Niels Kleinheinz

Work History

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  Senior Rigger

  TRIXTER

  October 2017 - September 2018
• 

  character rigger td

  TRIXTER

  October 2016 - September 2017
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  Lead Character Rigging & Pipeline TD

  zoobe message entertainment GmbH

  January 2016 - September 2016
• 

  guest lecturer

  Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

  June 2016 - June 2016

  Potsdam, Germany

  Held a series of lectures about facial rigging in Maya for 4th semester students at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.

• Character Rigging Consultant

  The Animation Workshop

  January 2016 - February 2016
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  Character Technical Director

  zoobe message entertainment GmbH

  November 2014 - December 2015

  Character rigging in Maya and character pipeline development in Python.
• 

  Character Rigger

  morro images

  September 2014 - October 2014

  Serena teaser trailer. Rigged two humanoids and one quadruped in Maya. Football shape facial rigging approach w/ face and limb benders and shapers.

• Rigging Supervisor

  scopas medien AG

  November 2013 - September 2014

  Character Rigging in Maya for a TV show. Character rigging and supervision of Spain-based studio KD Productions.
• 

  Character Rigger

  Animationsfabrik GmbH

  August 2014 - August 2014

  Commercial for RheinEnergie. Rigged a fantasy creature in Maya. Full body rig including basic facial rig.
• 

  Guest Lecturer Rigging

  The Animation Workshop, VIA University College

  January 2014 - February 2014

  Taught 2nd year students how to build deformation rigs.
• 

  Rigger

  ARRI

  October 2013 - January 2014

  Character Rigging in 3ds Max for the live-action film 'Saphirblau'. Rigged the gargoyle Xemerius in 3ds Max. Full facial setup using morphs and bones.
• 

  Rigger

  Animationsfabrik GmbH

  July 2013 - August 2013

  Character and prop rigging for a TV commercial.
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  Rigger

  TRIXTER

  March 2013 - July 2013

  Wolfblood, season 2, BBC: Rigging, muscle sim and tool development for 8 realistic wolves
  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2321596/
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  Rigger

  Framestore

  March 2011 - March 2013

  * Hero character puppet, face and deformation rigs
  * Hero and secondary digi doubles
  * CG stereoscopic camera rigs
  * Character path animation toolkit
  * Character tools development
  Internal education: Nuke Training For Rigging, Framestore Animation Mentorship, Life Drawing, Advanced Python For Rigging, Math For Computer Graphics, Introduction to Python, Figure Sculpture - Anatomy from the inside out

  

  

  

  

  
• 

  Character TD

  TRIXTER

  January 2011 - March 2011

  Realistic creature rigging in Maya, muscle systems
  Rigged an elephant for the live-action movie Journey 2.
• 

  Character TD

  MotionWorks Gmbh

  June 2010 - July 2010

  Cartoon character rigging in 3ds Max for a German TV show (Mullewapp).

• Rigging Supervisor

  Rothkirch Cartoon-Film

  August 2009 - May 2010

  Rigging supervision for the feature film Laura's Star and the Dream Monsters in Mumbai and Berlin. Tool development in MaxScript.

• Character TD

  Rothkirch Cartoon-Film

  November 2008 - July 2009

  Character rig creation in 3dsmax for the feature film Laura's Star and the Mysterious Dragon Nian. Tool development in MaxScript.
• 

  Character Rigger

  Rabbix VFX GmbH

  March 2009 - March 2009

  Rigging for two characters for a Sparkasse cinema commercial in Maya.

• GIS Supervisor

  Profinet FZC

  March 2008 - August 2008

  Built data bases, programmed GUIs and visualized buildings for a geographic information system using 3DS Max, Visual Studio 2008, MS SQL Server.

• Modeling Supervisor/Character TD

  toons 'n' tales

  January 2008 - February 2008

  Creation of a feature film teaser. Modeling supervision and character rigging.

• Character TD

  Electric Sheep

  January 2008 - January 2008

  Rigged a vending machine for a viral commercial in Maya. Scripted pivot switching tools in MEL.

• Character TD

  toons 'n' tales

  April 2007 - September 2007

  Rigged the 24 main characters for the feature film "Jasper: Journey to the End of the World" with another character TD (Ruth Wiegand).

• 3D Artist/Animator/Rigger

  Quadriga|FX

  May 2006 - August 2006

  Rigging and animation of 3D characters for a German TV show (ProSieben's Märchenstunde) and a TV show trailer called "The Aquas".
  Also created clips going through the whole animation pipeline from modeling through shading, texturing, animation, lighting, rendering and compositing (After Effects and Fusion).

• 3D Artist/Animator/Rigger (Intern)

  Quadriga|FX

  September 2005 - April 2006

  Rigged and animated 3D characters in Maya for a German TV show (ProSieben's Märchenstunde) and science show (Wunderwelt Wissen).
  Also created whole clips from the first idea through modeling, texturing, shading, animation, lighting, rendering, compositing.
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  TRIXTER

  ? - Present

  
• 

  TRIXTER

  ? - Present