D O N   S H O W A L T E R

3D MODELING -- TEXTURE PAINTING -- UV MAPPING -- LIGHTING -- MECHANICAL RIGGING -- VFX

Work History:

Present-2015: Donshoko.com

Overview: Translate my CG skills into developing and creating resin-cast products for home manufacturing

Duties:

1. Build accurate CAD models of desired subjects using LightWave3d.

2. Draw decals sheets using LightWave and Adobe Illustrator.

3. Design and construct specialized machines as needed.

4. Create silicone molds for polyurethane casting.

5. Repeatably cast resin parts of desired quality.

6. Marketing, including website design using HTML and Javascript along with maintenance of site on commercial server via FTP. Write copy to describe products and create imagery and logos using Adobe Photoshop.

Notes: The success of my products has been due to my proficient employment of a wide variety of software and hard skills. I am entirely self-taught in everything I do and am unafraid of new challenges as I'm confident I can learn anything I choose.

2006-2005: Southwest Research Institute

Project: Boom Operator Weapons System Trainer (BOWST)

Supervisor:  Eric Peterson

Overview: BOWST is a next-generation training simulator for U.S. Air Force personnel operating refueling equipment aboard the KC-135R Stratotanker. The simulator uses advanced real-time 3D computer graphics. My initial role, as a freelance sub-contractor, was to provide 7 digital models of aircraft that would be refueled by this tanker. Through the course of my employment and because SwRI was pleased with my performance, I eventually wound up providing 13 of the models and was involved with completing 2 others.

Duties:

1. Online research: Gathering information and reference photos relevant to the planes I was recreating in order to provide the most accurate models possible.

2. Photo-interpretation: In instances where certain information is unavailable to the prime contractor, I needed to examine the reference photos in order to determine various dimensions and placements of aircraft components in order to translate these to the digital models.

3. Convert Digital Model Formats: In instances where the prime contractor had an existing model, I converted the model from its existing format into one that I could use in my 3D modeling software.

4. Construct Digital Models: In instances where there was no existing model or the existing model didn't meet the prime contractor's specifications, I used Newtek's LightWave 3D Modeler software to construct and UV map digital geometry. In all case, converting or constructing, I was budgeted 25k triangles for each aircraft

5. Paint Texture Maps: Once the geometry for a given model was approved by the prime contractor, I used Adobe Photoshop to paint digital images to be used as color textures for the digital model. The specification for this project called for a very high degree of realism; the goal for my painting work was photo-realism.

6. Build Animation Hierarchy: As certain components of the aircraft (control surfaces, refueling doors) are meant to be movable in the training simulator, I supplied an animation hierarchy of those components that could be interpreted by the simulator's software engine.

7. Make Requested Changes: After a model has been completed and submitted to Southwest Research, Air Force personnel reviewed it and listed changes that needed to be made in order to meet their requirements for accuracy. I was responsible for making those changes.

Rendering of the models I worked on for this project are available at my Gallery page.

Notes: As SWRI is located in Texas and I'm in New York, I essentially worked unsupervised on this project and was largely responsible for overseeing my own work, demonstrating my ability to work productively on high-technology projects under circumstances that require self-motivation.

2004: Indestructible Production Company

Project: "New Captain Scarlet" TV Series; Pilot Episodes

Supervisor:  Lee Stringer

Overview: Producer Gerry Anderson was dissatisfied with initial CG work done for the pilots of his new series, so CG VFX producer Ron Thornton was hired to provide a fresh start. Somewhere down the line, Lee brought me on as a freelancer.

Duties:

1. Condor Cargo Aircraft; convert MAYA subdivision geometry model to a LightWave polygonal model. What could be easier? The geometry, as output from MAYA, contained no surfacing information; as one can see from the images of the final model, this was a rather complex aircraft. I started out with over 2 million polygons of undifferentiated geometry. Also, when the subpatches were frozen into polygons, nothing fit together any longer; there were holes and visible seams literally everywhere on the model. It required extensive rebuilding to clean it all up and I was able to shave off a million polys in the process. Though I was supplied with the textures from the original MAYA model (about 200 images), there were no reference renders to show where they should be applied (remember, the surfacing info was lost in the conversion). I was given some wonderful paintings of the aircraft, produced by Dominic Lavery, the vehicle designer, and these were instrumental in the reconstruction process. As the model did come with textures, I needed to paint only a few for this project.

2. Condor Cargo Aircraft; rig for animation. The airplane had 68 landing wheels (of various diameters) which I rigged to automatically turn when the plane touched the ground. Also, various flight control surfaces, speed brakes and hydraulics needed to be rigged along with the raising/lowering mechanisms of the front/rear fuselage and the wing landing gear pods. Oh, and the cargo ramps needed to extend and lower, and stabilizing "feet" (the orange things in the rendered images) needed to extend from behind doors in the side of the fuselage. All this was rigged to simple sliders, easy for the animator to manipulate.

