Jack M. Christensen

Technical Artist Portfolio

Below are a few projects I think you might like. Please click the links for more information and feel free to explore the rest of my portfolio website if you’re interested!

Maya Plugin: Tinyblast

A plugin for Maya that streamlines and adds functionality to playblast.

Dynamic Terrain Tessellation: Terravisor

Terravisor takes real-world height data from NASA and creates a dynamically tessellated terrain mesh.

Fractal Renderer

A fractal renderer made as a final project for my generative programming class.

Project: Tinyblast – Custom Maya Plugin for Optimized Playblasting

Tinyblast is a technical solution I engineered to address critical workflow bottlenecks in Maya’s playblast system for Windows users. This project demonstrates my ability to develop custom tools that enhance productivity and solve real-world pipeline issues.

Technical Highlights:

Developed a fully integrated Maya plugin using Python and Maya’s OpenMaya API
Designed a custom UI with Qt6 and PySide6, mimicking Maya’s native interface for user familiarity
Implemented FFmpeg integration for advanced video encoding and compression
Achieved up to 99% file size reduction while maintaining visual quality

Key Technical Skills Demonstrated:

Maya API and plugin architecture
Python scripting and optimization
UI/UX design for 3D software
Video codec implementation and management
Workflow automation and pipeline optimization

This project showcases my ability to identify pipeline inefficiencies and develop robust, user-friendly solutions. It reflects my commitment to optimizing artist workflows and my proficiency in creating tools that seamlessly integrate with industry-standard 3D applications.