James "Salty" Salter

Bridging the gap between Art, Tech, and Game Design.

Resume

Professional Experience

PlayStation Bend Studio | Bend, OR (Remote)

Animator | March 2022 – June 2025

  • Designed a modular weapon animation layering system to support 100+ unique weapons, which was implemented by engineering and significantly reduced asset bloat.
  • Created detailed weapon handling and ADS (Aim Down Sights) locomotion animations to drive core combat mechanics.
  • Selected by Game Directors to storyboard and previz gameplay sequences (combat & abilities), effectively bridging the gap between Design intentions and Art/Animation execution.
  • Collaborated with the Narrative team to define story beats, storyboarded sequences, and directed and cleaned up motion capture to deliver high-quality in-game cinematics.
First Contact Entertainment | Santa Monica, CA

Senior Animator | January 2019 – February 2022

  • Created animations with a ‘tacti-cool’ aesthetic, blending hand-keyed weapon mechanics with motion-captured locomotion for a snappy, responsive feel.
  • Scripted custom Python/MEL tools to automate scene setup for complex NPC breach sequences, ensuring pipeline consistency and reducing setup time.
  • Rigged characters and weapons, and implemented AnimDynamics systems for secondary motion physics.
  • Owned the production of marketing cinematics from ideation and storyboarding to final layout, animation, and rendering.
Magnopus | Los Angeles, CA

Animator / Rigging Artist | April 2017 – January 2019 

  • Served as Lead Animator on Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab (Clio Award Winner & Emmy Nominee), establishing the end-to-end rigging, animation, and motion capture pipeline.
  • Directed, performed, and cleaned up motion capture, supplemented with hand-keyed animation.
  • Rigged over 24 characters and integrated all animation assets directly into Unreal Engine Sequencer for gameplay-triggered events.
  • Responsible for rigging and animating interactive environments and UI elements for CNN VR.
Section Studios | Los Angeles, CA

Animator / UI/UX Designer | May 2016 – February 2017

  • Animated a diverse range of assets including bipedal humanoid and alien characters, winged creatures, quadrupeds, and colossal titans.
  • Transitioned to the UI/UX team upon animation wrap, designing game flow and interfaces for the hit mobile title House Flip.

Skills and Software

Core Competencies

Keyframe Animation, Mocap Cleanup & Editing, Combat/Melee Systems, Locomotion, Cinematics/Cutscenes, Previz/Storyboarding

technical animation

Bipedal/Quadruped Rigging, Weapon Rigging, Skinning/Weight Painting

unreal engine 5

Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Control Rig, Sequencer, Blend Spaces, AnimDynamics

Software

Maya, MotionBuilder, Blender, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, JIRA, Perforce (P4V)

Education

Gnomon School of Visual Effects | Hollywood, CA

Certificate in Digital Production for Entertainment | 2016 – 2017

  • Focus on 3D Character Animation, Creature Animation, and Technical Art fundamentals.
  • Co-Founder and President of the Student Animation Club; organized monthly industry guest lectures and soft-skills workshops.