About Me

I am a senior modeller, with seven years’ experience specialising in the creation of high detail, photorealistic assets for film and television. I use Maya, Houdini, Mudbox, Zbrush and as the major elements of my modelling toolkit.

I have a comprehensive understanding the VFX pipeline, and always try to ensure that my assets are clean, and formatted with the needs of downstream departments in mind. I have a broad range of experience in 3D asset creation, from generating large scale environments, to hero vehicles, creatures and digi-doubles. I have undertaken extensive personal study in basic engineering principles and anatomy.

Present Employer

Lead Modeller/Texture Artist
Framestore, Melbourne

I've had the privilege of working with Dylan on a number of projects over a few years at different companies. Dylan is an amazing talent. From highly detailed models and beautiful textures to the ability to rig and animate, Dylan is an asset for any CG team. He understands up and downstream dependencies and always delivers world class work to ensure people get what they need and finish well.

Dylan is a fantastic communicator and is certainly well liked by all team members. I cannot recommend him highly enough.

Richard Thwaites
Production Supervisor, VFX at LAIKA, LLC

I worked with Dylan over the course of two years as both his DFX and VFX supervisor. Dylan fast became the go-to guy for taking a brief for CG models, nailing it and nearly always expanding on the creative whilst keeping it in budget. Every first pass was impressive and exciting. Dailies always felt like you were able to freely jam on ideas. It was hard not to expect that this was the benchmark for others to hit. I was able to trust him for intuitively adding appropriate and believable detail, modifying asymmetry and defining creative looks for most models from prop objects through to environments. He listened intently, took feedback in a calm and receptive manner, worked well and interactively with others and often pitched ideas and direction with respect and discretion.

I greatly valued his work and input across our projects and I would have him on my team again in an instant with no question. If you've got an opportunity to hire him, you should consider it in the bag already.

Adam Paschke
Head Of Creative Operations at Mill Film Adelaide

Skills

Specialising in hard surface, currently leading the modelling team on a show.

My production experience includes:

leading a team on modelling tasks. managing supervisor feedback, with an awareness of downstream requirements.

Training and mentoring junior artists and upskilling artists with modelling techniques in additional software packages, including Houdini, mudbox and marvellous designer.

Working closely with FX artists to produce ‘effects ready’ assets, including complex, non-intersecting geometry, and art directed pre-fracturing for RBD simulation.

Applying a solid understanding of complex mechanics, physics and engineering to modelling tasks

Technical skills include:

Arranging expansive multi-tile UV layouts adhering to specific production requirements and artist friendly best practices, often consisting of hundreds of UV tiles for very large assets.

Creating ideal topology for subdivision surfaces and displacement.

Extensive use of sculpting packages to generate high resolution detail.

Extensive industry experience working with Linux and Shotgun.

I have additional skills and professional experience in effects, rigging, concept art and animation, and a solid working knowledge of PBR look-dev in Arnold, V-Ray and RenderMan. I also utilise scripting languages in my work; I use Python, Houdini Vex and MEL, and I am currently learning C++. Where possible I try to build tools to proceduralise repetitive modelling tasks.

Examples of production tools I have built over the last few years include:

procedurally generating branches and twigs on a subd trunk; the tool merges the branches back into the trunk for a single seamless subd surface, simultaneously taking care of UV’s.
generate a tangled neuron network with interior fibres and nucleus.
A tool for random plant deformation to imitate the motion of wind moving through foliage.
A tool for proceduralising the placement of greeblies and surface detail; used for generating automatic sci-fi panelling.
A tool to create simple muscle shapes based on attachment and profile curves; plus a supplementary tool to remove any intersections with other musculature and skeleton, and to fill the volume of a fascia model.