WORK EXPERIENCE

Epic Games

Jan. 2018 - Current

Senior Animator - Special Projects @ Epic Games

  • The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience

  • Unreal Engine 5 Revealed: Lumen in the Land of Nanite

  • Fortnite Block Party Shorts

    • Team Outfit

    • Desert Island Flare

    • Banana Rift

  • Chaos: UE Real-Time Destruction Demo

ILMxLAB

Aug. 2016 - Jan. 2018

Animation Lead - “Ralph Breaks VR” (Location-based, interactive VR experience)

  • Supervising the creation and implementation of all animated experience elements.

  • Defining the scope of all animation work, and collaborating with Production management to develop bids and overall show strategy

  • Casting all shot assignments for the animation team

  • Collaborating with character TDs and character artists to develop and optimize real-time ready facial rig capable of hand-keyed, feature quality expressiveness

  • Establishing distinct animation style for project, and guiding animation team on its execution

Animation Lead - “Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire” (Location-based, interactive VR experience)

  • Supervised the creation and implementation of all animated experience elements.

  • Cast all shot assignments for local and remote animation teams.

  • Spearheaded the development of core real-time pipeline improvements and animation tools

  • Directed motion capture sessions for all combat and ambient animations

  • Prototyped proof of concept systems for dynamic, cinematic saber “blocking animations, and dynamic zone-based death animations using the Unreal Engine

Animator - “Carne Y Arena” (Location-based Virtual Reality Installation)

Blue Sky Studios

Sept. 2011 – Aug. 2016

Animator on the CG feature films “Ferdinand”, “Ice Age: Collision Course”, “The Peanuts Movie”, “Rio 2”, “Epic”, and “Ice Age: Continental Drift”

  • Member of pre-production team responsible for rig evaluation and character performance testing for “Ice Age: Collision Course”

Rhythm and Hues Studios 

Oct. 2008 – June 2010

Animator on the feature films “Yogi Bear”, “The A-Team”, “Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel”, “Aliens in the Attic”, and “Night at the Museum 2”

Cryptic Studios 

March 2007 – Sept. 2008

Animator on the PC game Champions Online

EDUCATION

AnimationMentor.com Berkeley, CA , July 2006 – July 2007

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Dec. 2006
Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering
Graduated Cum Laude

AWARDS

Cannes Digital Craft Bronze Lion Winner- AR, VR & Mixed Reality
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, June 2018

Cannes Digital Craft Silver Lion Winner- Experience Design: Multi-Platform
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, June 2018

CONFERENCES AND LECTURES

Pixar May 2018
Panel Presenter - Making of The Secrets of the Empire
Representing ILMxLAB as Animation Lead

CTN Nov 2017
Guest Speaker - ILMxLAB: Making it Personal

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

Maya, Unreal Engine. Voodoo (R&H proprietary software), 3d Studio Max, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Unix. Motion Capture shoot supervision. Performing arts background with experience in dance, vocal performance, and musical theatre