I am a senior character TD familiar working with established pipeline environments, API, module applications and proprietary tools. Most currently I have held the title of Character Supervisor at Barajoun Entertainment, overseeing the rigging, cloth and hair departments along with any modeling assets used by them. I have been responsible for the build scripts, plugins and various tools that we have developed and maintained.
Work History
Company Owner
Stupao Visual Effects Inc.
January 2024 - Present
Arizona, United States · On-site
Fine Art
Senior Technical Artist
Cloud Chamber
November 2022 - January 2024
Prop Rigging
Character Rigging
Face FX
Rig/Sim Artist
Blizzard Entertainment
March 2018 - Present
Irvine
Simulation Artist
The Outpost
January 2022 - April 2022
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Cloth simulation on teddy bear ears.
Senior Technical Director
Double Negative
April 2022 - September 2022
London, Montreal · Remote
Cloth simulation in Houdini.
CFX Artist
Plastic Wax
October 2021 - February 2022
Australia
Ultra fast Bat Girl cape simulations for game cinematics.
Rigging Supervisor
Halon Entertainment
October 2020 - February 2021
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
Supervised all character and prop rigs for efficiency with Maya and Unreal Engine for the production Mahogany, Walt Disney's Pinocchio.
Senior Technical Director
Walt Disney Animation Studios
January 2020 - September 2020
Burbank, California, United States
Senior technical director for rig and simulation department on Raya The Last Dragon.
Rig/Sim Artist
Blizzard Entertainment
February 2018 - January 2020
Irvine, California, United States · On-site
Example of work I have done as a member of the Rig/Sim department responsible for the cloth and hair simulation for various cinematics. This is one of the newly released examples.
Rig/Sim Artist
Blizzard Entertainment
February 2018 - January 2019
Irvine, CA
Cinematic department.
Rig/Sim Artist
Blizzard Entertainment
March 2018 - October 2018
Irvine, CA
Example of work I have done as a member of the Rig/Sim department responsible for the cloth
Senior Tech Anim Artist
The Mill
April 2017 - July 2017
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
Senior Tech Anim Artist setting up cloth pipeline.
Senior Technical Director
Psyop
February 2017 - May 2017
Venice, CA
Cloth simulation for commercial campaign of Ridiculous Clash of Clans.
Senior Technical Director
Duncan Studio
October 2016 - December 2016
Pasadena, CA
Senior Technical Director in Rigging, Cloth Setup, Hair Groom and shot simulation for a Minion Project, Japan.
3D Supervisor
Flight 33 Production
June 2016 - August 2016
As the 3D Supervisor, I was responsible for all 3D artists and their role in generating assets within the time allotted on two different productions reporting directly to the visual effects supervisor. I also was responsible for shot work and R&D using Maya FX and Real Flow.
cfx td
Sony Pictures Imageworks
December 2015 - May 2016
Senior Technical Director Hair Groom
Alpha Animation
April 2016 - May 2016
I developed the hair grooms for the two primary characters for a cell phone commercial known as Buzz.
Senior Technical Director
Sony Pictures Imageworks
January 2015 - March 2016
Vancouver, Canada Area
Look Development
CFX
Character Supervisor
Barajoun Entertainment
July 2013 - December 2014
Dubai, UAE · On-site
Primarily a Maya based production house, this studio also uses Z-Brush, Marvelous, Yeti and Shave and a Haircut. I supervise the development, implementation and documentation of all assets and tools generated by the character model, rigging, hair and cloth simulation departments for feature film.
Character Rigging / Effects Animation
Stupao Visual Effects Inc.
2012 - 2013
Computer and photographic generated images for design and template development on website as well as character rigging and effects animation.
Character FX Artist
DreamWorks Animation
2009 - 2012
Character FX Artist for four productions requiring cloth, hair, fur simulations, along with some rigging.
Shrek Forever After, Kung Fu Panda 2, Kung Fu Panda DVD Featurette and Rise of the Guardians.
Character Rigger
Digital Domain
2009 - 2009
Character rigging for a Sobe Commercial spot.
