ISKANDER MELLAKH | GENERALIST TD | VISUAL EFFECTS ARTIST
A London & South East based Generalist with experience in feature film and TV. Having recently completed an 18 month contract at Ragdoll Productions; extended from the initial 3 months.
As a 3D Generalist at Ragdoll I lead a small team of Renderers on the animated children’s TV programme 'The Adventures of Abney and Teal'. I also created pipeline tools, helped with rendering, fixed issues as they arose, as well as creating assets/rigs, and dynamics simulations for the show.
My previous experience includes working as a Technical Director on the animated Short Film 'Devils Angels and Dating' by Michael Cawood. Prior to this I worked on a music video at Passion Pictures after working within the layout and crowd departments at The Moving Picture Company.
My main goal is to continue to explore and learn new software, new technologies as well as gain a better knowledge of current and future post production techniques in a fun and fast-paced environment.
Software: Maya | After Effects | Premiere | Photoshop | Zbrush | Mental Ray | Renderman | Xsi | Realflow | Framecycler | Composite | Dreamweaver | Fracture-FX | Nuke
Key Skills: Modelling | Texturing | Rigging | Rendering | Lighting | tools
Languages: PHP | Mel | HTML | CSS | Basic Python Scripting
My 2012 Showreel
Showreel 2012 from iskander mellakh on Vimeo.
My breakdown can be found here: http://iskandermellakh.co.uk/#breakdown
My 2012 Rigging Showreel
Below are a couple of projects I have worked on over the past couple of years:
I Miss the Nineties by Chris Curtis
The Winter Olympics 'I Miss the Nineties' from Chris Curtis on Vimeo.
Devils Angels and Dating by Michael Cawood
Showreel Breakdown
SHOT 00
Personal Project - Fluid Development - ICM Studios
I used fluids animated with expressions and fields to drive particles. Rendered with Renderman.
Maya, Renderman, expressions
SHOT 01
I Miss The Nineties - Passion Pictures
Produced multiple animated backgrounds. Mostly done with expressions to reduce animation times as the project had a short timescale.Also did roto and Green Screen removal in After Effects.
Passion, Visual Effects, 3d Animated Backgrounds
SHOT 02
Personal Project - ICM Studios
Modelled and animated in Maya. Rendered using Renderman.
Maya, Renderman
SHOT 03
Devils Angels and Dating - Michael Cawood
Produced a tool to make and control the pixie dust. Developed Cupids cloud tail using fluids mapped onto particles and utilsing goals. Developed a tool for Cupid/Death and the Devils hair and Tail dynamics, as well as the demon hands. Textured Death. Developed a tool to create bubbles using nPartices.
Maya, nParticles, Animation, dynamics,Mel
SHOT 04
Personal Project - ICM Studios
Tracked the shot in PF Track, then added a car asset I modelled, rendered it with Mental Ray. Added in Fluids, then composited the shot in Nuke. Added roto and colour corrections in Nuke too.
Maya,Fluids,Mental Ray,Nuke,PF Track
SHOT 05
Red Vs. Blue - Rooster Teeth
Produced a simulation of a building collapsing. Done in Maya with the additional help of Fracture-FX. I also had to do some clean up on the model, UV layout and mel scripting to complete the project.
Maya, Fracture-Fx, Notepad++,Mel
SHOT 06
Devils Angels and Dating - Michael Cawood
Developed a tool to create bubbles using nPartices that can be manually animated or dynamically driven. Created the fluid effects in this shot as well as the lightning effect around the bubble. Composited the shot in After Effects. Also the pixie dust and the dynamic hair/tail tools were utilised in this shot.
Maya, nParticles, Animation, dynamics,Mel
SHOT 07
The Adventures of Abney and Teal - Ragdoll Productions Ltd
Produced a dynamic/animatable rig for the leaf tornado. Added additional dynamics utilising sprites and expressions. Rendered all the cg elements in the shot using Mental Ray and Maya Hardware.
SHOT 08
The Adventures of Abney and Teal - Ragdoll Productions Ltd
Produced a dynamic/animatable rig for the leaf tornado. Added aditional dynamics utilising sprites and expressions. Rendered all the cg elements in the shot using Mental Ray and Maya Hardware.
Notepad++, Maya, Mental Ray, Maya Hardware
SHOT 09
The Adventures of Abney and Teal - Ragdoll Productions Ltd
Produced a dynamic/animatable rig for the leaf tornado. Added aditional dynamics utilising sprites and expressions. Rendered all the cg elements in the shot using Mental Ray and Maya Hardware.
