Work Experience
Crowds Supervisor
Blue Sky Studios
March 2018 – Present
“Nimona” – unreleased Animated Feature Film
“Spies in Disguise” – December 2019 Animated Feature Film
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Managed a team of up to nine TDs, including bidding and casting of shot work and development tasks
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Led creative rounds for deliverables and prioritized technical development within the team
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Worked with studio and show leadership to evaluate complexity and priorities across the shows
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Communicated across departments for asset, cycle, and shot work handoffs
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Created cross department USD asset variant pipeline for background characters including implementation of USDSkel
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Created in-house control rig retargeting system, built in Maya, that allowed the use of mover to mover retargets on hero background assets
Lead Crowd Technical Director
Blue Sky Studios
October 2013 – February 2018
“Ferdinand” – December 2017 Animated Feature Film
“Ice Age: Collision Course” – July 2016 Animated Feature Film
“The Peanuts Movie” – November 2015 Animated Feature Film
“Rio 2” – April 2014 Animated Feature Film
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Managed team including bidding and casting of shot work and development tasks
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Led the creative rounds and communicated artistic notes to effectively execute vision from the directors
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Led development and implementation of using Houdini throughout the crowds pipeline
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Worked with neighboring departments for upstream/downstream handoffs
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Created various automated workflows for crowd asset creation, cycle processing, and initializing shot setup
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Created final shot work, led sequences
Senior Effects Technical Director
Blue Sky Studios
October 2011 – October 2013
“Epic” – May 2013 Animated Feature Film
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Developed and implemented Houdini pipeline for crowd bat and hummingbird battle sequences
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Created final shot work and sequence-based visualization
“Ice Age: Continental Drift” – July 2012 Animated Feature Film
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Lead Oceans Developer. Created and implemented ocean tools used in Maya, Houdini, and CGI Studio for the Effects, Layout, and Animation departments. Ocean tools included: a cross-software preset library between Maya and Houdini, a LOD system that creates the final rendered ocean surface, command line build scripts to create various Houdini files including the setup and export of oceans on the render farm, and the import/export of Maya data to and from Houdini
Effects Technical Director/Sequence Lead
Blue Sky Studios
June 2009 – October 2011
“Rio” – April 2011 Animated Feature Film
Sequence lead responsibilities included: management of effects team, assets, and quality control for sequences, collaboration with other departments for effects integration and troubleshooting
Developed effects rigs in Maya and networks in CGI Studio for fireworks, in-air particulate lighting rig, and GUI of Maya cloud library. Also developed pipeline tools to streamline shot prep automation and render farm priorities
Junior Effects Technical Director
Blue Sky Studios
June 2008 – May 2009
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” – July 2009 Animated Feature Film
Created various natural elements for shot implementation, including dust and debris, sand effects, snow powder, sand/snow prints, 2D and 3D water simulation, ridged body dynamics, Realflow, and CGI Studio
Technical Assistant Lighting/Rendering
Additional Effects Credit
“Horton Hears a Who” – March 2008 Animated Feature Film
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Assisted the lighting department through render farm management, development of pipeline tools, and running of various pipeline meetings
Blue Sky Studios
November 2006 – May 2008
Relevant Skills
Workflow Processes
Software
Programming Languages
Crowds, FX, USD Integration, Agile Development, Git
Houdini, Maya, USD, Nuke, Shotgun, JIRA, Confluence, Krita, Davinci Resolve
Python, C++, QT, VEX, mel, hscript
Education
September 2018 – April 2020
Diploma in C/C++ Programing, NYU School of Professional Studies, New York, NY
A focused three semester program on the foundations of C/C++ programing language
September 2004 – May 2006
Master of Fine Arts in Computer Art, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Group thesis project duties include all particle and fluid effects, reference pipeline development, scripting pipeline tools, modeling, rigging non-characters, and story development.
August 1999 – December 2003
Films specializing in stop-motion animation and abstraction.