Tech

Our tech work centers on the systems that power characters and performances. We build expressive, high-fidelity rigs, facial systems, and simulations for film, AAA games, and real-time experiences, supported by modular pipelines and custom tools that remove friction from production. By combining artistry with engineering, we give teams reliable character tech and workflows that let them push storytelling further.

ICE - Rigging System

ICE is an advanced, modular auto-rigging system designed to generate production-quality character rigs on par with those used at top animation studios. Built around a component-based architecture, it creates expressive, flexible rigs while keeping setup fast, consistent, and easy to iterate on for different characters and styles. The system is designed to plug into modern production pipelines for film, AAA games, and real-time experiences, with a focus on clean deformation and animator-friendly controls. Early versions of ICE were battle-tested across multiple projects and received strong feedback from experienced animators.

Crystals - Integrated Development Environment

Crystals is a custom integrated development environment designed specifically for the ICE auto-rigging pipeline. Developed in-house, it provides a centralized space to create, organize, and maintain ICE modules and tools, making it easier to configure rigs, manage updates, and extend the system over time. With features tailored to character TD workflows, including template management, parameter editing, debugging views, and fast publishing, Crystals helps teams work more efficiently, keep setups consistent, and evolve the rigging pipeline without losing flexibility or control.

Jane Porter - Advanced Facial Rigging

Jane’s facial rig was developed over roughly six months during Chris Pagoria’s advanced facial rigging class at AnimSchool, with extensive exploration and iteration throughout the process. The setup combines blend shapes for appealing facial shapes in the mouth and brows with joints for more technical elements such as the eyes, jaw, and mouth zipper, plus corrective blend shapes to refine complex poses. The breakdown quickly gained traction, surpassing 10,000 views on YouTube in its first week and receiving positive feedback from animators and supervisors at studios such as Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks, Sony, and Blue Sky, and it continues to serve as a key reference for subsequent facial rigging work.

Animated character with medium brown hair styled in a loose updo, bright blue eyes, and a slight smile, set against a green background.
Animated female character with brown hair styled in a bob with a bang, large blue eyes, and a friendly smile, set against a green background.
Animated female character with short brown hair and surprised expression, set against a green background, with a logo for AnimSchool in the bottom right corner.
Computer-generated animated portrait of a smiling girl with short brown hair and purple eyeshadow, against a green background, featuring a small AnimSchool logo at the bottom right corner.

Realistic Clothes Tutorial - 3D World Magazine

An exclusive tutorial created for 3D World Magazine, published in Issue 211 (September 2016), showcases a complete workflow for building realistic clothing in Marvelous Designer. The feature walks through pattern creation, simulation, and refinement, and is supported by downloadable patterns, project files, and video tutorials available on the 3D World Magazine website.

Making realistic virtual clothes is one of the most challenging tasks in CG. Clothing is a crucial part of character development, helping to tell the story behind a personality. With today’s tools, it is possible to combine creative ideas with powerful simulation to create believable garments in just a few hours.

Read more in Issue 211 of 3D World Magazine.

Download Source Files
A woman dressed in military-style clothing holds a lightweight gun, with tattoos visible on her arm, and stands against a plain background. She is wearing a cap, a tactical vest, cargo pants with a chain, and boots.
A person with red hair wearing a green cap, white tank top, green cargo pants, and tan combat boots, holding a beige firearm, and carrying a backpack, with tattoos on her arms and leg, standing against a plain background.
Female cosplayer dressed in military-style clothing, holding a toy gun, wearing a cap, tactical vest, and combat boots, standing against a plain gray background.
Diagram of a 3D model tutorial for realistic clothing, showing different parts of clothes and their assembly, with labels and connection points, sourced from 3D World Magazine, September 2016.
A person dressed in cyberpunk-inspired fashion with thigh-length cargo pants, a layered top, fingerless gloves, a baseball cap, and a shoulder bag, posing against a plain gray background.
Two digital mannequins dressed in tactical military outfits, holding guns, with gear including backpacks, pouches, and boots, set against a plain background.

Clothing Studies - Marvelous Designer

These clothing studies were carried out in early 2016 with the goal of defining a clear pipeline for CG garment creation. The focus was on casual clothing, studying real-world sewing patterns and translating them into a 3D environment using Marvelous Designer. The research resulted in a documented workflow that covers key stages of the process: preparing character models for cloth simulation, using real-world patterns to design CG garments, simulating clothing on both static and animated characters, integrating cloth simulations into ZBrush and other sculpting tools, and finally rigging or simulating the finished assets in Maya.