Nicole Tan
Environment Artist
World Builder
Objective -
To work within a team to develop believable, immersive environments that push visual quality while enhancing gameplay experiences.
Work Experience -
Arkane Studios
Senior Level Architect
September 2018 - Present
Redfall (September 2018 - Present)
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Owned spaces from beginning to ship as a world builder
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Collecting reference and visual exploration for regions and buildings
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Block in spaces and layout, balancing design requirements against composition and visual interest
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High detail proxy modeling
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Set dressing
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Traversal and pathing definition
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Terrain and foliage painting
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Initial lighting intention passes
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Maintaining performance and optimization for owned spaces
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Provided feedback for environment artists to maintain consistency and local context
Crystal Dynamics
Environment Artist
May 2011 - July 2018
Avengers Project (Feb 2017 - July 2018)
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Acted as map lead for a small team of environment artists within a space
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Tasked and provided feedback to team members
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Created outsource packages and provided feedback to outsource vendors
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Coordinated photogrammetry and resource gathering trips
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Mentoring and training of new hires
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Collaborate with design to lay out experiential and combat spaces
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Ran GPU analysis of spaces for optimization
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Developed base compositions for spaces
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High poly modeling and low poly bakes
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Created assets from photogrammetry sources
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Jan 2016 - Feb 2017)
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Balanced team priorities and scheduling to satisfy quality within checkpoint deadlines
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Tasked and provided feedback to team members
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Ran analysis to develop efficient optimization guidelines
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Developed key compositions
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Collaborated with designers to layout gameplay spaces
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Developed mesh and terrain materials
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High poly modeling and low poly bakes
Rise of the Tomb Raider (April 2013 - Jan 2016)
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Collaborated with designers to build out structures of hub and side tomb units
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PBR texture and material generation
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High poly modeling and low poly bakes
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Narrative set dressing
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Optimization of units including light, mesh, and material optimizations as well as occlusion
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Documented optimization workflows
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Creation and management of outsource orders for assigned units
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Mentoring and training new hires
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Lighting
Tomb Raider (May 2011 - Jan 2013)
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Modular asset construction
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Collaborating with designers to lay out hub units
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Modeling and material polish
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Creation of side tomb unit from start to finish, including block out, custom mesh, fx placement and tuning, custom modeling/materials, and lighting
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Creation of set pieces for hub levels
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Destructible object modeling
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Analyzing PIX capture reports to formulate optimization strategies
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Mesh, material, and lighting optimizations
Education
Laguna College of Art and Design
Certificate, Game Arts
2008 - 2010
California State University - Sacramento
Bachelor of Arts, Art Studio
2005-2007
University of California, Davis
Bachelor of Arts, Chinese
2000-2004