Introductions

Community
#161

Well, I’ll go ahead and post even if I’m just a wannabe…

My name is Ed Averill, I’m a software engineer (embedded multimedia systems) right now. Back in the distant past, I was a game developer (the ill-fated Compaq/Fisher-Price Wonder Cruiser) and spoke a couple of times at GDC. I decided to switch to consumer electronics some years ago - MISTAKE!

Now I’m trying to come back up to speed on CG/3D programming so I can combine my love of VFX with my programming skills. This is a great site, I’ve learned quite a lot already! :D:

#162

Lots of cool positions here! :wink:

My name is Iker J., and I’m currently working at Kandor Graphics (Spain) as Rigging/Character TD. The studio is releasing its first movie this Xmas (it’s called ‘The Missing Lynx’), and I got hired for developing a new character rig for the incoming productions since the movie was animated with Biped. My duties here also involve rigging the characters and props for those projects.

Before I worked at Ilion Animation Studios. I was finishing my Fine Arts degree when I got hired for their project ‘Planet 51’. I started to work on rigging for that film, although I did some little and unfinishied rigging things before. I had a junior profile there, so when I left the company I dove into MAXScript to improve my skills a little, and finally drove myself to the tech side of the things :slight_smile:

#163

Hi all, I found this site through polycount- really nice to find a forum dedicated to the game TD’s.

I’ve worked as a TD at a small studio here in New York, and am looking to focus on game work. I’ve done a good bit of Doom3 mod work for personal projects. I’m currently seeking employment in the industry, doing the resume and sorta confusing ‘TD reel’ thing.

I’m a Maya/MEL person, but use Modo/Perl and anything else I can get my hands on if need be.

#164

Hey guys,

You’ve probably seen me kicking around Polycount or Gameartisans. I’m a character artist at BCG and am looking to get a bit stronger on my technical side. Before Blue Castle Games I was a freelance character artist working on projects such as Dragon Age, F.E.A.R. 2, Rock Band 2, Damnation, Fallen Empire: Legions and a few others that are still hush hush. Before that I was with Piranha Games for a few years as a character artist and before that did some mobile games and certification testing.

So, that’s me! See you around the forums.

Cheers,
Gav

#165

Hi,

I’ve been viewing this great site for a while so i think its about time I introduce myself.

My name is Mark Harrison-Ball (Also known as HB)and i’m the Senior technical Artist at Rockstar London which i’ve been at for nearly 3 years.

My main package is Max though i’ve been scripting in Maya and Max now for quite a while though i’m a big fan of python too. Currently jumping into c# so I can make the most of using Max’s .net support.

-HB

#166

hi all,
just found this forum, i never even knew about it!!!

a little about me - working currently in commercials and tv but have worked in film before - currently in position of TD. i use maxscirpt - python and some simple c++. im mostly interested in working with characters , and hope to learn more about animation in the comming years!!

look forward to seeing all the interesting posts here!!

mono

#167

Hi all,

I’m a former Art Director and Concept Artist in games, now Design Professor.

I’ve gotten more useful info out of this forum in the short time it has been around than most others since their inception. I highly recommend it.

Tim

#168

Hey Everyone!

I joined a long time ago, but I never wrote an introduction on here. Though I swear I had a good reason at the time.

I’m Lincoln Li, currently a Senior at Purdue University (woo last year… I’m ready to enter the industry!), majoring in Computer Graphics Technology and specializing in Lighting/Rendering Technology.

I was introduced to this site by Jeff Hanna, and there is a ton of awesome information floating around, so I have to say Thank You! to all the TDs taking part in this site!!!

Cheers!

Link

#169

Welcome, Lincoln! I was also a Boiler, class of '93. From what used to be called Computer Technology (CPT). We also wore onions on our belts, because that was the style back then.

#170

Hey Adam! Thanks for the welcome! Its a pleasure to meet another Boiler. The onion on belts sounds awesome, maybe I’ll have to do something to revive that style :P.

#171

Considering the lack of game development specific courses at Purdue, it is pretty amazing how many former Boilers there are in the industry.

Welcome to the boards Lincoln! I’m hoping to drop by Purdue again sometime during this semester, but we’ll see how things go. Hopefully this time around I won’t get uber sick again!

#172

Hey there!

I’m Ryan McClure, one of two technical artists at Blue Fang Games. I heard about this community through a couple of different sources and it sounded like a great place.

My focus at Blue Fang is on MaxScript- and Python-based tool development in support of the art team and overseeing several components of the art pipeline. I also fight day-to-day fires (i.e. “Why isn’t this working?!”), while my counterpart handles more long-term planning.

