Niels Kleinheinz

Niels Kleinheinz

Character TD / Rigger / Scripter

Senior Character TD / Character Rigger / 19 yrs

Berlin, Germany

Hire Me

Rigging Artist

The Family Plan (2023)

Senior Rigging Artist

The Marvels (2023)

Rigging Artist

Die Känguru-Verschwörung (2022)

Senior Rigger

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)

Rigging Artist

I Am Groot (2022)

Senior Rigger

Ms. Marvel (2022)

Senior Rigger

Shang-Chi (2021)

Senior Rigger

The Suicide Squad (2021)

CG & Concept

Black Widow (2021)

Rigger

Loki (2021)

Rigging Artist

Jim Button and the Wild 13 (2020)

Rigging Artist

Die Känguru-Chroniken (2020)

Rigging

Guns Akimbo (2020)

Senior Rigger

Jim Button (2019)

Rigging Artist

Brightburn (2019)

Rigging Department

Rocca verändert die Welt (2019)

Rigging Artist

Captain Marvel (2019)

Rigging TD

Lost in Space (2018)

Rigging

Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (2018)

Senior Rigger

Black Panther (2018)

Senior Rigger

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Senior Rigger

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Senior Rigger

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Rigger

Gravity (2016)

Rigger

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Rigger

47 Ronin (2013)

Character Rigger

Wolfblood (2012)

Rigger

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Character TD / Rigger

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

Rigger

Johnny English Reborn (2011)

Rigging Supervisor

Laura's Star and the Dream Monster (2011)

Rigger

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Rigger

Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

Character Technical Director / Final Checking

Laura's Star and the Mysterious Dragon Nian (2009)

Character Technical Director

Jasper: Penguin Explorer (2009)

Character Technical Director

Die ProSieben Märchenstunde (2006)

Rigging Artist

Play (2005)

My name is Niels Kleinheinz (birth name Roscher) and I am a character TD. I create character and prop rigs for animated feature films, visual effects for live-action features and commercials in Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max. Apart from that I also develop tools for the rigging pipeline in Python, MEL and MaxScript.

I've worked on feature film productions including multiple locations which allowed me to supervise teams in Mumbai, India, Peking, China and Sophia, Romania. I've also had the chance to work in London and Abu Dhabi.
Work History
  • Senior Rigger

    TRIXTER

    October 2017 - September 2018
  • character rigger td

    TRIXTER

    October 2016 - September 2017
  • 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
  • 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.

  • 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/

  • 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.

  • TRIXTER

    ? - Present
  • TRIXTER

    ? - Present
Education
  • Beuth University of Applied Sciences

    2002 - 2007
  • Facial Rigging

    CG Master Academy

    ? - ?