A Tools Programmer and Content Creator with a proven record of developing impactful tools and scripts that empower content creators. I leverage extensive experience with diverse DCCs (Digital Content Creation tools) to streamline workflows and deliver high-quality digital experiences.
The Feathered Raptor is a high-quality avatar designed for use in VRChat and other compatible VR social platforms. Featuring a distinctive feathered design and expressive styling, this avatar is ideal for users seeking a bold, creature-inspired presence in virtual environments.
Successfully launched and sold on Gumroad and Jinxxy.
A high-quality Scaled Wyvern avatar built for VRChat that looks and feels great. Clean rigging, expressive features, and intuitive menus make it easy to jump in and start playing right away—no setup headaches. Optimized for performance and little customization.
Successfully launched and sold on Gumroad and Jinxxy.
Game development for an unannounced multiplayer FPS game using Unreal Engine 5.
Contracted game developer for an unannounced Unity game.
Worked at Ready At Dawn for a total of 7 years as a Tools Programmer. Wrote tools for various DCCs (Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, etc) and their proprietary game engine.
Lone Echo · Echo VR · Lone Echo 2 · Deformers
Contracted by Microsoft as a Build Verification Tester. Our team ensured that other teams can work for that day per daily build and helped test any new features submitted to the pipeline.
For the Feathered Raptor avatar, I had a few goals in mind. I wanted to use this project as a way to improve my workflow and pipeline when creating avatars. After the design and sculpt phases of avatar design, it becomes more technical and a lot of repetitive work. Started writing plug-ins for Blender to set up shape keys and shape key manipulation and Unity to clean up assets and hopefully speed up prototyping to completion.
Another challenge for this avatar was the feathers. I utilized Blender’s hair particle system in combination with Geometry Nodes to procedurally generate the majority of the feather cards. Geometry Nodes were also used to generate a reusable card mesh and UV layout, allowing final feather card maps to be baked from a set of source card textures.
Product on Gumroad and Jinxxy.
"Wow! This Feathered Raptor is awesome! I'm really impressed with the care, and attention to detail that was put into its creation! Highly recommended!"
The Scaled Wyvern began as a personal project and was later converted into a public avatar base that others can purchase and enjoy in VRChat. The avatar presented challenges in weight painting and in using Substance Painter for the wings, as achieving smooth texture transitions across their surfaces was a key goal.
Product on Gumroad and Jinxxy.
"Excellent model! So detailed! The Substance painter file is one of the most organized and easy to use ones I've encountered. Great model and beautiful!"
This piece was inspired by Valstrax from the Monster Hunter series. I aimed to preserve much of the original Valstrax design from MHXX while incorporating select features from Monster Hunter Rise. The thruster particles were optimized using a mesh-based particle emitter, allowing them to remain within a single particle system, which helps improve avatar performance ratings.
This piece was inspired by Velkhana from the Monster Hunter series. Through this project, I learned more about topology and the forms needed to create interesting silhouettes. I also discovered that wings can maintain clean quad topology even when the underlying forms are complex.
I like to work organically in Blender (previously using ZBrush for high-poly sculpts) to establish strong silhouettes and primary forms. A general rule of thumb I’ve learned is to keep fine details smaller than three finger widths for texturing tools such as Substance Painter, to avoid overhauling the model later in the pipeline. Details are sculpted only when they meaningfully contribute to the silhouette or are otherwise necessary.
Sculpts are created as separate meshes to allow for easier refinement before reprojecting details onto the lower-poly mesh. I typically use Blender’s Remeshing Tool or the Remesher plug-in, then subdivide the mesh as needed to maintain smooth detail while keeping viewport performance responsive.
Once the high-poly sculpt is mostly complete and no major structural changes are expected, I begin retopology using RetopoFlow. For hero or character models, I prefer RetopoFlow because it provides full control over topology, whereas automated remeshing does not always produce the results I need.
After refining the topology, I reproject the high-poly details onto a subdivided low-poly version and clean up any remaining issues. With the details transferred, I bake normal maps to begin prototyping surface detail. Once the low-poly mesh is finalized, I proceed with UV unwrapping, rigging, rough weight painting, blend shapes, and further prototyping.
During early prototyping, I use a quick, temporary UV unwrap. Final UV layouts vary depending on the asset.
For avatars, I use a symmetrical UV layout to make it easier for users to edit textures and apply their own customizations later. I also prioritize higher texel density in areas such as the head, hands, and feet to ensure important features hold up at close viewing distances.
For generic game characters or enemies, I may reuse or mirror UVs to transfer detail to the opposite side of the model, reducing texture size and memory usage. The head may be separated from the body for gameplay or technical reasons. Ultimately, the UV layout is heavily influenced by the intended use and end goal of the asset.
I use a standard naming convention compatible with engines such as Unreal and Unity, including proper suffixes and clean numbering for bone chains.
Since I typically model in an A-pose and many systems require a T-pose, I create a dedicated export animation to ensure the correct pose during export. I prefer to create animations directly in Blender and export them to the target engine. This keeps the pipeline flowing in a single direction, and I’ve found animation editing in DCCs to be more efficient and flexible.
Normal maps are imported into Substance Painter, where I bake the additional maps required for generators. I switch to studio lighting to achieve more accurate color representation. Most materials are built using fill layers with masks and generators, allowing the procedural tools to handle the bulk of the work. Once the base look is established, I refine specific areas manually as needed.
After exporting textures from Substance Painter, I set up materials in Blender and the target game engine to match the Painter results as closely as possible. This ensures visual consistency throughout the pipeline and helps confirm that what I see in Substance Painter translates accurately to downstream tools.
Ensure that source files and game projects follow a consistent naming convention, are free of unused data, and any necessary documentation, allowing myself and others—including clients using avatar bases—to quickly get started without requiring my guidance or prior knowledge of the project.
Turn-based RPG game world for VRChat.
Started to develop a game engine to learn about other non-tools related systems in game development.
Raptor Game Editor Video
Credential ID COMP001020214527
Credential ID COMP001020214527
Credential ID MOSDDL8DBNHT