Matt Kushner

Work History

• 

  3D Design Technologist

  Amazon

  December 2024 - Present

  New York City, NY
• 

  Director of Software

  Illuminarium Experiences

  May 2023 - July 2024
• 

  Freelance Head of Pipeline / CG Supervisor

  RadicalMedia LLC

  April 2020 - June 2021

  New York, New York, United States

  -Supervision of CG Artists
  -Pipeline Development for cross-DCC script saving/loading (Houdini/Maya/Nuke) as well as FTrack Publishing
  -Nuke Tool Development (Camera/Plate Stitching, Applying Render to 3D Geometry, Render Cropping)
  -Maya Tool Development (Edge/UV Insertion, Alembic/OBJ Export)
  -Rigging
• 

  3D TD Pipeline & Rigger

  Blacksmith

  January 2020 - April 2020

  New York, New York

  Integration of camera and distortion toolset, expansion to support Nuke, Maya & Houdini
  Quadruped character rigging
  Show TD for Ford spots
• 

  CG Generalist & Technical Director - Freelance

  Alkemy X

  August 2019 - December 2019

  New York, New York

  Lead Tracker, Rigger and TD, integrating camera distortion tools and enhancing facility tools.
  Shows include:
  
  Features:
  The Many Saints of Newark (Sopranos prequel)
  In the Heights
  
  Episodics:
  Power
  Blindspot
  Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
  Heaven
  Emergence
  The Hunt
• 

  CG Generalist/Pipeline - Freelance

  Psyop

  April 2019 - July 2019

  New York, New York

  Camera & distortion tool integration
  Cloth Simulation - Cricket Wireless
  Character Rigging & Cloth Simulation - Corteva Agriscience
• 

  CG Lead & Technical Director, 3D Generalist - Freelance

  Alkemy X

  December 2018 - March 2019

  Greater New York City Area

  Lead Tracker, Rigger and TD, integrating camera distortion tools and enhancing facility tools.
  Shows include:
  
  Episodics:
  Fear of the Walking Dead
  Power
  Blindspot
  
  Commercials:
  Arm & Hammer Kitty Litter
• 

  3D Generalist - Freelance

  1stAveMachine

  December 2018 - December 2018

  Brooklyn, NY

  Previsualization Animation for Appy Fizz spot
  Motion Capture Retargeting for IBM spot
• 

  Lead Technical Director & 3D Generalist

  Method Studios

  September 2014 - November 2018

  new york, new york

  Lead TD, developing facility and show tools as well as artist working including Rigging, Tracking, Character FX & Animation.
  
  Facility Tool TD:
  Lens distortion workflow tools in Nuke, Maya & Houdini to support NY, LA, VAN workflows
  Created Camera Database, used facility registration system to store tracking exports & metadata
  Nuke: Overhauled existing toolset to use plate-specific shot-level versioned distortions Implemented support for lens nodes & uvmaps (Flame compatible), as well as scaling & cropping Maya: Streamlined camera asset creation, loading cameras & metadata, transferring & exporting
  Houdini: Connected distortion data to existing alembic camera tools
  
  Lead Show TD:
  Justin Timberlake’s “Filthy”: Show Tools, Animation, Cross-site Asset Management
  Facebook’s AR Masks: Creative & Technical Supervision, Workflow Development, App Coding Facebook’s 2017 Friends Day: Maya/Nuke Tool & Workflow Development, Rigging, Animation Bud Light “Made for Living”: Show Camera Tools, Camera Animation, MoCap Asset Management
  
  Sequence Lead:
  HBO’s Vinyl Premiere: Maya, Houdini & Nuke Workflow Supervision, Lighting TD
  
  Sequence/Show TD:
  Equals: Maya/Nuke Tool Development,
  NY Lotto: Maya Camera Tool Development
  
  Tracking/Matchmove TD:
  The Get Down, The Longest Ride, Dupixent, Mercedes, Johnson & Johnson
  
