REIGNSONE
REIGNSONE
Born Neil Fordice in Merced, CA
Resides in San Diego, CA
LIFE
My wife and I take full advantage of living in America's Finest City and all that it has to offer. We currently live in Clairemont/Bay Park with our two Miniature Australian Shepherds and Orange Tabby...errr...Sabertooth Tiger.
Most of our activities involve our dogs...Walks, Pet Friendly Restaurants, Fiesta Island, Dog Parks, Breweries, etc. We love being outdoors with the dogs, riding bicycles and paddle boarding. When we aren't outside spoiling our dogs, we are usually checking out live music at one of San Diego's many music venues or rooting for our home sports teams. Go Padres! Go Gulls! Classic cars are a big part of our travel and weekend plans. We own a fully restored 1969 VW Bug and a work in progress 1969 Chevrolet G10 Van. Vanning has been our latest obsession and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon.
We are blessed to have a very wide group of amazing friends and family involved in our lives and wouldn't have it any other way.
WORK
I have been in the 3D Animation industry for eighteen years and have worked on a wide range of projects as well as a diverse array of teams. Each project has its own techniques and style, learning those nuances and pushing the growth of those projects has always been a huge motivator for me. My goals moving forward are to continue to develop and grow in the 3D Animation field while creating top quality assets and supporting a collaborative team dynamic.
My early years in the industry were focused on Modeling and Texturing Props, Vehicles & Environments, Lighting, TD-ing Scenes & Rendering. While in Santa Monica at Threshold Digital Research Labs I worked on a wide scope of 3D Animated projects. After my work day at TDRL I would pack up and head to a few different Studios in the area to work on additional projects. These projects ranged anywhere from Commercials to Music Videos, creating props and 3D environments to replace green screen backgrounds. I was surrounded by a lot of amazing artists in Santa Monica and I learned a ton.
When I made the move back to Sony San Diego my direction shifted to Characters and the NBA. After two years at Sony I moved into the Lead Character position with a team of 8 Character Artists of all varying skill sets. I really enjoyed the leadership role, it also invoked a love for asset tracking and the documentation of processes.
After the NBA franchise, we focused on a few smaller titles that were extremely Asset/Customizable/Character heavy. This type of customization created a ton of work but it was very satisfying to see the process come to a completion and support other titles.
My latest project was Kill Strain for the PS4, we were a very small team and had to wear a lot of different hats in the game development process. I was still heavily involved with the entirety of the Character creation process, but our project was in need of VFX support. This is where I started to help out on the VFX side of things and I really enjoyed learning the particle pipeline process, creating assets, learning new tricks and developing my skills as a VFX Artist. We were using the Unity Engine, which I thoroughly enjoyed, because it gave us the ability to iterate at rapid prototype assets that were to be implemented into the game.
We were creating assets as fast and as clean as possible in-house and needed more assets ASAP, so we started working with an outsource 3d house. Working with them brought on a new level of asset tracking and documentation as well as communication, which was all right up my alley. Unfortunately Kill Strain 2: Electric Boogalo was not in the budget.
I've taken a few months off and recharged my batteries & I am fired up to get back at it. I am excited to see what I get to learn next and what the future holds!
Thank you for stopping by!