Certiport Announces Unity Certified User: Artist Exam

This past year has changed many industries, especially art and design. The graphic design industry is expected to decline roughly 10% before the year ends. On the other hand, according to Burning Glass, the employment of video game designers is expected to grow nearly 10% over the next 10 years.

Here at Certiport, we’re so thrilled to expand our digital art certification offerings. In partnership with Unity, we’re excited to officially announce the launch of the Unity Certified User: Artist exam. With no exam prerequisites, this exam is available to anyone interested in breaking into the digital art and multimedia design industry. The UCU Artist exam will test the basics of 2D and 3D digital artistry within Unity software to create interactivity in games, apps, AR/VR, and other experiences.

Why Digital Artistry?

“The design industry is rapidly changing, with more and more designers being pushed to master digital skills. According to Burning Glass, multimedia designers and animators, those who would traditionally earn a credential like the UCU Artist certification, have a median annual salary roughly $15,000 higher than designers in a traditional graphic design role,” said Ray Murray, General Manager of Certiport. “We know that adding the UCU Artist certification will help schools validate students’ skills in this growing industry.”

What’s Covered on the UCU Artist Exam?

The Unity Certified User Artist exam objectives break down into three key areas: asset management, scene content design, and lighting, cameras, and materials implementation. Each area has specific tasks or skills that must be mastered for the exam:

Asset Management

  • Import assets including but not limited to settings for FBX, OBJ and associated textures
  • Import and configure assets from the Unity Asset Store
  • Slice spritesheets for use in a 2D scene including but not limited to using the default Sprite Editor and 9-slicing
  • Identify mesh components including vertices, polygon faces and edges
  • Create key frames and change tangents in the Curve Editor using the Animation window
  • Create, modify and utilize Prefabs

Scene Content Design

  • Utilize Transform tools and the Transform component in the Inspector
  • Create prototype scenes using Unity primitives and/or low poly meshes utilizing white box/grey box techniques
  • Create and edit a landscape with materials utilizing the Terrain tool including but not limited to mask maps, texture painting, and diffuse properties

Lighting, Cameras, and Materials Implementation

  • Modify materials using the Standard Shader and editing properties including but not limited to specular, transparency, normal, and albedo
  • Identify basic lighting including but not limited to shadows, light settings, and light shapes such as directional, area, spot, and point
  • Utilize single camera set up including but not limited to isometric vs. standard, camera component, background, culling masks, clipping planes, field of view (FOV), etc.
  • Given a scenario, determine the appropriate rendering pipeline that should be used

When Is UCU Artist Available?

The UCU Artist certification exam and GMetrix practice tests are available immediately in English. The certification program will be available as a site license for K12 and higher education, with an option to purchase individual vouchers based on the size of the courses. You can contact your Certiport Territory Manager here for additional information.