  Animator:
  Purge 3, Microsoft, Lenovo, Mountain Dew
  
  Rigging TD:
  Swarovski, Capital One, Kia, Maison Margiela, GE
  
  Tech-Anim/Groom TD:
  FedEx, Exxon, Finra, Windstream, Goldman Sachs, Tecate Light, Pfizer
• 

  3D Generalist - Freelance

  loyalkaspar

  July 2014 - August 2014

  New York, NY

  3D Artist and Technical Direction for ESPN College Football Playoff Promo
• 

  3D Generalist - Freelance

  Method Studios

  June 2014 - July 2014

  New York, NY

  3D Artist previsualization for upcoming 2015 feature Run All Night

  

  
• 

  3D Artist - Staff

  Look Effects

  November 2009 - June 2014

  Williamsburg, Brooklyn

  Effects Artist:
  2014 Noah
  
  3D Artist:
  2014 Game of Thrones (HBO Series)
  2014 Turn (TV Series)
  2014 Babylon Fields (TV Movie)
  2014 Black Box (TV Series)
  2014 Foxcatcher
  2013 Gods Behaving Badly
  2013 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  2013 Europa Report
  2013 Warm Bodies
  2012 Gotham (TV Movie)
  2012 Moonrise Kingdom
  2012 Underworld: Awakening
  
  Producer:
  2011 Silent House
  
  Coordinator/2D Artist:
  2011 The Sitter
  2011 I Don't Know How She Does It
  2011 Limitless
  2011 The Music Never Stopped
  2010 Black Swan
  2010 Step Up 3D
  2010 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
  2010 The Bounty Hunter

  

  

  
• 

  Animator

  Young & Rubicam

  November 2009 - December 2009

  Creating logo animation for Chevron World Challenge Golf Tournament
  Included all aspects of animation (modeling, texturing, animation, lighting and rendering), working on very tight deadlines
  Matched original EPS logo with 3D modeling, texturing and lighting
• 

  Visiting Professor

  Wesleyan University

  January 2009 - December 2009

  Teaching FILM453--Animation in the Digital Age

• Animator

  Edit One

  November 2009 - November 2009

  Incorporating motion capture and creating hand animation for 2 Playtex commercial previsualizations

• Freelance Animator

  VRAM FX

  January 2007 - October 2008

  Freelance Generalist Animator having worked on:
  
  Ford Fusion: Hybrid, Sync & i4 Commercials, Camera Tracker, Clean Up Artist - February 2009
  --Matched live action camera and car movement in footage with CG camera and car
  --Removed tracking markers from footage
  
  Showtime: Mixed Martial Arts Simulations, Animator & Lighter September - November 2008
  --Cleaned and adjusted motion capture data and added hand animation
  --Organized elements for each shot and set up render passes
  --Created backdrop and lighting set-up
  
  Saatchi & Saatchi: “Trix” Commercial, Animator & Compositor - July 2008
  --Modeled and modified pre-existing models for integration with live action
  --Animated digital stunt doubles and CG rollercoaster to integrate with live action plates
  --Rendered and composited live action plates with CG elements

• Freelance Animator

  "Sportys" TV Pilot

  December 2007 - April 2008

  -Finalized all stages of pre-production including modeling, texturing, rigging and animation
  -Retargeted and cleaned motion capture data and applied it to the character rigs
  -Organized files and coordinated distribution for a 25 minute pilot containing over 400 shots and 10 characters
• 

  Animator on Sony Bravia "Play-Doh" Commercial

  Passion Pictures

  July 2007 - August 2007

  Animated two foot molded bunnies in hop cycle and boxes for replacement stop motion animation for upcoming Sony Bravia commercial

• Bartender and Waiter

  Jarnac Restaurant

  September 2004 - April 2007
• 

  Technical Services Intern

  Sony

  August 2003 - February 2004

  -Maintained the departments' Accounts Payable and Receivable
  issued purchase orders, processed and paid incoming invoices
  -Aided in various stages of trailer production
  -Distributed film prints and screeners for domestic and international audiences

• Intern

  MTV - Daria

  July 2001 - August 2001

  -Prepared cell animation booths and inked hand-drawn cells
  -Researched reference materials and images
  -Delivered animation materials to clients