Experience

Creatures Technical Director

Wētā FX, Vancouver, BC, 11/2022 - Present

• Building three-dimensional photo-realistic creatures with the help of broad anatomical knowledge to aid in the creation, rigging and simulation of skeletons, muscles, and skin.

• Defining animation controls for the developed creatures and rigging puppets to be used by Animation and other departments.

• Working closely with various departments, especially Modelling, Animation, and Shots, and collaborating with the Creature Cloth / Hair Technical Directors to deliver dynamic, realistic creatures.

• Communicating effectively to enable timely interdepartmental collaboration, which includes providing and receiving constructive feedback.

Technical Director, Character Model/Rig

Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville, CA, 01/2020 - 11/2022

• Work with creative and technical leads to develop digital models and/or imagery, as needed for the production of feature animation

• Ensure that the result functions in accordance with specifications, including, where applicable, performance, user interface, aesthetics, and robustness

• Review and revise the result with the Director and the creative or technical lead

• Maintain and enhance completed results

• Provide appropriate support to users

• Produce documentation as necessary

Character Rigger

Studio X (400A), San Francisco, CA, 07/2018 - 12/2019

• Worked in collaboration with other students on animated shorts for the Junior Giants Foodiecats series. 

• Rigged modular pieces of cartoony characters using Ribbon setups and deformers for squash and stretch.

Technical Artist

Freelance, San Francisco, CA, 07/2016 - 01/2019

• Developed a variety of rigs and tools under strict deadlines, including a full body rig of a flying creature, and a face rig based on Facial Action Coding System. 

• Created procedural rigging tools in Python and MEL to automate and facilitate the rigging process.

3D Specialist

Apple, Cupertino, CA, 08/2016 - 05/2017

• Designed 3D Flyover City Tours using proprietary software to create 3D environments, worked on Geospatial Analysis Data correction, and tested QA builds of products. 

• Mentored and supervised new hires.

Skills

Character rigging, scripting, dynamic simulations, 3D modeling, compositing, texturing.

Technical Qualifications                     

Maya                                           Nuke                                           After Effects
Houdini Unreal Engine 4                          Marvelous Designer
Python                                      Unity                           Substance Painter
MEL                                      RealFlow                                   MotionBuilder
Zbrush                                   Photoshop                3D-Coat

Education

Academy of Art University

San Francisco, CA, 06/2017 - 05/2020

Master of Arts in Animation and Visual Effects with an emphasis in VFX.

SAE Expression College

Emeryville, CA, 07/2013 – 06/2016

Bachelor of Applied Science in Game Art and Design. Graduated as valedictorian.