Clay Budin
Verified Expert in Engineering
Graphics Developer
New York, NY, United States
Toptal member since June 2, 2021
Clay has over 20 years of experience creating amazing software at the highest performance standards, efficiency, and ease of use. With a master's degree in computer science, there is no programming task that Clay cannot accomplish, specializing in software for graphics, entertainment, interactive, and game industries. He's experienced with all graphics and game programming platforms and frameworks, as well as the underlying mathematics.
Portfolio
Experience
Availability
Preferred Environment
Processing, TouchDesigner, Cinder, OpenFrameworks, Unreal Engine, Unity, Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), X Reality (XR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), WebGL, Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, 3D Graphics
The most amazing...
...room-sized installation I've designed and developed enabled 30+ people to walk around while colorful halos appeared at their feet and followed their movements.
Work Experience
Senior Immersive Developer
Framestore
- Developed immersive interactive experiences using Unreal Engine, Unity, Cinder, TouchDesigner, Processing, Maya, Cinema 4D, Blender, Houdini, Photoshop, Illustrator, Nuke, Gimp, and other graphic tools.
- Wrote software to interface with various external hardware systems such as QR scanners and 3D cameras, coordinate file transfers, and trigger events in the graphic system.
- Built image processing software to recognize, isolate, and enhance human facial features, normalize skin tones and remove background artifacts.
- Developed scripts in Python and VBS to automate the creation of digital portraits. Used Anaconda to spin up a machine learning system for facial and clothing segmentation of images.
Interactive Software Developer
Leo Villareal Studio
- Maintained and developed interactive graphics software tools utilized in creating small- and large-scale LED art installations worldwide using C++, Python, and TouchDesigner.
- Designed and developed complex software systems and user interfaces in TouchDesigner, Python, and C++ to control, trigger, and sequence dynamic art installations using Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and other embedded systems.
- Designed and developed software to support lighting communications protocols such as DMX, KiNET, sACN, and Art-Net.
Founder | President
Symbiote Inc | 3D Portraits Brooklyn
- Developed the custom photogrammetry processes for 3D scanning of people and automatically editing, cleaning up, and enclosing models in preparation for 3D printing.
- Built the systems for creating lifelike 3D printed portraits in various media and sizes using multiple 3D printing processes.
- Performed iOS software development, specializing in games, augmented reality, and virtual reality. Recently, I posted an action and puzzle game called Dink! to the App Store.
Senior Developer
Silver Spoon Animation
- Contributed to developing a C++ plugin for Unreal Engine to control, manipulate, and trigger 3D geometry for BroadcastAR applications.
- Developed a system in Unreal Engine with C++ and Blueprints to communicate with the American football statistics server and visualize scoring drive data with colorful animated arrows for broadcast during SuperBowl LV in February 2021.
- Created a system in Unreal Engine (C++ and Blueprints) to position and trigger animated characters used during the March Madness college basketball tournament broadcast in March 2021.
Interactive Graphics Software Developer
GRAFX Co.
- Created and developed interactive graphics applications on various platforms, including augmented reality applications for iOS and Android using Unity and Vuforia.
- Engineered a large-scale interactive video installation for Marriott Hotels using projectors and Intel RealSense cameras to display lively real-time graphics that reacted to people passing by.
- Built an augmented reality multilingual concept application for iOS and Android for the Turkish Museums Directorate to highlight and explain fragile antiquities in the collection.
Principal Engineer, Content
Madison Square Garden Company
- Developed VR software in Unity to visualize architectural plans for an arena still under construction. Developed tests for line-of-sight, screen coverage, vantage point, and other quantifying metrics.
- Designed and developed an augmented reality (AR) application for iPads using Unity and Objective-C to interface with a 360-degree camera and present live-streaming video into a 3D scene with extensive user-control features.
- Tested and evaluated cutting-edge VR, AR, digital signage, wayfinding, motion capture, and holographic technologies for inclusion in 21st-century state-of-the-art venue facilities.
Creative Coder, Data Visualization
Gensler
- Designed and developed software tools using Processing for artists to create unique colorization effects of satellite climate temperature data, with user interfaces for artists to control numerous parameters, including colors, graphs, and animations.
- Created the particle system visualizations of live world climate and wind pattern data containing over 800,000,000 particles for display on high-resolution monitors at the IBM corporate headquarters.
- Built and designed wave simulation software for the IBM corporate headquarters to visualize live world climate rainfall data.
Interactive Software Developer
Potion Design
- Built hardware and software for Raspberry Pi to playback various kinds of music while monitoring the user's heart rate. The system used sensor inputs (buttons, heart rate monitor) to control the audio output from the Raspberry Pi amp and speakers.
- Designed and developed a touch table system for perusing recipes, assembling ingredients, viewing nutritional and caloric information with explanatory text, and extensive use of high-quality food photography to create a fully interactive experience.
- Designed, 3D printed, and assembled self-contained cases for physical user experiences, such as monitoring heart rate data while playing various music.
Interactive Software Developer
The Mill
- Developed a system for displaying animated magazine covers in AR for iOS and Android, using Unity and Vuforia.
