ALFIE COTTAM
London, Wandsworth
SW18 1HQ
EMAIL: alfiecottam@hotmail.com
PHONE: +44 7808 831474
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfie-cottam-2ba7b32a1
EDUCATION: UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
Bsc (Hons) Computer Animation and Visual Effects
2021-2024
SKILLS:
Houdini: Several years of academic and personal experience with procedural generation, volumetrics, simulation (particle effects) and general scene production.
Maya: experience in hard surface modelling, sculpting, texture application, look dev and lighting.
Nuke: experience in compositing as necessary for most projects, 2.5D compositing and matte paintings, and lighting experience (e.g. flares and glow).
Unreal Engine 5: Look dev, set dressing, lighting, camera-work, environment work, basic landscape production. Integration of Houdini simulations, experience with Niagara within the game engine.
Projects:
Procedural environment
This assignment involved creating procedural assets in Houdini to create a realistic environment which had to include a castle or ruin and had to include a greenscreen character in the foreground. Throughout this project I used multiple different methods to create a realistic environment and learned how to use a mixture of 3D elements and 2.5D projection in my final shot. Learning how to optimise these assets was a big part in getting the scene looking realistic while not being too expensive on the system.
Space Shot
This project was for my final year-long project at university where I explored the evolution of VFX from the first ever Star Wars to movies like Dune and Mandalorian. I wanted to create a realistic looking shot in space using Houdini and then compositing in NukeX taking heavy reference from Star Wars eclipse trailer and Prometheus.
Star Wars tribute film (Group project):
For this project, me and three others decided to recreate a few iconic shots from the main Star Wars movies. For my shots I modelled the environment and dealt with lighting using Maya, used Substance painter to texture and NukeX to composite everything together.
Do not be afraid (Group project)
The main purpose of this project was to explore and understand the use of real-time software within the industry. We used Unreal Engine 5 to create a short story about a character who goes through a Cave to obtain an artefact which ends up being a trap. This project required a lot of teamwork and communication as different members focused on different areas of this project. My focus was lighting, composition and set dressing most of the areas using Unreals Quixel megascans.
EXPERIENCE : LIFEGUARD, PUTNEY LEISURE CENTRE, 06/2021 - 08/2021
Clear communication to relay information to higher management and rest of the team, ensuring a cooperative environment is maintained.
Focused and alert at all times for extended periods of time to ensure safety.
In depth training of first aid to promote recovery until medical services can be accessed.
Interacting with numerous customers across various ages and backgrounds to deliver the best possible service.
