https://guerilla-tactics.com/Recent content on Aaron AikmanHugo -- gohugo.ioSun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/general/version_control/Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/general/version_control/Version Control Version control systems (VCS), also known as source control or revision control, are a means of storing data about file history. In other words, you can save changes to a file, without needing to create a new file. You can then go back to any saved version using your version control system of choice. Another advantage of version control is that when working with a group of people, you can mark files as “checked-out” meaning that only you can work on them until you’ve submitted your changes.https://guerilla-tactics.com/other/blizzard_referral/Fri, 10 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/other/blizzard_referral/Summary I’m not a recruiter or headhunter for Blizzard, but I am able to extend employee referrals via links. Here are some positions you should apply for if you see something that might be a good fit for your talents! Technical Art Associate or Staff Character Technical Artist - Diablo IV Associate or Staff or Senior Technical Artist VFX Pipeline - Diablo IV Art Outsourcing Senior Character Outsource Supervisor - Diablo IVhttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/diabloiv/Wed, 01 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/diabloiv/Summary I lead the Graphics Tech Art team which focused on shaders, performance, procedural art pipelines, and problem-solving. I also lead the Pipeline Tech Art team which specialized in DCC tooling, from animation and rigging to texture and model export, as well as continuous integration systems that supported art pipelines for ~200 artists and animators. Duration ~6 years (Sep 2018-Jun 2024) Work Amplified the work of my team and created a supportive work environment with high growth potential Anticipated future roadblocks and needs for my team and other disciplines Drove initiatives and created systems of support for content and engineering teams Created tools, shaders, and solutions for artists Interfaced with artists and engineers to improve game features and performance Empowered artists by provided graphics knowledge, tooling options, and general troubleshooting Titleshttps://guerilla-tactics.com/blog/navigating-this_site/Sun, 01 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/blog/navigating-this_site/Introduction This site serves primarily as my portfolio, but I also intend to fill it out with general resources for technical artists, my thoughts on things, and potentially some tutorial content. Site Map About Resume, bio, software proficiency, skills, contribution links, and recommendations. Portfolio Games, film, tv, rides, personal work, shaders, and tools. Tech Art Resources Links and info for current and prospective tech artists Blog To be filled out with resources, thoughts, and tutorialshttps://guerilla-tactics.com/shaders/life_pale_neon/Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/shaders/life_pale_neon/Summary Generative art made with shaders. Description Exploration. Colonization. Consumption. Extinction. Repetition. Salvation? Conway’s Game of Life forms the basis for this creative expression of life’s journey and purpose. Made with GLSL 1080p 60 fps 44 seconds 2640 frames Preview View it full-res on IPFShttps://guerilla-tactics.com/about/Thu, 10 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/about/Resume PDF BIO Aaron Aikman is a Principal Rendering Technical Artist who focuses on shaders, performance, procedural art pipelines, and problem-solving. Aaron has worked on AAA titles, indie games, cinematics, remasters, film, tv, and amusement park rides – often wearing the many hats of a tech art generalist. He now specializes in graphics – from shaders and rendering technology to profiling and optimization. In addition to making and maintaining core shaders for common PBR surfaces, he frequently works on more dynamic surfaces like water, snow, ice, clouds, fog, and lava.https://guerilla-tactics.com/general/online_tools/Fri, 07 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/general/online_tools/Online Tools General Title/Link Link Wayback Machine Archived versions of websites from around the internet at various times The-Blueprints.com Massive catalog of blueprints for everything from vehicles to devices and more Game Idea Generator Game idea generator that could help spark creativity Productivity Title/Link Link AlternativeTo Fantastic resource for finding software alternatives with lots of review and filters Bitly URL Shortener Trello Task tracking software with good collaboration options Language Title/Link Link Etherpad Etherpad server hosted by Wiki PasteBin Online text storage for code or words you’d like to share with others, with options for expiration and no account needed N + 7 Tool for replacing nouns in text with a noun 7 entries later in the dictionary for spurring creativity Google Translate Premiere translation tool Spreeder Tool for forcing or training yourself to speed-read inputted text Youtube Title/Link Link YT Cutter Cut and download youtube videos Infinite Looper Quickly loop a clip from a Youtube videohttps://guerilla-tactics.com/hats/graphics/Fri, 07 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/hats/graphics/Overview Graphics I call this hat “graphics” because though it’s often referred to as shaders or lookdev, it’s about more than just that. A tech artist focused on graphics should also know how rendering works in order to help artists understand how to achieve the look they want and how to optimize their work. Understanding the fundamentals of how assets become pixels on the screen is also important for assessing and improving performance, as well as interfacing with engineers on current and future graphics features of the engine.https://guerilla-tactics.com/resources/Fri, 07 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/resources/What is a technical artist? Technical artist means something different to every studio. In short, tech artists solve technical