Portfolio
Welcome!
Thanks for taking the time to drop by. In the event that your time is limited, you can find a general overview of my portfolio all on this page. Should you wish to explore a category in more depth, just pick a section from under the “MORE STUFF” menu item. Enjoy!
~Joe
Fitwork Office Exercise Device
I was approached by a local inventor to create an illustration of a piece of office exercise equipment he had built a prototype for. His prototype was functional, but not as attractive as he wanted – so he tasked me with reimagining it as though it was fully in production – a “real” product. I worked from photos and videos of the prototype, rough dimensions, and some sketches. In a small follow-up project, I designed ways in which the accessories might be added to a “standard” treadmill.
You can see a video of it in action HERE
And a video of some “addon” concepts HERE
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Evermore Park VR
Evermore Park is a theme park currently under construction in Pleasant Grove, Utah. I worked with other artists to create the park in VR before it was built – on the VIVE platform. This was very beneficial in that it allowed the owners, investors, architects and designers to “walk through” the park before it was physically built, allowing them to make changes and improvements before anything was ever “set in stone” thereby preventing costly mistakes. My main responsibility was world-building, but I also contributed to modeling, texturing, sound and particles.
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Temple of the Apsara – VR
Temple of the Apsara is a Virtual Reality experience for the HTC VIVE. The main purpose of this project was to get me up to speed in VR development as well as using visual-scripting tools. I handled about 90% of the project, including design, modeling, texturing, animation, interaction code, lighting, sound, and FX.
The Temple of the Apsara is available for purchase on the Steam Store.
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Environments
Some examples of Unity environments built over the past few years. Target platforms were generally mid-to-low end hardware (PC’s) and portable devices, although some “higher-end” VR environments were also created. My main responsibilities were lighting, sound, materials creation, model optimization, and performance optimization – although I generally touched just about every aspect of these worlds. I also implemented new tech whenever I ran across it (if it was beneficial).
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UOT Montgomery Tunnel
A very interesting project done for the Utah Office of Tourism through the Struck/Axiom agency. The goal was to “wrap” an image onto the walls, floor, and ceiling of a pedestrian tunnel in the San Francisco BART system. To my knowledge, this had never been done before. My responsibilities included the initial proof-of-concept Unity build (used to sell the idea to the client), authoring the segments, outputting the final files (38GB), working directly with the print vendors and installers, and writing the installation instructions. The installation received worldwide recognition in the advertising industry.
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Work-Related Rendering and Design
A selection of renderings and compositions related to work in marketing, games, and User Interface designs. Projects include: Spiderwick Chronicles, Charlotte’s Web, Monsters vs. Aliens, Kung-Fu Panda, Dinner for Schmucks, Rampage, Tak and the Power of Juju, Madagascar, Thomas the Tank Engine, 25toLife, The V.I.E.W project, Personal Wealth Guru and the launch of Will-I-Am’s PULS Watch.
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Personal Renders
Some examples of personal work – mostly done for fun and skill-building. Rendered in a variety of renderers – including Arnold, Keyshot, Blender (Cycles and EEVEE), Animation:Master, Mental Ray, and RedShift.
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Photography
A small sampling of personal photographs. It’s pretty obvious that I have a thing for the Macro as well as the Micro. I also enjoy putting together interactive 360 degree panoramas which you can find a the bottom of my Photography gallery page (you can go there by clicking HERE)
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Instructables
A few examples of “Instructables” that I’ve published. Basically, these are projects that are heavily documented with pictures and explanations (“How To’s”) with the purpose of sharing knowledge with the vastness of the internet. It’s my way of giving back to the source that I’ve gained so much from.
(click the thumbnail to launch the gallery)
Video Editing and Production Examples
Example Video #1
A fund-raising video I created (gratis) to help fund a kidney transplant for a young man with Alport’s Syndrome.
Example Video #2
An example instructional video showing how to install plugins to run the VIEW.
