Kristafer Vale

About Kristafer Vale

I have a passion for bringing 3D characters to life via character setup and technical art. I believe that creating tools and workflows for animators and my fellow technical artists is the most important aspect of my career. By helping to remove friction and frustration from the process of animating characters, through the development of intuitive and easy to use character rigs, which maintain high levels of aesthetic beauty and reliable stability while being easy to use and understand, I strive to make the process of creating animation as enjoyable as possible. I have over 17 years of experience creating 3D character rigs for companies like Dreamworks Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks. I am also an experienced video game developer both professionally for Helios Interactive, as well as an Independent game developer with 6+ years experience in such roles. I am a skilled programmer with particular emphasis on c# and python. I am a self-motivated, highly-organized, willing collaborator, who works tirelessly to handle any task assigned. My education at Ringling College of Art and Design coupled with my extensive experience in the Feature Animation and video game development professions have taught that critiques are opportunities to grow and to improve as an artist.

Experience

1. Senior Character Rigger

   DreamWorks Animation

   Jul 2020 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Contributed to major studio features including Puss in Boots: The LastWish, Trolls Band Together, Kung Fu Panda 4, Bad Guys 2, ForgottenIsland, and Shrek 5.Designed and delivered production-ready character rigs supporting high performancedeformation in shot-based feature workflows.On Shrek 5, responsible for primary character rigging and hair motionsystems for key characters including Fiona, Felicia, and additionalunannounced leads.Engineered deformation frameworks and hair-ready rig structures capableof supporting nuanced emotional acting and physically dynamic motion.Collaborated directly with Animation Supervisors and CFX teams toensure rigs preserved artistic intent through simulation and post simulationfinaling.Developed Python tools and workflow improvements to streamlineiteration and improve workflow efficiency.Worked extensively within Linux-based production environments andlarge-scale asset pipelines.Focus areas: advanced deformation systems, anatomy-driven rig behavior,simulation-aware rig architecture, shot support, and cross-departmentproblem solving.

Education

• Ringling College of Art and Design

  BFA, Computer Animation

  2002 — 2006

Skills

• Compositing
• Mel
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Computer Graphics
• 3d
• Scripting
• Premiere
• Rendering
• Technical Direction
• Traditional Animation
• C#
• Visual Effects
• Video Games
• Feature Films
• Character Rigging
• Mudbox
• Game Development
• Computer Animation
• Rigging
• Cinematics
• Character Animation
• Maya
• Character