James Arndt

New Smyrna Beach, Florida (Remote)

I work to bridge the gap between artistic design and technical implementation, ensuring seamless integration of art assets into real-time engines and development environments. I work closely with both artists and engineers to optimize workflows, develop pipelines and to boost the rendering efficiency and fidelity of applications. My responsibilities generally involve 3D mesh editing and authoring, mesh materialization and texturing, art content optimization, art ingestion pipelines, project setup, user interface setup and integration, 2D illustration, lighting and rendering scenarios and component setup, animation and rigging, shader authoring, VFX/Particles authoring, prefab creation and authoring, mobile/VR/AR framework setup and integration. My work usually also includes working in various DCC tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, Blender, Substance Painter, Photoshop and Illustrator, Pixyz Studio, Visual Studio, Speedtree, etc.

New Smyrna Beach, Florida (Remote)

In this role I served as a Senior Technical Artist creating world-class interactive and immersive real-time experiences that brought client products and ideas to life. Our Industry business unit was made redundant and was acquired by Capgemini. Most days were spent working within the Unity game engine, and with each facet of technical implementation/integration and authoring. This could include 3D modeling, art content optimization, art ingestion pipeline, project setup, user interface setup and integration, 2D illustration, lighting and rendering scenarios and component setup, materialization and texturing, animation and rigging, shader authoring, VFX/Particles authoring, prefab creation and authoring, mobile/VR/AR framework setup and integration. My work also included working in various DCC tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, Blender, Substance Painter, Photoshop and Illustrator, Pixyz Studio, Visual Studio, Speedtree, etc.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (Remote)

At NASA I served in a dual capacity as both a Unity developer and web development specialist. I utilized a range of web frameworks and software to create engaging, interactive online experiences using both the latest in WebGL technology and game development tools. I was tasked with the creation of multimedia assets for websites, educational games, multimedia presentations, and for interactive displays and exhibits as well as other products as requested. My daily tasks included writing C# code for Unity webGL projects, creating both 2D illustrations and 3D models for these projects, creating a variety of 2D graphics for the web, using HTML5 and CSS3 to code modern and responsive websites within the nasa.gov domain.

San Mateo, California (Remote)

At Roblox I served as a 3D Modeler and 2D Texture Artist for the Roblox online platform. My responsibilities in this role included 3D modeling of assets from provided concepts or imagery, producing highly-optimized UVW texture coordinates for these meshes and importing these assets into Substance Painter. In Substance Painter I would complete the materialization and texturing process to produce the final art asset. These assets were materialized in a stylized rendering aesthetic. Across this experience I authored hats, armor, weapons, toys, clothing and shoes and various adornments that the digital avatars would wear within the virtual sandbox. My daily use tools were Autodesk 3ds Max, Adobe Photoshop and Substance Painter.

Orlando, Florida (Hybrid)

In this role I was a 3D Modeler and 2D Texture Artist tasked with constructing and processing 3D meshes and textures for usage in multiple simulation databases. My responsibilities in this role included gathering photographic reference, creating 3D meshes with 3DS Max and Autodesk Maya, processing these meshes with Presagis Creator and creating 2D textures using Adobe Photoshop. I would typically be tasked with authoring military and commercial vehicles, commercial aircraft, various ships and real-world buildings and structures. I was responsible for maintaining a consistent art style, quality levels and performant functioning of assets within the SAGE engine. I ensured that any newly implemented assets were constructed in performance efficient ways so as not to impact the overall frame time of a given simulation.

Orlando, Florida (Onsite)

In this contract role I served as the team’s Technical Artist tasked in the creation of 2D texture masks for a coloring system utilized in the customization of creature/character skins and armors. I was responsible for material balancing and coloring of characters, weapons and creatures in both the menu front end and under in-game lighting scenarios. I ensured albedo, normal and specular texture level continuity across hundreds of pieces of armor and characters and maintained a consistent measured PBR pipeline. I was also tasked with the illustration of numerous 2D icons used within the game’s menus and in-game user interface.

Orlando, Florida (Onsite)

In this position I managed a team of seven-ten student artists during the development of a three-month vertical slice game demo. We utilized agile development methods to track tasks and time management during production of all game assets. I provided creative direction and continuity in maintaining the look of the Aliens franchise based on IP and reference materials. I provided course lectures on general game development and lectures specific to aspects of Unity game engine. I also produced C# code base for all game management states, gameplay mechanics and functionality for the student's final project.

Orlando, Florida (Onsite)

Eight month on-site contract position as a 3D Generalist. I was responsible for modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging and animating a variety of real time assets. These assets included static world objects, NPC characters, Main boss characters, vehicles and UI/Menu 3d objects. My shipped titles during this time frame were Jaws: Ultimate Predator and the yet to be released iOS Skylanders

New Smyrna Beach, Florida (Remote)

During downturns in industry hiring, I provided game development services for various clients. These services included 3D modeling and texturing, rigging and animation, C# scripting, world building and set dressing. I created working logs to track hours consumed per project. Created invoices and invoice tracking system with PayPal integration for payment. Scripted game management states, gameplay mechanics and all necessary functionality on five commercially shipped titles using C# with Visual Studio.

Merritt Island, Florida (Onsite)

3D artist at Firebrand Games, specializing in environment, vehicle and prop modeling/texturing. Shipped titles within this time frame are: Need for Speed Undercover (Nintendo DS), Need for Speed Nitro (Nintendo DS), Dirt 2 (Nintendo DS), Cars 2 (Nintendo DS), Spongebob Boating Bash (Nintendo DS), Hot Wheels: Track Attack (Nintendo Wii and DS) as well as Octane Demo for the Nintendo Wii. I utitilized Maya 2008 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 to create entire worlds and all props and set pieces within these worlds. I was responsible for creating the art assets, setting up PVS culling systems for the worlds, exporting the environment and animations, running a local build to the Nintendo Dev Kits and testing my progress to completion.

Mission, Kansas (Onsite)

In this contract position as a 3D Motion Graphics Artist I utilized Adobe After Effects ions for Major League Baseball teams such as the San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals and Tampa Rays. During any given workday I created 3D models in Autodesk Maya, textured the assets using Adobe Photoshop, completed lighting passes and rendering of assets inside of Maya. I would also utilize our Butterfly node render farm management system to render out high resolution image sequences from both Maya and After Effects. I created motion and text based animations inside of Adobe After Effects software and composited HD Maya render sequences.

Port Orange, Florida

At LR Publications I served as a Graphic Designer working with real estate agents to conceptualize and create advertisements for publication in the Digest of Homes real estate magazine. My daily duties included interfacing with clients, designing ads, revising designs per customer feedback, ensuring designs were proofed and fit within print guidelines for publishing.

MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina

4611 Combat Illustrator and Combat Photographer. Combat illustrators create two and three dimensional artistic and illustrative products for use in a broad range of programs including, but not limited to, briefs, training, investigations, etc. Typical duties include layout, design, illustration, and artistic projects.

4641 Combat Photographers use digital and film cameras and equipment to take photos in a range of conditions and environments. This includes taking photos at night, in inclement weather, during battle operations, and underwater. Their photos may be used for civil affairs, intelligence gathering, investigations, research, recruiting and for documentation purposes.