Zerply

Ben Laidlaw

Senior Technical Artist / 14 yrs

Toronto, Canada

Play

Technical Artist

Halo 5: Guardians (2015)

Technical Artist

Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014)

Play

Technical Artist

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)

Play

Technical Artist

R.I.P.D. (2013)

Technical Artist

Clash of Clans

Technical Artist

Jolly Rancher

Multigrain Cheerios

Effects Technical Director

Wildest Weather in the Solar System (2011)

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Technical Artist with experience across the entire 3-D pipeline, along with on-set production. Worked on all forms of 3-D projects including features, commercials, games, planetariums, music video, and so on. Loves to solve the complex problems, can build/improve a production pipeline and write a production render engine. The main drive in finding work is with the creative shot work that 3-D presents. With diverse experience can grasp the bigger picture and the task at hand, and solve problems in a logical, clean, optimized, and artistic manner.

Work History

May 2017 - Present
Technical Artist

Ubisoft Toronto
March 2014 - October 2016
Technical Artist

343 Industries

Developing the pipeline for creating complex environment assets that get out software and into game.
April 2013 - January 2014
Technical Artist

Psyop - Mass Market - Blacklist

Freelance commercial work, mostly as a Technical Artist, but bending with the flow of the projects. I did Houdini work primarily, but I was working with other packages like Maya and XSI, too.
December 2011 - April 2013
Technical Artist

Rhythm & Hues Studios

At R&H I was in a hybrid position of doing research and development, shader creation, look-development, effects and lighting, and was often between departments solving workflow and pipeline issues. I think the position can best be described by Bruce Lee in his quote on water...

Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the
January 2011 - November 2011
Technical Artist

FloqFX

Project wide work with a focus in the asset management pipeline. We created the first ever stereoscopic planetarium show in Houdini for National Geographic.
November 2010 - December 2010
Technical Artist

MPC

Working with volumetrics, lighting and rendering on a commercial for Tobacco Free CA: Secondhand Sally.
October 2010 - November 2010
Technical Artist

Motion Theory (currently Mirada)

Lighting and rendering on a commercial called Mott's Garden Cocktail "Vegetable Garden"
August 2010 - November 2010
Intern

Side Effects Software

Teach, document and develop media for the software Houdini.
July 2010 - November 2010
Technical Artist

Solutions By Design

Creating assorted 3-D dental advertising media.
May 2010 - June 2010
Technical Artist

Mekanism

Match moving for a Bossa Nova commercial, doing some tricky transparent spacial transforms that allowed for some creative problem solving.
October 2008 - June 2010
A.V. Technician

Visual Aids Electronics

Logistics & Support for corporate meetings at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
May 2006 - May 2007
Technical Consultant

Creo Novo

Lighting, green screen rigging, SFX, match-moving and miniature development.
September 2005 - May 2007
Film Engineer

Fairleigh Dickinson University

Installing, maintaining and repairing lab and film equipment.
February 1998 - August 2006
Volunteer/Freelance Cinematographer

Adelphia Communications

Studio work and field shooting.
May 2004 - July 2006
A.V. Technician

Visual Aids Electronics

Logistics & Support for corporate meetings with clients, such as, Dunkin’ Donuts