keith bruns
310.367.3019
summary
 

A motivated technical artist with a solid grasp of the needs and expectations of modern game developers. Specializing in character modeling, detailing, rigging, HDR lighting, alpha/beta software involvement, and game pipeline expertise. I enjoy researching new developments which challenge the limits of current technology and techniques requiring creative solutions.
 
 
employment
ccp games
august 2009 - october 2011
Technical Artist  
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Instrumental in helping a new team develop character systems providing animation, modeling, rigging, and pipeline experience for games with no previous character components.
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Body & face rigging for EVE Online: Incarna, and the widely acclaimed custom character creator.
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Body and face bipedal and quadruped creature rigs for World of Darkness prototyping.
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Developed a joint based facial rig with simple controls with multiple layers of animator options.
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Worked with the character modelers to setup best practices for model and animation deformation.
- Involved the company with numerous alpha/beta softwares providing feature and bug feedback.
- Technical liaison between programming, tools, and art departments to solve problems arising from a first generation character pipeline including animation, rigging, modeling, and best practices.
  product involvement:
 
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PC
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PC
 
sucker punch productions
september 2006 - april 2009
Technical Director  
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Worked from pre-production to final on inFAMOUS for the PlayStation3 as the Technical Director.
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Tasked with developing and ensuring characters adhere to technical, aesthetic, and memory rules. Ensuring proper edge loops, hi-res pipeline, modeling for deformation, and proper UV usage.
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Worked with rendering programmers on shader & lighting development for a deferred system.
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Helped to develop the in-game camera editor which was used to create 200+ scenes in-game.
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Worked with Marketing to create the screengrabs for magazines and other promotional materials, also created renders in Mental Ray for in-house use and Sony Advertising promotional use.
- Mentored a junior TD, and spoke at local colleges to evangelize about the company and industry.
  credited products
 
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PS3
 
naughty dog inc.
june 2003 - july 2006
ICE Team artist  
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Worked on Mark Cerny's team developing tools and technologies for the Playstation3 console. I was the only artist on this project with a large number of senior level programmers for 3 years.
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Primarily tasked with researching art asset creation and pipeline methods for next generation games. This included looking at new software and techniques to increase artist efficiency and was instrumental in getting Naughty Dog involved in numerous Beta and developer feedback programs.
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Introduced zBrush, mudbox, HDRshop, and other new programs into the company pipeline.
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Assisted most of Sony's Playstation3 launch teams meet their 2005 deadlines for E3, GDC, internal milestones, and any other scheduled showings by assisting tools development and artist training.
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Traveled to the studios below to meet with the programming and art staffs introducing the tools and new technologies and demonstrating how to integrate it into their pipeline.
    Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Polyphony Digital
    Insomniac Games
    Suckerpunch Productions
    Sony San Diego
    Incognito Entertainment
       
  credited products
 
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PS3
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PS3
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PS3
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PS3
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PS3
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PS3
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PS3
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PS3
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PS3
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PS2
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PS2
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PS2
 
idol minds llc.
march 1999 - june 2003
Animation Team Lead | Animator | Level Designer  
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Hired directly out of school with 2 other classmates to complete Coolboarders4 in 7 months.
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Coolboarders4 sold over 1.5 million copies, and was an early "Greatest Hits" title for Sony.
- One of my levels was used on a Pizza Hut promotional disc and included with a Jampack demo CD.
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Hired as a background artist and completed 2 PS1 games before moving to the animation team.
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Shipped one game as an animator, then was promoted to animation team lead.
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Worked with 2 other artists training the staff to use Maya.
  shipped products
 
- PS2
My Street
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PS2
Coolboarders 2001
- PS1
Coolboarders 2001
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PS1
Coolboarders4
 
 
 
professional contributions
game developers conference 2007
march 2007
Contributing Artist for a talk given by Mark Cerny, John Olick, & David Simpson  
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Created the art materials used during the talk, RSX Best Practices
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"George" the Treebeast was used in the talk, which was created as a test creature during my employment on Naughy Dog's ICE team.
siggraph 2006
july 2006
Contributing Artist for a talk given by Naty Hoffman, Dan Baker, & Jan Kautz  
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Created the art materials used during Naty's talk on Physically Based Reflectance for Games.
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The materials required for the presentation consisted of a high resolution character bust created in zBrush and accompanying screenshots for the zBrush->Maya->PS3 art pipeline.
unparent light probe set
High Dynamic Range light probe creation  
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During my time in Los Angeles, I created 20 HDR light probes for personal use. 18 of which have since been incorporated in the 3D programs listed below:
    luxology modo daz bryce
    microstation
     
DOFpro plug-in
september 2006
Created images for richard rosenman's DOFpro photoshop plug-in  
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DOFpro (Depth Of Field Pro) is a photoshop plug-in that adds depth of field to any image.
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DOFpro had been used on several of my images. Mr. Rosenman approached me about using some of them on his redesigned website. Ultimately, 2 images were used, Schild and Nuts.
 
 
 
education
advanced visualization laboratory
august 1997 - march 1999
Student  
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Attended the advanced visualization laboratory at east tennessee state university.
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Trained on SGI indigos, indigo2's, o2's, and octane machines running unix.
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Certified by alias|wavefront in both PowerAnimator and Maya.