Zachary Mark
222 Knox Creek Trl NW
Madison, AL 35757
phone: (505) 500-4540
Goal
I want to continue making awesome character animations and push my animation skills to new levels.
Employment
Highwire Games
Lead Animator
July 2022 - present
directed efforts of animation team, created hand-keyed animation, cleaned and polished mocap, created animation systems within UE4, and maintained constant communication with the animation team and other teams across the studio
Army Game Studio
Lead Animator
July 2012 - July 2022
assigned tasks, directed and created animation, and worked with engineers to implement animations for America's Army: Proving Grounds and serious games developed for internal Army training
Animator / Technical Artist
March 2010 – July 2012
rigged and animated characters, wrote scripts to improve the animation pipeline, created in-game animation systems, ran studio mocap system
Freelance
Animator / 3D Artist
August 2009 - February 2010
rigged and animated in-game characters using Maya
Liquid Development
3D Artist
December 2008 - June 2009
handled all aspects of 3D game asset production (focused primarily on character rigging and animation) in 3DS Max and Maya
World Builder
August 2007 - December 2008
brought levels from blockout stage to the final polished version, developed player paths, placed buildings and deco objects, developed lighting, and placed special effects for the PC/Xbox360/PS3 game Damnation
Reality Engineering
Lead Character Animator
June 2004 - June 2007
modeled, animated, lit, and composited dental patient education videos, lead animation for two dental hygiene shorts, set up and maintained the render farm, and assisted co-workers with Maya
Skills
| hand-keyed character animation |
| mocap cleanup |
| dad jokes |
| rigging and character setup |
| Python/MEL scripting |
Education
The Art Institute of Portland
Portland, OROctober 2002 - March 2004
BS - Computer Science
Majored in Media Arts and Animation
Projects
America's Army: Proving Grounds (2015)
The fourth game in the America's Army series. I developed the animation system from pre-production to the final product. I was also responsible for keeping the animation team on schedule, communicating with the offsite animators, and maintaining a high quality of animation.
Serious games for Army training (2011-2022)
A series of “serious” games, designed to simulate various operations performed by the army. Realism and lifelike movement were a priority. I was responsible for building a new animation system in Unreal Engine 3 and Unreal Engine 4, and for creating animations for that system. I also wrote several MEL and Python scripts to improve our animation pipeline.
Freaky Pets (2009)
An online game in which player-controlled creatures are pitted against one another in turn-based 1-on-1 battles. Freaky Pets was developed for PC, Mac, and mobile devices. I rigged, skinned, and created animations for several creature pets.
Damnation (2009)
A game for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Damnation combines vertical space, acrobatic adventure, and third-person shooter gameplay. I was responsible for developing levels from blockout to the final product.