Master’s in Photorealistic Rendering and Real-Time Visualisation
Online master's programme of 1,900 hours in photorealistic rendering and real-time visualisation: Unreal/KeyShot, PBR materials and executive design review. 12 modules covering light and colour, light transport, PBR shading, lighting and HDRI, offline and GPU rendering, hardware ray tracing, interactive engines, data preparation, XR and post-production, with an assigned technical tutor.
Take the controls.
Run a real engineering trade-off from this field. Move the sliders, watch the model react in real time and beat the challenge.
What you will be able to do
Understand the physics of light transport and how rendering engines approximate it.
Create physically correct PBR materials for different types of surface.
Design realistic lighting setups for product, architecture and automotive.
Master the offline and real-time engines used in industry.
Prepare CAD and scanned geometry for efficient visualisation.
Optimise interactive scenes for target hardware and platforms.
Deliver images and immersive experiences with professional colour management.
Who it's for
- 3D visualisation artists aiming for production-grade photorealism.
- Look development specialists working on materials and lighting.
- Real-time experience developers using Unreal Engine or Unity.
- Technical artists bridging art and rendering technology.
- 3D configurator specialists in automotive and consumer goods.
- Visualisation directors leading image and interactive projects.
- Engineering or science graduates aiming to enter the automotive sector.
What you'll work with
- SMPTE ST 2065-1, ACES (Academy Color Encoding System)
- ITU-R BT.2020 (UHDTV colour space)
- IEC 61966-2-1, sRGB (default RGB colour space)
- ITU-R BT.709 (HDTV colour space)
- ISO/IEC 12113, glTF 2.0 (3D asset transmission format)
- ISO 12647-2 (offset print colour control)
- ITU-R BT.2100 (HDR television imaging)
- Unreal Engine
- Blender
- KeyShot
- V-Ray
- Adobe Substance 3D Painter
12 modules
1.1Radiometry and photometry applied to imaging1.2sRGB, ACEScg and Rec.2020 colour spaces1.3Linear workflow and gamma correction1.4Dynamic range, HDR and exposure1.5Colour temperature and white balance1.6Chromatic adaptation and human perception1.7Camera physics: aperture, shutter and ISO1.8Depth of field and physical bokeh1.9Filmic tone mapping and response curves1.10Workshop: monitor calibration and colour management
2.1Kajiya's rendering equation2.2Monte Carlo integration and variance2.3Importance sampling and MIS2.4Unidirectional path tracing2.5Bidirectional path tracing and Metropolis Light Transport2.6Noise, convergence and adaptive sampling2.7Irradiance caching and global illumination2.8Caustics and photon mapping2.9Volumetrics and participating media2.10Practical: minimal path tracer in Python
3.1BRDF models: Lambert, Cook-Torrance and GGX3.2Metal/roughness and specular/glossiness workflows3.3Fresnel, IOR and energy conservation3.4Subsurface scattering in skin and waxes3.5Anisotropic materials and brushed metals3.6Clearcoat and automotive paints3.7Normal, displacement and parallax maps3.8Procedural node-based texturing3.9Material scanning and the AxF format3.10Lab: material library in Substance
4.1Capture and processing of spherical HDRIs4.2Three-point studio setup4.3Area lights, IES profiles and photometric lights4.4Daytime and night-time architectural lighting4.5Hosek-Wilkie and Nishita sky models4.6Light linking and artistic control4.7Virtual reflectors, cutters and cards4.8Exposure balance in mixed lighting4.9Product packshot lighting4.10Case study: virtual studio for a car
5.1Architecture of V-Ray and Corona5.2Arnold in production pipelines5.3Cycles and Blender in professional environments5.4KeyShot for product visualisation5.5Redshift and biased GPU rendering5.6Distributed rendering and render farms5.7Memory management and out-of-core rendering5.8Optimising time per frame5.9AOVs, render passes and Cryptomatte5.10Practical: product packshot in KeyShot
6.1Pipeline stages: vertices, raster and fragments6.2Shader programming in HLSL and GLSL6.3Deferred and forward+ rendering6.4Cascaded shadow maps6.5SSAO and GTAO ambient occlusion6.6Screen-space reflections6.7TAA, FXAA and MSAA anti-aliasing6.8Vulkan, DirectX 12 and Metal APIs6.9Frame profiling with RenderDoc and PIX6.10Lab: PBR shader in GLSL
