What Is A Graphics Programmer?

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While graphics programming is the magic behind all the beautiful imagery on your computer screens, it's incredibly niche and hard to figure out. What do they even do? How do you become one? How do I get started? Is it hard? All of this will be answered and more!
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GPU Gems 1-3: developer.nvid...
Music:
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This Mysterious Feeling - Persona 3 OST
Midori Eyes - Paradise Killer OST
During The Test - Persona 3 OST
Junes Theme - Persona 4 OST
New Game - WORLD OF HORROR OST
In A Moment's Time - Skullgirls OST
A New Frontier - VA-11 Hall-A OST
Every Day Is Night - VA-11 Hall-A OST
Those Who Dwell In The Shadows - VA-11 Hall-A OST
Neon District - VA-11 Hall-A OST
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Joy - Persona 3 OST
Just Like This - Persona 3 OST
The Path Is Open - Persona 3 OST
Underground Club - VA-11 Hall-A OST
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GO!GO!STYLE - Paradise Killer OST
Like A Dream Come True - Persona 4 OST
Gold Falls Casino - HuniePop OST
Thanks for watching!
This video is dedicated to my friend, Alotryx.
#acerola #graphics #gamedev #unity3d #graphics #shaders

[@Acerola_t]

Get a free 30 day trial and 20% off an annual plan at brilliant.org/acerola ! #ad Thanks for 100k subs! 1 million next ofc

[@DonC876]

Happy Birthday

[@PlanetComputer]

me too

[@robocat168]

Happi berd day!!!!!!!

[@tundrummax6221]

Happy birthday my good sir

[@kraberap-sniper]

happy birthday

[@AresAnno]

My biggest lesson from this video is that I should have a portfolio and not just leave my finished/abandoned projects in the trash bin

[@T0ly113]

This is true for every aspect of CS, btw

[@i_zoru]

@@T0ly113 reason i got a job now, and don't forget try a little bit of freelance project tho, it kinda helps because you're also building a real project , not just personal

[@Lilliathi]

Yes. Guy who shows he can do the thing >>>> guy who has a piece of paper that says he can do the thing.

[@Mus_2001]

lesson that everyone told you, but you cannot comprehend

[@ethanwasme4307]

sounds like it was his first time being told, chill @@Mus_2001

[@amin1]

As a graphics programmer (AAA), I can say that everything said in this video is 100% true. I think this video is like gold as I've never seen anything this useful on web. Acerola, thank you so much for your work. I am sure a lot of students or people who are thinking about a career in this field would find your videos very valuable.

[@Special1122]

why you scream in brackets?

[@EnderMega]

@@Special1122 Plz tell me you are joking kkk.

[@solmyr42]

AAAaah xD

[@HonsHon]

​@@EnderMegawhat joke? I was wondering same thing

[@QuanTran-bm2vp]

@@HonsHon meaning his work is being used in a triple A game production (or different industry but similar quality), but I assume that consists of a lot of AAAAAAAHHH as well

[@physbuzz]

What is a graphics programmer but a miserable pile of floating point tricks?

[@artemisDev]

half precision floating point tricks at that

[@OverwatchUA]

​@@artemisDev Sometimes even r11g11b10 because half is for rich people

[@lievenvv]

my screen buffers are 64b float 😍

[@modellking]

Floating point tricks in parallel

[@myrealusername2193]

@@OverwatchUAthe real half precision is using RGB565

[@TheTrienco]

That intro alone gave me flashbacks to the course at Uni. "Modern displays go up to 1024x768".. and that's where you realized the prof had been using the same script for at least 20 years.

[@yewo.m]

😂 yeah, it's just shocking sometimes how outdated the stuff in college can be. For example, I think it was in 2022 in our mobile development course when our lecturer (based on what was on his powerpoint slide) mentioned Android, iOS and *Windows Phone* as the main three platforms for developing mobile apps (I graduated last year BTW)

[@BrenoGF144]

@@yewo.m Tbf Windows Phone still exists technically, I know a guy who uses it, and probably teacher wanted to fill a 3rd spot for "quota"

[@siennathesane]

I'm a Principal Engineer who's working towards career changing from systems development (kernels, networking, storage, etc.) to graphics programming. Here's the path I'm taking. The books "Real-Time Rendering" and "Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation" are life savers. Make a portfolio with Vulkan demonstrating competency and understanding of graphics programming, build a simple toy engine, and then go chase down what you want. Bonus points if you add ECS to your toy engine as well!

[@Acerola_t]

yeah I didnt mention PBR cause it's imo a bit more of an advanced resource but it's great and also free

[@siennathesane]

@@Acerola_t oh 100%, PBR is "I want to use my graphics card to question reality", def not for beginners lol

[@artkuts4792]

what's usually considered a toy engine? Is that just composable high level abstractions for the underlying APIs like Vulkan or DirectX, or is it also some kind of editor and other stuff? If that's the later, do you build the editor from scratch as well? Just how much time is it going to take to make a somehow useful thing?

[@NickSchade]

I graduated college in 1986 and my primary interest at the time was computer graphics. I work now as a boat designer and boat builder - rendering my ideas IRL, but I find the advancement of computer graphics in the past ~40 years mind-blowing. I would like to add that I feel to be a really good engineer/scientist you need to be an artist, and to be a really good artist you need to be an engineer/scientist. Conceptualizing and creating innovative new visions requires imagination and the ability to understand your tools and medium. High level STEM work is the art of imagining new solutions and then rendering them using and understanding of the math and physics need to design a solution. High level art is the science of imaging new visions and then understanding how your artistic medium can be manipulated into rendering your vision. Engineering is art and art is engineering. One isn’t better or more valuable than the other, they are two sides of the same coin.

[@mauree1618]

I’d like to know what motivated you to change careers?

[@Squidcat777]

I’m a CS masters student trying to become a graphics programmer (and desperately avoiding webdev) and I’ve never seen a video as inspirational as this one. It’s really refreshing to see someone speak to the intermediate level, and to the lack of a straightforward way into graphics from an academic CS background. Great video!

