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 | Mike Best is the Lead Technical Artist at Smoking Gun Interactive in Vancouver, Canada. Mike has a passion the art of bringing 3D characters to life through animation, and is and expert in facial animation technologies. Contact
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Television Credits:
Software / Tools Expertise:
Employment History 3D Art and Animation Lead Technical Artist, Smoking Gun Inc., Vancouver, Sept 2009 to present At Smoking Gun I am responsible for overseeing all aspects of the character technical art and animation pipelines. This includes scoping art and animation packages and tools for the studio, researching and developing new techniques and implementing them into the development pipeline. Where needed I am directly writing tools and interfaces for the artist and animators to manipulate characters, animation, export across packages. Further, I am responsible for specifying animation requirements, designing move-trees and state machines in middleware editors, prepping assets for integration into the engine, and all other technical components of the character animation for a computer game. Senior Character TD, Sony Computer Entertainment, London, October 2007 to August 2009 At Sony I was the Senior Character TD for EyePet, an augmented reality game released on the PS3 platform and Eight Days, an unreleased action-adventure title. Both games had intensive character animation requirements, and I was responsible for the research, development and implementation of all aspects of character tech. I constructed animation and rigging pipelines, and wrote a number of rigging, animation, and import/export tools for Maya. In addition to supporting the Maya animation workflows, I did extensive research and development in facial animation and built a ‘state-of-the art’ facial animation pipeline integrating keyframe and motion capture techniques. As all of the work we did had to be feasible in a run-time environment, my job had an emphasis on pushing the limits of the technology to get the highest visual fidelity in animation and character art, while working within the very tight technical constraints of a game engine. Senior Character TD, Electronic Arts Guildford,UK, May 2005 to Oct 2007. While at Electronic Arts, I was responsible for the development of character animation and modeling pipelines, working in Maya and Motion Builder, as well as ‘middle-ware’ tools such as Morpheme and proprietary EA software. I was responsible for the implementation of motion capture data and worked closely with the character and A.I. engineers on high-fidelity movement systems for 1st and 3rd person characters, creating a blend-trees, state-machines, IK systems, procedural awareness systems and other current technologies. I was also closely involved in the development of facial animation systems. While doing Pre-Vis for Burnout Paradise, I produced numerous ‘crash test’ visualizations using advanced dynamics and particle effects to produce quick visualizations of techniques that could be then engineered and implemented into the game engine. On Battlefield Modern Combat for the Xbox 360 platform, I created high-resolution buildings, props and vehicles for the game, I was responsible for producing technical specifications for the outsourced world assets, and oversaw the quality and ‘game-readiness’ of these materials. Freelance 3D Artist/Animator Various Clients, London, April 2004 to April 2005 I provided freelance 3D animation and modeling work for clients in the television, games and multi-media industries. At Golden Square Post production in Soho, London I produced 3D artwork and animation for clients including Nike, Pier 1 Imports and Sky TV. In addition, I modeled and animated all the characters for ‘Jollywell’, a 5-minute children’s television pilot being produced by Shutterbug Studios. I have also done character animation work for ‘Scotland in the Sixties’, a BBC Scotland special. I have also created graphics and animations for websites, and have an ongoing relationship with Lifemode Interactive to demonstrate their Lifestudio Head software at various shows and exhibitions. I have also taught courses in 3DSMax at the Hoxton Bibliotech. Senior Artist, Argonaut Games, London, UK, January 2004 to April 2004 At Argonaut I created low-polygon environment models and textures for the Catwoman game. I also extended my role to include the production of maxscript tools to enhance workflow. Art Director, Firefly Studios Ltd, London, UK, November 1999 to May 2003 I was with Firefly since the inception of the company in 1999. I oversaw all aspects of the visual design and animation of projects and marketing materials. I was closely involved at all levels with building the company, developing its games (Space Colony, Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader) and providing creative direction. This extended to researching and purchasing software and systems, hiring, training and managing artists and animators, liaising with producers and programmers, collaborating with game designers, developing internal systems and creating and approving 3D artwork and animation. In addition to my responsibilities for the overall look and feel of the games (character design, 3D modeling, in-game animation, front-end design, cover artwork and FMVs) I extended the role of art director to include creating Max-scripts to enhance workflow. I worked closely with programmers to form a more effective bridge between the programming and art departments. I was acknowledged for fostering a strong team environment while providing constructive feedback and direction to art team-members. Lead Artist, Impressions UK, London UK, July 1998 to November 1999 Provided 3D animation, character design, front-end and interface design and artwork. Responsible for recruiting and training artists, scheduling, approving all artwork and animation on a series of titles. Instructor, Center for Digital Imaging and Sound, Burnaby, Canada, April 1996 to June 1998 Taught 3D animation, digital illustration, and digital video production to students training for work in the animation and visual effects industry. Acknowledged for strong communication skills, organization ability and friendly manner. Education Graduate in Film and Video Production (four-year program), Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Vancouver, Canada, 1986-90 Other Interests:
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