Kevin Whitfield

Work History

• Private

  November 2023 - November 2024

  Pennsylvania, USA
• 

  Staff 3D technical director and software engineer

  Aurora

  October 2019 - October 2023

  Greater Pittsburgh Region

  Autonomous Vehicle R&D.
  Synthetic data generation for simulation, perception, calibration, localization, and mapping.
• 

  Visualization R&D

  Nimblist

  March 2019 - August 2019

  2019
  Beastieboys
  Bon Jovi
  Robin Hood big benefit
• 

  Production Designer

  Nimblist

  March 2018 - February 2019

  2019
  Lancaster Science Factory exhibit design
  
  2018
  Super bowl opening night
  Nickelback - Las Vegas
  Pearl Jam - tour
  Robin Hood big benefit
  Future - Summer Festivals
  Maniscalco
  Maxwell - Intimate nights live
  Beastieboys
  Smashing pumpkins
  Various pitch work
• 

  Production Designer

  Nimblist

  December 2016 - August 2018

  Lancaster, PA
• 

  Look Dev Research Consultant

  Wētā FX

  November 2017 - February 2018

  Remote

  Super secret nerdy stuff and robots.
• 

  Researcher

  Wētā FX

  February 2016 - December 2016

  New Zealand

  Research and hardware engineering in the lookdev RnD team.
• 

  Senior lighting technical director

  Wētā FX

  August 2015 - February 2016

  Lookdev, Lighting, rendering, shot finaling.
• 

  CG Lead

  Wētā FX

  November 2015 - February 2016

  2016 - Central Intelligence
• 

  Environment Artist

  Wētā FX

  July 2014 - August 2015

  New Zealand

  Environment creation, matte painting support, rendering, workflow automation, lookdev.

• Design Engineer

  Virtual Matter

  2012 - 2015

  Wellington Region, New Zealand · Hybrid

  Freelance work focused on hardware and software design for the entertainment
  industry. See website for details.
  - Laser scanner servicing and repair.
  - Robotic lighting fixture programming, service, and repair.
  - Custom LED installations.
  - On stage performer tracking and projection mapping.
  - Various design and manufacturing projects.
• 

  lighting technical director

  Wētā FX

  October 2010 - July 2014

  New Zealand

  Lighting, rendering, shot finaling
• 

  Lighting Design, Programming

  WindWorks Design

  November 1998 - September 2010

  Rochester, New York Area

  Automated lighting tech and programming, Lighting designer, Engineer, Developer, CAD/3D, Production crew
  
  Family business, this is where I started. WindWorks Design did a variety of projects, mostly centered around music and entertainment technology. I specialized in automated (robotic) lights, their control, programming, repair, and use as an artistic tool. I also helped with engineering and fabrication on various projects, which spanned everything from automated theater props to custom LED rigs and robotic fixtures. The long duration of this work meant I experienced a wide variety of projects from theater, to concerts, corporate events, custom internal projects, and more.
• 

  Visual Effects artist

  Strasenburgh Planetarium

  August 2009 - September 2009

  Rochester, New York Area

  Early freelance gig. I created a custom video asset for a planetarium show about exploring under the ice of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Learned about managing a project by myself. The projection system used a spherical mirror which presented some interesting image distortion and alignment challenges. The video also had to loop perfectly, and minimize black flashing from dome reflection. I had to create a mathematical model to pre-distort the projection based on measurements of the mirror, dome curvature, and intrinsic/extrinsic projector parameters.
  
• 

  Lighting Tech

  Nazareth College

  June 2008 - August 2008

  Rochester, New York Area

  Automated lighting tech and programmer, Road crew, stagehand, construction, shop.
  
  Summer job at a local theater. I was part of the tech crew. Helped with everything from cable making to automated lighting programming. Helped build an entire stage for a show out in a parking lot. Performed maintenance on tools and equipment. Lent some of my own lights to assist in productions. This job taught me a lot about working in a group with time and budget constraints.