Abertay University Dundee

The games industry's rapid growth demands innovative visual content, pushing developers to new creative heights. In parallel, the film and television industry face similar challenges, adapting to an ever-expanding global audience and the rise of streaming platforms. This shared landscape necessitates cutting-edge content that resonates across diverse markets. To meet these requirements, there have been pioneering shifts in production approaches, placing new emphasis on real-time (RT) technologies, and interactive, immersive and programmable methods. A new generation of artists is now required - flexible, creative, and technically literate, who are capable of creating content, solving problems, and building tools across multiple platforms: the technical artist.

MSc Technical Art and Visual Effects is one of the first Master’s programmes to specifically address the role of the technical artist. This role enables the delivery of creative solutions to complex artistic and logistical production challenges. The programme explores the core skills required of the technical artist, including the emerging synergies between Houdini and Unreal Engine, to equip the graduate with real-time skills grounded in creative and procedural thinking and production logic.

One of the key areas of the programme is a focus on proceduralism, with SideFX’s Houdini serving as the core tool for asset creation, simulation, iteration, and pipeline design. Houdini’s open, node-based architecture empowers students to build visual effects, tools and workflows that are reusable, optimised, and scalable, attributes essential for modern production. Through Houdini’s Solaris context, students gain experience with USD-based scene assembly, collaborative layout, and look development. Meanwhile, the integration of MaterialX ensures a cross-platform approach to shader design, enabling consistent visual quality across both offline and real-time rendering engines, including Unreal Engine.

Students will graduate with a deep experience in what it means to be a technical artist: someone who can think and act creatively, communicate effectively and solve problems efficiently – skills the film, games, and virtual production industries need.