Tweak Software, developers of RV, the image and sequence viewer for animation and visual effects, have hired visual effects industry veteran Alan Trombla. Trombla, who has worked at all levels of visual effects and digital animation production from writing software and managing large engineering teams to lighting shots and leading CG productions, joins Tweak Software as Director of Product Development.
Trombla launched his career in VFX with 10 years at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) primarily as a principal engineer and R&D Supervisor. At ILM, he supervised the design and production rollout of major new proprietary tools for matte painting and lighting and he contributed to many other technologies and techniques that are in wide use. He joins Tweak Software from Digital Domain, where he worked as lead technology architect for the special projects group. Prior to that, Trombla worked as technology development lead at Lucasfilm Animation, where he recruited and managed the Animation Tools Group and was responsible for maintaining and extending production technology for STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.
Trombla first joined ILM in 1996, working in both the production and R&D divisions over the course of the next decade. Trombla's early R&D contributions include work on MeshGen, a multi-resolution and dynamically paged terrain geometry system used for the "Star Wars I" Pod Racer sequence and Irender, ILM's second-generation lighting tool, which was first used extensively on GALAXY QUEST. He later supervised the design and development of Zenviro, ILM's new matte-painting tool, and Lux, ILM's third-generation lighting tool. Trombla also oversaw creation of the stereo 3D rendering pipeline for CHICKEN LITTLE. During his time at ILM, Trombla spent a number of years working as an artist in ILM's commercial and feature production divisions, serving as CG Lead on several projects.
