CGX INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS AND INSTRUCTORS
GABRIEL TEO
Professor of Visual Effects
Programme Developer
Gabriel Teo teaches 3D animation, cinematography, visual effects, advertising graphic design, and digital media technology at the University of the Pacific - located between Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley. He was the Lead Program Manager for the CGI Bachelor’s degree at NMIT in Nelson, New Zealand. Originally from Singapore, Gabriel has worked with studio executives and artists based in Los Angeles, Toronto, and New York to develop and lead the CGI program, which is fully accredited by the New Zealand government. He continues to work closely with former colleagues at New Zealand’s world-renowned VFX and film facility, Weta Digital, which has produced Academy Award-winning films such as Avatar, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Avengers.
Gabriel has 20 years of experience working in major global film, visual effects, and animation studios. In 2001, he headed the cinematic department at a game development studio in Dubai Media City and founded an animation studio in 2003 in Dubai with Disney Channel ME as his main client. He became the senior compositor for Weta Productions in 2005 before teaching at the Auckland University of Technology, lecturing and heading the animation departments.
Gabriel led the Digital Media and Animation Department at New York Institute of Technology’s Beijing campus; he also developed the Visual Effects department at Savannah College of Art and Design’s Hong Kong campus.
JORDAN OLSON
Senior Pipeline TD
Jordan discovered 3D animation and visual effects effects at the young age of eleven, and began with an interest in lighting and rendering his own creative works. He then received a Degree in Advanced Animation at Lifeway College in New Zealand which launched his career in pipeline development. His international work has spanned New Zealand, USA, and Canada.
Jordan has been primarily focused on compositing pipeline with exploration into workflows, deep learning, and User-Machine interfaces. He began work at Weta Digital in 2015 and has worked on many films including “动物世界 / Animal World” by Han Yan, “Deadpool”, "War for the Planet of the Apes", "Alita Battle Angel", and the upcoming “Avatar” sequels with many more in the pipeline.
ANTON OGNYEV
VFX Lighting TD
Anton Ognyev graduated from a USSR university in Ukraine as an engineer in finance and economics IT systems. He ventured into the game development business, first as a 3D generalist, and then as a Cinematic Effects Technical Director for the game development studios Boston Animation and GSC Game World, which created the "Stalker" and "Cossaks" games.
Anton then moved forward as a Lighting and Visual Effects Technical Director for major studios such as Animal Logic (Sydney) and Weta Digital (Wellington). Anton has worked on many award-winning films, including "Waterhorse," "Tin-Tin," the "Hobbit” trilogy, "Avatar," "X-Men," "Happy Feet," "Prometheus," "The A-Team," "The BFG," and others.
With a contagious enthusiasm for visual effects, 3D environment design, and programming, Anton joined the CGX team to develop high-quality and production-proven training for 3D effects artists around the world.
IMDB | VFX SHOWREEL
Click here to view Anton’s showreel on Vimeo
ANTON TENITSKY
3D Generalist
Anton carries a wealth of 3D experience in animation and game design. He had worked at Oktober Animation as their texturing and shading artist, and as the Art Lead and 3D generalist at Gameloft New Zealand. He continues to bring his production experience to online CG education.
ERICA SONG
Animation Director
CCTV
Erica Song graduated from the Communication University of China with a major in Animation and received her master's degree in Fine Arts and Technology from New York Institute of Technology. During her studies, she acted as the editor of the Advertising Museum of China and was a teaching assistant at NYIT, among several other roles. She was invited by New York Creative Tech Week to showcase her graduation VR project “The Wardrobe of Qing Dynasty” at the exhibition.
Erica has worked with a number of companies, such as Allergan, Master Kong, and Tiange to create MG animations for them. The H5 animation part of "Repairing Civilization and Meeting Civilization" in cooperation with Tencent, Sanxingdui Museum and Jinsha Site Museum won the special award of People's Daily.
Throughout her role as Independent Animation Director of CGTN, she produced a number of animated news works, such as A Bumpy Ride for US-Made Cars, Tougher Take-off for US-Made Airplanes, US-China Trade Deficit: Separating Facts from Fiction, and more. One of them received the 2018 Best CTR Animation.
LAVENDER YUAN
Producer
at BaseFX
Lavender got her BA in computer graphics of New York Institute of Technology in 2018. Her virtual reality project - The Wardrobe of Qing Dynasty was shown at the infamous New York Science and Technology event. Currently, she is the producer at BaseFX, and was involved in the production of a large number of animated feature films such as Dragon Wish, Mother Hunter, Lord of The West, The Sea Team, and The Propaganda Video Rocket Boy of Tsinghua University.
SUKI SU
Art Director
Suki is a NYC-based visual designer. She is a graphic designer, 3d animator, photographer and art director. Suki Violet explores diverse creative disciplines to develop her unique visual language - she focuses on the combination of ideas from various fields, including graphic design, 3D motion, and photography. Her clients include" Victoria’s Secret, Pepsi, Adidas, Tencent, New York Public Library, China Global Television Network, Lincoln Center, Target, Dave & Buster, Centrum. and New York Fashion Week.