End User Event 2017

Moritz still thinks “Space: 1999” is the coolest thing that ever happened on German TV. 

Be it pixels, hardware, code or cameras – if it’s interesting, Moritz is gonna take it apart. And sometimes even reassemble it. In his spare time he likes to dabble with code and create generative artwork. He claims his early exposure to QBasic is no help at all when working in Houdini, Cinema 4D, Processing or Arduino. But it might have been what started his fascination for the boundaries of code and art. 

When not wreaking havoc to any intriguing devices around him, he works as an Art Director at Aixsponza."

Manuel changes his software packages more often than his shirts. Manuel Casasola Merkle likes to dive deep into the ins & outs of contemporary CG research, burying his desk under piles of SIGGRAPH papers. An avid Cinema 4D user, Manuel keeps an open mind about tools and uses whatever it takes to get a job done, thus racking up quite diverse software skills such as VEX, Python, Houdini, World Machine, Photo Scan, 3D Coat, Krita, Fusion or ZBrush.  When he’s not pondering over the state of 3D software in general, he is partner and creative director of Munich based studio Aixsponza.

Kai Stavginski has been a Senior Technical Director for SideFX Software since 2014. In that time, he's mostly been busy in the areas of shading and fur tools. He started in the industry as a generalist in 2004, spent some time as a rigger for an animated feature and then created VFX for major hollywood blockbusters for several years. He used houdini to get the job done and now uses his extensive industry experience in his development work on the software itself.

Sander is a FX Artist at Colorbleed producing simulated and procedural effects, from cloth, hair, explosions to technical animations. Coming from a generalist and character animation background he transitioned into the more technical processes of production, like effects. 

His experience in these different areas taught him how effects and other stages of production can work together fluently. With experience in Autodesk Maya, SideFX Houdini, Next Limit Realflow and Peregrinelabs Yeti he's able to adapt and produce a wide range of effects.

Tim started out his career in motion-graphics working mostly with Cinema4D and After Effects on a daily basis. This changed, early 2015, when Tim decided to go freelance and move in a different direction: FX. Hearing more and more about Houdini it was time to bite the bullet and dive in head first. Tim now works as a freelancer for a wide variety of studios. He also has quite the following on his vimeo for the regular Houdini tutorials he puts out.

Andreas has spent over 8 years working as a VFX artist in the games industry. In that time he has created effects on seven different platforms and catered to all audiences. He has created family-friendly powerups for Disney Universe, nasty blood squirts for Dead Space Extraction and massive house collapses for Battlefield 1. And everything in between. 

He is currently running a remote VFX company called Partikel. His passion is making breathtaking effects - whether pushing the boundaries of what current technology can handle, or simple, stylish and elegant. For Andreas, it's all about what makes the players go “Woah!"

Beginning his career in 2001, Michael has worked in Canada and Australia as a Character Technical Director for animation and live action VFX, in both Feature Films and Television. Currently, Michael works as a Senior Technical Director at SideFX Software in Toronto.

Fianna is a Technical Marketing Specialist at SideFX and is most known as the robot voice of the Houdini Quickstart videos. She loves hardsurface modeling pr0n and still cannot believe that after so many years (since starting out in MetaCreations Infini-D), the CG industry continues to innovate!