​As a Technical Artist in the interactive department, my role is to be a bridge between art and engineering to create interactive experiences. Our goal is to develop concepts and prototypes for interactive interstitials for the Sphere in Las Vegas.​​

​

Art

• Asset Creation & Procedural Workflows

  • Developed 3D plant assets in Houdini with procedural shape controls for infinite variations.

  • Designed a flexible Unreal Engine workflow for plant manipulation and animation using vertex colors and material parameters.

  • Processed photogrammetry scans to remove directional lighting for photorealistic Unreal Engine environments.

• Shader Development & Optimization

  • Created shaders for various materials (glass, water, organic, metallic).

  • Developed foliage shaders supporting PBR textures, world-position-based randomization, and wind simulation.

  • Built templates for layered materials and material functions to streamline shader creation.

  • Optimized assets and shaders to maintain 60 FPS performance.

  • Created animated shaders responsive to game interactions (e.g., glowing walls, dynamic time-of-day effects).

• Visual Effects & Interactivity

  • Designed VFX for interactive elements, including spaceship thrusters, impact effects, and animated textures.

  • Created an audio-reactive particle system and interactive light beams.

  • Developed game-event-driven effects (e.g., planet explosion, collision-based effects).

• Rigging and Animation States

  • Rigged non-organic and organic characters in Maya for interactive prototypes.​

  • Set up Animation Blueprints and State Machines in Unreal Engine to seamlessly transition between different character animations.

  • Developed a workflow for procedurally attaching character accessories and VFX in Unreal Engine using Data Assets.

​

Engineering

• Tool Development​

  • Developed custom tools to expand real-time capabilities in Big Dome and Sphere (Houdini, TouchDesigner).

  • Wrote Python scripts for Maya to enhance artist productivity (batch renaming, asset sorting, automation).

  • Built animated camera systems for efficient environment reviews.

  • Developed artist tools and plugins in Unreal Engine, such as a measure tool, level switching tool, material library, etc.

• C++

  • Programmed procedural spline animations.

  • Engineered phase actions that trigger intro cinematics and end celebratory effects.

  • Triggered VFX and shader effects that respond to game mechanics (collision, health status, velocity changes).

• Visual Scripting 

  • Prototyped a dynamic sky system with animated clouds, auroras, planets, and stars.

  • Developed a preliminary tower-building system.

  • Resolved various visual and gameplay bugs.

​

Pipeline & Research​

• Tested Unreal Engine’s latest features such as Nanite and Lumen at our Burbank test site to enhance graphics.​

• Researched the use of Gaussian Splats and other scanning technology to generate photoreal environments for content creation.

• Worked with external vendors to provide expertise in how the Sphere works and audited outsourced assets for quality control.

• Explored AI solutions to format feature films for Sphere.

​

​

Reference: James Dargie - Senior Creative Director

​​

​

Testing site at Burbank:

​