About & Contribute
I’d like this to be useful when you’re starting out in technical art, and still worth coming back to when you’re helping others learn. Here’s how the site works and how you can contribute.
How the site works
- Free to use. You don’t need an account or a subscription to read the guides or use the tools.
- Your asset files stay local. The tools process files in your browser tab. The site uses Google Analytics for site usage, but the tools don’t upload your asset files or reports.
- Start with what you know. You might be an artist learning to script, or a programmer learning how content is made. The getting-started guide gives you a few practical routes into the work.
- Explain the limitations. The breakdowns cover implementation choices and things to watch for. The salary guide needs context too: figures vary by location, studio and experience. Production examples are there to explain a problem, not to claim a personal history.
- Keep it straightforward. The site uses static HTML, a Python build script and JSON data. You can inspect the page source and the browser tools if you’d like to see how they work.
Contribute
Corrections, useful snippets and practical examples are all welcome. For a snippet, include what it does and when you’d use it; the VEX and Python libraries are a good place to start. If a glossary definition is missing something, or a guide no longer matches the software, please let me know.
Email hello@thetechnicalartist.dev with your suggestion and how you’d like to be credited. Staying anonymous is fine too.
Suggest A Tool
Got an idea for a tool? Describe the job you keep repeating, the input you have, and the result you need. A small example helps. Send it over and I’ll take a look at whether a browser tool or a companion script would be useful.
Changelog
| Date | What shipped |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-05 | Jobs board goes live - A searchable jobs board using listings collected from studio careers pages, with checks for titles, locations, and departments. |
| 2026-07-05 | Learning tracks and portfolio projects - Suggested learning routes and practical project briefs, with constraints, acceptance criteria, and help writing a breakdown. |
| 2026-07-04 | Simplygon section - An introduction to Simplygon, Python and Maya workflows, and guidance for automating LODs, proxies, and impostors. |
| 2026-07-03 | Houdini Digital Assets, its own guide - A guide to building, packaging, versioning, and sharing Houdini Digital Assets with a team. |
| 2026-07-02 | Nine browser tools - Nine tools for textures, naming, budgets, colour, and Unreal asset reports. Tool inputs are processed locally in the browser. |
| 2026-07-01 | Career and Field Notes launch - Guides to portfolios, CVs, interviews, salary research, studio work, and version control, plus printable references and a tool breakdown. |
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