3D Animator

3D Animator — Pixel Forge Studios

Portland, OR | October 2023 – Present

• Developed character rigs and keyframe animations for 14 unique in-game creatures, improving animation processing speed by 25% using Autodesk Maya.
• Collaborated with 8 gameplay programmers to integrate asset pipelines into Unreal Engine 5, reducing runtime memory usage of animation visual effects by 18% over a 6-month cycle.
• Edited and refined over 120 minutes of raw motion-capture data for lead character cinematics, reducing overall post-production cleanup timelines by 30%.
• Organized weekly animation review sessions for a team of 5 artists, streamlining feedback loops and accelerating asset delivery schedules by 15%.

Associate 3D Animator — Emberlight Games

Seattle, WA | June 2021 – September 2023

• Created 45 distinct environmental and prop animations for a mobile action title, boosting frame rate performance by 12% across older iOS and Android devices.
• Rigged and weighted 30 non-player character (NPC) models using Blender, saving $8,000 in outsource rigging costs through internal workflow optimization.
• Textured and lit 15 cinematic cutscenes using Unity and Substance Painter, which reduced scene loading times by 20% and improved visual consistency across 4 levels.
• Documented animation pipeline guidelines for incoming interns, decreasing onboarding time by 35% and improving team asset version control consistency.

Autodesk Maya, Blender, Unreal Engine 5, Unity, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Adobe Creative Cloud, Keyframe animation, Skeletal rigging, Character skinning, Motion capture editing, Asset optimization, Storyboarding, UV mapping

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Project: Relic Hunter Gameplay Demo

Role: Lead Character Animator

Tools: Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine 5, Substance Painter

Designed and animated 8 distinct player combat actions for a third-person gameplay demo, increasing execution responsiveness by 15% and lowering input latency.

Project: Cyber-Streets Cinematic Short

Role: 3D Animator and Rigger

Tools: Blender, Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve

Rigged and animated 3 complex bipedal characters for a 2-minute stylized cinematic, completing rendering 10 days early with a 25% reduction in frame compute times.

• Autodesk Certified Professional in Maya for Character Animation (2022)
• Unreal Engine Certified Creator: Animation & Rigging (2023)
• Unity Certified User: Artist (2021)

• Languages: English (Native), Japanese (Conversational)
• Volunteer Work: Mentored high school students in 3D modeling basics at Portland Youth Art Center (2023–Present)
• Availability: 3 weeks notice