Chris Wheeler

About Chris Wheeler

Chris is a senior software engineer with a deep understanding of computer graphics, augmented/virtual reality, character animation technology, and AI/ML. He has credits in seven award-winning animated films, and was an early pioneer in VR film production technology. Chris\' latest work is focused on the intersection of interactive digital characters and AI-assisted storytelling.

Experience

1. Head of Engineering

   Fable Showrunner

   Oct 2017 — Present · San Francisco, CA, US

   ShowrunnerCurrently the lead Unity engineer developing Showrunner - a cloud-based platform where anyone can make animated TV shows by combining AI storytelling and generative art techniques with a real-time simulation engine. Responsible for writing the core character, animation, FX, and AI director systems.The SimulationBuilt a 3D simulation engine driven by Human/AI collaboration. Developed autonomous agents that explore and interact with their world, form relationships, and achieve narrative goals. Created in-game world-building tools to craft environments, characters, and interactions using the Unity game engine.Wolves in the WallsLed the engineering team to produce the Emmy-winning VR movie \'Wolves in the Walls\'. Responsible for the character rigging pipeline, animation pipeline, build systems, analytics, QA, and gameplay engineering in Unreal Engine using C++. Oversaw the initial release on Oculus Rift and subsequent Quest port.

Education

• Texas A&M University

  MS, Visualization Science

  2007 — 2009

• Texas A&M University

  BED, Environmental Design

  2003 — 2007

Skills

• Zbrush
• 3d Visualization
• Multithreading
• After Effects
• Photoshop
• Simulations
• 3d Modeling
• 3d
• Animation
• Pyqt
• Python
• Pymel
• Virtual Reality
• Computer Animation
• 3d Studio Max
• Maya
• Rigging
• Rendering
• Adobe Photoshop
• Opengl
• Mental Ray
• Character Rigging
• Lighting
• Computer Graphics
• Anatomy
• Mel
• C++
• Autocad