LogoBEN CLOWARD - Technical Artist

Welcome and thanks for your interest. I am a technical artist. I love scripting tools that make people's jobs easier, programming real-time shaders that bring worlds to life, and then creating particle effects to blow them up. I love my job at Bioware and I'm not interested in looking for new positions right now, but you're welcome to take a look at some of my past work on this page. Here is a sampling of my skills:

You may also be interested in:


Shaders
Shaders
Shaders
Shaders
Shaders
Shaders

 

  REAL-TIME SHADERS

I've been creating shaders in HLSL and in node-based editors since 2003. Recently I've teamed up with Kees Rijnen (formerly of Bioware) to create a plugin called ShaderFX which allows artists to create real-time shaders using a familiar node-based interface. You can see ShaderFX in action in my shader demo reel.
  Shader Demo Reel (45.3 MB WMV)
(Credits explained in the reel narration)

Learn more about ShaderFX here:

  • http://www.shaderfx.com

     

    I created a series of training videos that teach artists the process of writing shaders. The videos are available on my YouTube channel here:
  • My YouTube Channel

     

    You can download some of my HLSL shaders from my web site. I've made these shaders available for the community to use:
  • https://www.bencloward.com/resources_shaders.shtml

     

    You can also download my shader demo that was used at the Autodesk and ATI booths at GDC 2006 to show off the real-time viewport abilities of 3ds Max:
  • https://www.bencloward.com/shaderShowcase2.rar

     




  •   CHARACTER RIGGING

    My custom character rigs have been used in games for the last 8 years. Two years ago I began writing a script that allows artists to build a full-featured custom character rig with just a few button clicks. The script is featured on my rigging demo reel.

      Rigging Demo Reel (40.4 MB WMV)
    (Credits explained in the reel narration)

    My rigging script has been used to speed up the character pipeline on the following titles:

    • Curious George
    • Flushed Away
    • Deadhead Fred
    • Unannounced PS3 title
    In addition to my rigging script, I love creating morph targets and facial rigs. I also have experience rigging complex mechanical and transformable characters. These skills are demonstrated in my animation demo reel.






     

      CHARACTER ANIMATION

    I've been breathing life into video game characters since my career began - 8 years ago. I've animated everything from dinosaurs to complex mechnical characters to realistic humans. Facial expressions and lip sync are my favorite things to animate. Recently, Flushed Away won an Annie Award for "Best Animated Video Game." I was the lead animator on the project. You can see some of my best work on my animation demo reel.

      Character Animation Demo Reel (69.9 MB WMV)
    Ben Cloward's Resume  Animation Reel Credit Sheet (Word Format)

    My character animation is featured in the following shipped titles:

    * I was lead animator on these titles.

    Rigging
    Rigging
    Rigging
    Rigging
    Rigging

      PARTICLE EFFECTS

    I helped to develop our company's particle effects editor by giving design specs, feedback, bug testing, etc. You can see examples of my particle effects in my particle effects demo reel.

      Particle Effects Demo Reel (34.4 MB WMV)
    Ben Cloward's Resume  Particle Reel Credit Sheet (Word Format)

    Recently I've been in charge of creating training videos to help artists both inside and outside the studio learn how to use our game engine. I've created a series of 40+ videos on setting up and exporting characters, creating materials in the engine, and creating particle effects. In the video linked below, I explain my workflow process and demonstrate the capabilities of the particle system that I used for all of the effects on my demo reel. This video and several others that I created are publically available on the Vicious Engine web site.

      Vicious Engine Particle System Demo (117 MB AVI)
    (This video requires the TechSmith codec.)

    My particle effects are featured in the following shipped titles:

    • Marvel Trading Card Game
    • Flushed Away
    • Curious George
    • Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet
    • Spy vs. Spy
    • Robotech: Invasion


    TEXTURES & TUTORIALS
    Textures

      TEXTURE ARCHIVE

    Here's a collection of texture photos that I've taken. Feel free to use these textures for any project, personal or professional. They are my gift to the 3D community.

    There are currently 399 images in the archive

     

    Tutorials

      TUTORIALS

    I've learned a lot about high-end real-time graphics in the past few years with a lot of help from the online community. I decided to return the favor by posting some tutorials covering some of the topics I've learned about. The second tutorial on normal mapping is not finished yet.


    RESUME

    Ben Cloward's Resume  Ben Cloward's Resume (HTML Format)

    Ben Cloward's Resume  Ben Cloward's Resume (Word Format)

     


    HOME BLOG PORTFOLIO RESUME RESOURCES CONTACT