[@morkallearns781]

What do you mean you don’t want the culmination of all your hard work studying computer science being writing React components?

[@StfuSiriusly]

@@morkallearns781 You could build angular components instead! :)

[@abeidiot]

@@morkallearns781 Writing react components that you can complete half asleep and dedicate your free time to things you actually care about isn't so bad

[@StarlynsAgency]

avoid webdev like a plage

[@jackcollis7258]

​@@StarlynsAgency why? General job stability and decent salary seems good, no?

[@Console.Log01]

I made a 3D engine in scratch in a weekend, and just from the small amount of time I spent programming a simple engine using blocks, I realised it was a lot more complicated than I thought it'd be. Happy birthday Acerola!

[@notbillymays]

Also weren't doing urself a favor by using scratch

[@Console.Log01]

@@notbillymays no I guess not, but it was still a fun programming challenge nonetheless.

[@tonfilm]

Why didn't you use vvvv? It's a real-time visual programming language and already has a 3d functions...

[@Console.Log01]

@@tonfilm while vvvv is probably better for practical purposes, I did this mostly because I was bored and wanted a challenge, not because I wanted a 3d engine I could work with. I don't like block coding in general, so I just made that engine to brag about and waste time.

[@SirusStarTV]

When someone says about scratch in comments, do they mean edu mit web site scratch?

[@pepis1132]

Bro this is literally me what the fuck I'm a CompSci major working on my own OpenGL engine to learn graphics on my own. My goal is a bit different than yours (I wanna become a college graphics professor), but it's so refreshing and inspiring to see that I'm not the only person who enjoys this field. Most people of my COMPUTER SCIENCE major don't even know what I mean when I say I want to study the field of computer graphics. It's such a niche topic. I sometimes almost feel like it doesn't exist. And you summarized what I love about it so well too. I love it because you're making art with code and math. It's so fucking awesome. Thank you for this video. I had left my engine abandoned for a couple of months cause of school, judo, the gym, etc. but you've given me renewed motivation. Thank you!

[@Fricasso79]

My main takeaway from this video is that my childhood sucked.

[@Lukas221Killer]

same...

[@theothetorch8016]

How's that the conclusion?

[@aesthetic-ds2mt]

same

[@gopherbarney8707]

Bro needs a hug and a pat on the back

[@alalmalal]

Carl weathers arnold schwarzenegger handshake gif

[@AlejandroRodriguezJr]

As a technical artist in multiple industries I really appreciate your segment about the difference between our roles. I’ve never heard it explained clearer! Especially as the roles of tech artists continue to blur

[@JoshMOSH19]

Man, as someone about to finish a CS undergrad degree and hoping to get into graphics programming afterward, I can’t even express how much I needed to hear literally everything in this video.

[@gabryx7]

Gotta say sometimes it is a bit disheartening to see such successful people that are also so young. Being 18-19yo with a diploma and a bachelor's is insane, let alone starting programming just 6 years ago and being so good at it! I'm 30yo and i thought i kinda knew my stuff after bachelor's, master's and PhD but the more I watch videos and see my super young colleagues around me the more I feel like I've wasted my time! But everyone had a different life path, no way on earth I could have skipped high school or afford any extra experience outside of Uni! Props to you man! Despite the learning, it's obvious that you are very talented and you chose the right calling for you, love your tutorials :)

[@honaleri]

What's disheartening is you are 30 and still comparing yourself to other people... That's... not right.

[@gabryx7]

@@honaleri if you don't compare yourself to others you're never gonna improve. There is a difference between being jealous or envious of someone's achievements and comparing yourself to others to learn from them, from their achievements AND their mistakes. If you're not (healthily) comparing yourself to others you'll always stay complacent in your own mediocrity, and you will also be unable to understand the effort someone has put into reaching those achievements.

[@honaleri]

@@gabryx7 Not in the least. What's healthy is only comparing yourself to yourself. Where is the ideal you in 5 years? 50? Ask those questions and put in the work to get there and be that person, without concern where others are and what others are doing. Because their path is a reflection of their life, experiences and choices that will have nearly no overlap with yours as an individual. Comparing, as you said, does nothing but dishearten you. Striving for a better self, doesn't require others examples. You'll only strive to be them. And that's a battle you are doomed to lose. Comparisons leave exactly one human being as the winner. Striving for a better self is only about ensuring the winner is the present you, and the present you is making progress against past you, to the beat of your own drum, in the one life you get. If other people are defining your sense of self and success... You've lost in a way nothing can ever make you win. Others will always define your worth...and at the end of the day, if they say you aren't enough... You aren't. When you are your own benchmark and the future you see for you is all you strive for. Others can have huge success, and all you'll feel is happy for them, or inspired to apply their tenacy to yourself. Never...disheartened. It's not a competition. Gaining maturity and life skills is just as important as degrees and professional progress. It's not meaninful to work on only one. At the end of the day if someone else can make you feel you've wasted you life by making the choices that were best for you, your values aren't healthy. No one else by simply existing should have that kind of influence over your perception of yourself. That's the mindset that's a problem. And I hope you nothing but a meaningful escape from such a painful and pointless feeling that comes from you feeling negatively about getting a PhD cause someone else is also successful. I wish you freedom from that. You don't deserve that kind of mind trap. No one does.

[@gabryx7]

@@honaleri I don't need to prove anything to a random, stranger on the internet, I've put more than enough work :) Good luck to you though, I hope recruiters, Universities or any other institution will not compare you to others :) Edit: my bad I didn't read the rest of the message! Without the rest after the first paragraph, your answer sounded mean but it was quite the opposite

[@honaleri]

@@gabryx7 I specifically said I hope you never have to feel you need to prove anything to anyone else. If you felt confused, ull clarify, I was trying to wish you a good experience. Because the pressure you've put on yourself...isn't health or necessary and you deserve to be happy and free from that. Not sure how that makes me sour, but it's ok. I already know the kind of pressure you feel. So, it makes sense your first response is negative. I still want better for you. I think you must have read my comment before I completed writing it. My apologies if you did.

[@souptime1554]

Happy birthday Acerola! I really needed this video, I’m currently struggling with just about everything you brought up in this video and this gave me the motivation and direction I needed.

