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I am a 3D Technical Animator with 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, blending creative animation skills with strong technical expertise. I specialize in rigging characters and props, creating both keyframe and motion-capture animations, and integrating them into game engines with an eye on optimization. I am proficient in setting up skeletal rigs, skinning, and implementing cloth and physics simulations to enhance realism in real-time applications. A collaborative problem-solver who works closely with artists and engineers to ensure animations are visually impressive, memory-efficient, and run smoothly on target platforms. I enjoy partnering with cross-disciplinary teams to build animator-friendly tools and pipelines, optimize assets for performance, and deliver high-quality, immersive experiences across PC and console platforms.…I am a 3D Technical Animator with 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, blending creative animation skills with strong technical expertise. I specialize in rigging characters and props, creating both keyframe and motion-capture animations, and integrating them into game engines with an eye on optimization. I am proficient in setting up skeletal rigs, skinning, and implementing cloth and physics simulations to enhance realism in real-time applications. A collaborative problem-solver who works closely with artists and engineers to ensure animations are visually impressive, memory-efficient, and run smoothly on target platforms. I enjoy partnering with cross-disciplinary teams to build animator-friendly tools and pipelines, optimize assets for performance, and deliver high-quality, immersive experiences across PC and console platforms.

Mike Jordan

3D Animator, Character Rigger, Game Designer, +2

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I am a 3D Technical Animator with 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, blending creative animation skills with strong technical expertise. I specialize in rigging characters and props, creating both keyframe and motion-capture animations, and integrating them into game engines with an eye on optimization. I am proficient in setting up skeletal rigs, skinning, and implementing cloth and physics simulations to enhance realism in real-time applications. A collaborative problem-solver who works closely with artists and engineers to ensure animations are visually impressive, memory-efficient, and run smoothly on target platforms. I enjoy partnering with cross-disciplinary teams to build animator-friendly tools and pipelines, optimize assets for performance, and deliver high-quality, immersive experiences across PC and console platforms.…I am a 3D Technical Animator with 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, blending creative animation skills with strong technical expertise. I specialize in rigging characters and props, creating both keyframe and motion-capture animations, and integrating them into game engines with an eye on optimization. I am proficient in setting up skeletal rigs, skinning, and implementing cloth and physics simulations to enhance realism in real-time applications. A collaborative problem-solver who works closely with artists and engineers to ensure animations are visually impressive, memory-efficient, and run smoothly on target platforms. I enjoy partnering with cross-disciplinary teams to build animator-friendly tools and pipelines, optimize assets for performance, and deliver high-quality, immersive experiences across PC and console platforms.

Available to hire

I am a 3D Technical Animator with 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, blending creative animation skills with strong technical expertise. I specialize in rigging characters and props, creating both keyframe and motion-capture animations, and integrating them into game engines with an eye on optimization. I am proficient in setting up skeletal rigs, skinning, and implementing cloth and physics simulations to enhance realism in real-time applications. A collaborative problem-solver who works closely with artists and engineers to ensure animations are visually impressive, memory-efficient, and run smoothly on target platforms.

I enjoy partnering with cross-disciplinary teams to build animator-friendly tools and pipelines, optimize assets for performance, and deliver high-quality, immersive experiences across PC and console platforms.

Skills

Experience Level

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Intermediate

Intermediate

Intermediate

Intermediate

Language

English

Fluent

Work Experience

Team Lead 3D Technical Animator at owlcat Games

February 1, 2023 - Present

Architected modular character and creature rigs in Maya, including facial blendshape libraries and corrective shapes to ensure animator-friendly controls and clean deformation. Authored and refined character and creature animations by keyframing and cleaning mocap data for locomotion, traversal, combat, and idle states, including blend spaces, state machines, Montages, additive layers, and root-motion variants. Integrated animations into Unreal Engine 5 using Control Rig, IK Retargeter, Animation Blueprints, and optimized LOD strategies. Implemented Chaos Cloth, Groom, and PhAT setups along with profiling to maintain target FPS.

Senior Technical Animator at SunStrike Studio

February 1, 2023 - September 2, 2025

Managed the animation pipeline across multiple game titles, cleaning and retargeting mocap data and keyframed animations into Unreal Engine 4 and Unity. Created production rigs for bipeds, creatures, and mechanical assets with IK/FK setups, constraints, corrective shapes and animation deformation orders. Implemented physics interactions such as ragdolls and vehicle suspensions. Developed Python and MEL tools for batch skin weighting, export/import automation, and naming convention validations. Standardized rigging and animation conventions including LOD and compression settings to meet performance and memory budgets.

Technical Animator at Cookies.Games

May 1, 2020 - September 2, 2025

Rigged and animated stylized mobile characters and props using lightweight IK/FK rigs, facial morph targets, and efficient skinning while creating animator-friendly control sets. Integrated animated assets in Unity using Mecanim/Humanoid systems including avatar setup, Animator Controllers, Layers, Masks, State Machines, and Animation Events. Optimized animation compression, GPU skinning limits, and materials to ensure smooth playback on target mobile devices.

Team Lead 3D Technical Animator at Owlcat Games

February 1, 2023 - Present

Architected modular character/creature rigs in Maya (facial blendshape libraries, corrective shapes, clean deformation/skin weighting); authored and polished character/creature animation (keyframed & mocap); built blend spaces/state machines, Montages, additive layers, and root-motion/in-place variants; synced Notifies/curves with gameplay/VFX/audio and refined timing/transitions. Integrated animation in UE5: Control Rig, IK Retargeter, Animation Blueprints (state machines, Montages), LOD strategies for skeletal meshes, Chaos Cloth/Groom and PhAT setups; profiled with Unreal Insights/Anim BP Profiler to maintain target FPS.

Senior Technical Animator at SunStrike Studio

February 1, 2023 - October 2, 2025

Owned the animation pipeline across multiple titles: cleaned/retargeted mocap (MotionBuilder) and keyframed animation into UE4/Unity; authored additive layers, root-motion/in-place variants, notifies/events. Created production rigs for bipeds, creatures, and mechanical assets (IK/FK, constraints, deformation order, corrective shapes); implemented physics interactions (ragdolls, vehicle suspensions). Developed Python/MEL tools for batch skin weighting, export/import, and naming validation; standardized rig/anim conventions and LOD/compression settings to hit performance and memory budgets.

Technical Animator at Cookies.Games

May 1, 2020 - October 2, 2025

Rigged and animated stylized mobile characters and props: lightweight IK/FK rigs, facial morph targets, efficient skinning; created animator-friendly control sets. Integrated assets in Unity (Mecanim/Humanoid): Avatar setup, Animator Controllers, Layers/Masks, State Machines, Animation Events; tuned animation compression, GPU skinning limits, and materials to ensure smooth playback on target devices.