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Brian Michael Nestor
bnestor@consoleartist.com
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Computer and Video Imaging
Cogswell Polytechnical College, Sunnyvale California
Work Experience
Senior Environment Artist, Meta (Sanzaru Games), Redwood City, CA (11/2021 - present)
"Asgard's Wrath 2"
- World building responsibilities including layout, terrain, lighting, optimization, and bug fixing.
Senior Environment Artist / World Builder, Electronic Arts(Maxis division), Redwood City, CA (11/2017 - 10/2021)
"Sims 4" for PC
- World building responsibilities including layout, terrain painting, optimization, and bug fixing. (Jungle Adventures, Seasons, Get Famous, Strangerville, Discover University, Snowy Escape)
Senior Environment Artist / World Builder, Electronic Arts(Visceral Games division), Redwood City, CA (5/2013 -11/2017)
"Project Ragtag (Star Wars) for PC, PS4, and Xbox One"
- I was a look development artist responsible for photogrammetry of rocks and surfaces for the Tatooine environments. This included location scouting and offsite scanning in the deserts of Nevada and Utah.
- Integrated scanned surfaces into our Substance Designer pipeline. This included authoring a delighting utility to derive proper albedo maps and creating the PBR material values.
- Terrain authoring including integration of LIDAR data, shader development, painting, and mesh scattering.
- Researched and authored additional shaders to support our scanned assets including sand sparkle effects, desert varnish blending, and sandstone striations.
"Battlefield Hardline" for PC, PS4, Xbox One, Ps3, and Xbox360
- I was responsible for content-focused frame rate performance for the entire multiplayer mainline game on 5 platforms at the tail end of production. This included in-depth GPU analysis using GPAD/PIX and assigning the art team optimization tasks. Shader platform branching, draw call reduction strategies, and forced overdraw re-ordering were also undertaken extensively by myself.
- World Building responsibilities including set dressing, level optimization, terrain painting, asset scoping, and outsourcing support.
- Environmental "look development" on the DLC maps.
- Photogrammetry and advanced terrain generation methods utilizing both satellite and LiDAR-based data.
- Bug fixing for QA compliance
"Battlefield 4" for PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360
- Environmental construction which includes modeling, set dressing, and materials
- Bug fixing and optimization for QA compliance
Senior Environment Artist, Lucasfilm Ltd.(LucasArts division), San Francisco, CA (11/2011 - 4/2013)
- Participation in Lucasfilm's Jedi Academy internship program as a mentor. My responsibilities were to train up-and-coming artists our asset export/import pipeline, efficient content creation practices, and other guidelines with regards to environment assembly.
- Working closely with the technical directors towards the goal of improving environment shaders. This responsibility also includes providing custom HLSL code and troubleshooting on occasion.
- Participation in interviewing potential candidates for our projects.
- Responsibility of assigned environments for the project. This includes authoring content, defining assets to be outsourced, creating proxy models for outsourcing, bug fixing, and ensuring memory, CPU, and GPU efficiency.
- Performed art content and shader audits using Microsoft PIX and Sony GPAD
- In-depth analysis comparing GPU performance between the PS3 and Xbox360 with Unreal Engine 3 and recommending graphical settings which accommodate both platforms most efficiently.
Senior Technical Artist, Square/Enix (Crystal Dynamics division), Redwood City, CA (1/2011 - 11/2011)
"Tomb Raider" for Sony Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC
- Performed frame rate analysis using Microsoft PIX and generated subsequent optimization tasks for content creators.
- Created GPU-based performance best practice guidelines.
- Performed audits of game assets to ensure technical feasibility.
- Formulated and enforced artist memory budgets.
- Advocated and created visual debugging display modes for art content.
- Pixel shader network authoring, debugging, and optimization.
- HLSL shader node authoring.
- Assisted in level authoring strategies including celling and portaling.
- Bug fixing for QA compliance.
- Performed generalised troubleshooting and support for the production team.
Senior Environment Artist, Lucasfilm Ltd.(LucasArts division), San Francisco, CA (2/2006 - 11/2010)
"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2" for Sony Playstation 3, Xbox 360
- Senior artist responsibilities such as project scoping, mentoring/training, graphics engineering support, and art production.
"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition DLC (Hoth Environment)" for Sony Playstation 3, Xbox360
- Authored custom per-pixel shader networks.
- Modeled, textured, lit, and pre-visualized level artwork for game within team setting.
- Performed troubleshooting, bug fixing, and optimization for QA compliance.
"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed(TIE Fighter Construction Facility Environment)" for Sony Playstation 3, Xbox360
- Authored custom per-pixel shader networks for multiple environment teams.
- Significant graphics engine group participation: test levels, workflow feedback, shader network suggestions, and lighting pipeline suggestions.
