Spencer Rafael Diaz
I am Character TD/Rigger who is currently working on state of the art VR games at Skydance Interactive. Having worked at DreamWorks Animation prior to joining Skydance, I had the opportunity to work on a wide range of characters, from hero to background, for Kung Fu Panda 4 and Trolls Band Together. For Kung Fu Panda, I am honored to have worked on the wardrobe rigs for the film's main protagonists. I worked very closely with animators and modelers to ensure the rigs meet production needs, and I serve as a mentor for new hires.
For three year I was also a member of the DreamWorks centralized team for TV production. Under this role, I had the privilege of working on many exciting TV series including Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, and Fast and Furious: Spy Racers. My responsibilities as a Character TD included building and debugging in-house production rigs, reviewing and adjusting rigs submitted from partner studios, providing rigging notes for production assets, scripting tools to aid rigging production, and attending rigging meetings to discuss potential improvements. The rigs I've worked with while at DreamWorks include realistic and cartoon humanoids with several articles of clothing and accessories, creatures, transit, and many types of props. For some of the series including The Boss Baby: Back in Business and Doug Unplugs, I held more of a supervisory role by being the rigging point person to help oversee rigging production
Prior to DreamWorks, I was the Lead Rigger on the Mega Man: Fully Charged animated series at WildBrain Studios and had the opportunity to support other productions in early stages of development including Blaze and the Monster Machines (auto rig template), Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu (rigging tool), and the upcoming series Go, Dog. Go! (hero character rig for early development). I've also had the opportunity to assist in developing the animation program at Carnegie Mellon University, and oversaw rigging production while at Disney Research.
My time at Disney Research began back in 2010 as an animation intern and I continued to work within the company since, taking part in numerous projects that were showcased at graphics conferences such as SIGGRAPH and other business units within the Walt Disney Company. As a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon's IDeATe program, which specializes in art and technology, I offered courses in many areas pertaining to 3D animation including character rigging, character animation, and performance capture. This role also allowed me the opportunity to mentor students students at both Carnegie Mellon's main campus and the Entertainment Technology Center, offering guidance on their team-based video game, animation, and interactive projects.
I hold a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and received production training on full body, facial, and creature rigging from iAnimate. Additionally, I studied Python scripting under Geordie Martinez (ILM, Versatile Media).
For three year I was also a member of the DreamWorks centralized team for TV production. Under this role, I had the privilege of working on many exciting TV series including Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, and Fast and Furious: Spy Racers. My responsibilities as a Character TD included building and debugging in-house production rigs, reviewing and adjusting rigs submitted from partner studios, providing rigging notes for production assets, scripting tools to aid rigging production, and attending rigging meetings to discuss potential improvements. The rigs I've worked with while at DreamWorks include realistic and cartoon humanoids with several articles of clothing and accessories, creatures, transit, and many types of props. For some of the series including The Boss Baby: Back in Business and Doug Unplugs, I held more of a supervisory role by being the rigging point person to help oversee rigging production
Prior to DreamWorks, I was the Lead Rigger on the Mega Man: Fully Charged animated series at WildBrain Studios and had the opportunity to support other productions in early stages of development including Blaze and the Monster Machines (auto rig template), Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu (rigging tool), and the upcoming series Go, Dog. Go! (hero character rig for early development). I've also had the opportunity to assist in developing the animation program at Carnegie Mellon University, and oversaw rigging production while at Disney Research.
My time at Disney Research began back in 2010 as an animation intern and I continued to work within the company since, taking part in numerous projects that were showcased at graphics conferences such as SIGGRAPH and other business units within the Walt Disney Company. As a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon's IDeATe program, which specializes in art and technology, I offered courses in many areas pertaining to 3D animation including character rigging, character animation, and performance capture. This role also allowed me the opportunity to mentor students students at both Carnegie Mellon's main campus and the Entertainment Technology Center, offering guidance on their team-based video game, animation, and interactive projects.
I hold a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and received production training on full body, facial, and creature rigging from iAnimate. Additionally, I studied Python scripting under Geordie Martinez (ILM, Versatile Media).