Skills
- Pipeline and tool development for rigging, animation and art production workflows
- Team management, leadership and mentoring
- Rigging (face, body, props)
- Dynamic Simulations (Cloth, Hair, Rigid Bodies)
- Python, C++, C#, MEL
- PyQt, Maya API, MotionBuilder API, 3D Math
- Unreal/Unity Engine animation systems implementation and workflows
- Developing training curriculum
Work Experience
Sr. Technical Art Supervisor – PlayStation Studios
May 2021 – present
- Manage, guide and mentor technical artists, with varying levels of experience, across multiple projects.
- Design, maintain, and review stable and scalable tools and systems for specific projects or global use.
- Design, support and implement pipelines and workflows for animation, rigging, environment and character art.
- Collaborate with engineering and art for new infrastructure and feature requests.
- Supervise deformation and control rig creation and implementation including skeletons, skinning, cloth, rigid body and ragdoll physics, animation blueprints, blending and retargeting.
- Work with production and other department managers and leads defining workflow solutions, project planning, goal setting, growth opportunities and staffing.
- Interact with vendors to properly implement/integrate tools and system environments.
- Build and maintain technical and training documentation.
- Technical support for content teams.
- Collaborate with R&D projects involving animation, dynamics, machine learning, real time rendering, etc.
Sr. Tools Programmer – HiRez Studios
August 2020 – April 2021
- Design, develop and maintain stable and scalable pipeline systems and DCC tools for multiple teams.
- Provide technical support for artists of different departments.
- Collaborating with engineering and department leads to resolve production workflow needs.
- Technical documentation.
- UE4 plugins and training documentation.
Part-Time Professor – SCAD Atlanta
September 2020 - June 2021
- Teaching different facets of game development and programming.
- Training and curriculum development.
Lead Technical Animator – HiRez Studios
November 2016 – August 2020
- Managed, mentored and guided the character tech art team in the creation, technical integrity, setup, and implementation of high-quality characters, weapons and prop rigs inside and outside the game engine.
- Worked closely with production and other department leads/managers to establish workflows, pipelines and growth opportunities for the team.
- Designed and developed tools to streamline the rigging and animation pipelines.
- Character/Weapon production pipeline design for multiple projects.
- Train new hires and current tech artists in the latest rigging techniques and procedures.
Lead Technical Animator – Trendy Entertainment
June 2012 – November 2016
- Managed and mentored a team of technical artists and animators.
- Responsible for approving and creating character/prop rigs and skinning (in-game and cinematics).
- Dynamic simulations with rigid bodies, hair systems and cloth.
- Responsible for the technical integrity, setup, and implementation of characters, weapons, props, and several other featured systems to the game engine.
- Developed tools and systems to streamline the rigging and animation workflow and pipeline.
- Responsible for in-game cinematics’ setup, compositing, post effects and final render.
- Responsible for motion graphics used in our game’s main menu screen and marketing videos.
- Collaborate with multiple departments to resolve immediate and long-term production needs.
Senior Technical Animator – Microsoft R&D Team
February 2015 – February 2016
- Responsible for creating all character/props rigging and skinning.
- Rig setups for real-time dynamic simulations.
- Developed several proprietary pipeline tools built in Python.
Stereo Compositor/Technical Director/Lead Training Specialist – Legend 3D
January 2011 – July 2012
- Compositing, tracking, clean plates, roto/paint, converting 2D to stereoscopic 3D for feature film.
- Developing proprietary tools for Nuke, built in C++ & Python.
- Developed training modules for new hires and current artists in the latest compositing techniques and tools.
Faculty (3D Modeling/ Animation) – NewSchool of Architecture & Design
July 2011 – December 2011
- Taught 3D modeling, texturing, lighting, animation and rendering process and techniques.
3D Generalist/Technical Artist – Animatic Media
August 2009 – August-2010
- Rigging, animating, modeling, texturing, and rendering characters, environments and props for Mountain Dew Distortion commercial spot, Sesame Street short, and several 3D animatic projects.
3D Generalist & Motion Graphics – Poker Training Network
January 2009 - September 2009
- Modeling, texturing and rendering Poker props for game assets and motion graphics.
Education
C/C++ Programmer – UCSD Extension
September 2020
M.F.A. in Visual Effects – Lynn University
December 2010
- Boca Raton, FL Honors Graduate: “Best of Show” Thesis Award
B.F.A. in Computer Animation – Lynn University
December 2008
- Boca Raton, FL Honors Graduate: Class Valedictorian