problems faced by game developers, usually from an art or animation perspective. In my experience, there are a few categories that tech artists can be divided into: graphics, pipeline, characters, and vfx. I like to call these the “Tech Art Hats” that tech artists wear. There are a lot of tech artists who are generalists, wearing more than one or all the hats.https://guerilla-tactics.com/portfolio/Sat, 13 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/portfolio/Quicklinks Games Films TV and Rides Personalhttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/relumine/Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/relumine/Summary Created shaders, made vfx, profiled scenes, improved performance, and provided general troubleshooting support Duration 2 years on and off (side project) Shader Work Below are some examples of shaders I made for Relumine. I was responsible for every shader in the game. Some are as simple as color, emissive, color based upon surface normal, or gradient based upon bounding box. Others are stylized effects to describe complex surfaces like a few of those pictured below.https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/warcraft_3_reforged/Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/warcraft_3_reforged/Work Created specialty shaders together with Rick Gilliland near the end of the project Duration 1 month Shaders Night Elf Cloaking The final effect ended up being a more subtle version of this which did not animate. Crystal Shader Our objective was to create a more convincing look with minimal added textures, so the effect is really just parallax and some Fresnel. The second two are just comparisons for with and without the effect, which was later masked to only affect the crystalhttps://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/jsonitor/Sat, 04 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/jsonitor/Summary An open-source JSON Editor for manipulating JSON files in text and tree views. Preview Getting started EXE The precompiled executable is available for download on the github repo Python Install If you choose to run the interpreted code through python, you can pull the source code from the github repo, install module requirements (PyQt5, Qscintilla, QtAwesome, and Pyperclip) by changing to the source folder and running: pip3 install -r requirements.https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/drifters/Mon, 02 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/drifters/Summary Made shaders, vfx, tools, rigs, and provided project-wide troubleshooting Duration ~8 months Description of Work Created shaders for characters, environments, and vfx Made filters for Substance Painter to improve Character artist workflow Rigged characters and props Created character skill and ambient visual effects Set up anim blueprints and in-engine rig solutions in Unreal Engine 4 Created post process materials for screen space effects Profiled and improved performance Developed tools for improved animation workflow Provided troubleshooting support for art team and engine-specific knowledge for engineering Wrote documentation for art pipelines Shaders & VFX I created textures, shaders, and vfx for characters and environments throughout the game.https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/borderlands/Thu, 02 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/borderlands/Summary Created shader breakdowns for props in order to assist artists in remastering weapons and characters Duration ~1 month More Remaster Comparison For more project details, please visit the Steam Store pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/avengers/Thu, 02 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/avengers/Summary Created vfx for an unreleased character Duration ~1 month More Announce Trailer For more project details, please visit the Official Websitehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/paladins/Thu, 02 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/paladins/Summary Created shaders, made vfx, and rendered shots for a promotional cinematic Duration ~2 months Description of Work I created gem, fire, ice, dissolve, and other shaders as well as steam, petal, feather, and other vfx for this cinematic, in addition to doing lighting and rendering. More Full Trailer For more project details, please visit the Halon Project pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/xcom2/Thu, 02 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/xcom2/Summary Created visual effects and did lighting for cinematics Duration ~3 Months Description of Work Below you’ll see a few examples of shots I worked on that include smoke, explosions, energy, unstealthing and other miscellaneous effects or shaders. More Announce Trailer For more project details, please visit the Steam Store pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/virtualcamera/Thu, 02 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/virtualcamera/Summary A blueprint tool in Unreal that allowed custom hardware to function like a virtual camera Preview I created the first iterations of the in-engine functionality for Halon’s virtual camera (vcam), as well as “virtual” version of the vcam which could be used with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Demohttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/mass_effect_new_earth/Mon, 02 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/mass_effect_new_earth/Summary Created foliage, vfx and shaders, in addition to rendering out shots for the final image Duration ~3 Months Description of Work Below you’ll see a few examples of shots I worked on that include smoke, explosion, lasers, rocket trails, holograms, planets, ship lights, and other miscellaneous effects or shaders. More Press Video For more project details, please visit the Halon Project pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/rendermover/Mon, 02 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/rendermover/Summary A tool for finding, renaming and moving files with various options Preview This program was made in order to automate the tedious task of