Notepad++, Maya, Mental Ray, Maya Hardware
SHOT 010
Personal Project - ICM Studios
All the work was done by myself. Video footage was shot on a standard Definition handheld camcorder. I created a HDRI image of the shoot to use when rendering.
Maya, PFTrack, Photoshop, Mental Ray, After Effects
SHOT 011
Personal Project - ICM Studios
Houdini, Maya and Renderman were used to make this quick shot. The mesh was developed in Houdini, then exported to Maya and a custom Renderman shader I had written was applied, then Rendered in Renderman.
Maya, Renderman, Notepad++, Houdini
SHOT 012
Private Commision - ICM Studios
I produced a working rig for the hand. All done in Maya, within half a day. I scripted certain tasks to speed up the process.
Maya, Mel, Notepad++
SHOT 013
Personal Project - ICM Studios
For this shot I used Fracture-FX to demolish the ICM Studios Logo. The lighting and rendering was done in Maya using Mental Ray. Compositing was done in Nuke. I reversed the animation in Nuke as well as doubling up on the rendered footage and adding a cheesy lens flare!
Maya, Fracture-FX, Mel, Notepad++,Nuke
SHOT 015
Personal Project - ICM Studios
Modelled and textured all CG elements. Simulated the fluids and used Fracture-FX to create the simulation of the road breaking up. Additional instanced geometry and dust particles were added to the shot too. Lit, rendered and composited the shot.
Maya, Fracture-FX, Photoshop, Mental Ray, Nuke, After Effects, Renderman, Maya hardware
SHOT 016
Devils Angels and Dating - Michael Cawood
Produced a tool to make and control the pixie dust. Developed Cupids cloud tail using fluids mapped onto particles and utilsing goals. Developed a tool for Cupid/Death and the Devils hair and Tail dynamics, as well as the demon hands. Textured Death. Developed a tool to create bubbles using nPartices.
Maya, Camtasia, Notepad++.
SHOT 017
Private Commission - ICM Studios
Modelling, textures, layout, lighting, and rendering. Most of the textures are sourced from photos taken at the actual house. Rendered in Maya using Mental Ray, global illumination and final gather.
Maya, Photoshop, Mental Ray, After Effects,Global illumination,final gather
SHOT 018
The Chronicles of Narnia 'Prince Caspian' - MPC
For this shot I did the layout blocking of the animated tree root. I also did asset management on the shot using MPC's packaging system.
Maya,Framecycler, Alfred,MPC,The Chronicles of Narnia,Prince Caspian,Animation
SHOT 019
Personal Project - ICM Studios
I modelled the building as well as the internal structure to try and push Fracture-Fx to the extreme. Still a work in progress. The final scene includes several other buildings and props which will all be damaged in some way.
Maya, Fracture-Fx
SHOT 020
Personal Project - ICM Studios
Live action mixed with cg. A HDRI image was created for the shot. The partilces are Sprites with expressions and ramps. I animated the character as well as developed the rig and model.
Maya, Zbrush, PFTrack, Photoshop, Renderman, After Effects
SHOT 021
Devils Angels and Dating - Michael Cawood
Developed dynamic hair and tail tool. Textured Death, modelled glasses and textured them. Simulated the fluids and rendered. quick compositing for review. Made God rays and pixie dust.
Maya, Notepad++, Mental Ray, Renderman
SHOT 022
The Adventures of Abney and Teal - Ragdoll Productions Ltd
Produced a dynamic/animatable rig for the leaf tornado. Added additional dynamics utilising sprites and expressions. Rendered all the cg elements in the shot using Mental Ray and Maya Hardware.
Maya,Fluids,Mental Ray,Maya Hardware,Mel,Sprites
SHOT 023
Personal Project - ICM Studios
renderman,shaders,custom,animation,vfx,icmstudios,dynamics,deep shadows
SHOT 024
The Chronicles of Narnia 'Prince Caspian' - MPC
For this scene I did the layout blocking of all cg characters except wimbleweather. Blocking done in Maya then basic compositing done in shake. Leg replacement tracking done to aid animators as to who is who.
Maya, Framecycler, Alfred
SHOT 025
Personal Project - ICM Studios
Particle tool and mel scripting. Rendered using Maya Hardware. Textured sprites were mapped on to the particles and controlled with fields, expressions, and goals.
Notepad++, Maya, Maya Hardware