Links

A repository of links with useful references, online versions of books, and general resources for learning more about computer graphics and art.

Technical Art

• 3d-game-shaders-for-beginners

• Aaron Aikman (guerilla-tactics.com) - Technical art resources, including notes on the ‘graphics hat’ in tech art

• EricChadwick.com - What is a Technical Artist?

• Formulas for Photoshop blending modes – Deep Sky Colors - Math formulas for replicating Photoshop blend modes in Unreal or other node based workflows

• GitHub - Allar/ue5-style-guide: An attempt to make Unreal Engine 4 projects more consistent - Naming conventions for Unreal

• LearnOpenGL - Colors - Resource for learning OpenGL

• Python for the Anxious Artist #01 - Why Learn Python? - Nelson Lim - Series on learning python in an artist friendly way

• RenderDoc - Standalone tool for frame performance capture and analysis

• PIX on Windows - Frame analysis tool for optimizing GPU performance using DirectX, maintained by Microsoft

• Tech-Artists.Org - Online forum discussing tech art

• Understanding video RAM memory bandwidth (playtool.com)

• The Direct3D Transformation Pipeline - Win32 apps | Microsoft Learn - Overview of the Direct3D rendering pipeline for GPU processing

Computer Graphics - VFX and Lighting Focused

• 3Blue1Brown - Animated videos on mathematics

• 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development (gamemath.com) - Overview of key math concepts used in games and cg

• Arnold Brushstroke shader - Brushstroke shader imprelemented in OSL

• Bruce Gooch, Northwestern University - Collection of papers by Bruce Gooch, who also wrote a book called Non Photorealistic Rendering

• cgbookcase.com | PBR Textures, free for any purpose - PBR textures with creative commons licensing

• Chris Brejon - Chris’ site has many useful articles on lighting in general, especially OpenColorIO implementation in this article

• DiffusionLight: Light Probes for Free by Painting a Chrome Ball - Using StableDiffusion to attempt to recreate an accurate HDR using an arbitrary input image

• Gʀᴀᴘʜɪᴄs Cᴏᴅᴇx (nvidia.com) - Nvidia published site on the fundamentals of computer graphics, including algorithms and the rendering equation

• Houdini VOP raytracer part 1 | Albert 'tmdag' Szostkiewicz - Writing a Raytracer in Houdini VOPs

• ies library: home - Respository of IES light profiles for use in rendering

• Automated Brick Layout - An automated method for ‘voxelizing’ a 3d model in a way that it can be replicated using Lego bricks

• Physically-Based Rendering, And You Can Too! | Marmoset - Guide to Physically Based Rendering published by Marmoset

• MAGI/Synthavision (archive.org) - Archive.org capture of a website discussing SynthaVision, a raytracing software designed to trace radiation that was later adapted to the creation of 3d images. One of the engineers was Dr. Eugene Troubetskoy, who would later go on to cofound Blue Sky Studios

• Mitsuba 3 - Mitsuba renderer, an open source research oriented renderer

• Moana Island Scene - Complete dataset to render Motunui island from Moana, available in USD format

• Pixar Graphics Technologies - Pixar Graphics Library, a repository of whitepapers presented at SIGGRAPH

• Pixar's RenderMan | Tutorial | Photorealistic Head - Sample scene with full textures, great for testing SSS materials in all renderers

• PBR Albedo guide for Lighting Artists (but not only) | LinkedIn - Guide to albedo values for PBR rendering, with a discussion of colorspaces

• HDRIs • Poly Haven - PolyHaven, an excellent resource for HDRIs and more, all under a CC0(royalty free Creative Commons) license

• Production Volume Rendering (pixar.com) - Whitepaper on rendering volumetrics in production

• Ray Tracing (cornell.edu) - Slides of a intro to raytracing lecture explaining the core math concepts including ray - triangle intersection

• Stylized Depiction: Non-Photorealistic, Painterly and 'Toon Rendering (red3d.com) - List of links to papers discussing stylized shading

• Studio Download [BrickLink] - BrickLink, the official Lego tool that will generate Lego models based on a .obj

• Working with ACES in Mari - Reference article on working with ACES in Mari

Color Science and Grading

• acescolorspace - Online conversion tool for converting images into ACEScg colorspace, setting their rgb primaries to the AP1 standard

• ACEScg Digipro Writeup v008 acmsiggraph2015.docx (duikerresearch.com) - Writeup on the useage of ACEScg

• Help | ACES Workflow | Autodesk - Guide to setting up ACEScg workflow in Arnold in Maya 2022+

• Contrast - Lagom LCD test - Series of test and reference images for checking your monitor calibration

Python

• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python - Free ebook that goes over the fundamentals of Python and how to implement them.

• Python for the Anxious Artist #01 - Why Learn Python? - Nelson Lim - Series on learning python in an artist friendly way

• Python for (Nuke) Compers - Video series by Anthony Tan on using Python in Nuke

• RegExr: Learn, Build, & Test RegEx - Build and test regex expression for use in Python and other languages

Unreal Engine

• Learn to Code in Unreal Engine 5 with Blueprints - Coqui Games course on Blueprints in Unreal by Jorge Musalem

• Lighting Theory for Games | Maria Yue - Tutorial on game lighting theory by Maria Yue

• Tutorial: Recreating Zelda's Climbing Mechanic in Unreal Engine 5 (80.lv) - Create a climbing mechanic in Unreal

• Unreal Engine 5 Editor HotKeys Cheat Sheet - UE Casts - Key hotkeys for use in Unreal

Camera Lenses I Want

Mostly some neat bokeh reference.

• Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 75mm f/1.5 - The Legendary "King of Bokeh” - Casual Photophile

• The Leica Noctilux f/1.2 Double Aspherical Lens Review

• Canon 50mm F0.95 “Dream lens” Review

• Review: MS-Optics 50mm 1.3 Sonnetar Slim

• Meyer Optik Görlitz f/2.8 100mm Trioplan II (The New Version) Review

Basically this is every website I’ve ever bookmarked that isn’t a link to a gif or meme.