CHRIS BARANOWSKI
ANIMATION & VFX
BIO
I am a professional animation and VFX artist working in game development, cinematic, and broadcast animation since 1998. I have been a team leader on multiple AAA Console, PC and mobile titles, collaborated on educational software recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and produced an animated holiday special for a major television network. I hold an AAS degree in Media Arts & Animation from the Art Institute of Phoenix, have been awarded the THQ Team Award for my leadership on the Pixar/Disney title Cars, and I continually work on broadening my skill set.
MX VS ATV ALL OUT
TECHNICAL ANIMATOR
MONSTER JAM
TECHNICAL ANIMATOR
BLOCKSWORLD
LEAD ANIMATOR/3D ARTIST
2XL STREET
3D ARTIST
WRECK IT RALPH
VFX ARTIST
THE SOCIAL EXPRESS
LEAD ARTIST/ANIMATOR
CLONE WARS
ANIMATION & VFX ARTIST
ALAN WAKE
TECHNICAL ANIMATOR
DEADLY CREATURES
LEAD ANIMATOR/FX ARTIST
CARS
LEAD ANIMATOR
SPLASHDOWN RGW
ANIMATOR
BRITNEYS DANCE BEAT
TECHNICAL ANIMATOR
ATV OFFROAD FURY
ANIMATOR
MOTOCROSS MADNESS 2
ANIMATOR
TIGER WOODS 2000
TECHNICAL ANIMATOR
MOTOCROSS MADNESS
3D ARTIST
PROFICIENCIES
LEADERSHIP
Shipped multiple AAA titles while holding the position of animation team lead.
3D ANIMATION
Extensive 3D character, creature, and vehicle animation experience using Houdini, Maya, and 3DS Max.
ARTICULATION
Created numerous custom full body, facial, creature, and vehicle animation tools utilizing Houdini, Maya, 3DS Max, Max Script & Python.
3D MODELING
Broad organic and hard surface modeling experience utilizing Autodesk Maya, 3DS Max, and Houdini.
VFX
Particle, rigid body, fluid, and pyro simulation experience utilizing Houdini, Maya, 3DS Max Particle Flow, After Effects, Combustion, and Particle Illusion.
GAME ENGINES
Wide-ranging experience integrating models, textures, animations and vfx into Unreal, Unity and numerous proprietary game engines.
2D & POST
2D and post production experience using Photoshop, After Effects, Combustion, and Final Cut Pro.
WORK EXPERIENCE
TECHNICAL ANIMATOR - RAINBOW STUDIOS
Currently designing and implementing the VFX animation pipeline using Houdini and Unreal engine.
LEAD ANIMATOR/ARTIST - LINDEN LAB
Blocksworld is a physics-based, 3D sandbox video game for the iPad and iPhone. I supported the Blocksworld team & community by consistently delivering new 3D assets on a monthly, and sometimes weekly basis. I constructed an extensive prop & animation library adhering to the established visual style and technical requirements. Additionally, I led the transition to a fully animated set of Blockster characters and aided in the construction of a new UI which is soon to be released on Steam.
VFX ARTIST - ANIMAHOLICS
As part of an internal piece for the Brazilian auto brand Volare and under contract with Animaholics VFX, I demonstrated the versatility of Volare bus chassis by designing, rigging, and animating complex vehicle transformation sequences.
3D ARTIST - 2XL GAMES
2XL Street Racing is a cross-platform mobile racing game. I collaborated with the art director and game designer to model, texture, and light the real-time environment. I worked closely with the engineering staff to further develop in house art pipeline and tools.
VFX ARTIST - HYDROGEN WHISKEY
As part of the Hydrogen Whiskey team, I helped deliver film quality cinematics for the Disney Interactive title Wreck It Ralph. It was necessary for me to work on-site at Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios to complete the Houdini particle, rigid body, and pyro simulation vfx within the proprietary WDFAS pipeline. Additionally, I produced 3D and 2D vfx for Activision's Fast & Furious 6 & multiple other projects in a Maya/Unity pipeline.
LEAD ARTIST/ANIMATOR - THE SOCIAL EXPRESS
The Social Express is an educational software title for PC, Mac, and iPad designed to help children with social learning disorders. The award-winning software has been included in the National Education Technology Plan 2016. As the lead artist and animator I worked closely with the designers to craft interactive scenarios for the students to work through. I established a clear set of guidelines to aide the animation team in character performance and cinematography. Additionally I created the main character models, animation rigs, shading networks, and performed all the rendering and post process tasks.
ANIMATION & VFX ARTIST - BIG BANG ENTERTAINMENT
While at BBE I produced numerous character models, rigs, animations, and cinematics with vfx for Star Wars: The Clone Wars Adventures, a massive multiplayer online game developed by Sony Online Entertainment. Additionally I provided primary 3D camera tracking and particle simulation vfx for the independent film Out Of Focus.
TECHNICAL ANIMATION ARTIST - CAPTIVEMOTION LLC.
CaptiveMotion specialized in high fidelity facial performance capture technology. I worked side by side with the CTO to help develop the animator facing side of the toolset. I created various rigging tools utilizing 3DS Max Script and established best practice methods for joint layout skinning. I created facial rigs and model fixes for all of the characters in the Microsoft title Alan Wake and demo setups for Crytek, UbiSoft, CD Project, and many others.
LEAD ANIMATOR & CHARACTER TD - RAINBOW STUDIOS
During my 11 year tenure at Rainbow Studios I was fortunate enough to lead teams on multiple AAA projects. I served as Animator & Technical Animation Artist on critically acclaimed and commercially successful video games including The Motocross Madness, ATV OffRoad Fury, and Splashdown franchises. I held the responsibility of Lead Animator on Disney/Pixars video game Cars, managing a team of 5 animators. The team and I worked closely with Pixar’s animators and director of photography to craft more than 45 minutes of animation to meet Pixars standards . I established character model standards and designed the animation rigs for the entire cast of Cars characters. While Lead Animator & VFX Artist on Deadly Creatures, I spearheaded an in-house viral video campaign to promote the title. Additionally I worked on high profile projects for Hasbro, Image Entertainment, Atari, and EA Sports including, Donner an animated Christmas special for ABC Family’s Networks 25 Days of Christmas. I collaborated on the development of proprietary animation and visual vfx tools in addition to mentoring junior animators and interns.