Thor Benitez
Technical Artist / 3D Generalist / Creative Director
Thor Benitez
Technical Artist/ 3D Generalist /Creative Director
Experience____________________________________________
Senior Technical Artist at Leftfield Labs
Culver City, CA (Remote)
Job Duties: Leadership and pipeline creation, resourcing, budget, and time estimations for the art side of all new immersive projects. Manage art teams, as well as be the conduit between the Creative director and the Technical director. Clients: Amazon, Meta, Sisco, Verizon, Hasbro, Starbucks. (mobile, AR, VR, Web3, and PC)
Lead Creative and Lead Technical Artist at WITHIN Virtual Reality
Culver City, CA
Job Duties: Blueprinting and leading art pipeline strategies, and resources for virtual and augmented reality projects. Creating, and managing art teams for multiple simultaneous projects. Directing technical artists for partner studios and vendors. RND for emerging technologies, and advising on future software related strategies. (mobile, AR,VR,iOS,Microsoft)
Projects: Willowcrest Manor (Writer Creator, Lead Technical Artist) Augmented Reality
Dangerbot 3000 (Writer Creator, Lead Technical Artist) Augmented Reality
Lauren and the Three Bears (Creator, Lead Technical Artist) Augmented Reality
Clio's Cosmic Quest (Onboarding designer, Lead Technical Artist) Magic Leap and iOS.
Life of Us (Lead Technical Artist and 3D Generalist) Oculus Rift Virtual Reality
Senior Visual Effects Generalist at Encore Hollywood
April 2016 – May 2016|Hollywood, California
Job Duties: Mentoring junior artists, while producing high quality 3D assets, VFX, and animations for Hit TV shows. Including Disney’s Lab Rats, Extant, Under the Dome, LA Crime, Hawaii Five-O, and Riverdale.
April 2015 – May 2015| Hollywood, California
Job Duties: Modeling, Animation, Lighting and Rendering.
Software: 3D Studio Max , Photoshop, Mudbox,
Projects: Murder in the First, Disney's Lab Rats, Extant, Under the Dome, LA Crime
Summary: Senior 3D generalist integrating CG elements into live action shots for various TV shows.
Art Director, Designer and Lead Technical Artist, 3D Generalist and at Mind Over Eye
Jan 2012 – Jan 2015| Santa Monica, California
Job Duties: Leading and managing the art team for all immersive projects. Planning and budgeting the art side of prospective pitches. Game and Art design for multiple mobile projects. Technical art lead for all immersive projects. Senior 3D generalist for various CG commercial projects.-
Software: Unity 3D, Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Character Studio, Adobe After Effects, Hair Farm / Tech , Vue, Afterburn
Projects: Dolly Wood (Wild Eagle), Motor Trend (Title Animation), Visio.
Augmented Reality: SPEC Clutch, RAM Truck Chevy, Corvette, Dodge, Daniel Defense, Chevron.
Summary: Senior and Lead Artist for commercials and acting Art Director for interactive media for mobile devices. Work a lot with Unity 3D as well.
Lead 3D Generalist, Lead Tech Artist at Inhance Digital Corporation
Feb 2010 - Dec 2011 | Los Angeles, California
Job Duties: Leading and managing the art team for all immersive projects. Planning and budgeting the art side of prospective pitches. Game and Art design for multiple mobile projects. Technical art lead for all immersive projects. Senior 3D generalist for various CG commercial projects.
Software: Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Character Studio, Vray, Adobe After Effects, Vue, Afterburn, Unity 3D
Projects: Boeing , Raytheon, Sikorsky, Air Force
Summary: Senior 3D Generalist, animation, composite, effects, modeling, texturing for interactive media.
VFX Supervisor at Mastermind Digital LLC
Nov 2008 - Jan 2010 | Van Nuys, California
Job Duties: Negotiate, budget, and manage CG team for full VFX shots for various History Channel shows. Also responsible for asset creation, animation, VFX, full shot compositions, and Stereoscopic planning and rendering.
Software: Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Vray - Expert, Adobe After Effects - Expert, Character Studio - Advanced, Vue – Intermediate
Projects: Life After People, History of the World in 2 hours
Summary: VFX supervisor for over 40 effects shots for the hit History Channel series “Life After People”
Senior and Lead Artist at Activision / Treyarch
Oct 2003 - Nov 2008 | Santa Monica, California
Job Duties: Leading and managing Vehicle Art team that spanned across multiple states, and China. Pipeline creation for vehicles, and asset creation for vehicles, and environments.
Projects: Dead Rush, Ultimate Spider-Man (Released), Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (Released), Call of Duty 3 (Released), Spider-Man 3 (Released), Black Lotus, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Released)
Summary: Lead artist- Modeling, texture, animation, shader creation and technical and work flow set up.
Skills ____________________________________________
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Leadership and Management
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C# scripting
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Modeling (High and Low poly)
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Animation (Dynamic props, and Character)
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Character Rigging/Skinning
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Textures/Mapping
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Shader Creation
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Unity Shader Graph
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Amplify
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Unreal Material Editor
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Particle effects
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Lighting
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Rendering Vray
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Cloth Dynamics
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Hair
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Composition
3D Software____________________________________________
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Unity 3D
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Unreal
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3DS Max
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Biped/ Skin/ Bones Pro
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MassFX / PhysX
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Vray
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RayFire
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Hair Farm and Max Hair & Fur
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Maya
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Mudbox
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ZBrush
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Particle Flow
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VUE
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Synth Eyes
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3D Coat
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Substance Painter
2D Software and Compositing__________________________
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Photoshop
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After Effects
Education________________________________________________
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1991-1995 San Diego State University
(Theatrical Arts and Studio Arts)