[@rafaelduarte2730]

"My videos are intentionaly low production value and amaturish at nature" -Fully edited -Filled with diferent inforgraphics -Music -Scripted -Has a list of resources -Even has a bloody list of musics used in order My man this isn't low production nor amaturish, you should feel proud about your work, it's really good Subbed

[@stevethepocket]

To give y'all a basic idea of what shaders are capable of beyond just "shading", one thing you can do with them is move the apparent positions of a model's vertices. Valve uses this to simulate the swaying of trees and bushes in the wind. The result is that they can use "static" models that use less resources to render and can be lit using pre-baked lighting (since they don't move so much that it matters) and can even have their movement parameters altered by what skin is being applied to them.

[@Roxor128]

As I recall, they also use it for facial animation.

[@ls.c.5682]

...and then start delving into compute, and you can do all kinds of things to data in a shader

[@jcm2606]

You can do a lot more than that in shaders. Modern APIs quite literally let you _create_ entirely new vertices and fill a vertex buffer with them from within a compute shader, fill a storage buffer with draw parameters within another compute shader, then draw the vertices you just created with the draw parameters you just created indirectly by having the GPU reference its own memory.

[@ArthurLopes39]

GTA V does this as well. I remember modding the game and finding out how it worked and being amazed at how clever it all was.

[@user-og6hl6lv7p]

Everyone uses that to simulate foliage animation bro. Not sure where you're getting the Valve thing from, but Ok...

[@crimson-foxtwitch2581]

15:40 Fun fact: the Decima engine was named after Dejima, a Japanese island which was the singular trading post Japan had with the Dutch Empire during the 17th century. The engine didn’t have a name until Guerilla was prompted to give it one whenever Kojima Productions wanted to use it for Death Stranding.

[@DonC876]

My road to becoming a techincal Artist: Making Levels for CS1.5 -> making levels for a Mod for HL2 (Demons vs Humans) -> starting a media it study at a public university -> getting into actual 3D modelling programs and making textures and working with Unreal 3 -> starting to get interested in node based shaders -> getting my first job and just having no one else to do the coding, so here we go i guess ^^ -> slowly falling in love with hlsl and optimization -> scoring a job at a small indie studio that make vr for quest and a like -> learning to make tools and addons for artists -> learning to build highly optimized content pipelines to get shit running on mobile VR -> being a happy tech artist who loves watching Acerola to relax. So i kinda stumbled my way from making Counter Strike levels and wanning to become an environment artist to becoming a swiss army knife specialized for working with and optimizing for mobile vr. I'd recommend just start with something you love, learn to swim and solve problems on your own and branch out when something catches your interest. It's a really worthwhile journey and i wouldn't change my life with nobody else :). Also if you know this is what you wanna do in life, make a vow to yourself and set becoming good at this craft the ultimate goal that you will pursue until your old and grey (might help to live in a european country with healthcare and all that socialist bullshit that protects you from existential angst). Best of luck

[@motenai82]

Honestly i wish there was a video like this for every career path available. I want to learn Unreal Blueprints and after doing a course on basics, the path ahead felt nebulous and very uncertain. The way you lay down very clearly the path you followed in your field is inspiring.

[@HerezCheez]

No you dont.. look what happened to web dev, soft engineering getting over saturated after idiots posting everywhere online about their day in life. Prefer to be hidden

[@motenai82]

@@HerezCheez sure, which is what happens for gamedev too. Plenty of videos for beginners with clickbait titles like "learn gamedev in 5 days", then they teach you the same bare bone basics you find literally everywhere and they're done. What i would like is someone that tells it like it is, "hey student, this stuff is hard, but this path could simplify things for your years-long journey" P.S. i know i'm dreaming, but this video is very close to what i mean. Too bad i dont study graphic programming, i watch Acerola just like i watch Sebastian Lague, with admiration and understanding practically nothing. Acerola also for the dry comedy.

[@S41L0R]

20:21 i have some programming experience from when I was younger, but most of what I've learned about CS and graphics development was self taught through the structure of projects I cared about. (Specifically making modding tools for botw lol). I've also been in the CS program in my high school for a few years cuz i felt i might as well. But what I've noticed is that everything we're learning in that program is super simple compared to what I was able to learn self-taught. And my high school's CS program is supposedly one of the best in the state. So I guess what I mean to say is that if you can find projects you are passionate about, I'd recommend developing those! You'll find yourself putting much more time into them than you would to a class, and you'll end up being exposed to much more in the way of concepts.

[@Gunnar120]

I'm a teacher and have a 7th grade student that really wants to get into game development. He does not currently put any effort into math whatsoever. I will use this to encourage him to really push him! Not every game developer needs the amount of math as a graphics programmer does, but this might be an eye opener that math isn't stupid and in fact is a cool way to interact with the world 😅

[@jorntumrongwit9056]

Holy crap this came at just the right time. I'm in my 3rd year of college right now and is really considering graphics programming, but much like you there's not a lot of resources in my college to go by. This is going to be a godsend moving forward. Genuinely, thank you so much for all you've provided for aspiring graphics programmer like me. Now off to get real-time rendering

[@d1ngd0]

People calling you not professional feels like some external gate keeping because they feel insecure. I’d ignore them. Congrats on your job trajectory thus far, given your passion and clear intellect you will go far. Also: you have a clear talent for explaining highly complex ideas. Your videos are understandable even to a lowly systems engineer like myself.

[@SuboptimalEng]

As a full-stack software engineer who is clawing his way out of web dev by learning computer graphics and sharing projects on KZbin, this video hits home.

[@bransongitomeh5186]

lol, doing the same thing

[@SuboptimalEng]

@@bransongitomeh5186 it's been quite a grind on my end. Hopefully we can both get the roles we are aiming for!

[@randomd00d19]

@23:23 He's also starting with Godot. For all of you interested in Godot, I suggest listening to Acerola, but seriously considering trying out Godot in a year or two when he's put out more stuff. Godot seems to be accelerating while Unity has hurt its reputation to a point that it may never fully recover. Other promising game engines are starting to pop up. Bevy is one. It's written in rust and doesn't have an editor atm though, so I wouldn't call it beginner friendly at all, but there's a lot to keep an eye out for.

