Nick da Silva

Nick da Silva

I love playing with particles and stuff!

Supervisor FX TD / Lead Technical Artist / 16 yrs

Peoria, AZ

Hire Me

Lead Technical Artist

Immortals of Aveum (2023)

Senior Houdini TD and Tech Artist

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway (2020)

Senior Houdini TD and Tech Artist

Na'vi River Journey (2017)

FX TD

Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (2016)

Modeler and Texture Artist

The Ningyo (2017)

Work History
  • Principle Procedural Technical Artist

    Parallel Domain

    December 2021 - Present

    Responsible for procedural world building toolset with Houdini and Unreal. Fully procedural, photo real city building. Supporting team with python tools for workflow optimization. Some noteworthy systems:

    1. Dynamic geometry caching
    2. Procedural UI generation
    3. Parking lot generator
    4. AWS Houdini integration
    5. Perforce Houdini integration

  • Lead Technical Artist

    Ascendant Studios

    January 2020 - June 2023
    San Rafael, California, US

    Built procedural world building pipeline using Houdini and Unreal 5. Most tools have a front end UI for use in engine, and a back end built around PDG for batch processing. Some noteworthy tools were:

    1. Procedural Rivers/Streams/Lakes/Waterfalls
    2. Custom animation with VAT, with dynamic slicing for camera culling. Blueprint assembly in Unreal.
    3. Damage/surface treatment (stone, metal, wood)
    4. Cliffs
    5. Biomes
    6. Landscapes

  • Instructor

    Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Games + Animation

    July 2018 - December 2022

    I run the VFX Demo Class and guide the students on how to create compelling pieces that will best showcase their abilities.

  • Senior Houdini TD and Tech Artist

    Walt Disney Imagineering

    August 2015 - November 2021

    Worked with R&D on realtime workflows using Houdini and Unity. Built custom lidar meshing toolset. Built custom image driven water simulation toolset. Additionally worked on Houdini technical setups for FX shots and projections.

  • Lead Houdini TD

    The Famous Group

    August 2020 - September 2020

    Developed custom fluid simulations in Houdini for use inside Unreal engine.

  • Instructor

    The Master's University

    August 2016 - December 2018

    I teach a variety of VFX related classes that give students a solid overview on creating visuals for use in a VFX environment.

  • Intern

    Sidefx Software

    March 2015 - August 2015
    Greater Los Angeles Area

    I developed FX rigs for film or game cinematics, the main purpose is to showcase what Houdini can do. Focusing more on mastering VEX/VOPS and learning more about the core of how Houdini works under the hood (microsolvers, custom fields and volumes, etc).

  • Teaching Assistant

    Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Games + Animation

    September 2014 - March 2015
    Greater Los Angeles Area
  • 3D Design Team Manager

    Compusoft South Africa

    April 2004 - December 2012
    South Africa
Education
  • Entertainment Design & Digital Production in Visual Effects Animation

    Gnomon School of Visual Effects

    2012 - 2015