James Gu 353 Chappaqua Rd Unit 23 Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 845.270.5657 charactertd@gmail.com james@pixel-pusher.net Objectives: To be involved in creative and fun projects that challenge both my technical and artistic abilities. Relevant Experience: Blue Sky Studios, White Plains, NY (08.2006 - present) Role: CharacterTD Projects: Horton Hears A Who, Surviving Sid (short), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Notable Highlights: - Developing and maintaining the primary interface for Blue Sky’s proprietary rigging system - Co-development of variation breakout process resutling in the ability to create all the whoDaughters and female Who crowd variations from a master asset; hundreds of varying characters achieved from less than half a dozen master assets - development of new eye rig for unannounced project - migration and updating of tools/scripts DNA Productions, Irving, TX (1.2005 - 05.2006 ) Role: CharacterTD / Rigging Tech Lead / ShotScrubber Projects: The Ant Bully, Polar Bear PSA Notable Highlights: - Demonstrated rigging and skinning abilities by tackling typically difficult characters to rig (i.e. the circumferentially challenged or “fat” characters). - Tackled technical challenges such as writing a hair rigging tool in MEL for a proprietary hair system along with implementing and maintaining various rigging tools. - Actively involved in internal quality control process (tripleCheck process). ReelFX, Dallas, TX (11.2003 - late 12.2004 ) Role: Senior CharacterTD / 3D Effects / Simulation Projects: G.I.Joe Valor vs. Venom, Ninja Battles, Action Man Notable Highlights: - Devised a destructible character rig for the B.A.T character which provided additional functionality beyond the standard animation controls. This allowed animation from the standard B.A.T. characters to be transferred to this custom rig without having to re-animate characters. - CGI Effects Lead for ”G.I.Joe Valor vs. Venom” where I created and supervised numerous 3D effects (200+ out of 500+). - Established various methods for completing desired effects on a very tight schedule. - Assigned effects to artists and tracked their progress, ensuring a constant flow of effects through the production pipeline. - Assessed which effects should be 2D solutions and which should be 3D in order to be able to complete desired visual effects within time frame of schedule. - Developed and implemented a cloth (Syflex) simulation pipeline as well as carrying out all cloth needs for “Action Man” project. Jaleco Entertainment, Inc, Boulder, CO ( 1.2003 - 11.2003 ) Role: Technical Artist Projects: Goblin Commander: Unleash The Horde (PS2, Game Cube, XBox), Werewolf (unreleased) Notable Highlights: - Co-authored an asset management tool in MEL that interfaced with VSS for environment artists. - Wrote scripts for proprietary game engine to deal with localization, particle FX, various UI elements, build and damage transitions, clanshrine upgrades as well as created art assets for these elements. Clever Image, Fairview, NJ ( 2000 - 2003 ) Role: 3D/Computer Artist, Senior Character Animator, Technical Director Projects: The Making of The Storyteller Café (CBN), The Storyteller Café: The Storm (CBN), The Storyteller Café: The Battle (CBN), The Storyteller Café: Jonah (CBN), The Witness (CBN), SciFi Santathon 2k1(SciFi Channel), Legend of the Rangers Promotion (SciFi Channel), The Fly/OneCubed (CBN), Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire (3D6-Gameboy game), Courage (CBN), Cricket (in-house project) Notable Highlights: - Served as senior character animator and rigger through various projects. - Re-rigged ~15 primary characters in 2 weeks from the initial Storyteller Café episode which were used in subsequent episodes without need for modification. - Built and supported rigs that were used in studios in Brazil and Taiwan for the project, “Courage”. - Performed camera matching on projects requiring integration of 3D CG elements with live action plates. Education: School Of Visual Arts, New York, NY B.F.A. Computer Art, May 1999 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA B.S. Science (Life Science option), May 1994 Awards/Other: 2005 3December(Dallas) Presenter: Facial Rigging and Advanced Character Rigging 1999 NY Regional Student Showcase for 3-D Animation 1999 School of Visual Arts Computer Art Department Senior Showcase 1999 The School of Visual Arts Rhodes Family Award for Outstanding Achievement in Computer Art Technical Expertise: 3D Software: Autodesk (formerly Alias/Wavefront) Maya Alias/Wavefront PowerAnimator Amazon 3D Paint Comet Muscle System (Maya) Pixar MTOR and PhotoRealistic RenderMan Pixar Renderman for Maya SideEffects Houdini Syflex (Maya) Programming/Scripting Languages: Operating Systems: MEL, HTML, C, some C++/Maya API *nix(Linux, Irix, OSX), Mac, Windows References: Available upon request.