Senior Character TD
Jim Henson's Creature Shop
2009 - 2009
Rigging and muscle system development for TV series characters.
Lead Character TD
Gradient Effects
2008 - 2009
Mechanical rigging for Krupp.
CG Supervisor
Gigapix Studios
2006 - 2008
Oz
Below
Senior Modeler
Disney ABC Television Group
2007 - 2007
Winter Flex
Charcter Rigging, Modeling
Entity FX
2007 - 2007
Sport Science (Emmy Award)
Pushing Daisies (VES Nomination)
Character Rigging, Modeling, UV
Ka-Chew
2007 - 2007
Mucinex
Technical Director
Sony Computer Entertainment America
2006 - 2007
Cloth pipeline development for games.
Animator
Zoic Studios
2006 - 2006
Nintendo
Senior Modeler, Texture, UV
Eyetronics 3D Scanning
2005 - 2006
Poseidon
The Guardian
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Seige Tale
Stargate Studios
August 2004 - 2006
Greater Los Angeles Area
Turistas, Dirt, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: Battleground
Senior Character TD for one feature film, television special and television series. Responsible for all rigging, cloth and hair simulation. Software used: Maya, Syflex and Shave and a Hair
Senior Modeler TD
Asylum VFX
January 2004 - 2006
Motorola, Eat More Chick n, Roseume Honest Abe Commercial Spot, Nintendogs, Mario Brothers Video Game
Senior Modeler for various fast paced commercials and video games. Responsible for models and UV work. Software used: Maya.
Senior Modeler
The Engine Room
2005 - 2005
The DaVinci Code
Meteor Studios
March 2004 - 2005
Montreal, Canada Area
10.5 Apocalypse, Final Destination 3, Slither
Character TD and Effects Animator for three feature films. Software used: Maya for rigging,
Lead Character TD
Photon VFX
2004 - 2005
Hercules
Maya Instructor
UCLA
2003 - 2004
Modeling
Character Setup
Effects Animation
Mel
Texture
Lighting
Senior VFX Artist
Stupao VFX
2003 - 2004
The Aviator
Jay and Silent Bob 15 Minute Animated Logo
Training Supervisor, Animation Support
Cinesite
2002 - 2003
Trained new artists on proprietary plugins and protocol for all shows. Animation and character TD support for the following shows:
Solaris
The Inlaws
Envy
X-2: X-Men United
Freddy vs. Jason
Senior Matchmover
Sony Pictures Imageworks
2001 - 2002
Stuart Little 2
I Spy
The Polar Express
Matchmove TD
Rhythm & Hues Studios
December 2000 - October 2001
Greater Los Angeles Area
Cats & Dogs, Dr. Dolittle 2
Senior Matchmove TD for two feature films. Used proprietary software VooDoo for hard and soft facial tracking needs.
Matchmove TD
Rhythm & Hues Studios
2000 - 2001
Dogs and Cats
Dr. Dolittle 2
Lead Sculptor/Field Art Director/Production Designer.
Walt Disney Imagineering
June 1997 - June 2000
Los Angeles/Japan
Tokyo Disney Seas, California Adventure
Lead sculptor for the park icon, trained as a field art director and later transitioned into the role of production designer for one seventh of a 4 billion dollar theme park. Production designer for Mermaid Lagoon in Japan. Miniature sculpting for large scale productions for California Adventure icons.
Lead Sculptor and Production Designer.
Walt Disney Imagineering
1997 - 2000
Design, development and sculpting for the Mysterious Island volcano, the park icon. Role as Production Designer for Mysterious Island while in Japan.
Instructor
Gnomon School of Visual Effects
1997 - 1999
I taught Figurative Sculpture.
Art Instructor
Orange Coast College
June 1994 - June 1996
Costa Mesa, CA
Instructor at Orange Coast College for Sculpture and Bronze Casting.
Go to https://www.studiopaolino.com for fine art website.
Model Maker, Lead Sculptor
Digital Domain
1995 - 1996
The Titanic
Dante's Peak
Artist
Stupao Visual Effects, Inc.
June 1975 - June 1985
Southern California
Fine artist in bronze, acrylic painting, prints and photography.