01
Start from the situation
What are we making that didn’t exist yesterday. What has to ship. What is blocked. What the file is actually going to be used for — a game, a headset, a web build, a screen.
I love to build the things that don’t exist yet.
And the pipelines that let a team actually make them.
I’m Luis Pineda, a Senior Technical Artist and Technical Animator based in Medellín, Colombia. I work remotely.
I care about characters, animation, the systems underneath them and game-ready work: something that plays, not only something that looks right in a viewport. I have done the animation, the cameras, the lighting, the export. I also write the Blender/Python that makes that work repeatable for a team, instead of living in one person’s head.
Here is the honest part. I am not looking for a job where the pipeline is already settled and I keep it warm. I am looking for people who are breaking the mold (game teams, real-time teams) inventing things that don’t have a reference. I crave that. A problem we came up with because the idea is new. An incredibly difficult task with no tutorial. That is when I am the most useful, and when I am having the most fun.
The last chapter of my work was 4.5+ years remote with Groove Jones: character systems, live games, VR/MR, animation, artist tools. Before that, motion and real-time work with Lonko Labs, and game-ready Unity work at Indie Level Studio, including educational VR. Those years taught me how to invent a path under a deadline.
How I work
The way through02
Easy next steps
A cleaner export. A tool instead of a checklist. A note that says why something failed, not only that it failed. Built so somebody else can run it.
03
Picture and file are one job
I care about the visual result and about how the file is going to be used. Those are the same job.
04
Own the part I own
I do not need to own every stage of a show. I do need the part I own to be defensible: you can open the file, run the script, and see what I did.
Where that usually puts me
The seats I sit inTechnical Art
The systems under the shot: cleanup, rigs, validation, export. The file has to survive the next department, not only look right today.
Technical Animation
Performance, cameras, retarget, the motion that has to play. Not only a curve that looks good in a DCC.
Blender + Python tooling
Artist-facing addons and scripts so a team can run the path. Operators, panels, the thing that replaces a checklist.
Pipeline development
The path from DCC to engine or runtime. Built so a team can run it, not so only I can.
Real-time delivery
Headset, engine, GLB, the moment it has to play in front of people. Game-ready, not cinematic-only.
Experience
10+ years in 3D, animation and real-time
Groove Jones - Contract, remote
Senior Technical Artist · Technical Animator · Technical Director
Oct 2021 - Jun 2026 · Medellín, working with a Dallas studio
CG pipelines and character/animation systems for real-time work: games and game-like activations, VR/MR, WebGL, live events, and branded 3D.
That included scan-to-avatar stages, artist-facing Blender/Python tools, retargeting, render automation, QA, optimization, and the shots that needed a senior pair of hands. The scanner work is one application of a broader habit: invent a reliable path for a new kind of character or animation problem, then let a team run it.
I led and contributed on project teams of two to eight artists, set animation and pipeline standards, and sat between art, development, and production when the path was unclear.
Productions connected to FIFA, NBA, NHL / ServiceNow, Warner Bros., Spirit Halloween, AT&T, FC Dallas, Salesforce, LG, President’s Choice Children’s Charity, and the U.S. Army National Guard.
Lonko Labs - Freelance
Senior Motion Graphics Designer · Real-time Artist
Jan 2018 - Mar 2022 · Medellín
2D/3D motion, projection mapping, live activations, and Unity prototypes. Helped turn loose creative briefs into something a team could actually produce.
Clients included Zurich Latam, EPM, Bancolombia, Banco de Bogotá, Comfama, Tigo, BMW Motorrad Colombia, municipal projects in Envigado and Cali, and Fábrica de Licores de Antioquia.
Indie Level Studio
3D Artist · Unity Technical Artist
Jul 2016 - Jul 2018 · Medellín
Game-ready assets, shaders, environments, and educational VR, including a charcoal mine experience for Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. Full path from model to Unity scene. This is where I first treated real-time as the destination, not a side format.
What people say about me
Luis is a rare combination of artist, animator, technical problem-solver, and inventive thinker. … When we encountered a difficult production problem—especially one without an obvious solution—I knew I could trust Luis to dig into it, understand it, and find a way forward.
There are talented 3D artists… and then there's Luis Pineda. This guy somehow manages to be both the person making jaw-dropping animations and the one building the tools that make everyone else's job easier. … Luis isn't just a Senior 3D Animator, he's a force multiplier.
Luis is remarkably quick to get work done, but what truly sets him apart is his deep technical ability balanced by a comprehensive, nuanced understanding of the broader CG pipeline. He is witty, sharp, and a fantastic collaborator who lifts the mood of the room.
Luis is a true wizard. I was fortunate to work with him at Groove Jones for 4 years and watched him take on and solve so many different types of problems it was hard to believe one guy was covering so much territory and making it look easy. … All the while being a great animator too! And a great guy to work with!
Tools I use, and some of the ones I built
A lot of the productions sat on the same tool layer:
Blender
Python
EEVEE
Cycles
Unity
C#
After Effects
Photoshop
Illustrator
glTF / GLB
WebGL
Quest / OpenXR
AI-assisted Coding
AI Image Generation
AI Video Generation
In my years working with Groove Jones I built several artist-facing tools. Some of them were:
Awards
While working with Groove Jones, I contributed to award-winning productions recognized by Horizon Interactive Awards, Hermes Creative Awards, Muse Creative Awards, Vega Digital Awards, Communicator Awards, NYX Marcom, Shorty Awards, Summit Creative Awards, and ADDY.
The awards belong to the productions and the teams. Project pages list the ones tied to that work.