Experience

Immersion Room

• Canada
• Movies, Videos, and Sound
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Founder / Developer

  • Nov 2019 - Present

  Leading the team building a virtual production XR studio in Toronto, powered by our next generation video wall tech and filmmaking-first real-time engine. Leading the team building a virtual production XR studio in Toronto, powered by our next generation video wall tech and filmmaking-first real-time engine.



VFX Etc.

• Movies, Videos, and Sound

• Founder / Developer

  • Mar 2016 - Present

  Developing software and plugins for the VFX industry. Developing software and plugins for the VFX industry.



mikeboers.com

• Canada
• Software Development

• Web Developer

  • 2002 - Present

  Creating custom web services, and offering managed hosting to a variety of organizations and individuals.

• VFX Supervisor and TD

  • Jan 2010 - Nov 2019

  Offering a full gamut of VFX services from pre-production through to post-production to independent short films.Currently in post-production on a the Sci-Fi short "Shadows in the Grass". Please see and .



Lofty Sky Entertainment

• Canada
• Media Production
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Lead Sysadmin and Lead Pipeline/Render TD

  • Mar 2016 - Nov 2018

  Led small systems and pipeline departments that grew from supporting just animation department to include games, editorial, and administrative. Oversaw large-scale technology transitions, and developed new software on top of existing FLOSS toolkits. Actively monitored and managed all aspects of technology. Led small systems and pipeline departments that grew from supporting just animation department to include games, editorial, and administrative. Oversaw large-scale technology transitions, and developed new software on top of existing FLOSS toolkits. Actively monitored and managed all aspects of technology.



Western Post

• Canada
• Movies, Videos, and Sound
• 1 - 100 Employee

• VFX Pipeline and Render TD

  • Jan 2015 - Mar 2016

  Back at Western Post for another spin! This time we are focussing on huge changes to allow for remote work, adopting a new render pipeline, and highly automated reflow of changes through the pipeline. I wrote REYES and RIS shaders for transition to RenderMan. Built local Shotgun cache for speed and redundancy. Started queueing jobs based on Shotgun events. Integrated Qube and Shotgun into Slack for keeping everyone in their various loops. Provided technical assistance to artists. Back at Western Post for another spin! This time we are focussing on huge changes to allow for remote work, adopting a new render pipeline, and highly automated reflow of changes through the pipeline. I wrote REYES and RIS shaders for transition to RenderMan. Built local Shotgun cache for speed and redundancy. Started queueing jobs based on Shotgun events. Integrated Qube and Shotgun into Slack for keeping everyone in their various loops. Provided technical assistance to artists.



Fluent Image

• United Kingdom
• Software Development
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Digital Negative Pipeline Consultant

  • Nov 2013 - Nov 2014

  Fluent Image takes ownership of the digital negatives from large features, and absorbs all of the complexity that comes with stereo shows, handling footage flow between editorial, VFX and stereo vendors, and DI. I generally worked towards moving from offering this feature film image pipeline as a service to offering it as a product. Designed an execution environment for each show to inherit from and extend the core pipeline. Built a general model to represent all the complexity of a VFX heavy feature film. Solved some show-stopping digital negative related production problems. Show less

• VFX Pipeline Consultant

  • Apr 2014 - Jun 2014

  After a short hiatus, WesternPost is back to make some more films! Unfortunately I couldn't go back for the full ride, but I was able to get them started on the new shows. After a short hiatus, WesternPost is back to make some more films! Unfortunately I couldn't go back for the full ride, but I was able to get them started on the new shows.

• VFX Pipeline TD

  • Jul 2012 - Apr 2013

  Overhauled the execution environment, and instigated testing, documentation, and code release procedures. Integrated Shotgun directly into the pipeline, including automatic dependency tracking, streamlining communication between departments. Provided technical assistance to artists. All new code is available under an open-source license on GitHub; see link below. Overhauled the execution environment, and instigated testing, documentation, and code release procedures. Integrated Shotgun directly into the pipeline, including automatic dependency tracking, streamlining communication between departments. Provided technical assistance to artists. All new code is available under an open-source license on GitHub; see link below.



UBC CS Department

• Research Assistant in PSM/Imager lab

  • May 2011 - Jan 2013

  For Dr. Wolfgang Heidrich (to Oct 2011) and Dr. Alla Sheffer. Developed software to accurately or aesthetically (depending on the project) render novel datasets, including multi-spectra data and normal field representations of objects.

• Teaching Assistant

  • Sep 2011 - Dec 2011

  For CS314 “Computer Graphics: Rendering” at UBC. Developed practical assignments and directed labs, focussing primarily on theory and the OpenGL pipeline, but also covering the basics of raytracing.



SPIN VFX

• Canada
• Animation and Post-production
• 200 - 300 Employee

• VFX Technical Director and Software Developer

  • Oct 2010 - Mar 2011

  Developed lighting and rendering software (e.g. shaders, plugins for Maya and RenderMan, etc.), while offering expert technical direction primarily to lighters to devise methods to achieve their aesthetic goals, but also crowd sim, effects, and compositors. Developed lighting and rendering software (e.g. shaders, plugins for Maya and RenderMan, etc.), while offering expert technical direction primarily to lighters to devise methods to achieve their aesthetic goals, but also crowd sim, effects, and compositors.



PixRay VFX Inc.

• VFX Research and Development; VFX Artist

  • Aug 2008 - Jan 2010

  Developed lighting and rendering software (e.g. shaders, plugins for Houdini and RenderMan, etc.), focussing primarily on volume rendering and efficient generation of massive amounts of geometry at render-time.

• Intern; VFX Research and Development, VFX Artist

  • Jul 2008 - Aug 2008

  Developed render efficient crowd simulation software, while matte painting and compositing.