7.1BVH structures and RT cores7.2DXR and Vulkan Ray Tracing7.3Ray-traced reflections and shadows7.4Dynamic global illumination: Lumen and RTXGI7.5Denoising with SVGF and OptiX7.6Upscaling: DLSS, FSR and XeSS7.7Interactive path tracing7.8Ray budget per pixel7.9Performance on consoles and PC7.10Practical: ray-traced scene in Unreal Engine
8.1Nanite and virtualised geometry8.2Lumen in architecture and interior design8.3Unity HDRP and URP8.4Interactive product configurators8.5Blueprints for interaction logic8.6Datasmith and CAD import8.7Sequencer and cinematics8.8Pixel Streaming and web deployment8.9Optimisation for target hardware8.10Case study: vehicle configurator
9.1Tessellation of NURBS CAD into polygon meshes9.2Retopology and levels of detail9.3UVs, lightmaps and texture atlases9.4OpenUSD, glTF and FBX formats9.5Photogrammetry and 3D scanning9.6Gaussian splatting and NeRF9.7Instancing and vegetation scattering9.8Asset management and naming conventions9.9Mesh and normal validation9.10Workshop: CAD-to-Unreal pipeline
10.1Stereoscopic rendering for headsets10.2Foveated rendering and eye tracking10.3OpenXR and virtual reality headsets10.4Augmented reality with ARKit and ARCore10.5Latency, reprojection and comfort10.6CAVE rooms and powerwalls10.7Collaborative design reviews in VR10.8Sustained performance at 90 Hz10.9Controller and hand interaction10.10Practical: design review in VR
11.1Compositing in Nuke and Fusion11.2Colour grading with ACES11.3Lens effects: glare, vignetting and aberration11.4Motion blur and defocus in post-production11.5Camera animation and turntables11.6Delivery codecs: ProRes, EXR and H.26511.7Critical assessment of photorealism11.8Visualisation project management11.9Industry budgets and rates11.10Case study: product image campaign
12.1Scope definition and visual brief12.2State of the art and references12.3Technical pipeline planning12.4Asset and material production12.5Look development and lighting12.6Interactive version in a game engine12.7Performance and quality validation12.8Technical project documentation12.9Master's Thesis report12.10Master's Thesis: defence before a panel
How you'll learn
100% online training on the SEIUM campus, with downloadable material, recorded classes and an assigned technical tutor. There are no fixed timetables: you progress at your own pace within each intake, making it compatible with work.
Each module combines theory, guided reading of the original standard and applied exercises. The working software is Unreal Engine, Blender, KeyShot, V-Ray and Adobe Substance 3D Painter, in free, academic or evaluation versions. Cases are studied on real procedures: real-time product configurators, catalogue images without a photo shoot and design reviews in virtual reality. Assessment is continuous by module, plus the final Master's Thesis.
Standards covered: SMPTE ST 2065-1 (ACES), ITU-R BT.2020, IEC 61966-2-1 (sRGB), ITU-R BT.709, ISO/IEC 12113 (glTF 2.0), ISO 12647-2, ITU-R BT.2100.
Build it end to end
Your final project follows the real engineering workflow, step by step, reviewed by your tutor.
Where this takes you
Requirements
- A university degree in engineering, science or architecture, or equivalent demonstrable professional experience.
- An internet connection and a computer capable of running the programme software.
- English sufficient to read technical standards.
Ready to start?
Send your application today. Our admissions team replies within 72 hours with your study plan and funding options.
Frequently asked questions
The programme totals 1,900 hours over 12–14 months. You set your own pace within each intake, and your tutor helps you plan the workload around your job.
You work with Unreal Engine, Blender, KeyShot, V-Ray and Adobe Substance 3D Painter, using free, academic or evaluation versions. Your tutor indicates the free alternative wherever one exists.
A SEIUM Institute diploma, awarded on passing the continuous assessment and the Master's Thesis. It is SEIUM's own qualification, not an official state degree; its recognition depends on the programme completed and the regulations of each country.
Yes. Modules passed in a course or postgraduate diploma in the same area are recognised in the higher programme. Ask about the recognition policy when you enrol.
A university degree in engineering, science or architecture (or equivalent professional experience), a computer able to run the software and English sufficient to read technical standards.
Start dates are set by SEIUM's faculty for each intake. Our admissions team will confirm the next available date when you apply.
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