Experience

• Lead Technical Artist at Hardsuit Labs

  Seattle, Washington (Remote), US

  October 2023 - Present

  Collaborate closely with the Art Director to guide the overall vision and
  
  standards for game visuals and rendering.

  Conduct meetings and review sessions with senior and junior Technical Artists,
  
  providing both technical and artistic feedback.

  Design and develop complex materials, material functions, and organize
  
  material instances to streamline production, thereby enhancing efficiency and
  
  supporting fellow artists.

  Develop blueprints, construction scripts, and macros to enhance game
  
  development processes and create dynamic visuals.

  Manage and document the art production pipeline to ensure efficient workflows
  
  and consistently high-quality outputs.

  Maintain quality and performance standards for technical art rendering across
  
  projects, including ensuring PBR accuracy and optimizing frame rates.
  

• Senior Technical Artist at Hardsuit Labs

  Seattle, Washington (Remote), US

  January 2023 - October 2023

  Provide technical and artistic feedback on project deliverables, ensuring
  
  adherence to artistic vision and technical specifications.

  Develop complex materials, post-processing effects, and material functions
  
  tailored for specific artistic requirements using algebra and trigonometry.

  Utilize Substance Designer and procedural methods to create intricate textures
  
  for various game elements and FX.

  Design and implement blueprints, construction scripts, and macros to facilitate
  
  and optimize game development processes.

  Collaborate with VFX artists to produce compelling visual effects and integrate
  
  simulation texture sheets into materials.

  Conduct platform compatibility tests using the game engine, implementing
  
  necessary adjustments to ensure seamless transitions across different
  
  platforms.

  Standardize, implement and optimize lighting across all platforms for consistent
  
  visual quality

• Principal Technical Artist at Stage Inc

  Remote / Los Angeles, United States of America

  March 2021 - Present

  - Principal Technical Artist for VR, mobile and web development on social game/app Stagverse using Maya, Substance, Photoshop and Unity
  
  - Avatar pipeline creation and implementation - static then modular over time - basic setup of state machines and animations, rigging, weighting, exporting and testing
  
  - Environment art pipeline creation and implementation - meshes, materials, animation, lighting
  
  and fx creation using particles, models and scripting
  
  - Custom Shader creation using code and node based systems in Unity - water, fake caustics, iridescence, distortion etc.
  
  - Custom looping, seamless environment animations - Shantel Martin 'Waterfall' display
  
  - Basic C# scripting in Unity to implement first pass features - real time reflections update, animation timing, drive material properties for FX, basic spectator camera etc.
  
  - Bakery lighting implementation and advanced baked lighting in Unity using RTX

• Senior 3D Artist / Technical Artist at Grove Street Games FKA War Drum Studios

  Gainesville, FL, United States of America

  August 2019 - August 2021

  - Art Development for Video Games - UE4. Maya, Houdini, Substance, Photoshop
  
  - Art Direction for Outsourcing / Environment and Vehicles
  
  - Texture and Material creation for 'Grove Street' cul-de-sac area and main areas
  
  - Principal Technical Artist for Vehicle rigging and setup, damage, lighting (emergency vehicles)
  
  and FX (sparks, smoke, fire, explosions)
  
  - Converted all in game radar maps from 2d Vector to 3D in engine for all 3 games (Maya, UE4)
  
  - Shader development for water, vehicle paint, fire and smoke FX for master materials (Node
  
  editor, cascade and Niagara using elements generated in Houdini
  
  Use of UE4 cinematic engine tools for in game remastering of cutscenes

• Lead Artist / Technical Artist at Firebrand Games

  Merritt Island FL, United States of America

  September 2010 - May 2019

  Christopher Walch is an Lead Artist and Technical Artist that has 13 titles with Firebrand Games and over a decade’s worth of experience in the video game industry. He has been the lead of the art department for such projects as Team Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver (PC,xBox360, ps3, iOS, Android,3DS), Disney/Pixar hit Cars 2 (DS/ 3DS) and most recently Nascar Heat Mobile (iOS, Android) . An avid car enthusiast himself, he thrives on creating racing titles authentic to a car guys gamer. Chris lives and breathes 3D art, games and graphics in and outside of the office.

  • Worked directly with artists, engine/game programmers, producers to facilitate research and development, new game features, troubleshooting, implementation and testing in engine – animations, collisions, physics, simulations baked to animations, particle fx etc.
  
  • Leadership, artistic and technical direction, communications skills to mentor staff, debug problems and provide technical solutions
  
  • Trained Sr. and Jr. artists in engine specifics and best 3d art practices
  
  • R&D Pipeline development, up to date current industry practices and tools – Terrain development, PBR shading models, Procedural modeling (Houdini), Substance and Quixel material development
  
  • UE4 specialist – material graph, blueprints, animations, cascade editor, camera cinematics, post effects tuning etc.

• Senior 3D Artist at Firebrand Games LLC

  Merritt Island, United States of America

  December 2008 - September 2010

  • Setup complex shaders for terrains, alpha blended materials (RGB splat maps) – and vertex alpha blends using paint tools
  
  • Expert level in modeling, texturing, UVs, rigging, lighting and effects for games using Maya, PS, and custom engine
  
  • Modeled vehicles – setup for collisions, rigged deformations, normal map damage, windshield glass damage, weapons and effects
  
  • Modeled environments using World machine / Maya – roads, runoff and terrains – textures, normal maps, material setup, blending
  
  • Optimizations – texture channel packing / custom materials etc.
  

• 3D Artist at Firebrand Games LLC

  Merritt Island, United States of America

  May 2007 - December 2008

  • Model, uv, texture, animate, export and test – Octane engine
  
  • Vehicles and Environments for racing games – both stylized and realistic – texturing and UV’s
  
  • LUA scripting / custom node setups / custom collisions
  

• Visual Database Engineer / 3D Artist at CDI Business Solutions / Lockheed Martin STS Facility

  Orlando, FL , United States of America

  November 2005 - May 2007

  • Onsite at Lockheed Martin STS Facility – Visual Database development, modeling and simulation for US Military contracts
  
  • Modeling, texturing, animation, R&D
  
  • Character animation pipeline for combat simulations – CAL3D
  
  • Geospatial data conversion to 3d environments