Project: Bazi | 3D Animated Short | Winter 2008-09
Description: Bazi is an animated short that was developed for an animation course at Drexel University. The character-driven short was taken from concept to rendered production in ten weeks. The production was an exploration in character development, animation, and storytelling.
Software: Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, Houdini, Renderman, Nuke, After Effects


Responsibilities: On Bazi I was responsible for character and environment modeling, texture painting, and shading, using a combination of Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, and Renderman. Responsibilities also included all of the scene lighting and atmospheric effects such as fog and volumetric fluid effects, which were generated in Maya, as well as the project's rendering using Renderman for Maya and PRMan. Finally, I supervised and assisted in scene assembly and compositing using Nuke.
Additional Team Credits: Nick Avallone, Evan Boucher, Kevin Hoffman, John Avarese (Audio)

Project: Mouse War | 3D Animated Short | Winter 2009-10
Description: The Mouse Warriors project stemmed out of a childhood interest in the Redwall novel series by Brian Jacques, which inspired me to create an animation that offered a glimpse into a similar world where a rag-tag group of sewer mice gather their makeshift weapons in preparation to battle stray cats. The project was for an animation course with a focus on crowd simulation using a Massive to Houdini pipeline within a ten week deadline. This was an independent project and it was taken from concept to rendered production in those ten weeks.
Software: Maya, ZBrush, UVLayout, Photoshop, Massive, Houdini, RFM, PRMan, Mantra, Nuke, AE



Responsibilities: All elements. This was an independent project which allowed me to run through the entire production pipeline in order to realize the animation, following pre-production. The mouse characters, environment, and props were all modeled in Maya, sculpted in ZBrush (displacement/normal maps), texture painted in both Photoshop and ZBrush, and shaded using custom Renderman shaders generated in SLIM (exported for use in RFM and PRMan within Massive/Houdini). I rigged the mouse character in Maya with a custom IK/FK rig and a series of blend shapes for facial animation and variation. I animated the hero shots and all of the crowd animation cycles (walking, idles, cheering, sitting, kneeling, running, transitions, etc.) in Maya which were then brought into Massive. In Massive, I set up the script for the mouse's brain for avoidance, triggered animations, and environmental responses to elements such as flow fields. Variation for weapons, armor, and textures was handled within Massive as well, using variable option nodes on the body of each agent. Crowd simulation data was exported out of Massive as .rib and .amc data which was used for procedural geometry calls in Houdini as well as point placement for stand-in objects. Finally, that same .amc data was used to generate points which allowed me to place particle sprites of a pre-rendered fire simulation (generated in Maya) onto the mice that were wielding matchsticks for a number of shots. Lighting was set up in Maya and exported into Houdini for similar positioning where it would then be matched. Hero shots were rendered using Renderman for Maya and crowd shots were rendered using PRMan out of Houdini. The torch flame sprites were rendered using Mantra. Scene assembly, lighting effects, color correction, and additional multi-pass render adjustments were made in Nuke.
Additional Team Credits: This was an independent project.

Project: Night Shift | 3D Animated Short | Spring 2009
Description: Night Shift is an animated short that was developed over a six month period as a senior thesis at Drexel University. The animation tells the story of a janitor's seemingly ordinary night on the job that ends up taking a turn for the extraordinary. Through careful documentation of the design process, the senior thesis of Night Shift was not only an exercise in visual storytelling, but also presented an opportunity to share the technical and conceptual challenges that the team faced along the way.
Software: Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, Houdini, RFM, Shave and a Haircut, Mantra, Nuke, After Effects


Responsibilities: Early in the project, the team collaborated in the development of the underlying narrative and concept artwork for characters and the office environment. I was responsible for character and environment modeling, texture painting, and shader development, using a combination of Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, SLIM, and Renderman. I was also responsible for the animation's lighting and rendering, which involved lighting in both Maya and Houdini using RFM, PRMan, and Mantra, Maya fur system grooming for props, as well as lighting effect adjustments in post using Nuke. I also supervised and assisted in scene assembly and final compositing, involving multi-pass render adjustment on all shots and the addition of post effects for the hair styles and pixel dust in Nuke.
Additional Team Credits: Nick Avallone, Kevin Hoffman, Dan Letarte, Justin Wilcott, Chris Kissel (Audio), Melissa Menego (Audio)

Project: Thomas Rosenbow and a Million Pounds | Feature Film, 3D-based Visual Effects | Fall 2009
Description: Thomas Rosenbow was one of the first feature film projects I worked on as an independent undertaking, alongside my actual coursework. Dylan Steinberg (Director) developed a unique musical that required a CG bluebird to act as a major character at the end of the film. The bluebird was to be integrated into shots that would feature both dialogue and interaction with the narrative's main character, Thomas.
Software: Maya, Photoshop, Renderman for Maya, Shave and a Haircut, Nuke, After Effects


Responsibilities: I initially acted as an FX supervisor for Thomas Rosenbow, offering input on how to handle the shots in which the character would be integrated. I was responsible for generating fur, grooming, and adding realism to the bluebird through the usage of both Shave and a Haircut and Maya's fur systems. I was also responsible for all of the lighting and rendering on this project, combining simulated light set-ups with HDRI lighting across the shots. All of the bluebird sequences were rendered using Renderman for Maya. Finally, I was responsible for all of the compositing on the project in which a number of steps were taken to integrate the bluebird into the film. 2D match-moving, color correction, additional lighting effects, and (in some shots) motion blur (Furnace plug-in) were handled using Nuke.
Additional CG Team Credits: Dylan Steinberg (Director), Brian Johanson (Producer), Nick Avallone, Evan Boucher, Kristen Ward