I am a software engineer, with a whole lot of experience, however at the moment, I am tasked with prototyping a hardware setup.

Basically, I need to take two CSI-2 cameras, interface them to a FPGA, do some manipulations on the FPGA, interface this FPGA to a USB3 transfer module and connect it to a computer.

I've researched the components quite a lot, I believe I understand some of the difficulties within each component (mainly the FPGA), but it is unclear to me how to go about prototyping the connections between the components.

Is there a good set of "beginner tutorials" on getting chips working together without going through a fabrication process?

The stuff everybody probably already, knows, like:

Am I going to be using a bread board?
How do I get the ball out of the chip connected to the bread board?
Is there a way to avoid soldering using some special prototyping wires?

I hope my question is clear. Thanks for any and all advice!
Unfortunately there is *no* off the shelf solution for what I need to do.

 

Dead Bug Style: https://hackaday.com/2016/05/04/getting-ugly-dead-bugs-and-going-to-manhattan/

and a more refined and better looking version: http://www.sdmakersguild.org/the-art-of-manhattan-style-circuit-construction/

With a little care you can get very high performance quickly.

 

Do you have specific products in mind? Camera? FPGA?

I assume cameras will have industrial connectors, shielded M12 4 or 5 pin. If this is automotive, then you probably will have different connector.

FPGA? Are we talking hobby boards in 200 usd range? Industrial boards in 500-1000 usd range?

Take a look at this Digilent Digital Discovery hobbyist FPGA:

At 1:46 mark in the video they talk about connection options. You can make those connecting wires or you can buy them on ebay.
There is more about connection at 2:38.
(probably will need high speed adapter)
This board is USB 2. I think you can use output pins to connect to that USB 3 transfer module. It would have been nice if they had USB 3 already, but it does not seem that Digilent will have it anytime soon.
Toward the end they do a vga capture demo.