About Me

Character Rigging / Scripting

Niels Kleinheinz, VES

Hi, my name is Niels Kleinheinz (birth name Niels Roscher) and I am a senior character technical director (TD) / character rigger. I create character and prop rigs for animated feature films, live-action movies and commercials in Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max. Apart from that I also develop tools for the rigging pipeline in Python, MEL and MaxScript.

Many feature film productions include multiple locations which allowed me to supervise teams in Mumbai, India; Peking, China and Sophia, Romania.

Locations I have worked in include:
London, United Kindom
Mumbai, India
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Berlin, Germany
Munich, Germany

Character Rigging

Body Rigs, Facial Rigs, Prop Rigs

Creation of rigs for feature films, commercials or realtime applications. Muscle systems, cartoony deformation, stylised or realistic creatures.

Scripting

Python, MEL, MaxScript

Tool development for the rigging and animation pipeline. Automation of repetitive tasks, workflow and pipeline optimisation.

Sculpting

Facial and Body Shape Modeling

Facial shape and corrective shape sculpting with solid anatomical foundation and attention to detail. Stylised or realistic results.

MY MISSION

I will listen carefully and take note of all of your needs. I will put together rigs that are custom tailored to your production environment and specific requirements. I will use my experience and expertise to anticipate challenges and upcoming needs to give you the greatest possible flexibility.