Blur Studio, known for its award-winning animation, visual effects and design company continues to expand with key new hires character effects supervisor Eric Maurer, and asset supervisor Oded Raz. Maurer and Raz will bolster Blur’s leadership team, increase the studio’s capacity for larger projects, and foster the development of new technology as the company gears up for the next round of feature work by Blur co-founder and Deadpool director Tim Miller.
“Bringing Eric and Oded on board, along with our recent hire of VFX supervisor Dan Akers, brings a level of senior leadership to Blur that enables our studio to take on larger and more technically ambitious projects. These guys are industry veterans and have the experience and creative accomplishments to show for it,” said Tim. “We’re continuing to improve our technology infrastructure to accommodate greater opportunities in 2017 and beyond while expanding our creative experience across all platforms.”
Character effects supervisor Eric Maurer joins Blur with more than two decades of experience in the visual effects industry. He spent 15 years at Blue Sky Studios as the primary architect of the character effects and voxel rendering pipeline used across the facility, and contributed to eleven animated features including The Peanuts Movie, Rio and all five films in the Ice Age franchise.
Prior to joining Blue Sky Studios, Maurer worked as a technical director and digital effects supervisor on film and commercial projects at multiple facilities in New York including R/GA and Imaginary Forces. He has presented three Siggraph sessions on topics ranging from characters and landscapes in Rio to interpreting Dr. Suess’ style with 3D fur. Maurer is a graduate of Wesleyan University and earned a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University.
Asset supervisor Oded Raz joins Blur with years of experience as a CG Supervisor and Look Development Lead for visual effects companies including Luma Pictures, Digital Domain and Mirada Studios. He has worked as both an artist and a supervisor on many major Hollywood feature films and high profile commercial projects. His feature credits include Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool, Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron.” He has also developed commercial visual effects for brands including Disneyland, Coca Cola, Nike, Microsoft and Universal. Raz received a degree in visual communication and graphic design from the Wizo Academy of Design in Israel; he also studied 3D animation and visual effects at Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, CA and later also became an instructor there.