[@tonfilm]

Not to forget Stride, free and open-source. And it's entirely written in C# which is amazing because the engine and game code use the same technology. No layer in between. Also it has one of the best shader system in the world and it's very fast!

[@Alexey_Pe]

Don't look at bevy, take Fyrox

[@gamechannel1271]

Godot is a better game dev experience than unity in pretty much every way. He's probably biased against it because how it exposes shaders is very opinionated (all the shader attribute mapping is handled for you) which could make his job more annoying if he's trying to do some really weird custom thing in the shader. In this case, you'd have to maintain your own version of the Godot engine which of course is not for beginners, but at the same time writing super complex shader code is ALSO NOT A BEGINNER TASK.

[@petrakat]

Godot's rendering pipeline is pretty underpowered compared to Unity's; it gives you a lot less control. (This is by design to make it easier to use.) I have managed to implement an Obra Dinn-like 1-bit dithering + edge detecting thing, but it's kind of ridiculous under the hood... But I like it better than Unity for like, "normal" projects. Most games I want to make don't require hyper-advanced graphics; I just want models or sprites on the screen and maybe some post-processing. (Granted I haven't used Unity in like 6 years and I was way better at programming when I started figuring out Godot...) Uh, try both I guess! Try things! If you're not doing this for fun it's not going to be easy. Discipline is hard and having fun is easy.

[@Acerola_t]

@gamechannel1271 I strongly disagree lol I did several streams trying out godot and pretty much everything about it was worse and more convoluted, the only true benefit to godot imo is the okhsl color wheel which I enjoy staring at but yes in a few years when jasper has put out more godot tutorials it'll be a great option for beginners.

[@Ash_18037]

Great video, clearly laying out the harsh but honest reality. Graphics programming is the hardest type of programming (in my opinion) because you need at least 9/10 programming ability, 9/10 mathematics ability and 9/10 creative/art ability. That left/right brain equal skill requirement is a killer. As a hobbyist game programmer I get by with about a 9/10, 6/10, 6/10, in those areas. I'd really struggle with some of the math and creative flair needed as a graphics programmer. I actually think my rating is probably quite a common rating for a lot of game programmers.

[@djayred]

Wow i just randomly stumbled upon this video, and I really appreciate you covering the aspects of tech art in the industry. I was a contractor for one of the big conglomerate studios as a technical artist. It's true that despite working the majority of my time programming, we generally weren't given the same weight. I think the bigger issue is that all these industries use technical artist too much as a catch all term for suge a huge spectrum of responsibilities. That also means technical artist are some of the roles that get cut or is not reliable due to the nature of your niche. Engineers and artist will just work double time to fill out the gap a typixal technical artist fills. Anyways I was one of those who got let go, and have been struggling to find work due to my narrow niche. And because of my education more of a hybrid in art/tech pivoting out of the industry with strictly just experience from tech art has been hard. After being out of work for several months, and although I truly did enjoy my time working in this game studio, it's best to leave the industry for me personally. Since what I actually enjoy doing has been programming. I'm going back to university next year to pursue a second degree in computer science. For any other prospective students out there thinking about taking the plunge in video games, I would caution that it is a cutthroat industry, and honestly not nearly as cool or fun as any other streams of work. Pursue your dreams, but also spend some time reflecting on why your dream is your dream, and if you have fallbacks when it doesn't work out.

[@AndyBlackburnart]

you'll also make more money probably if you leave the game industry to do certain fields of programming for major companies that may be just as complicated as what you do in the game industry, depending on specifics.

[@DKarkarov]

This is a big aspect of the "generalist" dilemma. As technical artists aren't specialists, this means most people don't really understand what work they can, or do, actually perform. In today's world of specialist focused education paths and job roles, generalists are not valued. Because yeah, your bosses probably don't really understand what you do and anything they don't understand will have reduced value, and ..... couldn't a specialist just do it better even if I needed two of them to cover the range? Also money wise I hate to say it, but like Andy said it is not in gaming. While Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Sony, etc have gaming arms... they are not the profit machines that put those companies where they are. If you look at the fortune 100 you won't find even one strictly gaming company, not even Activision before the Microsoft merger would have made it.

[@Rbanh]

​@@DKarkarov This is very interesting to hear, as my experience has been the opposite. I find that as a Tech Artist, my role is quite high in demand across many studios. I even find that tech art roles pay better than many programming or art roles (assuming they are not senior/lead roles). I still get recruiters reaching out often toting 6 figure salaries. To me, I see a generalist tech artist as a highly versatile skill set, which gives the individual the flexibility to tackle a wide array of problems to solve.

[@DKarkarov]

​@@Rbanhthere are exceptions to every rule. My job is also a generalist role and I also recently turned down a 6 figure job offer. But I also understand I have a strong resume, a proven track record of work experience, and a strong reputation at my current company. A person who is starting out or perhaps has not gotten the same opportunities would find things more challenging in the same job market.

[@hawns3212]

20:44 I want to note that the game development school I graduated from taught Dx11, Dx12, shaders, and Vulkan. There was a bunch of classes grouped together for the graphics department which is what opened my eyes to the career. Definitely if you are considering this though, check the coursework and see what they teach you.

[@Mattapprendoespanol-gt9tj]

If you don't mind me asking, what school did you go to?

[@hawns3212]

@@Mattapprendoespanol-gt9tj Full Sail University in Orlando. They have a game development degree which teaches basic Computer Science, Graphics, Engine Development, AI, and Unity / Unreal

[@hawns3212]

@@Mattapprendoespanol-gt9tj Full Sail in Orlando

[@samcousins3204]

I'm a senior applying to undergraduate programs right now, and you should know how important and refreshing this video is. Your passion for the topic is inspiring; but most of all, your perspective on the drive it requires to pursue what you love - after finding out what it is in the first place - is invaluable. thanks, man.

[@gallowslovesyou]

I just want to say that putting a cat on screen while you do an ad read is so manipulative, and I just love that for you.

