Max Rodriguez

Max Rodriguez

Technical Animator/Creature Effects Artist

Senior Simulation Artist / 16 yrs

Oakland , CA

Hire Me

Simulation Technical Director

Elemental (2023)

Production Coordinator

Sonic Prime (2022)

Simulation Technical Director

Lightyear (2022)

Simulation Technical Director

Turning Red (2022)

Simulation Technical Director

Luca (2021)

Simulation

Pixar Popcorn (2021)

Simulation Technical Director

Soul (2020)

Simulation Technical Director

Onward (2020)

Storyboard Artist

Wind (2019)

Character Effects Artist

Abominable (2019)

Storyboard Artist

SparkShorts (2019)

Simulation Technical Director

Auntie Edna (2018)

Visual Effects Artist

Incredibles 2 (2018)

Cloth Simulation

Allied (2016)

Digital Artist

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016)

Hair and Cloth Simulation

Deadpool (2016)

Technical Artist

The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Technical Artist

Pan (2015)

Additional Character Effects Artist

Home (2015)

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

Megamind (2010)

Visual Effects

Merry Madagascar (2009)

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

I started as an intern at PDI/Dreamworks and worked my up to CFX artist. I worked there for almost 10 years until it shut down in early 2015. I became a gun for hire and worked for Rising Sun Pictures for a 2 month contract. In my spare time, I'm freelancing on an animated short, doing nCloth simulations.
Work History
  • Simulation Artist

    Pixar

    May 2018 - Present
  • Simulation Artist

    Pixar

    July 2017 - August 2018
  • Hair Groomer

    Atomic Fiction

    July 2017 - July 2017
  • Animation Specilist

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

    May 2016 - June 2017
  • Creature TD

    Image Engine

    February 2016 - April 2016
  • CFX Artist

    Atomic Fiction

    August 2015 - December 2015
  • Atomic Fiction

    October 2016 - October 2016
  • Rising Sun Pictures

    March 2015 - May 2015
  • Character FX Artist

    DreamWorks Animation

    September 2008 - February 2015
    Redwood City

    Simulated Cloth Assets using Qualoth and maya nCloth.
    Fur Interaction using Houdini SOPs.
    Developed hair and cloth rigs.
    Animated and deformed props and characters for animation.
    As the first PDI CFX artist on How to Train your Dragon 2, I helped the team understand the new animation software and update the Glendale based garment setups.
    Helped track bugs , feature requests, and tool development using JIRAs,

  • Character FX Production Coordinator

    DreamWorks Animation

    March 2008 - September 2008
    Redwood City

    Created excel documents with custom formulas and VBA modules to assist supervisors to track show assets.

  • FX Production Assistant

    DreamWorks Animation

    June 2007 - March 2008
    Redwood City

    Assisted with department calendar scheduling.
    Developed Excel documents for show asset tracking.

  • Production Intern

    DreamWorks Animation

    September 2006 - May 2007

    Worked as a production intern for the Christmas Special "Shrek the Halls. Assisted the art, editorial, and animation departments.

Education
  • Expression College

    2005 - 2007
  • University of California, Davis

    1997 - 2001