Ubisoft Animation Technology

The Project

As a first foray into the software industry, I was brought on the animation programming department of the Ubisoft Montreal studio. First working on an unannounced game, then later as part of the Technology Group (TG), I worked on a cross-engine fast runtime IK solution aimed at technical animators. Our libraries and tools helped to make the various creatures in the Ubisoft worlds to come to life.

While this was my junior job out of University, I learned a lot by working at Ubisoft. While I did not specialize in animation programming in the end, I started finding the skillset that would later define my career; tools programming, API design, code quality, and technical project management.

Contribution

I helped a team of senior animation programmers with their tasks, particularly with regards to developing the tools inside the Autodesk suite of software; plugins in Maya, Motionbuilder and 3dsMax. I also worked on a cross-platform API for animation programming in those tools.

In addition, I contributed to the integration of our library into the many engines at the studio such as Anvil and Snowdrop, created documentation and video presentations, and fixed bugs as they came.