During my time at The Third Floor, I worked as a Virtual Production Technical Artist on Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. My primary focus was building out real-time procedural FX, managing the Unreal Engine render pipelines, and prepping builds for on-set AR scouting. From architecting ant crowd population systems to overseeing the visualization pipeline for over 20 distinct sequences, my work ensured that the creative teams had the technical infrastructure needed to explore and execute the complex environments of the Quantum Realm.
What I Did: Key Contributions
Procedural FX & Engine Tooling
To support the massive scale of the film's visual demands, I engineered custom FX materials and developed procedural FX tools directly in Unreal Engine. My specific deliverables included:
Sequence Rendering & Pipeline Management
Virtual production pipelines require rigorous quality control and asset management to function smoothly. I was responsible for overseeing the engine renders across more than 20 separate visualization sequences. Additionally, I handled the QC and conforming process for all external environment assets delivered by vendor studios, ensuring they integrated cleanly into our internal pipeline.
AR Scouting for On-Set Production
Bridging the gap between the digital environments and live-action shooting was a major component of this project. I was tasked with prepping and cooking our Unreal scene builds for Cyclops, The Third Floor's proprietary AR simulcam. This technical preparation empowered the directors and supervisors to physically scout our virtual environments and frame their shots effectively.
Mentorship & Pipeline Support
Beyond building tools and rendering sequences, I actively supported the artists using our systems. I helped the visualization artists troubleshoot and debug daily pipeline issues to prevent production bottlenecks. I also took on the responsibility of teaching and mentoring our Unreal TA/TD trainees, getting them up to speed on The Third Floor's specific pipelines and real-time workflows.
