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Jim Jagger
Animation Director/Technical Director
www.JimJagger.com
+44 (0)7903 888 569

My aim is to lead an animation team that promotes innovation while striving for visual excellence. I want to push games in exciting, unique and successful directions by providing fluid, responsive character and animation systems.

Having worked on projects such as Tony Hawk, Neverwinter Nights, Far Cry and Splinter Cell, I have a fundamental understanding of the pitfalls and problems faced during development as well as the ideas and solutions to overcome them.

Employment

Rockstar North - Lead Animator.
Edinburgh, Scotland. October 2009 - Present.

T.B.A.

Sony (SCEE) - Principal Animator.
London, England. April 2006 - September 2009.

EyePet (Animation Director) and Eight Days (Character & Animation Director)

• Built and directed teams of character artists and animators across multiple projects.
• Hand animated major game play moves.
• Developed new game play moves and mechanics from concept to completion.
• Designed and implemented animation tools and pipelines through extensive animation R&D.
• Planed, directed and edited motion capture data.
• Participated in peer reviews of SCEE’s portfolio, highlighting concerns and suggesting potential solutions.
• Improved communications across teams and studios by establishing European art conferences to facilitate sharing.
• Worked closely with Sony’s Advanced Technology Group to develop tools and procedures that take advantage of the PS3 architecture to benefit SCEE and its partner studios.
• Managed and scheduled large scale projects, including relationships with extertnal teams.
• Reviewed commercial tools and packages and recommended purchases where appropriate.
• Drove custom development of tools such as MotionBuilder.
• Mentored animators and encouraged consistent style via regular animation reviews.
• Collaborated with Sony’s World Wide Studios to develop cutting edge technologies.

Ubisoft - Technical Director of Animation.
Montréal/Shanghai. April 2004 - March 2006

Splinter Cell, Far Cry, King Kong and additional concepts

• Extensive animation R&D, working alongside independent research teams.
• Worked with various internal and external engines including Unreal, Prince of Persia (Jade) and Far Cry (CryEngine).
• Developed extensive suite of Maxscripts to aid art creation and optimise performance.
• Co-designed and prototyped new moves and mechanics.
• Designed and built animation centric character rigs.
• Hand animated major game play moves and cinematics.
• Directed large team of Chinese national artists.

Bioware Corporation - Senior Animator.
Edmonton, Canada. August 2003 - April 2004.

Jade Empire and Neverwinter Nights

• Hand animated human and creature characters.
• Planned, directed and edited motion capture data for human characters.
• Developed new animation tools and techniques.

Neversoft Entertainment - Animator.
Los Angeles, U.S.A. November 2001 - August 2003.

Tony Hawk, Pro Skater Series.

• Responsible for all animated game characters.
• Created rigs for all playable characters.
• Worked alongside physics and AI coders to scripted in-game animations.

Infogrames - Artist.
Manchester, England. June 1999 - November 2001.

Loons, Taz Express and Radikal Bikers

• Modeled, textured and animated characters.

Skills

• Good understanding of programming languages (C, C++, Maxscript and Python).
• Excellent knowledge of development tools and packages
• Building communications across teams and studios
• Passion for playing games of all genres.

Credits

• EyePet (PS3). 2009.
• Eight Days (PS3) Cancelled 2008.
• Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Xbox 360, PS3, PC). 2006.
• King Kong (XBox 360, XBox, PS2, Game Cube, PC). 2005.
• Far Cry: Instincts (XBox). 2005.
• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (PS2, XBox, Game Cube, PC). 2005.
• Jade Empire (XBox). 2005.
• Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (PC). 2003.
• Tony Hawk Underground (PS2, XBox, Game Cube). 2003.
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (PS2, XBox, Game Cube). 2002.
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (XBox). 2002.
• Loons: The Fight for Fame (XBox). 2002.
• Taz Express (N64). 2000.
• Ernie's Great Escape (Short Film, ITV). 2000.
• Radikal Bikers (PSX). 1999.

Education

BA (Hon's) Computer Visualisation and Animation.
NCCA, Bournemouth University, England. 1996 - 1999.

References available upon request.