GDC: Image Metrics Expands Staff

Facial animation software company Image Metrics, whose technology is featured in the upcoming God of War III, added several game industry veterans to its product development, game sales, and client services teams. The company is bringing in Dario Ahdoot as software development manager. Previously, he worked in a similar position for the entertainment market at Vicon/House of Moves for 10 years. Ahdoot will lead the Santa Monica product development, working on Image Metric's self-service performance transfer solution for film and visual effects studios, which is currently in beta. The technology enables studios to incorporate Image Metrics facial animation products into their internal pipelines, which the company says will allow for "increased creative control, cost-efficiencies, and production speed." Ric Neil and Eric Peterson will also join the Santa Monica operations as directors of business development. Prior to Image Metrics, Neil was head of production at casual games startup D2C games, and also led the creative effort behind NFL Fever for Microsoft Games Studios. Peterson was Gizmondo's business development president and director. Art Santos will be Image Metrics' new European sales manager, having previously served as director of sales for Irish middleware developer DemonWare. The company recruited Nick Ramsay and Beau Teora for its Client Services team, with the former serving as technical account manager, and the latter now technical account manager for the North American market. The two will work with Image Metrics clients on all facets of their facial animation projects. Ramsay previously worked as a Autodesk Media & Entertainment, where he worked as a product specialist in software and systems. Teora brings his expertise from positions at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging, Threshold Animation Studios, and Eidos Interactive. "We're pleased to add these new team members' valuable expertise in response to Image Metrics' on going growth, including a new facial animation project for SCEA's God of War III video game and signing Double Negative as our first self-service performance transfer beta client," says Image Metrics CEO Michael Starkenburg. He continues, "Our new team members all possess a deep understanding of the unique workflow challenges our customers face when creating games and visual effects. Their unrivaled experience in helping to develop successful products will enable our customers to tell better stories through believable facial animation."