Surfacing Props for VFX 2025
Learn the essentials of Surfacing to create a photoreal hero prop asset for VFX.
Learn how to create a photorealistic asset suitable for high-end VFX
Surfacing Props for VFX is a live/online course where students will be taught the fundamentals of 3D Surfacing to create a photoreal, pipeline-ready prop for VFX. Through practical hands-on learning, we’ll cover a wide range of topics covering the asset surfacing process.
For those that cannot make the live/online sessions, they will be recorded and uploaded to the CAVE platform, so you’ll be able to work through the teaching at your own pace.
This course is the part of our CAVE 2025 Spring Programme where we will teach you how to build an asset and push it through the VFX pipeline to create a number of believable shots. You can enrol on this course as a standalone, or if you’d like to develop a wider skillset, you can do so by joining us on Modelling Props for VFX 2025 (Term 1) and Lighting Fundamentals for VFX 2025 (Term 2).
Now you may be thinking that 12 lessons is a long course, especially when it comes to surfacing a single prop. However, we are aiming for quality and in order for you to absorb and apply the teaching, you’ll need time. Time to make mistakes and time to experiment, all of which will allow you to really grasp the tools, techniques, and the creative problem skills to become a successful surfacing artist.
We’ll also discuss other areas of the CG pipeline that are integral to the success of any project, such as Onset, Modelling, Lighting, Production, Bidding and Scheduling.
To underpin each stage lesson and to push your creative, technical and problem-solving skills, we’ll study the fundamentals and the theory behind Surfacing. This includes studying real-world materials, pushing our traditional skills, art, shape, function and form. This background research will directly feed into how we approach the creation of CG assets.
Studio Quality Data
For this course, you will be provided with high-end scans captured by Clear Angle Studios, a global leader in 3D capture for film, TV and games, whose work has been used by studios such as ILM, DNEG, Framestore, MPC, Weta and Digital Domain.
Each scan will come with a series of photographs captured with unpolarised, polarised and cross polarised light, allowing you to follow workflows as used by industry.
The outcome of the course is to provide you with a strong surfacing skillset enabling you to have a core understanding of the VFX surfacing pipeline and an ability to apply these skills to real-world projects.
Students who enrol on the course will also have access to our on-demand course, Introduction to Maya 1001, to ensure you are ready for the course from the offset.
Industry Support
We are happy to announce that this course is being supported by Adobe and Foundry. For students enrolling on the course, you’ll be provided with full educational licenses for the Adobe/Substance Suite, and a 95% discount for Foundry products.
Throughout the course, we’ll also have guest speakers from a number of VFX studios joining us to provide you with an industry perspective on Surfacing for VFX.
Learn about light and matter in order to create believable textures and shaders.
Industry partners
Lessons in this course
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Week 01. Introduction to Surfacing
We’ll be kicking off the programme off with a breakdown of how Surfacing fits into the VFX pipeline. We’ll also discuss important topics such as what is Texturing, Look Development, Groom, Surfacing, briefs, LODs, naming conventions. Following on from this, we’ll focus on working within a Project Directory suitable for VFX. Following on from this we'll discuss the important topic of colour space and working within an ACEScg environment.Available on: 2025.02.03 9:00 am -
Week 02. Understanding Light and Matter
In this lesson, we'll look at how light works and how materials respond to light. We'll then explore Physically Based Rendering and how this sets the stage for our Surfacing work. We will also study the differences between unpolarised, polarised and cross-polarised photography, and discuss how it can aid you for the purposes of data acquisition for texture and look development.Available on: 2025.02.10 9:00 am -
Week 03. The Importance of Calibration and Consistency
Here we will look at the Grey ball, the Chrome ball, and the Macbeth chart, and explore how they can aid in texturing, look development and lighting. Following on from this, we'll explore a few different ways in which we can approach the Surfacing task.Available on: 2025.02.17 9:00 am -
Week 04. Look Development Setup
It is important to ensure our assets are look devved in a manner that ensures they are suitable for multiple shots, each with different lighting conditions. Here, we will explore how best to do that. We will also prepare our primary look development environment, in which we'll carry out all our shader work, and in which we will use for all further reviews.Available on: 2025.02.24 9:00 am -
Week 05. Surfacing with Substance 3D Painter
In this lesson, we will do a deep dive into Substance 3D Painter. We'll start with an initial overview of the application and how it can be used for Surfacing. We'll also test that we are able to export texture maps and apply them to our shader in Maya/Arnold.Available on: 2025.03.03 9:00 am -
Week 06. Surfacing with Mari
Here we will dive into Mari. We wil start by getting familiar with the app, so you are comfortable working with the tool. Following on from this, we''ll explore a series of techniques to support our surfacing workflow, such as masking and camera projections.Available on: 2025.03.10 9:00 am -