[@NatanCanDraw]

"My videos are intentional low production value", bro I envy the quality of your videos so bad. You have such a good taste. You're my biggest inspiration.

[@Luminalmvm]

Seeing you blow up was amazing, and absolutely deserved. I always wanted to go into this area of computing but am currently just stuck in backend software after finishing university this year. Your story has really motivated me that it's still possible to move into this area. Thanks for all the videos and work you put into them, you deserve all of it

[@ultrasour7007]

i cant believe youre from bend also, as a freshman CS major going to U of O, this video is actually super helpful and inspiring. I love your videos and them, along with sebastian's videos, are what inspired me to really start trying to learn programming for school and fun.

[@exciting-burp]

As a graphics programmer hobbyist in a previous life, the thing I like most about your videos is that they show that you don't just "put water into a game" or things like that. What I'd like to see at some point is shadows - just so that people understand how awful they are to get right. And also so that your viewers will never be able to unseen shadow acne

[@wardablemusic]

Ace roller this video is either going to change my life or at the very least give me something to consider really strongly. Maximum respect for your dedication and good will.

[@DarenKajiWolf]

What a genius, math and art at the same time sounds so complicated that it's easy to say that you and any graphics programmer is a really unique and brain powerful human beings

[@Aurora12488]

Happy birthday Acerola! Thanks for making these fantastic videos. :D

[@ditchdigger106]

Just wanted to throw out my take as some random moron who decided he'd start reading academic papers about comp-sci and trying to figure crap out on his own: Any time you're reading a paper and you feel like a total dumbass, remember that the people writing it likely have invested YEARS of their life into this one exact subject. Even the lowliest paper is a titanic effort. And the people who wrote it did so precisely because it's a hard thing to figure out - if it was easy, you wouldn't be trying to track down a paper on it. So like, respect yourself, and respect the author too - this stuff is hard.

[@developersteve1658]

I really appreciate your work. However, I feel personally attacked at the dig at web dev. Lol I ended up going the web dev route, and your videos truly make me want to jump out, but for now, the Golden handcuffs stay on. Programming really does feel like creative problem solving, and I love art, too, so who knows what my future holds. Thanks again.

[@chayanpant1607]

Similar thoughts. Maybe one of the ways is to dip fingers in WebGL, Three.js, r3F, GLSL etc to get that knack for graphics programming going forward as a web developer and hope for the best in this ever-changing rock in spacetime..

[@jasonhurdlow6607]

I was a graphics and game programmer for many years, but ended up in web (LOB) to support my family. Sucks, but there are 1000 web jobs to every graphics programming job, and the gatekeeping is way less.

[@rudiklein]

Incredible start of your career. Your perseverance is great. I hope you get what ever makes you happy.

[@realmarsastro]

I have a tiny disagreement. While I agree Unity is the best engine start with for graphics programming, I don't agree that Unreal isn't a good choice because it's more about using their stuff than making your own. I have a decent amount of experience with both graphics programming and Unreal, and I have to say it's not at all a cumbersome or difficult thing to create your own stuff from scratch in Unreal once you know the engine. Yeah, they have a great material editor, but that doesn't stop you from using your own custom shaders just like you can in Unity. The reason I'd say Unity is still the better choice, is simply because it's way easier and faster to get to know the engine in the way you need to use it for graphics programming. The strong focus on entity-component design pattern is more intuitive than Unreal's inheritance focus, and the separation between C++ and Blueprint in Unreal adds a layer of complexity before you can start proficiently programming behavior in your objects. Unity is just more barebones in what it gives you and how it does things, and for a beginner that's easier to wrap your head around. But at the end of the day there's nothing you can do in Unity that you can't do in Unreal, provided you have overcome the steeper learning curve and the more complex approach to scripting. There's a lot you can't do in Unity that you *can* do in Unreal though.

[@mateuszg4360]

thx you helped me

[@kaidaluck648]

Thank you. I was looking for this as I was planning on starting with Unreal. Although, I might look into it after I check out Jasper's tutorials. From what I understood, the concepts and skills are pretty transferable to Unreal.

[@tylerbakeman]

I build my own portfolio projects, and study graphics. Your videos have taught me a lot - I used to program Gerstner waves, saw the overlapping, then you talked about it in a video, and ended up using layered sine waves. It changed my perspective enough to matter. You also introduced me to the idea of grass / cloud rendering techniques, because I hadn’t heard of those topics prior to watching. Plus, the videos are entertaining, well educated, and easy to follow. Low-key, some of the best graphics study-guides on the web.

[@idoblenderstuffs]

Its still weird to me that people in the US can just skip parts of school if they're good enough. Here in the UK no matter how good you are, you are stuck in your year based on how old you are. If I lived in the US I would've already graduated college right now, although right now I'm in the last year of high school.

[@Acerola_t]

it was genuinely the worst choice I've ever made in my life the permanent damage it does to your brain is just not worth the potential time saved

[@ZenkaiGoose]

The mans a goated Graphics programmer and KZbinr. Love your content man, I've binged so much of it

[@stephaniemartins2281]

As someone who is currently a Technical Artist (or rather, a Technical Director, but same difference), you really hit the nail on the head when it comes to the state of the industry! I'm literally applying to grad school right now for that very reason - not only am I actually more interested in being a graphics programmer than a TA, I would like to have a real job with benefits rather than be a contractor for the rest of my life lol

[@tuesdi]

Wow I'm currently in the process of deciding whether to change industries and become a TD (ideally in animation) or go to grad school to study graphics. I think I'm starting to lean more into graphics but I'm also interested in doing shot work.

