RIT drives multi-field convergence and skill transfer with real-time technology

Technology-driven multi-field convergence

Even before the pandemic, Foster liked a challenge—especially the feeling of being at the center of what he calls a technology-driven multi-field convergence. He is excited about new approaches to 3D design, film, and game-making enabled by tools in Unreal Engine, and notes that real-time technology crosses into many fields, causing them to overlap in new areas and creating a set of transferable skills.

With his tutorials, Foster is aiming to help people who are outside the traditional Unreal Engine fields that have, until recently, being largely focused on entertainment. That is now changing, as the tool is finding widespread adoption across many industries.

As part of his outreach effort, he’s collaborating with researchers and students in medical illustration, interior design, and industrial design, in addition to his students in 3D digital design. He is even finding overlapping interests in graphic design and next-generation user interface design.

From the studio to the classroom

Foster’s interdisciplinary interests emerged at an early age. He grew up surrounded by artists. His mother is a sculptor-ceramicist, and his father is an art photography professor. So naturally (he notes with a laugh), he decided to work on a financial team and become a licensed stockbroker. But after three years of working in finance he felt drawn to the arts again, and in 2003 he finished and returned to school to complete a masters degree in 3D computer animation and interactive design. 

After graduation, he joined Four Directions Productions, a startup owned by the Oneida Indian Nation in central New York. The company created commercials, visual effects, and an animated film called Racoon and Crawfish based on an Oneida legend. The film won a number of awards and invitations to film festivals. Foster spent the next five years working in the film industry, before joining RIT and helping launch the 3D Digital Design program. 

“The program appealed to me because it offered the potential to not just create traditional 3D animation, but to allow for a synthesis of these possible emerging technologies,” he says.

Virtual production: connecting cinematography, games, and VR

Foster applied for an Epic MegaGrant, which helped him develop a new course at RIT called Cinematography and Previsualization. The course connects to some of the emerging workflows in virtual production, pioneered by Epic Games. As disciplines converge, one challenge is translating the terms used in different disciplines. 

Leveraging Unreal Engine’s resources for educators

The growing selection of content on Unreal Online Learning has become an increasingly valuable resource for educators. And Foster notes that not only has the collection grown from a few videos to hundreds, but the courses have become an evolving ecosystem, where course creators can be inspired, and springboard off of one another’s ideas. His teaching philosophy is linked to the 80-20 rule of knowledge, which states that you will use 20 percent of the tools 80 percent of the time. 

Foster believes that a huge amount of the knowledge of a discipline is stored in its vocabulary, and is creating a library of hyperlinked terms. He is designing his curriculum and tutorials to be applicable across multiple disciplines.” Foster sees this sort of cross-pollination as enabling students who are interested in entertainment to discover opportunities in other industries as well.

Foster refers to an ongoing discussion between academics and the Epic community. “There’s a huge concern about the return on investment, especially for a really expensive college education,” he says. “And it’s interesting, there’s an inversion of some of the skills—critical thinking, ideation, those are on the rise again.” He focuses on adaptivity, combined with the ability to rapidly add on new skill sets, and to think both critically and creatively. Another important skill is mastering collaborative workflows. 

“It’s hard: nobody likes working on group projects in college typically,” he laughs. “But we’re definitely working towards figuring it out, because all of our students that go into the best studios come back and they talk to the students and they say, ‘You know what? Being able to work with people, and communicate, it’s kind of a critical skill set!’ ”