Barbara Ellison

Work History

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  Lead Cloth Character FX Artist / Senior Character FX Artist

  Reel FX

  January 2014 - May 2017

  Dallas, TX

  Cloth Simulation and Development
  • Worked with Senior Character FX(CFX) artists, CFX Supervisors, and the Rigging Department to spec and develop a tool to create the stretch rig component of a character’s cloth rig.
  • Worked with the CFX Technical Supervisor to write a tool to prevent extremely fast character motion from breaking cloth simulations.
  • Created CFX models for multiple characters’ costumes in Marvelous Designer.
  • Evaluated clothing assets from Modeling and shots from Animation to ensure readiness for CFX pickup.
  Hair Simulation and Development
  • Created and tested a full-body fur simulation rig for a hero character using nHair in Maya.
  • Worked with the CFX Technical Supervisor to troubleshoot multiple technical issues.
  Management
  • Regularly answered questions and offered training to Junior and Intermediate CFX Artists.
  • Reviewed Junior and Intermediate Artists’ shot and asset work and gave notes for improvement until enough progress was made to present to the CFX

  

  
• 

  Character FX Artist

  DreamWorks Animation

  May 2010 - April 2013

  Redwood City, CA

  Cloth Simulation and Development
  • Drew from Art Dept. sketches and historical images to create two ball gowns in Marvelous Designer.
  • Created cloth rigs with digital hoop underskirts for both gowns.
  • Mastered the Qualoth cloth solver in Maya.
  
  Hair Simulation
  • Created hair and fur motion with Maya, Houdini, and DreamWorks’ lighting software, incorporating wind and smoosh effects.
  
  Character Finaling
  • Applied corrective sculpts to characters’ bodies and clothes to make contact with objects and other characters believable.
  
  Prop Animation
  • Added motion to props by building and animating per-shot prop rigs in Maya.
  

  

  

  

  

  
• 

  Creature Effects TD

  ImageMovers

  May 2009 - May 2010

  Novato, CA

  Cloth Simulation and Development
  • Created and updated cloth rigs for two hero characters.
  • Used Maya nCloth to create high quality cloth sims for a large volume of shots under tight deadlines.
  • Wrote documentation for a hero cloth rig and served as team expert on that rig.
  • Cross-trained two animators as CFX artists.
  

  

  
• 

  Creature TD

  Industrial Light & Magic

  September 2008 - May 2009

  San Francisco, CA

  Cloth Simulation and Development
  • Created cloth rigs for two digital doubles using Maya and Zeno.
  • Collaborated with other Creature TDs and FX artists to create a turbulent cone of debris effect for multiple shots.
  • Wrote documentation for a complex Creature TD workflow for setting up digital doubles.
  Rigid Body Simulation
  • Produced rigid body simulations for shots of a mototerminator crash, breaking bridge railings, and splintering trees using Zeno.
  

  

  
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  Cloth & Hair TD /Character Pipeline TD

  Sony Pictures Imageworks

  April 2003 - September 2008

  Culver City, CA

  Cloth and Hair Simulation and Development
  • Set up and maintained several characters’ cloth rigs.
  • Simulated stretching symbiote goo using Maya with Syflex.
  • Built and simulated webs with proprietary web tools and the Maya hair engine.
  • Gained proficiency with Maya Classic Cloth, Maya nCloth, Syflex, and Maya Classic Hair.
  
  Character Pipeline Development and Animation Support
  • Created prop rigs to meet shot-specific animation needs.
  • Quickly responded to animators’ requests for help with technical issues.
  • Wrote MEL scripts to create and expand character pipeline tools.
  • Trained new Character Pipeline TDs to use character pipeline tools.