Renderings of this model are available at my Gallery page.

Notes: This was a rush job with a hard deadline, subsequently met. While the production company was located in the UK, I worked from home in the United States. As with the BOWST project mentioned above, I worked largely unsupervised. Based at least partially on the success of the pilot episodes, the "New Captain Scarlet" series was picked up and a full-season run of episodes was produced.

2003-2000: DMJ MediaLogic LLC

Project: Website design/rollout

Supervisor:  Self

Overview: This was a small business in which I was a co-owner. We built/maintained websites for local clients and I was responsible for all the technology aspects of our business.

Duties:

1. Maintaining our computer equipment, both hardware and software aspects. I selected the components for our computers and built them myself. I also installed and updated all software, including the operating systems. We operated in Windows environments only. I also installed the LAN in my own home office.

2. Designed Websites: I typically used Photoshop to design the general look of a given site and presented this layout to the customer for approval/changes.

3. Website Building: Used Macromedia Homesite to write the HTML for the sites and TopStyle for the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Graphics for the sites were done using Photoshop. As Homesite includes a built-in browser for testing, I used it to debug my JavaScripts. I also did some limited work with Perl and PHP for this business; I don't have a lot of experience with these languages but found they were easy to work with when I had to do so...to me, most popular programming languages seem very similar.

4. Ensure Cross-Browser Compatibility: As these were business sites, it was important that the sites work and, indeed, appear the same in the most popular browsers. Writing JavaScript that worked in both IE and Netscape/Mozilla was sometimes interesting...

5. Upload Websites To Remote Server And Administer: Our remote host was using a LINUX/Apache setup and I was responsible for uploading, via FTP, the sites, ensuring their proper function, setting permissions for CGI files, writing .htaccess files.

6. Updating Websites: Products were often added, changed or removed and I had to keep these changes up to date.

7. Linking Products To Remote Billing Solutions: Our clients always used third-party credit card processing and billing and it was my responsibility to be sure their products were correctly linked, either by forms or JavaScript, to their payment processors.

Notes: Although our company dissolved in 2003, I continue to do website work on freelance basis, right up to the present time.

2000: Foundation Imaging

Project: "Max Steel" TV Series; various episodes

Supervisor:  Dave Adams

Overview: Team Modeler-VFX Artist

Duties:

1. After being given an assignment, in the form of drawings produced by the Art Dept. of the object to be modeled, the supervisor and I would go over the script to determine what the model needed to do, based on how it appeared in various shots.

2. Model geometry and paint textures for objects, producing shot-specific, level-of-detail sub-objects as needed (for close-ups, etc.).

3. Confer with animators and rig objects as per their requirements.

Notes: Actually, I was hired to work on a show called "Heavy Gear" which was meant to start production after "Max Steel" wrapped. I arrived a bit early, so I worked on "Max Steel" in the meantime. Unfortunately, at the last minute, the backers of HG awarded the contract to another studio. After having worked at FI for a very short time, I was laid off along with about 100 others. To date, this was the happiest working experience I've ever had.

2006-1996: PC Technician

Project:  Right the wrongs, help the helpless, fix the unfixable

Supervisor:  Self

Overview: Every group of family/friends/complete strangers has that one guy that can fix computers, right? Nice to meet you; what seems to be the problem?

Duties:

1. Diagnose and Repair Non-Working Computer Hardware: Use of informed observation and broad-based knowledge of different types of hardware (and how they're used by the system) to pinpoint specific hardware failures.

2. Diagnose and Repair Non-Working Computer Software: Use of boot disks (both floppy and CD-based), and Windows repair tools to bring a machine with a damaged OS back to life. Also, use general knowledge of Windows Operating System to cause specific applications to work as the user intends.

3. Build Computers For Specific Tasks: Select specific hardware to enable a computer to best perform the tasks which the user intends.

4. General Advice For Users: For instance, use knowledge and experience to clearly explain to the user why installing the latest $450 graphics card will not help their Pentium III 500 mhz system (with 64 megabytes of RAM) play the latest games. Also, explain why the technician at CompUSA may be jumping the gun when he wants to wipe a hard drive and reinstall Windows because of a simple spyware problem (see below).

5. Spyware Removal: Use various software tools (for example: "HiJack This!","SpyBot Search and Destroy" and Windows "MSCONFIG" and "RegEdit") to remove deeply-embedded malicious software. Also, explain to users how to avoid such infestations and install preventive software.

Notes: I've always wanted a Ferrari. If I'd been paid for all the PC work I've done over the years I'd be able to afford one...and not of the cheap ones!

Personal Info/Interests: