EXPERIENCE

xyBlue Design
Los Angeles, CA
Technical Director - Digital Sets, 2004-present
Production Design, shot development, digital set design, rendering, camera animation.
Maya for modeling and design / mental ray with light extraction algorithms for rendering.

ESC fx
Alameda, CA
Technical Director - Digital Sets, 2001-2004
Virtual background tools for photogrammetric reconstruction and extended dynamic range texturing methods used for set reconstruction from Lidar scanned data for "Catwoman" (Warner Bros. 2004).
Shot development, digital sets, rendering, camera animation for “Matrix Reloaded” and “Matrix Revolutions” (Warner Bros., 2003).
Used Maya for modeling and design. Rendered the scenes with mental ray using proprietary shader library and light extraction algorithm.
For the night scenes, the sets were built around the ESC virtual background tools for photogrammetric reconstruction and extended dynamic range texturing methods. Responsible for the sets around the freeway chase, the jet shot and the night flight in “Matrix Reloaded”. Responsible for the city design for the sky fight sequences in “Matrix Revolution”.

MANEX VISUAL EFFECTS / CINESITE
Alameda, CA / Hollywood, CA
Technical Director - Digital Sets, 2000-present
Worked with production design team to transfer a built environment into its digital equivalent.
The set was designed by Sean Haregreaves for “13 Ghosts” (Warner Bros., 2001).
Used Maya for modeling, texturing and lighting. Cameras were extracted from live footage and tracked in Maya on a shot by shot basis.
Worked with visual effects supervisor and editorial to customize Maya and Shake for rendering in the specific color space required for film production. Responsible for several shots from inception to final delivery.

ENTERTAINMENT DESIGN WORKSHOP
Sheffield, MA
Virtual Set Designer, 1999-2000
Designed and modeled virtual sets for real time Disney television series based on “The Book of Pooh”.
Entertainment Design Workshop, under the direction of Douglas Trumbull, tries to create a breakthrough paradigm for integrating TV and feature movies production with digital sets. I modeled the sets in Maya, transferred them to a real-time virtual set software running on an Onyx machine and connected to a motion control camera. Elset was coordinating the real space input from the camera with the virtual set space allowing a real time compositing during the production. Texturing of the sets was done in the EDW Art department using both 2D and 3D painting software (Photoshop, Painter and Deep Paint).

CALIBRE DIGITAL PICTURES
Toronto, ON
Digital Set Designer / Layout Designer, 1999
Worked on set design, modeling, rendering, lighting, camera animation and layout design for combined 2D/3D 16x9 feature for Hanover World Expo. Modeled in Alias Power Animator, animated cameras, textured and lit the sets in Maya1.5.

DAN KRECH PRODUCTIONS
Toronto, ON
Digital Set Designer / Layout designer, 1997 - 1999
Worked on set design, modeling, rendering, lighting, camera animation and layout design for 48 minutes 3D animated feature to be released on video for Christmas 1999. Used both Alias Power Animator and Softimage for building and lighting the sets, including a model of an 18th century town prepared for a 2-minute walk through. Supervised modelers and presented them with previsualization schemes and layouts which they further detailed.

GRAYMATTER INC.
Toronto, ON
Digital Set Designer / Computer Animator, 1995 - 1997
Worked on 3D multimedia project related to motion picture release -- “The Crow - City of Angels” (Edward Pressman Productions). Designed, modeled, textured and lit 3D digital sets using Alias Power Animator. Rendered high-resolution images and z-depth channels of the sets corresponding to several possible viewing angles. Animated camera lights and textures for full motion video inserts containing motion capture animated characters.

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
Computer Resources Laboratory , Cambridge, MA
Fulbright Scholar, 1993-1994
Worked on research project using Autolisp to create perspective restitution routine inside Autocad (project adviser - Prof. William J. Mitchell) / Built computer model of Le Corbusier building and studied different lighting conditions in 3DStudio and Radiance (project adviser Takehiko Nakagura). Made study on shape grammars and computer modeling for a series of Byzantine churches / Design team member for urban park and 20,000 places stadium in Okayama (Japan).

CHISHOLM - WASHINGTON ARCHITECTS, Inc.
Cambridge, MA
3D Modeler / Design Architect, 1994-1995
Produced 3D computer models, detail design, material and texture studies for the Boston Central Artery Tunnel Project. / Design team member with Paul Lukez Architects for Boston City Hall Plaza Competition. Built computer model of urban design proposal.

INSTITUT EUROPEEN D'ARCHITECTURE ET AMENAGEMENT
Rouen-France; Valencia- Spain
Design Architect, 1990-1992
Designed public spaces and new architectural infill for rehabilitation of 13th century Spanish village in Villajoyosa/Spain. Made preliminary proposal and concept sketches for technological park in Annecy/France situated 50 km from Geneva.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS