Andrew Smith Email & Phone Number

Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States

Working with faculty and staff to create the state’s premier 3d animation and game design program for high school students. I’m responsible for designing curriculum, instructing public high school students, and fostering a safe and exciting educational experience. Students earn college credit in this course.

Middleville, Michigan, United States

Web3 Research & Development

San Francisco Bay Area

Primarily tasked with the design and creation of characters for both Larcenauts and Farpoint. While each game had divergent art styles, my responsibilities remained similar. I worked with accomplished concept artists and contributed to their design process by finding innovative ways to implement their designs in a fashion that would articulate well into a VR environment. Technical responsibilities included sculpting, modeling, unwrapping, texture & material authoring for PBR, and LOD creation with various peripherals and runtime performance in mind. Created and maintained a notion page for characters in each game and worked with other stakeholders to ensure everyone was referencing the correct lore, technical requirements, and asset creation workflows. In addition to my hands-on artistic contributions, I played a pivotal role in shaping content creation workflows. I established benchmark character aesthetics by receiving direction and critique from leads while adhering to traditional art principles to ensure the appeal of assets would have a positive impact on the success of the art direction. I assisted in creating interactive character fx and animations that were influenced by the peripheral with help from cross-disciplinary departments. I assisted in other domains by creating weapons, props, and animations when needed. Notably, Farpoint has garnered significant recognition in the industry, receiving multiple awards between 2016 and 2019. These accolades include honors at prestigious events such as E3, Unreal Engine 3 Awards, The Game Awards, the 18th Annual Game Developer Choice Awards, among others.

Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan Area

Responsible for designing the University’s first Esports arena. I assisted in directing renovations that were done by local contractors to accommodate the lab’s needs. I established our recruiting standards and began building relationships with local high schools to help jump start the program’s inaugural year.

Comstock Park, Mi

I was the project lead and scrum master, responsible for the creation, delegation, and delivery of photorealistic 3D assets used for Crate and Barrel's Fall 2019 and Spring 2019 catalogues. This was a multi-million dollar cornerstone project for Think Chromatic. I was brought on by the owner to budget, build, and manage an in-house and remote team to create photorealistic 3D models. I met and communicated with Crate & Barrel executives daily to provide updates and insight into our process and needs. Leveraging my experience in education, I established a 3d content pipeline that all artists were required to follow. It included documentation, video tutorials, and starter files for hard-surface and organic objects. I performed daily critiques and managed a spreadsheet that contained thousands of assets that were being worked on by over 30+ artists around the globe. I implemented an agile minded methodology to the project while using various project management tools and techniques. Lastly, we developed a 3d content rendering pipeline for Crate and Barrel, with a third party cloud rendering solution.

San Francisco Bay Area

Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan Area

In charge of instructing, designing curriculum, and fulfilling the role of an academic adviser, I played a key role in elevating the program to rank among the top 25 undergraduate programs nationwide for game design.Taught upper level 3d modeling and animation courses in the DAGD program. These courses include, DAGD 230 - Animation II Animation 2, DAGD 335 - Animation III Rendering and Lighting, DAGD 204 - Texture Authoring, DAGD 375 - Advanced Character, DAGD 385 - Vehicle and Structure, DAGD 430 - Advanced VFX, DAGD 490 - Internship, DAGD 499 - Capstone.Allocated ten hours per week serving as an academic adviser. I helped students navigate their collegiate careers, met with parents, and tutored students who were struggling. Developed blackboard shells and all curriculum for each course while providing supportive video tutorial content for each lesson. I designed and deployed examinations, art tests, and final exams.

Ann Arbor, Mi

Collaborating with multiple schools across the university, I engaged in specialized research initiatives funded by grants. One notable project involved the creation of a mobile game for the original iPad that targeted patients dealing with spinal cord injuries. Additionally, I led the development of a photogrammetry project within the lab, focusing on digitally preserving artifacts in the university's museums.Every Friday, I orchestrated the setup of a motion capture studio. This served a dual purpose – capturing animations for our game and functioning as an educational resource. The intention was to showcase the array of services offered by the 3D Lab to the student body for their respective research projects. Furthermore, I played a key role in the design and execution of large hanging art decorations strategically placed in Yost Ice Arena to mitigate crowd noise.

Playa Vista, Ca

As a junior character artist, I played a pivotal role in the development of the Virtual Patient project, a collaborative initiative involving the United States Navy and the University's School of Social Work. These digital avatars were instrumental in training clinicians to effectively address PTSD among returning soldiers. In addition to modeling, texturing, rigging, and animating these characters, my team and I conducted monthly subject testing at the Naval Base in San Diego in partnership with the USC School of Social Work, collecting valuable data and contributing to academic papers led by project leads. Additionally, I actively assisted in showcasing our project at prestigious conferences such as TedX and CES, thereby amplifying its impact. Notably, our groundbreaking work gained recognition, leading to a feature in the New York Times in 2010.