finding and moving files to the same folders. It was created using Python, PyQt and QtDesigner.https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/smugglers_run/Mon, 02 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/smugglers_run/Summary Project and virtual camera setup Duration ~1 week Description of Work The Smuggler’s Run ride at Disneyland is an interactive ride with pilots and gunners influencing the ship’s functions. I was part of a small team that set up shop (including asset libraries, customs Maya tools, and virtual camera tools in Unreal) for our animation team where Disney kept the test rig in Burbank. More Pilot Seat POV For more project details, please visit the Disneyland pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/the_orville/Mon, 02 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/the_orville/Summary Created shaders and vfx, animated spaceships and cameras, wrote tools for quickly naming and moving files, and rendered previs (mainly for episodes 101, 104, 105, 111, and 112) Duration ~6 Months Previs More Full Previs Reel For more project details, please visit the Halon Project pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/feral/Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/feral/Summary Created shaders and assets, and rendered shots for previs Duration ~3 Months More IMDb For more info, please visit the IMDbhttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/dark_phoenix/Sun, 01 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/dark_phoenix/Summary Created environment for the U.N. set for previs Duration ~1 Month More Final Movie Trailer For more project details, please visit the Halon Project pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/the_meg/Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/the_meg/Summary Created shaders and assets, and rendered shots for previs and postvis Duration ~1 Month Previs Postvis More Full Previs Reel Full Postvis Reel For more project details, please visit the Halon Project pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/misctools/Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/misctools/Summary A brief description of older tools I’ve made that are not from my current project and I am unable to show Unreal Engine 4 Texture Baker In-engine tool for baking dynamic textures down to static textures to reduce texture samples and shader complexity Maya Pose Matcher Maya tool for quickly keyframing a rig to match poses 2d images CSV Processor Batch tool for reformatting, renaming, and moving csv files for an otherwise tedious and error-prone processhttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/call_of_the_wild/Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/call_of_the_wild/Summary Created key shaders and rendered shots for initial stages of previs, while collaborating with FOX VFX Lab. Duration ~3 Months Work Below are a few examples of the previs work I did for the project where I assembled, lit, added custom vfx, and rendered shots. I also created fur, eye and cloud shaders, and rigged a few characters. More Full Previs Reel For more project details, please visit the Halon Project pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/logan/Tue, 01 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/logan/Summary Helped briefly during the project setup and stuntvis phase of production Duration ~1 Month Description of Work I did set replacement, rotoscoping, and compositing for Stuntvis, where stunt people acted out scenes in a temporary set. I worked on shots similar to those shown below. More For more project details and reels please visit the Halon Project pagehttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/war_for_the_planet_of_the_apes/Sat, 01 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/war_for_the_planet_of_the_apes/Summary Created rapid turnaround workflow for the shot render pipeline through Unreal - spearheading shaders, vfx, blueprints, and tools for utmost speed Duration 1.75 Years (Aug 2015-May 2017) Work Established art pipeline for asset creation, shot assembly, lighting, effects and rendering in Unreal Trained team on real-time engine workflow and best practices Wrote extensive documentation for training and troubleshooting Managed project structure and optimization as pertaining to Unreal Created material inheritance system and templates for visual quality and efficiency Developed tools in the engine to aid and expedite the creative process Oversaw engine troubleshooting challenges Created visual effects including particles, clothing, and destruction for Previs and Postvis Performed motion tracking of cameras and actors for Postvis Integrated motion capture and animation for shot creation Developed tools to aid, manage, and export animation as well as tools for file management Quicklinkshttps://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/puppet_quest/Mon, 01 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/projects/puppet_quest/Summary Created character art, environment art, established pipelines, and built scenes in Unity Work Established character and environment art pipeline Created hero characters Created props and modular environment kits Managed scene assembly and worldbuilding Authored VFX and shaders Optimized assets and improved in-engine bottlenecks Developed art tools and workflows to speed up production Duration 12 months (Sep 2014-Jul 2015) Quicklinks Character Modeled and unwrapped the main character for the game (texturing by Zeqian Hou)https://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/phoenixtools/Sun, 02 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000https://guerilla-tactics.com/tools/phoenixtools/Summary Maya modeling and unwrapping toolkit Preview The vast majority of my tools made in Maya were on the job and so I can’t show them, but here’s a toolkit I made to help myself with modeling an unwrapping This demonstrates some tools for quickly adjusting pivots for objects and for adjusting manipulator orientation across objects. This tool is for creating a hole in a mesh. If I were to redo this, I would automate a few of the steps here.