Procedural Techniques for Game Environment Creation - Digital Art Course by Rosen & 80 Level

This Digital Art course by Rosen & 80 Level is designed to teach you how to build procedural game environments by covering the entire pipeline – from asset creation in Houdini and Substance 3D Designer to shader implementation and scene setup in Unreal Engine.

What does this course offer?

💥 Demystify Houdini and start seeing it as an easy solution for asset creation instead of complex graphs and code.

💥 Stop making assets for the sake of your portfolio – make tools and learn general techniques that can be applied to different situations, and improve as an artist.

💥 Gain a deep understanding of how a production pipeline in a real studio works.

The main goal of this tech art course is to teach you how to develop a procedural workflow that enables faster iteration, flexible level building, and creative freedom. 

You'll gain practical, industry-relevant skills in:

• Houdini workflows for tool creation and environment building;
• VEX scripting basics;
• Texture generation techniques in Substance 3D Designer;
• Shader creation and material setup in Unreal Engine.

The game industry right now is very chaotic. Being flexible, taking an interest in diverse digital art areas, and acquiring cross-disciplinary knowledge are keys to improving your chances of advancing to senior positions or finding a job.

Meet your mentor

Rosen is a Principal Texture Artist with 8 years of experience across VFX, tech art, and environment texturing. Starting in film VFX, he transitioned into games with roles at Snapshot Games (Phoenix Point), Creative Assembly (Total War: Troy), and then Camouflaj/Meta (Batman: Arkham Shadow, Iron Man VR). Known for procedural workflows and expertise in Substance 3D, Houdini, and Unreal Engine, he's led texture production, created custom tools, and delivered award-winning visuals.

Rosen's achievements:

• Creating all VFX for Total War: Troy despite minimal prior experience in VFX;
• Optimizing a key production script from 3 hours to 20 minutes;
• Leading the environment texture pipeline on Batman: Arkham Shadow, which later won VR Game of the Year and received widespread acclaim across Reddit, Twitter, and Discord for its visual quality.

What’s included in the course?

🔥 13+ hours of narrated content;

🔥 All project files;

🔥 Expert tips & tricks; 

🔥 Access to a closed Discord channel to connect with other students;

🔥 Access to the 80 Level Talent platform.

Full course outline

Is this course the right fit for you?

The course is beginner-friendly, but we recommend getting some prior experience with Houdini, Substance Designer, Unreal Engine, procedural generation, and shader workflows.

To follow along the course easily, please use the following software:

• Houdini Indie (20.5.522 recommended)
  • Houdini Apprentice (it's a free alternative version that can be used for Houdini steps, but Unreal Engine steps won’t be available as Houdini Engine plug-ins do not work with the Houdini Apprentice)
• Houdini Engine for Unreal (20.5.584 or 20.5.613) - To access the Houdini Engine for Unreal, download the latest Houdini installer, which includes the Unreal plug-in for free.
• SideFX Labs plugin (available for free via the Houdini Launcher)
• Substance 3D Designer (14.1.2)
• Substance 3D Painter (11.0.2)
• Unreal Engine (5.5.4)
• Any additional 3D modeling software

Although Houdini is used as the primary tool for procedural mesh creation, you are welcome to use any 3D modeling software for creating additional assets.

Important legal disclaimer

There is no time limit on your access to the course and its content once you purchase it. Feel free to complete it at your own pace.

When you purchase or access 80 Level courses or content, you’re getting a license to use it, not ownership. You can use the content for personal learning, but you don’t own it or its materials:

• You may use the content for personal, educational, non-commercial purposes only. 
• No reselling, redistributing, or using the course content for your business.
• No modifying or copying content to share with others.
• No cheating, hacking, or using bots.
• No abusive behavior in forums or chats.

Using your course artwork for portfolio

Good news! You can share the artwork you create during the course in your personal online portfolio (only for non-commercial, personal showcasing purposes), as long as:

• You credit Rosen & 80 Level;
• You include a link to the course page;
• The final artwork is created by you, not derived from the course.

Contact info

If you have any questions/comments about the course – please contact us via courses@80.lv

Links

Connect with your course mentor, Rosen

X/Twitter | LinkedIn | ArtStation |  YouTube

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