Resume
Freelance CG Artist, Technical Director and Consultant
I'm a freelance CG artist specialising in effects and animation for movies and TV. I started my professional life as a photographer working mainly in the UK music industry, moving into 3D animation when it was in it's infancy in the mid 80s. I now have over 25 years of experience of CG in the film and television industries. I have extensive skills in both the technical and creativel arenas of CG.
My choice of specialist software is Softimage XSI for 3D, Digital Fusion for 2D and I own full licenses of both products. I've been using XSI since it's first version appeared nearly 6 years ago, am a recognised expert in it's use and have been a beta tester of the software since it's first alpha version.
In 2005 I was co-founder, along with Brad Gabe, of CG Soup. CG Soup was a consultancy service offering setup and pipeline advice to small and large CG studios. Amongst our clients were Troublemaker Studios ( Robert Rodriguez) and Omation Studios (Barnyard, the Movie ). CG Soup was forced into closure in 2005 when the managing director absconded.
In 1993 I founded The Aldis Animation Company, an independant TV graphics studio where for 8 years we made TV content animation for titles, promotion and idents and commercials (see below). I sold the company in 2001 and now spend my time frleelancing.
2001-current
Freelance and consultancy, UK, LA, New York, Montreal, Dublin for clients including:
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Destroy all Monsters
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The Golden Compass (previz)
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Fluid Pictures
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Katrina (documentary)
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Passion Pictures
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Domestos (commercial)
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The Guardian (commercial)
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Glassworks UK
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Bjork 'Cacoon (pop video)
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Aero (commercial)
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Saab (commercial)
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Peerless Camera Company
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Pinnochio
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Brothers Grimm
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Jim Henson's Creature Shop UK
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Jack and the Beanstalk
lighting and rendering
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Lola Post UK
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Ancient Egyptians
Crowd control; research and develop methods for working with large numbers of characters for crowd and battle scenes, organising and coordinating motion capture.
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Peerless Camera Company UK
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Benigni's Pinochio
Lead technical director; creature work (mice), rig, aniimate, render. Develop methods for animating large numbers of creatures on 11 shots. -
Gilliam's 'Brother's Grimm'
Team lead, R&D methods for working with large numbers of insects.
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ScreenScene, Dublin
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Neil Jordan's ''Breakfast on Pluto'
Lead Technical Director; creature rigging, lighting, hair/feathers and rendering
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Omation, LA
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Steve Odekerk's 'Barnyard, the Movie
Hired to research and advise on the use of CG hair and fur.
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Passion Pictures, UK
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Commercials; 'The Guardian', 'Duracell', 'Domestos', '3 Mobile'
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Tangerine, New York
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Enbrel, a landscape visualisation.
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Smoke and Mirrors, UK
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Crowd control
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Fluid Pictures, UK
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Katrina (documentary, the flooding of New Orleans); water and flood simulation
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Destroy All Monsters
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The Golden Compass. Feature film previsualisation.
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2005-2006: Co-founder CG Soup, CGI consultancy
CG Soup was set up by myself and Brad Gabe in 2005. We provided consultancy and training services, most specifically for XSI for a number of studios - Omation (Barnyard the Movie), Troublemaker Studios - and co-presented the Softimage TD Love tour in the spring of 2006.
In 2006 a 3rd co-founder mis-appropriated most of CG Soup's funds forcing closure.
1993 - 2001: founder and owner ‘The Aldis Animation Company’,
Initially based out of Molinare, a major London TV facility, serving as their 3D department. The company grew steadily until in 1997 we moved to premises of our own, expanded from 4 to 14 personel, and added a 2D compositing suite to an already strong and talented 3D team. The company’s work was chiefly broadcast and commercials and quickly established itself as a name synonymous with quality in the London broadcast graphics and animation sector. The Aldis Animation Company, at it's peak, was one of the largest fully independant graphics and CG animation facilities in London.
Aldis Animation clients included Sci-Fi channel, ITV, BBC, Channel 4, E4, Psygnosis, The Cartoon Network, LWT, CITV, RTE Dublin, Universal, Bruce Dunlop Associates, Chris Morris, Vigilante, Hobbins Sides and Greys Advertising. Amongst the many projects completed at The Aldis Animation Company were branding for CITV, Sci-Fi Channel, Universal and Wizja TV and the Cartoon Network, work on Jaam, the award-winning series by Chris Morris for Channel 4.
In February 2001 I sold The Aldis Animation Company to the then management team and left to spend time freelancing.
October 1991 - August 1992: Head of Animation and Production, Imagic,
A TV graphics facility. During the year I was there we shifted the emphasis of work from corporate work to the (then) more lucrative broadcast sector. During my time there turnover in the 3D department trebled and we considerably raised the company's profile in 3D.
1990 to October 1992 head of Animation, Digital Pictures, London.
1985 to 1990 Senior Animator, Digital Pictures, London
In it’s day, Digital Pictures was the UK’s leading 3D animation studios, respected throughout the world for it’s innovative and high quality work, regularly winning awards both in the UK and abroad. As head of Animation I fronted a 6 person animation team – large in those days – designing and directing a number of award winning pieces for the UK, Spain and Hong Kong.
Skillset
Proficient in the following software:-
Softimage Xsi, Softimage|3D, Softimage DS, Digital Fusion, Photoshop, Painter, Illustrator, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash, Shockwave, FrontPage,
Languages: C, C++, Perl, Php, Java, JavaScript, VBS, Python, Actionscript, HTML, csh, Tcl, Tk, Fortran, DOS.
Considerable experience with both Windows and UNIX flavour operating systems up to administration level.
Services and facilities
I own the following software, running on either a fully specced 3D workstation or portably on a 2Ghz, fully networkable laptop with full 3D capabilities:-
Xsi Extreme, Digital Fusion, Photoshop, Illustrator, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, After Effects, Realflow, Z Brush
I have been a beta tester of Softimage|3D, Softimage Xsi and associated products for many years.
Contact