Learning at an Unreal Authorized Training Center
Introduction
I’m Natalia, a Technical Artist in training with a background as a 3D Generalist. Currently, I freelance at my home studio, Augmented Polys, and in the past I’ve worked at Funomena, an indie game studio. Before that, I interned at DreamWorks Animation. I got my bachelor’s degree in Fine Art with a focus on Digital Media at the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
Experience Before Vertex School
Before enrolling at Vertex, my 3D experience was mainly in 3D modeling and texturing with some rigging, animation, technical art, lighting, and compositing here and there. I created my own Augmented Reality apps for fun as well, which is where my interest and curiosity for technical art began.
How Did You Find Vertex School?
I looked up Unreal Authorized Training Centers and found Vertex there.
Why did you join the program at Vertex School? What skills did you want to level up?
I joined the Game Dev Program at Vertex School because I saw great work come from both the mentors and the students. I read lots of former students’ experiences and felt good about them overall. I also joined the Vertex School Discord beforehand. I really liked that Vertex is an official Unreal Engine training partner. It gave me confidence in the quality of the program and I liked the convenience of it being online because it gave me the flexibility to continue working.
I wanted to level up my Technical Art skills like shaders, VFX, world-building, and working with Blueprints as well as to become proficient using the engine itself.
Best Part of the Program So Far
The labs are especially helpful. I like that we get together with our mentors as a group and work through issues we’re running into or even learn something that wasn’t covered in the week’s lesson but takes our projects to the next level.
What advice from your mentors has been most helpful?
To keep my graphs tidy! Haha. It really helps me when I look into old graphs. I can pick up right where I left off without having to figure anything out and it’s helpful when others are looking at them as well.
Do you want to learn video game development at an Unreal Authorized Training Center?
Learn more about the Game Development Program now: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-development-program
Recommended Next Read: https://blog.vertexschool.com/game-development-program-katelyn-salo/
Student Links
Natalia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ntcabalceta/
Natalia’s Website: https://ncabalceta.com