When I’m not neck-deep in Max, I’m pursuing the idea that I might some day be a published fiction author. That’s still developing, though.

#173

Hi everyone. My name is Andrew Bedford, I’m a senior animator for the Creative Assembly, probably best known for ‘Total War’ series.

As our games are large in scale (and similar to rts) I mostly deal in motionbuilder and dealing with a lot of animations, and the pipeline involved in getting the data into our games. I am starting to take on a more technical role for our next title and will be animating less, so it’s great that I found this site, which has already been a great resource.

Yeah, so motion capture and maxscript, and hopefully would like to get into python scripting for mb.

Other than that, I like illustration, sports and drinking beer on the weekend :D:
Cheers.

#174

Hey All,

I’m Jeremy Ernst, Technical Animator at Epic Games, Inc.
I’m a maya guy :slight_smile: I use mel, python, and am starting to learn some C++. I love rigging, making scripts, making UIs( i don’t know why, maybe there is a certain graphic design element to it that I like). I also love taco bell…

I wanted to get involved in some kind of community like this where thoughts/ideas can be shared. I find that being the only TA here at Epic means that I have no one to bounce ideas of off, and hopefully these boards will be a good soundboard for that type of thing!

#175

Hi everyone.

My name is Joel Mongeon, I’ve been lurking here for quite a while and decided to actually join in and speak up after chatting with Rob at GDC.

I’ve worked in TV and film but am looking to switch into games. I’ve been a character artist and technical director(rigger) for the past few years in various Toronto companies.

It was great meeting and drinking with some of you guys at GDC this year. In case you can’t put a face to the name, I’m Bronwen’s husband :slight_smile:

This site is a great resource, hopefully I’ll be able to contribute something smart to the discussions.

#176

Hi,

It was great to meet some of you in person at GDC. I have been on the site for a little while, but I never posted in this thread.

My name is Adam Mechtley. Once upon a time I worked briefly as a software engineer in the aviation electronics industry and have worked the last 5 years as a technical artist in games, first on 360 and PS3 titles and most recently on web and iPhone games.

I currently work for Flashbang Studios in Tempe, Arizona. We are only 6 people, so I spend a roughly equal amount of time creating content in Maya, developing tools for Maya (MEL, Python API), and doing game programming (ECMAScript, C# in Mono). You can find some of our titles, including Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Minotaur China Shop, on our web portal, Blurst. I additionally maintain a website where I post up free Maya plugins, tools, and tutorials, as well as info about other games I make on my own time, such as a boxing game I have been making for the iPhone.

#177

Hi all! I’m Jay Grenier, Tech Artist and Animator at Image Metrics in Los Angeles. We do facial animation for games and film so most of what I do is facial rigging and building cool stuff for animators. I prefer scripting in Max but also write tools in Mel and Python regularly. Workflow and pipeline enhancements, animation tools, that sort of thing. :D:

This site is awesome, found it through CGTalk. I’ll probably be around quite often. Thanks and nice to meet you all.

#178

Greetings and salutations my friends, or soon to be friends :wink:

I am Kristoffer from the cold north in Europe—aka. Sweden—and I’m trying to break into the game industry. I’ve spent three years studying game development at a university as an artist, but sadly enough my artistic skills haven’t progressed as far as I had hoped for. However it seems as if I have more neck for technical stuff. Now I have discovered shaders and I thought that it might be something for me. So I hit the internet in search for something that could get me started with HLSL. And behold! A forum and Wiki devoted for Technical Artists, could it be any better! :): So here I am, introducing myself for you all, hoping to find new technical artist friends and mentors!

During my years at the university I took an introduction course in programming with C++ so I kind of have the basics covered; variables, data types, structures, functions, loops, if-statements and the basic understanding for how programming works – that’s always something :):

See you all on the forums, my first questions will surely pop-up soon.

Cheers mates!

#179

Why hello everyone,

I’m Nick Covington, singular Tech Artist at Budcat Creations in the isolated hamlet of Iowa City, Iowa.

In addition to managing our tool chain, I spend lots of time making artist’s lives a hell of a lot more sane with “new and awesome ™” ways of solving problems and eliminating redundancy with scripts! Furthermore, during periods of malicious nerfgun warfare that often breaks out in the office, I act as a mediator between the cunningly logical programmers and wildly unpredictable artists.

It’s good to see a website focused on our trade! I’ll have to spend more time here, indeed.

#180

Hi fellas (I think I’m right in saying that by page 18 we’re still all fellas?).

I’m Iain McFadzen, lead character artist at Sony Liverpool.

There sure are a lot of familiar names here, I feel right at home already.