Nikki Dunsire

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

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• Started as a web developer and later a Production Coordinator for an award-winning Animation and VFX studio

• 3D Technical Director for an award-winning animation and VFX studio - created content for tech firms, game and application producers, independent filmmakers, and Fortune 500 companies, becoming an expert in all things 3D production and VFX

• Just under 17 years of teaching experience across several colleges and universities in the Pacific Northwest as well as New Hampshire; having taught 48 different courses, 40 of those with curriculums built from scratch.

• Lead Instructor for one of Schools.com Top 10 Game Development Degree Programs (2017-2018)

• Academic Department Director for the following programs at The Art Institute of Portland: Media Arts and Animation, Game Art and Design, Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, Visual and Game Programming, Photography, Digital Film and Video

• A 94% placement rate as a Career Advisor at The Art Institute of Portland

• Elected Faculty Council President (2018). Member of the Portfolio Review Committee & Crisis Management          Council - The Art Institute of Portland

• Member of the Clackamas Community College and Oregon Storyboard team awarded the Microsoft Hololens Academic        Research Grant ($100,000) 

• Lead faculty member and Producer for the Oregon22 opening title sequence at the University of Oregon

• Oregon Reality Lab Manager at the University of Oregon (Immersive Media Lab)

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EDUCATION

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Master of Science: Computer Graphics and Animation with an emphasis in 3D Technical Direction and Development
DePaul University, Chicago, IL 2004
 

Bachelor of Science: Media Arts and Animation
The Art Institute of Portland, Portland, OR 2006
 

Bachelor of Art: Digital Media Studies, Minor in Art & Design
University of Denver, Denver, CO 2002

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SKILLS & SOFTWARE

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Industries

• Media Arts and post-production work for Film and advertising
• Game Production
• Immersive media development (AR, VR, MR)
• Artificial Intelligence - exploring beneficial and ethical uses within the production pipeline

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Production Specialties

• Environmental 3D Modeling (High and Low Poly), including individual assets

• Level Design
• Photogrammetry | Digital Twinning - Capturing and asset optimizing for real-time rendering environments
• Lighting and Texturing - For static and real-time rendering environments
• Advanced Rendering and Compositing (Static and Cinematic) - Including layering systems for quick post-processing edits
• Virtual Production using game engines (Unreal Engine)
• Particle simulation, rigid body physics, fluid dynamics
• 3D asset and camera animation including physics-based simulations, motion capture and hand animating
• Rigging (assets and characters) 2D & 3D
• VR and AR development
• Motion Graphics, video editing and VFX
• Production management and producing​​​