From October 2015 through March 2017, I worked as an Assistant Technical Director at Digital Domain 3.0, supporting several large-scale film productions during an intense and fast-paced period of work. This role sat squarely at the intersection of artists, production teams, and technical leadership, where reliability, clarity, and problem-solving were essential.
My primary responsibility was collaborating closely with animators, supervisors, and production to identify pipeline needs and translate them into practical tools and workflows. I developed, maintained, packaged, and released a variety of internal tools that supported animation, rigging, lighting, and general scene management. These tools were designed to reduce friction for artists and keep production moving smoothly under tight deadlines.
A significant portion of my work involved debugging problematic 3D scenes, particularly issues related to rig connections, animation playback, and lighting setups. Many of these issues surfaced late in production, requiring fast diagnosis and careful fixes to avoid breaking the typical duct taped pipelines. Rig connection troubleshooting was a frequent challenge would break on a regular basis, especially when dealing with complex character setups moving between departments and render pipelines.
During this time, I contributed to several major feature films, including Beauty and the Beast (credited), Fast & Furious 8 (credited), Power Rangers, and Independence Day: Resurgence. Each project came with its own technical constraints and artistic requirements, which required flexibility and a deep understanding of both the tools and the production process.
Technically, my work relied heavily on Python and PyQt for tool development, alongside extensive use of Maya and Houdini. I also supported workflows involving Photoshop and multiple renderers, including V-Ray and Redshift. This role reinforced the importance of clean tooling, clear documentation, and close communication between departments—lessons that continue to shape how I approach pipeline and technical art challenges today.
After my contract ended, I did not pursue additional work at the company. I genuinely enjoyed the challenges the VFX work offered, and the work-life balance was reasonable. The hours were consistent and manageable, and I never experienced the extreme crunch periods that are common at many studios in Vancouver. While the compensation was not exceptional, it was fair and aligned with the role. Ultimately, the primary factor in not returning was the commute. Traveling from Lougheed Town Centre to West Vancouver was demanding, often taking around an hour and a half by car on a good day and close to two hours using public transit. Over time, the impact of that commute made it difficult to justify continuing in that location, despite the positive experience working with the team.
Worked on dugging Alembic caches, render fails, rig misconnection and various utilities.
Worked automobile rigs, compositing and rendering bugs, maya timeline hacks for shotgun data base manipulation with RV bug displays, realtime exr sequence player.
Site XML cad mesurment data implemention in to maya.