I am a 3D technical director/artist that loves to combine the technical and the artistic. Prior to the entering the Masters program at the ETC, I spent time at Berklee College of Music and the University of Pittsburgh studying Jazz guitar, Computer Science, and English Literature. I completed my undergraduate degree at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where I studied 3D rigging for animation as well as traditional animation, 3D modeling and texturing, and compositing. During my time at AiP I was an intern at the ETC’s Design Studio and eventually got the chance to teach at the CMU/ETC run National High School Gaming Academy in the summer of 2009. During the program I got to take a crack at going from student to teacher for 2D game programming instead of guitar. Since I never stop babbling about how to use a computer to make something, I jumped at the chance to spend more time in the ETC building.
Although I joke that I eventually applied to the MET program to give myself another reason to stick around and get more free coffee, it is obvious that the nature of the ETC appeals to my desire to combine both sides of the brain and come up with something new and exciting. I eat, sleep, and dream art and code for some strange reason. Whether I’m in front of computer, drawing table, piano, or running around with a guitar (and now trumpet!) strapped in hands, I’m always trying to learn how to do something different and fun.
Over the past year at the ETC I have been focusing on improving and applying my programming skills. I’ve had the chance to work on the export tools for the Panda3D engine, done a bit of shader programming, as well as started to get a good background in general 3D graphics programming. Also, I’ve been working on trying to improve how people actually work on an animation project as a team. It’s been a great experience learning how to automate as much of the annoying stuff that artists hate to do but still need control over (not to mention trying to get the ETC renderfarm up to snuff). Finally as if that wasn’t enough stuff to keep me occupied I have just taken a deep dive at Unity3D for my current semester project. Somehow I still find the time to keep up with the band’s schedule and draw for fun from time to time. Hopefully, life after the ETC is this interesting and full of things to do.
