Lighting and Cinematics - Lighting for VideogamesVisual Tech Art2024-03-04 | This video has a follow-up: youtu.be/yhu-QoEgHUo Full Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeZBLcP_xVMj9_CnnbrAwI_InfEwwVqac
46:14 - Base Color importance 52:04 - Raw image manipulation 52:05 - Cons of not using a PBL approach 56:17 - A hint about Human Eye Exposure Behaviours 59:05 - Game Test Case Scenario 1:06:17 - Discord Server Q&A Announcement
1:08:25 - Intro to the "Lighting for Cinematics" section 1:09:33 - Performance Check 1:13:15 - Overview of the PBL setup 1:21:27 - Start of the 3 Point Light Setup
1:31:17 - Real Photography Comparison 1:36:58 - The concept of Rim Lighting and Silouhette 1:39:46 - What's a 3 Point Light Setup? 1:42:24 - Finish up the Light Setup 1:46:52 - Usage of the Fill Light for Specular Details 1:50:42 - Tuning Lights when working with PBL 1:54:09 - Final Post-Processing on the Final Image 2:03:08 - Final Thoughs 2:04:26 - Info regarding the next episode and OutroYour Triplanar is wrong. Heres how to make one that works. [UE5]Visual Tech Art2024-02-19 | In this video we go through a correct implementation of the triplanar projection mapping technique for world mapping textures in our shaders. We discuss it's properties, advantages and shortcomings. Then we build on that to create some new and better tech to fit it on the landscape material.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtComic Book PostProcess [UE5, valid for UE4]Visual Tech Art2023-11-13 | In this video we go through the realization of an analogic offset print dotted pattern post process material, for a printed comic stylized look. This tutorials covers the creation of the grid of dots, the reproduction of an image through discrete shapes, the conversion from RGB to four colour process (CMYK) and viceversa, plus a bonus.
Related Videos: Outline Post Process - Part 1: youtu.be/Ptuw9mxekh0 Outline Post Process - Part 1.5: youtu.be/UWQonxtG10g Cross-Hatching Post Process: youtu.be/3Q6Ik1V75I8Cross-Hatching material Post Process [UE5, valid for UE4]Visual Tech Art2023-08-07 | In this video we go through the realization of a cross-hatching post process material. This shader reproduces the hand drawn look, for a stylized rendering.
Related Videos: Outline Post Process - Part 1: youtu.be/Ptuw9mxekh0 Outline Post Process - Part 1.5: youtu.be/UWQonxtG10g Voronoi Intro: youtu.be/muUAks1i8BI Advanced Voronoi: youtu.be/pxouMOxGi6EBringing the Spiderverse into UE5 - Tech Art exploration funVisual Tech Art2023-07-05 | This is not a tutorial as usual, but more of a showcase of what I've been up to lately! Since I saw Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse at the cinema I really wanted to try out few things that might lead towards a real-time reproduction of that amazing style.
Here I managed to reach a satisfying result, given the time I put in, even though there would be much more work to do to make it actually good. Anyways this was a nice inspiration for some future tutorials I now have in mind and for further explorations :)
Of course the scene I used is from the cinematic Slay, which is a free sample project, not stuff I personally made.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtDissecting Substrate - Part 1 [UE5.2]Visual Tech Art2023-06-16 | In this video we dive into the new shader pipeline that was revealed by Epic in Unreal Engine 5.2, Substrate! We try to analyze everything as best as we can and make our own conclusion about how a new generation material pipeline might work.
The test shader you see in this video can be found on my Patreon.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtProcedural UV Mapping in ShadersVisual Tech Art2023-05-14 | In this video I walk you though how to obtain some of the most used UV coordinates directly inside the material editor. This is a universal topic that applies to every software that allows you to play with shaders: Unreal Engine 4, UE5, Unity, Godot, Blender, Shadertoy, you name it! The uv mappings I explain are the cylindrical, the spherical and one that as far I know I've invented while working at this video, which I called "blanket" mapping :)
A sample UE5.1 project containing the scene you see at the beginning of the video is available to download for my Patreons!
This is a follow up of the first video of a series I want to make about transforming 3D renders in "hand-drawn" images. It's a topic that always fascinated me quite a lot and I had the opportunity to work quite intensively on in the past year.
Here we go through the "standard practice" for making an outline art stylized Post Process Material. A perfect match for a Studio Ghibli, Toon or Cel Shading style type of rendering!
This video explores the technical aspects of shaders and graphics in Unreal Engine 5, but these concepts are valid in any game engine that uses textures (all of them :D). The focus is on the topic of filtering, specifically the differences between bilinear and bicubic filtering. The underlying mathematical concepts of bilinear filtering are discussed, as well as how it is used to smooth out textures. Than we explore the concept of bicubic filtering and how it takes this technique to the next level. The code behind these filters is analyzed, and a demonstration is provided on how to implement them in Unreal Engine 5 projects. This tutorial provides valuable insights on how to connect art, math, and code, and viewers will gain a deep understanding of bilinear and bicubic filtering and how to use them to enhance video game graphics.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArt4K textures are USELESS!Visual Tech Art2023-02-12 | In this video we take a look at how textures are optimized inside game engines, what MIP Maps are and, most importantly, how we can customize them.
Even though I bring the example of DDS files and Unreal Engine, this tech is used in every real time engine and videogame.
The texture I show in this video is extremely useful for every environment and character artist who wants to be sure the content they create is performant.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtThis is NOT a Sphere! - A brief Ray-Casting overview for gamedev [UE5, UE4]Visual Tech Art2023-02-01 | In this video we go through a simple implementation and use case sample of ray casting applied to material shaders. It is done in Unreal Engine 5, but can be applied everywhere (UE4, Unity, Godot, Shadertoy and whatnot, your choice). At the same time we also look at some more ways to make a plane billboard, as a followup of my previous video on that topic.
The shader will be available for my supporters on Patreon.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtOutline Stylized Material - part 1 [UE5, valid for UE4]Visual Tech Art2022-12-19 | This is the first video of a series I want to make about transforming 3D renders in "hand-drawn" images. It's a topic that always fascinated me quite a lot and I had the opportunity to work quite intensively on in the past year.
Here we go through the "standard practice" for making an outline art stylized Post Process Material. A perfect match for a Studio Ghibli, Toon or Cel Shading style type of rendering!
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtThe ONLY texture a game NEEDS [UE4, valid for UE5]Visual Tech Art2022-11-07 | It this video we go through a tech art experiment: can I texture an asset by using just one texture? How that would look like and what how the shader should be to make it into a fully fledged material?
This is essentially an unconventional incipit to discover few tips and tricks to do cool stuff like deriving a Normal map from an Height map, learn how Colour Picking is done and how to manipulate gradients with math, to some extent.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtSmooth Min&Max - math for visual peopleVisual Tech Art2022-07-25 | These function are extremely powerful to achieve amazing results in graphics. They can be used for Signed Distance Fields, Landscape Height Blending and much more stuff.
They come handy every time you want to pass through the highest or lowest value, but also blend them together to not have a sharp seam.
My explanation is done in Desmos and the implementation un Unreal Engine 4, but as always this stuff is perfectly valid for UE4, UE5, Unity, Godot, etc ;)
Thanks for watching and see you next time! :)HYPER-REALISTIC Grass Wind Animation [UE4, valid for UE5]Visual Tech Art2022-07-05 | [DISCLAIMER] I know, this video is not very easy to follow, it requires some more than basic knowledge of the subject, but I think everyone should be able to wrap up his head around it eventually.
Here I illustrate my personal take on getting a realistic and good looking wind animation for the grass. As always I'm more than open to any feedback and discussion, so feel free to express your thoughts in the comment section :)
00:00 - Intro 00:10 - Listing out the rules to my approach 01:22 - Explaining the basic idea 04:55 - Working out the math for the bending deformation 15:40 - Giving a thickness to the segment 21:25 - Moving to Unreal (?) ... adding the 3rd dimension 25:00 - Wrapping up the final formulas and copying them to UE 27:46 - Improving the visual quality 36:45 - Animating the wind 44:55 - Adding randomness 48:45 - Final thoughts and a challenge for youDissecting and Optimizing UEs Simple Grass Wind material functionVisual Tech Art2022-05-06 | This is a different video than usual, here I'll go through UE's SimpleGrassWind function node by node, explaining what's going on and how it could be done better.
It's just an opportunity to discuss few topics that are quite difficult to introduce in a standard tutorial, really.
00:00 - Intro 01:33 - Function Walkthrough 04:25 - Function Optimization 11:42 - Function Result Analysis 12:42 - Next Video TopicUnderstand Voronoi and its Implementation (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2022-03-24 | In this video I illustrate what Voronoi is and how it works in depth. Then I walk you through its most basic implementation from scratch.
Voronoi is a powerful tool to simulate an infinite variety of natural materials, create sci-fi looking surfaces and much more!
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtFish Eye Post Process Effect (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2022-02-15 | In this video I show how to use trigonometry to simulate a spherical distortion of the image, to create the fish eye lens effect. Such lens distortion is the same you see in GoPro footage, for instance.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtComprehensive Niagara Structure Overview (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2022-01-22 | After this video you'll have a deep understanding of all the several parts Niagara is made of, a perfect place to start from, when learning a new tool :)
00:00 - Intro 01:06 - What's a compute shader 01:53 - Components of a Niagara System 02:48 - Data available to Niagara Modules 03:10 - Order of execution of Niagara Components 03:33 - What's the Namespace system in Niagara 04:07 - Engine Provided variables 04:25 - User variables 04:43 - Niagara Parameter Collection variables 05:11 - Transient variables 05:53 - Stack Context variables 06:17 - Which are the Niagara simulation stages 06:54 - How Spawn and Update stages work in Niagara 07:27 - The Settings sections in Niagara System and Emitters 07:47 - How to change the simulation from CPU to GPU 07:53 - What's the Event Handler section 08:15 - Render Stage in Niagara 08:33 - How to code in Niagara 08:46 - The basic building blocks 09:14 - How to read variables in Niagara 09:23 - How to write comples operations in Niagara 10:00 - How to write HLSL in Niagara Modules 10:24 - How to read variables in HLSL inside Niagara 10:34 - Building Niagara Modules with the Scratch Pad 11:10 - How to add custom HLSL code in Niagara 11:45 - Module Input variables 11:50 - Local variables 11:57 - What are Namespace Modifiers in Niagara 13:00 - OutroAdvanced Volumetric Fog with Ray Tracing (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-12-20 | This video is quite heavy to follow, but I go through several important topics, while building this fog.
We briefly look at the characteristics of the depth pass, we see how to build and apply a weighted average, what's the basic idea behind the ray casting and acquire some knowledge about texture filtering and many more things.
As always I'm more than open to feedbacks and to discuss ideas in the comment section.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtHow to make Camera Facing Billboards (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-11-07 | Sorry if I'm worse than usual with my speech but I was getting out of a bad cold when recording the video :D
Here we go through two methods of building a camera facing behaviour for our planes. This is extremely useful if we want to create billboards or a ton of other effects, not to mention the many lighting features we can fake.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtVertex Animation Basics in Shaders using World Position Offset (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-11-02 | In this video I go through some basic animation logics, very useful to animate 3D models directly in the shader. The main topics touched are Translation, Rotation, Scale, Complex Movements, Timings. At the end of the video there's a bit of discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of this animation approach.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtWorn Out VHS Post Process Effect and creative uses of Vector Noise node (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-10-03 | -- Apparently YouTube had an hard time compressing my video with this effect on :D
In this video I go through the development of a Post Process Material that simulates the look of a worn out VHS tape. It is achieved 100% procedurally, without using any textures, thanks to the heavy use of the Vector Noise node, of which this video gives a bunch of useful application examples.
The video is divided in several chapters, each one contains an element of the effect: 0:00 - Intro 0:47 - Scene Sampling (basics of a Post Process Material) 1:58 - Chromatic Aberration 5:45 - Tiny Blur 6:47 - Horizontal Intermittence 7:33 - Colour Correction 8:57 - Image Noise 11:07 - Colour Degradation 13:09 - Flagging 16:35 - Tape Degradation 19:23 - OutroCel Shading and Light Types (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-08-24 | In this video I go though a way of achieving the cel shading (toon shading) from the asset material. Plus I describe how to realize lights via shaders.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtInfinite Non-Repeating details in materials (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-06-23 | In this video I'm showing how to scatter some elements on a surface in a random and non-repeating way. In this way you can enrich your assets an landscapes with very little effort.
I go through the building of a weather reacting material, starting from a dry condition and procedurally calculating the wet one.
This approach takes inspiration from how Naughty Dog approached the same problem when developing the Uncharted games.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtNo more Texture Repetition (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-04-05 | In this video I go through a smart technique of avoiding texture tiling on very big surfaces like a landscape. This can come handy when working with world aligned textures and multi layered materials.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtTriplanar Mapping Deeply Explained (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2021-03-30 | In this video I go through a basic implementation of a triplanar mapping shader and I explain some of the concepts behind it.
This video is a follow-up of my older one: youtu.be/qvTL6Brfkpc Check it if you're missing something I don't explain here.
You can use this to obtain a better quality on your landscape material, especially if you're using Megascans textures, since they always come with an heightmap.
Discord: discord.gg/YvXq3t675Q Patreon: patreon.com/VisualTechArtCombining Normal Maps (UE4, valid for UE5)Visual Tech Art2020-10-20 | In this video I explain the logic behind the combination of normal maps and I illustrate some example algorithms to do that.
While the first step is pretty straightforward, this technique needs some more knowledge to be pulled off correctly. Usually the explanation stops at the computed UVs, but the shader requires some additional shrewdness to work properly.
The concept is explained in Unreal Engine 4's Material Editor but is valid everywhere.