Interactive Examples
Unity Interactive Web-Build Example
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360° Interactive Panorama Example
(click image to open panorama in new tab)
About
• 21 years Game Development experience, 28 years CGI experience.
• Leadership, Personnel and Project Management skills and experience.
• Instructor experience – written tutorials, video tutorials, and classroom instruction
• Technical as well as Artistic skills.
• CGI Skills include modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, compositing, level building, FX, VR, node-based coding and platform optimization.
• Broad range of software knowledge as well as the ability to get up and running quickly in new software.
• Ability to understand and work within engine constraints – and optimize to those constraints.
• Video Directing / Editing experience
• Proficient with a range of bug tracking and asset management software.
• Self-starter and a quick study.
• Hardware and software troubleshooting and repair (I.T. Skills).
• Published a VR (VIVE) experience on the STEAM platform: The Temple of the Apsara
• Built out the first phase of the “Evermore” theme park in VR (Unity3D + VIVE) to assist in design visualization.
• Spent 4 years developing the Virtual Immersive Educational World (V.I.E.W.) project in Unity3d.
• Created extensive 4K animation / video and high-rez print renders for Will-I-Am’s PULS Watch introduction.
• Created an award-winning, one-of-a-kind vinyl wrap of an entire pedestrian hallway in San Francisco for the Utah Office of Tourism
• Book Cover illustrator for Penguin Books (Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross)
• Created a commercial software package designed to help people eliminate debt.
• Selected for Gold and Silver Awards in “Aphrodisia” – art book by Arista Publishing.
• Selected for inclusion in “Spectrum 9” the annual fantasy art publication.
• Published 4 times in 3DWorld Magazine – including a cover.
• Selected for inclusion in Ballistic Publishing’s “Expose’” art publication.
• Featured in a TV spot on the BBC dealing with Fantasy Art.
• Artwork used in a German 3D Magazine (3d-grafik) in an article about Lightwave.
• Created aircraft illustrations (traditional painting) for the TV series “Air Combat 2”.
• Completed freelance projects for clients such as Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, Omation, Warner Brothers, and Penguin Books.
• Rampage2 – Universal Tour: Modeled and textured the majority of the vehicles for the
game. Animated parts of the FMVs, as well as sprites for the game. Composited the
Final FMVs and processed the video.
• Prince of Persia – Arabian Nights: Modeling (minor), Texturing (minor), assisted in
animation design (custom fighting moves), FMV’s and Cut scenes processing.
• NBA Showtime – NBA on NBC: FMV and Credits animations (Broadcast style
animations).
• RugRats in Paris: FMV “interface” and Credits animations, Particle Effects.
• NFL Blitz 2000: Modeling, Texturing (minor), FMV compression.
• Road Rash II : (cancelled after 18 months in production) Modeling, texturing, Opening FMV
design and Animation.
• RugRats Royal Ransom: Particle Effects, FMV and Credits animations and
compression.
• DragonBall Z-Sagas: Particle Effects, Video processing.
• NCAA 2K2 College Football: Modeling, Texturing (minor), Opening FMV design and
creation.
• Tak and the Power of Juju: Modeling, Texturing, Particle Effects, FMVs, Television
Commercials.
• Tak2: The Staff of Dreams: Particle effects, FMV Compositing.
• Tak3: Level Building and Level Design (minor)
• 25 to Life: Art Direction, HUD design, Front End design, Particle Effects, Modeling,
animation direction.
• Chicken Little 2: Ace in Action: Object Lead (modeling, scheduling, mentoring new
hires)
• Hanna Montana Spotlight World Tour: Object Lead (including outsourcing liaison duty)
• Bolt: World Renderer (object modeling, texturing, lighting, shader creation).
• ToyStory 3: World Renderer, Object Lead, and World Rendering Technology Lead.
Made significant advances in on-screen rendering quality including advances in
Gamma correction and normal map rendering. Mentored three new object builders,
helping them improve their efficiency in techniques, UV layout, and mesh structure.
• DubWars: Extensive Particle FX Creation, sprite rendering, texture sheet authoring, etc.