[@aWildOcti]

Almost two years ago I managed to get a wolfenstein 3D style renderer work on an arduino and a friend asked me to help him on a game he was working on. He doesn't like working with engines and honestly, for the stuff he does, raw SDL is more than good enough, but that also meant I had to learn SDL and I don't regret it one bit. Now, I'm learning OpenGL and my own game is taking shape faster than I expected. I learnt so much in just a year while still just in high school. My best advice for anyone reading this comment is to set yourself a far away yet clearly defined goal. Don't just say "I want to make a game", say "I want to make a game with a story that means a lot to me, that has mechanics that work like this, looks like this and is built using these tools". Your goals will naturally shift over time, but having a goal like this, even if it doesn't look achievable right now, will motivate you further to keep improving. Eventually, you'll make something you'll be proud of and look back fondly at where you started

[@TheVideogamemaster9]

I started out with P5js as well, and ended up becoming a web dev. I wanted to be a soundtrack composer instead of a programmer, but discovered that most people don't like good music, and there are no opportunities in the US unless you wanna freelance for almost no money while making very generic stuff that isn't unique or original whatsoever.

[@nikkiofthevalley]

I question the use of "most people don't like good music". I would say that some people might not like music, sure, but "good" music is subjective. You might just have a particular taste in music (I certainly do) that isn't very common, so most people wouldn't like the music that you would make.

[@timmie2k3]

I've been a graphics programmer in the industry since 2008. For me, I didn't go to school to become one, I enrolled in a diploma program at a technical institute and some of the courses covered it a little bit. How I really got into it was personal projects and being interested in learning when I first got into the industry. I'd say most graphics programmers around know that you don't learn this stuff in school, so when hiring we tend to look at those personal projects to gauge overall interest and drive and how much of a personality fit you'd be for the team. Grades gets you in the door but those other things get you the job, so to speak. But yeah, most of the stuff in this video is great. I also appreciate highlighting the difference between being a graphics programmer (or rendering engineer) and being a technical artist. What most people consider being a graphics programmer is really being a TA, most of my time is spent adding features to the engine or porting to new hardware platforms. There's some shader work but it's just a small portion of the job. What's kind of interesting is the rise in engines (like Unity or Unreal) have actually made it harder to find good graphics programmers. Nobody does low level work now, it's all shadergraph portfolios. If you want to be a graphics programmer, I'd almost say don't use an engine. Start from scratch (and use C++), build your own demo "engine" that does some common rendering stuff. That will easily separate you from like 98% of all applicants. Personally, I've worked in several custom tech stacks and am working in Unreal now (building the engine from source). I've built cross-platform graphics engines from the various platform APIs and ported existing ones. It's still rewarding and there's always new stuff to learn. I highly recommend it.

[@krox477]

How do you learn all the stuff all by yourself!??

[@ScoutFanpage]

WHY IS TWO FROM TPOT THERE

[@iii-ei5cv]

Dude your story is inspirational as all hell I know not everyone can do what you did. But the overall takeaway is "you don't know until you try" and "even if you try and fail, try again because there's multiple paths to success" The only thing I'd add is that for anyone struggling with math, don't give up. Math isn't "meant to be easy". Its incredibly useful though and if you work at it, it doesn't habe to be a barrier

[@bjorn5840]

Ive been interested in game graphics since i played far cry back in the day. I might be a bit old to be sought after by employers once i've gone through all the learning. But worst case scenario i have a hell of deep hobby! Think i might put a bit more energy into this! Thanks for the inspiration!

[@zacharieperez4103]

this is a recent interest of mine and i'm super excited to see this comprehensive introduction posted - thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!!!

[@cinderheart2720]

Oh. He was a child genius.

[@Patrick-gm3fb]

This video needs to exist for every niche of every field.

[@baxonIsKool]

6:04 Now then that's taken care of we can finally start the battle of the power of TWOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[@MrErichaines]

Thanks for sharing your journey so far. I hadn't realized how difficult it was to get training, even in the U.S.. And, I'm glad to hear you are finding our book, Real-Time Rendering, of use - hearing that made my day. Also, happy to see you reusing our free "fair use" diagrams from the book in other videos. Keep up the great work!

[@x1expert1x]

dude that is insane. our stories are literally nearly identical. I had a mystery illness, I watched the same shows and streamers (dyrus was my fave) and I TOOK ARCHITECTURE! I also excelled in chemistry (organic chem captivated me) and I TOO PIVOTED TO CS BECAUSE MY CHEM DEGREE WASN'T OFFERED!!!!!!!!! BROOOOOOOO Fuckn love CS man, best coincidence of my life. Hope we meet up one day. Not to be a Stan, lol

[@ZaneBastian]

Nice try, Acerola ;) /s

[@darksilver_2138]

From my experience as a student in computer science trying to get started with computer graphics as a hobby, depending on what you want to do, some of your first CG projects will take weeks or even months to complete. You'll probably have an hard time keeping your motivation intact after a long time. Well, I don't know about you, but I did. I would advise you to try to find a community to share your progress with. For example, there are a lot of small game dev discord, with peoples trying to build a portfolio, or just having fun. Being part of a community of people posting their progress everyday is what's helping me keep my drive. And as a bonus, you'll often see people ways better than you exchanging about the state of the art or just willing to explain stuff to you.

[@UKGeezer]

I wrote my 3D engine for work in C++, along with a linear algebra math library for matrix and quaternion operations, etc. Primarily it runs with DirectX and HLSL shaders, but I made the engine agnostic so I can bolt on other graphic APIs for other types of renderers in the future, like OpenGL. It was a lot of fun to design and develop (and a lot of head scratching too), just wish I had more time to concentrate solely on graphics. Happy birthday btw.

[@Dean-zi5bj]

Truly appreciate finding you and your videos. Thanks

[@Zarathinius]

thank goodness you escaped webdev

[@chickad33productions26]

As someone who just recently graduated with a degree in CompSci and a focus in that on Game Dev... your videos are incredibly inspirational. The burnout of doing projects I wasn't interested in is strong and watching your videos makes me want to get back into making projects (that I am interested in!) on my own and see where it takes me. Thank you for doing all this!

[@ranela-n]

6:04 BFDI MENTIONED 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼🗣🗣🗣🗣

[@Achelon]

I'm not a graphics programmer, but I've been in the Demoscene from the late 90's so I've seen people start with something very simple and work their way up making cool demos. I've only made one 3d-engine/obj importer for powerpoint vba which I can call my own engine of sorts. It has shading as well :D

[@EChere]

Me playing persona 4 golden while listening to this video with p4g music is a wierd coincidence

[@abhijitg4626]

Hey there! I'm a CS undergrad too, going through a similar phase. I'm thinking of diving into graphics programming, but maybe after I graduate - gotta get my foot in the industry first. Started watching your vids in August, and it's awesome to see your success! Keep it up!

