Computer Graphics

I touched my first computer sometime in 1982 when I played with a Commodore Vic20 of a friend. We spent a whole afternoon typing Basic code that created a sphere and filled it with a solid color.
That day I decided what I wanted to do with my life.

In 1984 I got my Spectrum 48k and I started creating images with the first 3D software available Psion Vu 3D and directly typing 0 and 1 in Basic code strings. Commodore 64, MSX, Mac and IBM followed.

In 1986 I joined a small computer graphic studio called Compgraf in Verona (Italy). I spent days and night learning software like Cubicomp PictureMaker, Lumena, Tips and creating images inspired by blurry tapes we got from the US showing amazing images created by computers. We created so many flying logos and medical slides those days… Basic was still helping me write some utilities to create fractal landscapes and special effects.

In 1989 I moved to Milan (Italy) to work for a company that sold software like Vertigo, Cubicomp, Avid. I was a demo artist and spent much of the time showcasing the capabilities of the software we sold and helping customers with their projects.

I spent Christmas break in 1989 learning furiously Softimage version 1.61 so that in January 1990 I could join the Italian office of Softimage. For the following 4 years I traveled the world demoing the software and creating animation for the best customers.
I was part of a small group of animators and programmers at Softimage Italia called The Ray Rebels. We designed and developed many plugins and special software for the Softimage Community and for Special Projects.

In 1994 I decided that it was time for me to move to the US.
I joined PDI in January 1995 as a Character TD when I quickly realized that I was a very bad animator compared to the animators around my new company.
Over 16 years later, a dozen or more movies (from Antz to Shrek to Kung Fu Panda), I’m still there.

I co-designed and developed the crowd system for Antz and Shrek.
I was the co Character Technical Director Supervisor for Shrek.
I designed and developed character animation and deformation systems and technologies used in all our productions (muscles, wrinkles, jiggle balls, faces, legs, tails, crowds, you name it).
For the last 7 years I’ve been part of a small group that is responsible for designing and developing alongside with with R+D the next generation proprietary rigging system at DreamWorks.