Gabriel Hernandez
I'm Gabriel Hernandez, a 3D animator based in San Jose, California, with over seven years in game development.
About
I’m Gabriel Hernandez, a 3D animator based in San Jose, California, with over seven years in game development. I specialize in stylized and realistic real-time character animation and am proficient with Maya, Unity, and Unreal Engine.
I thrive in fast-paced, cross-disciplinary teams, collaborating with VFX, audio, design, and engineering to deliver polished gameplay moments and cinematic sequences. I enjoy shaping believable motion, combat systems, and creature animation that support strong storytelling and player immersion.
- 9 years' experience
- Joined May 2025
Skills· 10
Languages
- EnglishFluent
Industry experience
- Gaming
- Media & Entertainment
- Software & Internet
More experts in San Jose, United States
Work experience· 5 roles
Created over 850 real-time animation clips including 400+ player moves, 200+ boss abilities, and 12 cinematic guild boss sequences. Specialized in animated action and combat sequences, including locomotion cycles for characters and creatures of various shapes and sizes (bipeds, quadrupeds, and more). Co-developed a cinematic pipeline, reducing animation-import time by 30%. Integrated animations into Unity using blend trees and state machines for optimal real-time performance. Worked cross-functionally with VFX, narrative, and audio teams to synchronize storytelling. Used GitHub and Fork for version control in an Agile, cloud-based environment.
Produced cinematic-quality animation for multi-character cutscenes under tight deadlines. Applied camera animation and lighting techniques to elevate story moments. Participated in remote daily team rituals using Jira, Slack, and Confluence.
Developed responsive locomotion and combat animations for a variety of bipedal characters. Built custom IK/FK rigs with physics-based secondary motion. Partnered with engineering to deliver animation-ready blueprints in Unity.
Education· 6
Learned traditional art fundamentals in drawing, and painting in order to be accepted into SJSU BFA program. Took 2 years of animating in 2D starting with basic animation test (ball bounce, brick drop, sack drop, walk cycle) and completed a 30 second personal short film. The SJSU BFA program focused on learning basic modeling, rigging, texturing, lighting, and composition in 3D.
Animated biped and quadruped creatures with focus on mechanics, cinematic, and great acting chooses. Finished 6 shots of with a emphasis on strong understanding of animal loco motion, weight, acting and timing applied. Animated jumping, walking, running, reaction, and two characters interacting.
Certifications and awards
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