Martin Orlowski

Current

• Character TD Lead at Aardman Animations

Past

• Character TD Supervisor at WhiteShark Films
• Modeling Supervisor /Characters/ at WhiteShark Films
• Character TD at WhiteShark Films

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Education

• TD - College
• Aula Tematica, Madrid, Spain
• SAE HQ Byron Bay, Australia

• SIC Sydney
• Polish - Japanese Institute of IT
• Uni (Catholic University of Lublin)

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Recommended

12 people have recommended Martin

Connections

64 connections

Industry

Motion Pictures and Film

Martin Orlowski’s Summary

Character Technical Director with love for all character/creature related work, challenges and troubleshooting.
Always hungry for new skills and knowledge.

Martin Orlowski’s Specialties:

All Assets setups (with emphasis on characters), Production Problem Solving, Mel scripted tools for rigging and animation workflow.

Maya, MEL, Houdini

Martin Orlowski’s Experience

• Character TD Lead

  Aardman Animations

  (Privately Held; Animation industry)

  July 2009 — Present (1 month)

  Upcoming Feature

• Character TD Supervisor

  WhiteShark Films

  (Motion Pictures and Film industry)

  January 2008 — June 2009 (1 year 6 months)

  Animated Feature: "Gnomes and Trolls 2" + commercials.
  
  Duties and Responsibilities:
  
  • Developing tools, procedures and interfaces to optimize both animation and rigging pipeline
  • Supervising character Fur / Shave and Haircut attachments
  • Developing MEL-scripted auto-rigging and other tools for character workflow
  • Developing new flexible and detachable Facial System
  • Determining the best required rigging setups for proper deformation and movement of characters (+ other complex assets)
  • Creating a Rigging Department wiki with new guidelines for the rigging workflow and regularly contributing to it
  • Adopting Rigs to dynamically changing production environment
  • Designing and maintaining main rig structures that can be reused for new models or will be the starting point for junior riggers
  • Working with animators to ensure building of most effective animation controls
  • Troubleshooting rigging assets through the whole production process

• Modeling Supervisor /Characters/

  WhiteShark Films

  (Motion Pictures and Film industry)

  January 2008 — June 2009 (1 year 6 months)

  • Determining appropriate modeling approach for proper articulation and movement of characters (+ other complicated assets);
  • Supervising the final look of assets topologies
  • Leading the creation of blendShapes used in the facial control system

• Character TD

  WhiteShark Films

  (Motion Pictures and Film industry)

  December 2006 — January 2008 (1 year 2 months)

  Animated Feature "Gnomes and Trolls".
  Animated Feature Pre-Production "Astrid Silverlock"
  
  Duties and Responsibilities:
  
  • Finding best possible solutions for broken assets at different stages of pipeline (from modeling till rendering)
  • Troubleshooting rig fixes and patches for outsourced characters already in the pipeline
  • Supporting changes on the models (that are already in the pipeline) to dynamically changing production conditions
  • Adopting Rigs to quickly changing script and production environment
  • Brainstorming new rigging ideas and specific rigging solutions

Martin Orlowski’s Education

• TD - College

  Python Programming 2009 — 2009

  Activities and Societies:

  Diving into helpful production uses, as well as integration into Maya and SideFX Houdini.

• Aula Tematica, Madrid, Spain

  Master Houdini Diploma 2006 — 2006

  (Classes by Pablo Gimenez)

  Activities and Societies:

  Procedural approach to rigging, modeling, animation and fx in SideEffects Houdini

• SAE HQ Byron Bay, Australia

  Diploma of Screen (in Animation) 2004 — 2005

  Creature Rigging (Craig L. Stevenson)
  MoCap, StopMotion, (R. Rivero)

  Activities and Societies:

  Maya Animation training with main focus on character related work.

• SIC Sydney

  Academic English 2004 — 2004

  Graduated with Academic IELTS score 8/9

  Activities and Societies:

  Advanced English through Academic IELTS exam.

• Polish - Japanese Institute of IT

  Multimedia 2002 — 2004

  Algorithms

  Activities and Societies:

  Scripting and math studies on CG, animation and effects.

• Uni (Catholic University of Lublin)

  Mathematics 2000 — 2002

  University-level grasp of mathematical concepts.
  All of those are a core for all my TD work, whether in general, character or any other challenging issues.

  Activities and Societies:

  Awarded university grant.

Additional Information

Martin Orlowski’s Interests:

After Animation, Film and VFX, comes Photography, SkyDiving and Motorcycles

Martin Orlowski’s Honors:

Except of the above listed Education history, he's attended to several Character Related Workshops:
CG Workshop - Advanced Character Rigging with Todd Widup
Rigging Master Classes, Siggraph 2008, LA
CG Workshop - Scripting in Maya - MEL Script and Python with Todd Widup
CG Workshop - Sculpting Digital Characters with Cesar Dacol Jr (ZBrush)
Maya Master Classes, Siggraph 2007, San Diego
Drawing Classes, Mullumbimby Australia

Hobby related training:
SkyDiving License (1st Level)
Rock Climbing License