Zhaozhong Chen

Zhaozhong Chen

FX and Lighting Artist in Vancouver, Taipei

I'm a Vancouver based Taiwanese FX and Lighting artist specialized in Houdini and Solaris.

I have also honed my skills in a range of industry-standard software including Nuke, Maya, and Unreal Engine.

After graduation from Vancouver Film School, I worked with Dgenz Studio creating campaign for brands like Nespresso and Tommy Hilfiger. I have proven to be have a keen eye for detail and the ability to deliver creative solutions under tight deadlines.

My education, combined with my practical experience, has prepared me to tackle complex FX challenges and fit in collaborative pipelines.

Contact: Zhaozhong.Chen@protonmail.com

Work Experience

2024 — Now
  • I create CG social campaigns for brands such as Nespresso, crepe'EAT, and Tommy Hilfiger.

  • I am responsible for the FX simulations including liquid, smoke, rigid body and soft body.

  • I am the lighting artist to make sure the FX looks good and match the live-action plate shot on set.

  • I make sure I provide necessary and sometimes custom AOVs for compositing with Karma or Redshift.

  • I am also the modeling, shading, and animation artist for the props.

  • I am responsible for some aspects of compositing such as matte painting and camera tracking in Nuke.

2021 — 2022
Employee's Welfare Committee Member at HP Inc.
Taipei
  • Attended committee meetings to propose, discuss and advance employees welfare.

  • Facilitated open communication among committee members, company boards, and regular employees.

  • Collaborated with fellow members manage the year-end-party for all 2000 employees.

2019 — 2022
Taipei, Taiwan

I worked as an E&O planner at HP inc. for 3 years. I worked with external and internal clients across Taiwan, China, US, and India all the time. My main responsibility was to make sure ODM's excess amount claim over HP was accurate.

2015 — 2018
Photographer at Freelance
Taipei

I took some photography work during my university time. Some portraits for student events and some behind the scenes photography for student films.

2016 — 2017
Server at Häagen-Dazs
Taipei

I was serving ice cream and selling cakes here.

2016 — 2016
New Taipei, Taiwan

My worked on the publishing and marketing of several films in Taiwan including The Road to Mandalay, Early Summer, and An Impossibly Small Object.

Projects

Ongoing

Here's my full FX reel on Vimeo. It contains the compilation of my FX shots and simplified versions of the breakdowns. You can find the detailed breakdowns for individual shots in my project blogs.

And please consider following my Vimeo for more FX stuff.

2024

This is a project I did with my friend Thom. In the shot I tested out how to create looping simulations of fire, clothes, and fur moving through the wind.

The story is about the summon of Mimmzy into the mortal world. The process requires a portrait of Michael Scott.

Breakdown article coming soon.

2024

This shot was created in Houdini 20.0 with particles and flip solvers following a video by Entegma. I was responsible for all aspects for this shot. The shot was lit and rendered with Karma XPU in solaris. Compositing was done in Nuke.

2024

This is a project I did with my animator friend Thom Lu.

He is responsible for the animation. And I'm responsible for fur grooming, cloud generation, crowd FX, environment FX, lighting and compositing.

Breakdown article coming soon.

2024

This is the shot I worked on with Dgenz studio for Nespresso. I was responsible for 3D camera track, 2D plate clean-up, modeling, texturing, lighting, and fluid and smoke simulation. Finishing comp, grading, and sound effects are done by another artist Pablo Saltiveri.

2024

In this shot, the ocean was created with native flip and whitewater tools in Houdini. It was composited in Nuke with a card background. Check out the hi-res version and my other works on my Vimeo.

I was responsible for all aspects except for the flippy model which is a test geometry in Houdini.

2023

In this shot, the fire was simulated with Axiom solver and then used to drive the velocity of the smoke. And the AOVs were denoised in Houdini and composited in Nuke. Check out the hi-res version and my other works on my Vimeo.

I was responsible for all aspects except for the models and the textures.

2023

In this shot, the explosions were simulated with animated timescale in Axiom solver in Houdini. It was composited in Nuke with a card background. Check out the hi-res version and my other works on my Vimeo.

I was responsible for all aspects except for the background photo and the grass and rock models.

2023

In this shot, the liquid simulations are done with native Houdini solvers. And the AOVs were denoised in Houdini and composited in Nuke with some extra elements. Check out the hi-res version and my other works on my Vimeo.

I was responsible for all aspects except for the models of trees and rocks, and the shaders of the snow and the river.

2023

In this shot, the particles were created with built-in POP solver and advection volumes from Axiom solver. And the AOVs were denoised composited in Nuke with some extra elements. Check out the hi-res version and my other works on my Vimeo.

I was responsible for all aspects except for the models and the textures.

2023

In this shot, the footage was 3D tracked in Nuke and then went through Maya and Houdini for geometry modeling and effects simulation. The renders and the extra shadow pass were brought back in Nuke for composing. Check out the hi-res version and my other works on my Vimeo.

I was responsible for all aspects except for the background footage.

2023
Kick

In this shot, I modeled a low poly character in Maya; textured it in Substance Painter and then applied a Mixamo animation. I exported the animation alembic to Houdini for effects simulation. I first did some smoke sims and then used it to advect particles. I then sent everything to Unreal Engine to render with a scene I built with mega scan models. Check out the hi-res version and my other works on my Vimeo.

I was responsible for all aspects except for the character animation and the environment.

Side Projects

2024
Clouds

I played with the new cloud tool inside Houdini 20 and tried to create clouds that look like cartoon characters. Models by my friend MatchOct.

2023

When I was in VFS, one of the class required us to create a mood reel which we could pretty much put anything in. This is mine and it does present my motivation and inspiration to become a film maker.

2023
Houdini Fur

I played around with the fur tool in Houdini and did some test render.

2023
Wasted Pikachu

I was creating some funny renders for my own custom t-shirt printing and this was what I came up with. Pikachu textures in Substance Painter and Fur was created with Houdini hair tool. Other assets were from kitbash and sketchfab.

2023
What If my Shot was in the 60s

Just turned my shot into a 50s TOEI movie and I really liked it.

2019
Photography

Curation of my photography work mainly for student event commercials and student film behind the scenes.

Most of the photos were taken during my university years when I was also taking some freelance work.

Contact

LinkedIn