Week 07. Introduction to Substance 3D Designer
In this lesson, we'll explore Substance 3D Designer and also look at how we can integrate our Designer workflow with Painter and Mari. We’ll also dive into other useful tools, such as Substance 3D Sampler, Quixel Mixer and XNormals.Available on: 2025.03.17 9:00 am -
Week 08. Creating your Diffuse Map
Here we will look at diffuse and specular reflection, so we have clarity on what we should visually be seeing for each texture map. At this stage, we should be comfortable using Substance Painter and Mari for texturing, and Maya/Arnold for shading, so let’s now focus on making sure our primary asset is good for Surfacing. We’ll also look at working with scan data and texture resolution for 4K rendering.Available on: 2025.03.24 9:00 am -
Week 11. Finalising your Shaders
This week, we’ll look to finalise our shaders and look at creating and using masks to further enhance our control over our shader setup.As we come towards the final push, We will also want to ensure our asset texture maps and shaders are all named consistently.Available on: 2025.04.14 9:00 am
Course Information
- Course Type: Live, Online Zoom meetings
- Schedule: 03rd February 2025 - 25th April 2025
- Workshop Session: Wednesdays, 11am – 2pm GMT
- Feedback Session: Fridays, 1pm – 3pm GMT
Early Bird Offer: save 20%
Enrol before 20th December: £334.99 (Standard Course Fee: £419.99)
FAQs
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How will this course be delivered?
This course will be delivered live and online via Zoom. Each week, we'll run 1 workshop session and 1 feedback/Q&A session. On occasions, you may be presented with some pre-recorded content (for example, if we are on an external shoot) but for the most part, the primary content will be delivered live. -
What day and time is the live workshop?
For this course, the workshops will be delivered on Wednesdays between 11am - 2pm, GMT. -
What day and time is the live feedback/review session?
For this course, the feedback/Q&A session will be on Fridays between 1pm - 3pm, GMT. -
If I cannot make the live sessions, will they be recorded and made available for viewing later on?
Yes. All live sessions will be recorded and made available on the course lesson page. This usually takes us around 24hrs to edit and upload the video recordings. -
Can we pay in instalments?
Yes, depending on the length of the course, you can pay an initial deposit and then spread the remainder of the cost over a series of months. If you are enrolling on multiple courses, we'd be more than happy to create a custom payment plan for you. -
Is there a discount if we purchase multiple line/online courses?
Yes, we are happy to offer a 10% discount per course for enrolling on 2 courses, and a 20% discount per course when enrolling on 3 or more courses. Please get in touch for more info. -
Will we have lifetime access to the recorded course content?
Yes, you will have lifetime access to the course content via our CAVE platform. -
Will we be required to complete exercises?
Each week, we'll be setting an exercise. You will be treated as adults, so it will be on you to complete the exercises. We understand that time is precious and you may have other commitments, which result in you missing an exercise or possibly falling behind. If so, do get in touch and we'll be more than happy to support you in catching up and developing your skills. We will be using SyncSketch for the review sessions, of which you will be able to access as a CAVE Academy student. -
Will there be a final assignment?
Each course will have a slightly different outcome but overall, yes, you will be tasked with creating an 'output' for each course. For Modelling, this may be a final model plus model turntable renders. For a Concept Art based course, this might be a series of production quality images. For every course, you will have an output for your portfolio (should your work be signed off by the tutor). -
Will any support be provided outside of the live sessions?
Yes - we use Discord for out of class discussions and if you have any other issues, you are more than welcome to send us an email directly. And if required, we'd be more than happy to catch up via a one-to-one Zoom session. -
Will there be any support after the course has finished?
We'll be more than happy to continue supporting students after the duration of the course as they work on their final assignment. -
Will data be provided for the courses?
Yes - we'll be providing data where required and dependent on the course. The majority of our course content is project-based and created using CAVE IP (scripts, concepts, models, textures, HDRIs, video footage, etc.) of which you will have access to. Please note that the data should not be shared externally for any purpose. -
Will software be provided for the course?
Where possible, we will provide software at student rates. For example, for any students enrolled on our live/online courses, we can provide access to the Adobe and Substance Suite, and students are able to access the Foundry products at student rates (95% discount). We will also be providing access to Flow Production Tracking (ShotGrid) and SyncSketch. We are in discussion with Maxon and Autodesk for student licences but currently cannot provide these apps. -
Will we be working within a specific colour space?
We will be working within an ACEScg colour space with an sRGB viewing LUT (out of the box Maya 2022+ setup).