- Assisted in developing image based lighting(IBL) pipeline with graphics engine group. Co-developed artist IBL workflow suggestions and recommendations for graphics engine.
- Modeled, textured, lit, and pre-visualized level artwork for game within team setting.
- Performed troubleshooting, bug fixing, and optimization for QA compliance.
"Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings" for Sony Playstation 3, Xbox360
- Created level pre-visualization and environmental artwork for next generation Indiana Jones adventure.
- Mentored junior, mid-level, and senior artists in regards to environmental production techniques such as workflow, artistic feedback, and per-pixel shader development.
- Assisted graphics engine group with test levels, workflow feedback, and feature suggestions.
- Created environmental artwork and material effects for "Cable Car Chase" E3 2006 playable demo.
Senior Artist, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Sony Online Entertainment division), San Diego, CA (8/2005 -2/2006)
"Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom" for Sony Playstation 3
- Created environmental artwork for Playstation 3 prototype.
Lead Environment Artist, Midway Home Entertainment, San Diego CA (8/2003 - 8/2005)
"Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows" for Sony Playstation2/Playstation2 Online, Microsoft X-Box/X-Box Live
- Lighting. Developed production pipeline, "look and feel", and technical guidelines for environmental lighting. Worked closely with engineer team and level designers to ensure precise conceptual design implementation.
- Outsourcing management. Provided level pre-visualization, style guidelines, artistic feedback, and technical support for outsourced art team.
- Prototype development. Created art assets and lighting "look and feel" for Gauntlet prototypes.
"The Suffering" for Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft X-Box
- 3D Environments. Modeled and textured environmental features as third party support staff.
Environment Artist, The 3DO Company, Redwood City CA (06/2000 - 06/2003)
"Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" for Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft X-Box, and Nintendo Gamecube
- Assistant lead. Responsible for working with designers in the creation and budgeting of objects for levels. Provided technical assistance and aesthetic guidance to junior artists working on "prop" objects and destruction states. Assisted art lead in delegating tasks to junior artists on occasion.
- Environment Modeling. Created hi-resolution display meshes based on low-polygon collision data made by level designers. Worked with designers on level revisions to help improve aesthetic appeal.
- Object creation. Created virtual "prop" models that are textured and vertex lit for integration with pre-existing environments. Animated destruction sequences for certain objects.
"High Heat MLB Baseball 2004" for Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft X-Box, and IBM/PC
- Character Setup and modeling. Performed character optimization and hierarchy improvements. Assisted texture artist in player uniform improvements and added features.
- Extensively trained new employees on the use of 3D Studio Max and art asset exporting. Assisted coworkers in troubleshooting art asset-to-engine problems that materialized.
- Performed legal-based art changes for in-game MLB/MLBPA signage requirements.
- Motion capture. Performed .CSM marker file calibration and created skeleton for new motion capture data.
- Modeled, textured, and vertex lit 9500 polygon Cincinnati Reds "Great American Ballpark" baseball stadium.
"High Heat MLB Baseball 2003" for Sony Playstation 2
- Modeled and upgraded character geometry including all required LODs. Generated body scaling data sets.
- Assisted texture artist in upgrading player uniform quality.
- Created various material effects such as environment mapping for certain player textures/materials.
- Performed baseball stadium upgrades including technical fixes, texture map upgrades, and vertex lighting for day and night settings.
- Performed legal-based art changes for in-game MLB/MLBPA signage requirements.
- Created an assortment of player model renderings for the marketing department.
- Performed advanced Research and development for character improvements such as fully articulated hand geometry, weighted morph-based facial animation tests and further optimization of texture memory in regards to stadiums and characters.
"High Heat Baseball 2002" for Sony Playstation 2
- Modeled character geometry. Created animation skeleton for motion capture data and UV mapping templates for the texture artist.
Relevant Industry Skills
- Lighting and post process tuning (bloom, atmosphere, etc.)
- Shader authoring
- Multi-platform development (VR, PC, PS4, XBone, "Gen 3" systems)
- Photogrammetry
- Terrain generation including sourcing data from satellite and LiDAR
- Low and high poly count modeling with an architectural emphasis
- Texturing, UV setup, and atlasing
- Experienced in mentoring employees with regards to art direction and art pipeline assistance.
Relevant Hardware and Software Experience
- Maya
- Substance Designer / Painter
- Reality Capture / Agisoft Photoscan
- World Machine
- ZBrush
- Frostbite (EA proprietary engine)
- Unreal Engine 4
- Adobe Photoshop
- Perforce asset management
- Renderdoc GPU Profiler
Scripting Languages
- HLSL/GLSL
- Python 3 / PyCharm
Work References
available upon request