- Designed and developed a fully-featured text animation and display system using Cinder with SdfText and Arduino to inject lyrics and display them under the real-time control of a live DJ.
- Created a system for visualizing song moods as determined by the IBM Watson AI, using colors, textures, waves, and frequencies applied to abstract geometric shapes.
Creative Coder | Interactive Developer
HUSH Studios
- Developed an iOS app using Unity for Exxon Mobil's chemical division, which interactively displays the chemical products used in automobiles. The app displayed an interactive "X-ray" view of a car in 3D, and side menus displayed chemical components.
- Built a custom interactive display application in Cinder for Exxon Mobil, demonstrating their offshore drilling operation in the Upper Zakum region. This app was part of their booth at ADIPEC and won 2nd place out of over 500 entries.
- Developed a custom interactive display application in openFrameworks to visualize sound waves bouncing around a room. This used real-time wave simulation to include interactive barriers, dampeners, and refractors.
- Built a multi-touch kiosk using Cinderfor Twitter displayed at the Cannes Film Festival. It featured real-time updates of World Cup statistics and Twitter feeds.
- Created an immersive interactive environment for Oculus/Leap VR headsets using Unity, which allowed users to visit 3D worlds and interact with whimsical creatures. Used input from the Leap sensor to detect and interpret hand and finger movements.
Senior FX Technical Director
Blue Sky Studios
- Created the "Dominoes Sea" effect for the 3D animated feature film "Robots" involving millions of dominoes, which the principal characters swam in and surfed on.
- Developed the "Oil Fountain" effect for the 3D animated feature film "Robots," which appeared in numerous scenes to help convey the wealth and prestige of one of the main characters.
- Created "Ball Bearings" effect for 3D animated feature film "Robots" in which thounsands of ball bearings spill out and two of the principal characters fight and then dance on.
- Researched and developed fur effects for upcoming film productions using an in-house volumetric rendering system. Wrote C++ code to extend and enhance the capabilities for use in the feature animated film "Horton Hears a Who."
Experience
Museum of Feelings
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/nyregion/museum-of-feelings.htmlDink! the Game
https://symbiote.digital/images/Dink.htmlMother and Children
http://www.3dportraitsbrooklyn.com/gallery/uf120obqlb2zl27xf7kt8xyxttq2r1Temperature Visualization GUI
https://symbiote.digital/images/TemperatureVizGUI.jfifPrecipitation Visualization
https://symbiote.digital/images/PrecipitationViz.jfifGlobal Wind Visualization
https://symbiote.digital/images/GlobalWindViz.jfifAR Magazine Covers for Garage Magazine
Alex da Kid and IBM Watson
While working with a team to bring visual brilliance to the lyrics, I designed and developed a tool for displaying song lyrics in real-time as many interlocking streams, which changed size and speed dynamically to fit the tone of the music.
Innit Pirch Table
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-24/the-kitchen-of-the-future-knows-what-s-in-your-fridgeThe following link displays a larger image of the table surface: Tinyurl.com/9mxvs9z7
Exxon Mobil Chemical iPad Application
https://symbiote.digital/images/ExxonMobilIPadApp.jfifIlluminated River
https://illuminatedriver.london/Robots – 3D Animated Feature Film
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358082/Education
Coursework in Design and Photography
School of Visual Arts - New York, USA
Master's Degree in Computer Science
New York University - New York, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Cognitive Science
Harvard College - Cambridge, USA
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Cinder, WebGL, Three.js, D3.js, FFmpeg, Turtle, OpenGL, Python API, Node.js, React
Tools
DataViz, Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft Visual Studio, Photoshop CC, Canvas, Unreal Development Kit (UDK), Git, Blender, GoPro Studio
Languages
Processing, Python, C++, Java, HTML5, JavaScript, C#, CSS, HTML, Swift, Objective-C, C
Frameworks
Unity, Microsoft Kinect, Unity2D, Unity3D, Unreal Engine, A-Frame, OpenFrameworks
Platforms
Raspberry Pi, Windows, MacOS, Linux, TouchDesigner, iOS, Arduino, PlayCanvas, Android, Vuforia, NVIDIA CUDA, Godot
Paradigms
UI Design
Storage
JSON
Other
Computer Vision, Graphics, Algorithms, Operating Systems, Freelance Programming, 3D Printing, Game Development, 3D Scanning, Photogrammetry, Data Visualization, 3D, 3D Art, 3D Graphics, Shaders, Scripting, User Interface (UI), Plugins, API Integration, LED Lighting, X Reality (XR), Design, Aesthetics, Typography, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Interactive UI, 3D Modeling, DMX, Networking, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Mixed Reality (MR), Touch Design, Blueprints Visual Scripting, Unreal Engine 5, TCP/IP, UDP, Video Processing, Video & Audio Processing, Videos, 3D Animation, Game Design, Image Processing, Games, Electronics, Embedded Systems, Investments, Front-end, Data Science, Touch Interactions, 3D Images, Autodesk Maya, Touch ID
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring