Justin Israel

Software/Pipeline Developer

Wellington 6035, New Zealand

imdb.com/name/nm1920992

OBJECTIVE
As a versatile and experienced software developer in the Visual Effects industry, with a background including film production, compositing, roto/paint, fx, and supervision, I have an affinity for learning new techniques and applications quickly. This broad and applicable knowledge enables me to rapidly solve a wide range of problem spaces, and makes me an asset to Software, Visual Effects, and Post-Production teams. I strive to work with teams of people who love challenges, love to learn, and love to build exciting solutions.

SKILLS

Languages:	Python, Cython, Go, C++
Technologies:	GUI (Qt, PySide/PyQt), Image Processing (Maya/Nuke APIs, OpenImageIO, ImageMagick), Distributed Messaging (Nats.io, ZeroMQ, Kafka, RabbitMQ), Build systems (Waf), API/Language Binding (rpc, Thrift, json, cython, ctypes, cgo)
Visual Effects:	Maya, Nuke, Fusion, Shake, Syntheyes, PFTrack, Boujou, Adobe Photoshop/Premiere, Apple Final Cut, Autodesk Flame/Inferno

EXPERIENCE

Weta Digital, Wellington, New Zealand - Senior Software Engineer

JAN 2013 - PRESENT

Pipeline development, services, and tooling
Dev: Asset Management, In-House Render Farm, Review Pipeline, Scene Description Pipeline, Build system development, Distributed systems and caching, Python/C++ clang-based code gen compiler

South Park Studios, Los Angeles, CA - Sr. Pipeline Developer

NOV 2008 - JAN 2013

Direct dev/support for artist pipeline at the award-winning 18+ season Comedy Central cartoon studio
Maya python/mel scripting and development
Nuke/Shake development
Qube! Render Queue development
Python/PyQt applications for production and general pipeline
Resources, assets, tracking, and review pipelines

Custom Film Effects, Burbank, CA - Compositor

MARCH 2008 - NOV 2008

Digital artist at boutique visual effects studio
Compositing, Paint, Roto, tool development
Films: Tropic Thunder, Swing Vote, Mama Mia, Bride Wars

Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City, CA - Sr. Production Service Technician

JAN 2006 - MARCH 2008

Feature Films: The Watchmen, I Am Legend, Spider-man 3
Disk Mgmt, Production Support, Image Processing, Vendor I/O, Render Farm Management, Data/Shot/Show Archival
Python scripting, Pipeline support / development
Training: Katana, Bonsai (internal compositor), Flame/Inferno, Houdini, Maya, Massive

Stan Winston Digital, Van Nuys, CA - 2D Digital Artist

JAN 2005 - JULY 2005

Feature Films: Eight Below, Fantastic Four
Digital Paint, Rotoscoping, and Compositing
Matte preparation, grain removal, wire removal, dust / scratch repair / plate preparation

EDUCATION

California State University Long Beach, CA - B.A. Film / Electronic Arts

SEPT 2003 - DEC 2005

Film / Video related production track; Visual FX Courses

Directed 4 films; Visual FX Supervisor; Editor: 2x; Director of Photography: 2x

Palomar College, San Marcos, CA - General Education

2002 - MAY 2003

CSU San Marcos, San Marcos, CA - General Education

2001 - 2002

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Visual FX Supervisor: Commander And Chief (2012), The Compass (2009)
SIGGRAPH 2017 Presentation: Large Scale VFX Pipelines (20 min)
Commercial and free Python training videos (cmiVFX and youtube)
Moderator for Python-Inside-Maya Google group (4000+ members)
Freelance compositing, Freelance Video Production
Animation Training (2000-2001) at Newtek-Certified Lightwave Training Center
Daniel’s Cablevision (2000), Carlsbad, CA: Production / Post-Production Intern at city cable provider