[@greatplatos]

bro, your nick is literally the name of a fruit in brazil💀

[@tileychannel]

Curious why you say that OpenGL isn't that valuable anymore?

[@aleksanderalan5090]

It is great and there are TONS of resources in C++ (mainly) and Java

[@ultimate9056]

Its deprecated technology that is no longer developed. Nothing is stopping you from using it however the computer industry has begun to move on and it will become harder to run and use the latest innovations as time goes on

[@ultimate9056]

Its deprecated technology that is no longer developed. Nothing is stopping you from using it however the computer industry has begun to move on and it will become harder to run and use the latest innovations as time goes on

[@kurushimee]

Your channel, along with simply trying to do more game projects over the past year, has been part of the reason why I now want to pursue graphics programming. I am still an indie dev, gonna continue being one mainly, it's just that I've realized that I'm hella interested in graphics programming. Just as well, the only programming language that's gonna be taught in my university to me is C++, which will be useful for this (but it's not like I'm gonna learn C++ from uni classes anyway)

[@yoshui]

wtf, Bro speedrunned his diploma just to hang out with his friends

[@caiostange2770]

Happy birthday from Brazil Acerola! Love your videos. I'm a tech artist working for a mobile gaming company, and your content helps me expand my graphics knowledge every time. Thank you! I hope you will do more challanges in the future, since I couldn't take part in the last one

[@Iwillrarelymakevideos]

bfdi two at 6:04 lol watch tpot for context

[@n.s.wickramanayaka7056]

I just started college on software engineering and you have no idea how much this video reminded me of why I chose this amazing field and gave me the motivation I much needed

[@NoxWings]

It is awesome hearing someone else mention the lack of intermediate resources. I really struggled when I got there. Is not that there are no resources, but it is either hard to find them or they are hard to understand when you get there as a beginner. I found shadertoy to be really helpful here, reading & understanding shaders from other people was an incredibly eye-opener and a turning point for me.

[@ai_outline]

From a CS major, this guy deserves a standing ovation! Great video :D

[@II-Day-II]

Man this is so inspiring. I'm in the final year of my master's programme, trying so hard to find a thesis internship in graphics. So far I've either been rejected or ignored, and I'm running out of time before I need to start the thesis work. But now I'm tempted to ignore the thesis work for another year and try to land a regular internship as well as make time for more self studies in the meantime.

[@grimsly9741]

I just recently graduated from an undergraduate degree in computer science and I've never felt so lost before. My degree was online, which I chose to do because I started during covid and figured I could save some money since every other course I found previously was gonna be online anyways. A big weakness of the course was I did not really get any personal mentorship, all the lectures were prerecorded and I could only reach out to the tutors once a week and they rarely gave a satisfying answer, so finding the drive and motivation to do beyond the bare minimum for the projects that I knew would barely get any feedback on was hard. The one time I actively sought to learn more was during my 3D graphics module which only taught me the basics and I just couldn't figure out where to go from there or find resources to move on from there on my own. I'm sure part of it was finding excuses to justify my laziness and lack of progress but I just couldn't push past the barrier of being a beginner on any of my projects, and finding this channel and more specifically watching this video is the first time that the things I want to learn to do are actually within reach. Thank you, I look forward to learning more from this channel!

[@saniel2748]

GDC scene nearly killed me, it is just so funny. Love this video, and I agree that catlike coding is an absolute goat. You channel, his website and so many other people always remind me how much better world is just because people are nice enough to share knowledge for the sake of it. Thanks to his tutorials I managed to build my own SRP, in a few days actually. Even managed to use it for a gamejam game (although heavily modified). It is not too bad, since SRP API does most heavy lifting for you (e.g. you don't need to make drawcalls you just ask unity to draw objects that meet certain criteria). You could probably make a video on it, that would be fun

[@goosewithagibus]

As someone struggling to use shaders to do mouse picking and feeling so overwhelmed, the thing about there being no intermediate stuff out there really hit home. There's just so little information that's good for someone just getting into it. I'm working my way through it though.

[@dingFAching]

I'm a 30 y/o man who got stuck on the web development train after college. You're not only inspiring high-schoolers and college kids to start seriously learning this stuff.

[@scifro]

I'm a Design student that does a lot of illustration but I'm also interested in CS. More specifically game design; I'm fascinated with how game engines work and video games as an art form. I've recently attend workshops on game design and creative coding at my college (SVA) but prior experience is from watching videos like yours and engaging in tutorials. Thanks for sharing your experience and the explanation! 👋🏿

[@samranda]

love this!! i'm a college sophomore who is just beginning to play around with graphics and data visualization and it's so cool to have a list of resources like this

[@monochant]

mans really went to college at 14, studied chemistry and CS and had the time to play in a band and do theater 😵‍💫

[@TheFrankyDoll]

Hey, Acerola - just wanted to write a comment to say *thank you.* I've been working on my own dream game ever since I was 14 (in 2017), trying to become a gamedev generalist - focusing more on being able to express my own artistic ideas, rather then making an 'epic specialist portfolio'. For the past 6 years I learned a lot about creating code, art and animations, yet GPU side was always out of reach for me - there is barely any info available for someone with my level of education. I kinda silently decided not to touch shaders and rely on Unity's built-in workarounds. And then I found your channel. Your and Sebastian Lague's videos taught me how to love math, showing not 'how *hard* it is to understand it', but 'what *beauty you can do* once you understand it'. I can't say I turned into a genius by simply watching you, but you definitely broke the barrier for me. I cannot express how thankful I am for your work, knowing how many people you may have helped get their dream job or how many indie devs will use your developments to make their projects truly artistic and stylish. I wish you the best and can easily see your channel grow to a million it the next few years - your unique presentation will get you there. Oh, and Happy Birthday too! _(although I'm totally late for that)_

[@Lion4de]

This is an awesome video not just people interested in graphics programming, but for anyone trying to get a technical job after school. Everyone's story is different, but the path from highschool to adult-job is steeped in mystery a lot of the time. I found your story to be really encouraging and clear, and helpful to think through how to approach pursuing a specific career that doesn't have a traditional path in highschool and university. Thanks for taking us on your journey!

