Claudia Cerdas

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT AI ARTIST AND ENVIRONMENT/VFX ARTIST with 2+ years of experience, specializing in real-time environments, virtual production, and AI-assisted visual development across VFX, sports broadcast, and immersive media. Creates modular environments, hero props, game-ready assets, shaders, particle systems, and cinematic content in Unreal Engine, balancing visual fidelity with polygon, frame-rate, memory, and runtime constraints.

Connects

ComfyUI, ControlNet, Meshy, and custom AI pipelines with 3D production workflows, including an 80% reduction in previsualization and concept-to-delivery timelines at NYU. Brings production experience across LED volume stages, live broadcast AR, motion capture, cinematic trailers, creative iteration, and collaboration with technical teams and external partners.

3D Artist, Freelance - COMPLEX MEDIA - New York, NY

(2026-05)

• Create modular environments, hero props, and game-ready assets for three LED volume stages in Unreal Engine, building reusable 3D content for real-time virtual-production workflows.
• Maintain high-fidelity visuals within strict polygon and frame-rate constraints by optimizing geometry, UV layouts, shaders, and LOD systems for stable real-time performance.
• Accelerate modeling and asset development by integrating Meshy, ComfyUI, and custom AI pipelines, combining rapid iteration with production-ready 3D workflows.

Augmented Reality Operator - PARAMOUNT - New York, NY

(2025-09 - 2026-07)

• Delivered AR production logistics for 20+ televised NFL, UFC, and college football broadcasts, coordinating approved-vendor purchases, records, receipts, and expense reporting.
• Managed 3D asset pipelines and resolved tracking-system issues to keep virtual assets, sponsor branding, and design elements aligned with live production requirements.
• Developed gameplay mechanics, UI visual elements, and Niagara VFX particle animations in Unreal Engine Sequencer, expanding real-time content for sports broadcasts.

Technical Artist, Contract - ALL GROOVY VFX - Singapore

(2024-09 - 2024-09)

• Created and optimized real-time VFX assets for virtual-production sports content in Unreal Engine, including in-game inserts, cinematic openers, and player-card animations.
• Balanced visual quality and GPU performance by engineering smoke, spark, and dissolve particle systems plus fresnel and refraction shaders with Blueprints and C++.
• Improved broadcast pipeline efficiency by 20% by partnering with external vendors and technical teams to integrate motion-capture data into live environments.
• Prototyped and refined FX designs in response to stakeholder feedback, optimizing assets for frame-rate stability and memory constraints across rapid iterations.

XR Graduate Assistant - NEW YORK UNIVERSITY - New York, NY

(2024-02 - 2024-12)

• Reduced previsualization and concept-to-delivery timelines by 80% by integrating ComfyUI and ControlNet into VFX pipelines for AI-assisted creative iteration.
• Managed virtual-production workflows from initial storyboards through on-set execution, connecting visual concepts, production planning, and real-time delivery.
• Led motion-capture productions with OptiTrack, nDisplay, and LiveLink to deliver real-time cinematics across immersive production workflows.
• Designed custom shaders and physics-based VFX in Unreal Engine with HLSL, creating dynamic environments and visual storytelling elements optimized for performance.
• Modeled assets, animated sequences, and composited final shots for cinematic trailers within workflows designed to simulate AAA-level production practices.

Master's - Integrated Design and Media - New York University, Tandon School of Engineering (2025-05)

Bachelor of Science - Business Administration, Minor in Communication Design - University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business (2021-12)