[@Hasdf32gbve]

I’m so glad you are so passionate about graphics programming. I recently found what I was passionate about and can not wait. I think it’s beautiful and so rare nowadays

[@suzypayne2333]

Thank you so much for this video! I'm in my last year of university re-thinking what I want to do and I've always been drawn to graphics - this video was exactly what I needed. Happy birthday!

[@nerffan1]

This is incredible. I am finishing my MS in Physics and keep wondering why I don't love what I do. Your journey makes me realize that you have to work very hard to attain what you love. Sometimes I feel my work should be easier, but I realize maybe I just still need to put more time and effort.

[@Some_one11237]

so humble to share this on the wild internet, i m not interested in graphic programmer since i work as 2d artist, but it's interesting to know the tech behind games and you have a passion to tell the knowledge, thanks for sharing :)

[@SafyreWorks]

How this video has become a treasure trove to the many who would've liked to become graphics programmer or tech artists, to those aspiring for this/these fields, to those looking to make a switch, and to those struggling with it, and thinking about giving up! So, so, so true, the material out there is either basic, or ultra elite. What's even more heartening is the comments below - reading how others found their way into graphics programming is uplifting. Maybe there is still a way for me! My thanks to you Acerola for creating such a wonderful content, and the folks commenting below for sharing their thoughts, journeys, ideas, inspirations!

[@SamuraiExecutivo]

That's the kind of video that gives actual direction. Never heard about that Jasper Catlike tutorials. Gonna dive into it like I used to dive into MMORPGs

[@scofrona]

Genuinely this is an incredible video and I'm so glad folks like you have found a passion not just for the skill, but for sharing it. I'm a tech artist (leaning tech animator) and one of my most vocal frustrations have been unclear direction for intermediate level skills training. I remember looking up a video for how to improve at rigging in Maya, only to be met with "you ought to learn C++ and rewrite the entire joint system". It took 6 years for me to land a tech art job after graduating with a fairly generalized "game art" degree, because finding specialized resources was so difficult while I was in school. Now finding a job after being let go has become even harder, because like you said "entry level" tends to be internships which are only available for enrolled students. That's why making educational resources approachable and available is so important and why I'm a huge advocate for free and open-source software where there's less worry of proprietary toolsets. Keep up the amazing work. I've been meaning to start poking around the graphics side of tech art, because graphics and animation are incredibly similar math on the back-end. A Vector 3 can be an RGB color or a position after all. I'll be watching and continuing my own journey, and looking forward to when I'm finally able to take a break from breaking bones to break colors instead.

[@danwe6297]

During my undergraduate study, I took mainly courses around various IT stuff - C/C++ programming, web development, databases, however, we also had a compulsory computer graphics course. This course was aimed at understanding and programming shaders using OpenGL in C++. These times, I also worked as GPGPU HPC programmer. Thanks to the job, I had deep understanding of GPU architectures, from all three major manufacturers. But I had no so understanding of using GPUs in computer games or 3D modeling. During one of my parallel programming sessions, I wrote some kind of PDE solver harnessing the computing throughput of GPU. Even if it was an iGPU, I managed to get a 50x speedup compared to CPU cores. I also heavily invested in mathematics like functional analysis, variation calculus and statistics. During the second semester I also took a study exchange and focused on physics - thermodynamics and electromagnetism. I understood majority of accademic topics presented in your video, however, I personally think purely GPU programming aimed at graphics is not for me. I still work as GPGPU programmer just with specialization on energy efficiency and usage of these devices in accelerating numerical methods.

[@evilotis01]

also "i am just good at learning new things, less good at mastery"

[@0osk]

I've been subbed for about a year and a half, and I really appreciate your videos. I'm about to finish my bachelor's in IT, but I'm super interested in graphics in video games and movies. I've always been kinda meh with math so I never really considered becoming a graphics programmer, but you've inspired me to look more into becoming a technical artist. Thank you and happy birthday Mr. Rola

[@cellozard3487]

I'm really glad I found this video. I recently finished my bachelor's degree in applied math and physics and after doing research with professors at my university I decided I didn't want to get a PhD in either of those fields. Feeling a bit lost, I started watching a bunch of videos on different topics in an attempt to find a subject that I would have more passion for and ended up finding a Computer Graphics video series and thought it was really cool. I had made a few physics simulation animations and simple video games in my free time while I was in school and I found out a lot of the cool challenges and tools involved in making them were related to computer graphics. After watching the video series, this video popped up in my recommendeds. Graphics programmer seems like it could potentially be a good career path for me considering my degree and interest in videogames, animation, and simulations. I'm excited to check out those tutorials! Thank you so much for the video!

[@SmartAlgor]

1)"Happy Birthday! 2)Often, the nature of an opinion reveals more about the person holding it than the subject being judged. 3)Many have probably recognized your professionalism but remained silent. It seems those who doubt are the ones more likely to comment, perhaps to reconcile their own cognitive dissonance. They see you tackling complex topics in your unique, relatable style, and it challenges their expectations. 4)It's this combination of your style, knowledge, and approach that has drawn and kept a loyal following, eagerly waiting for each new episode. Polishing your style to appease the doubters might attract more viewers, but at the risk of losing the very essence that makes you special. Stay true to yourself - your authenticity is what makes you cool!

[@blue_birb]

Kind of reminds me of myself which is a big motivation boost, I myself am in an early university program from 8th grade and started by enrolling in computer science, and I spent the last month or 3 learning graphics by myself

[@jasonhurdlow6607]

We did graphics programming in undergrad. Lots to be learned at that level before getting more advanced.

[@morezco]

I am so grateful for people like you who are willing to go in-depth about their experience. Even more so for going beyond and inserting memes onto every phrase.