UP360 is a Toronto-based company specializing in the development of immersive training and educational simulations using virtual reality. I worked there as a Technical Artist, where I was responsible for curating 3D assets, profiling environments for performance, and developing internal tools to support the art pipeline.

A large part of my role involved performance profiling using tools such as Unreal Insights, RenderDoc, OVMetrics, and the Meta Quest Developer Hub. Each tool offered unique insights depending on the performance bottleneck I was investigating. For example:

• For CPU-bound issues, I relied on Unreal Insights or Meta's tools to track blueprint logic and system-level behavior.
• If I needed to analyze GPU-intensive elements like materials or draw calls, RenderDoc was essential.

This work required a deep understanding of 3D fundamentals — mesh topology, texture usage, lighting setups — and always asking: How do we balance visual fidelity with performance, especially in VR environments?

I also led R&D efforts involving Houdini and Unreal Engine to streamline real-time worldbuilding and character animation. My focus was on creating a custom tool that could:

• Intake any biped character
• Retarget pre-existing animations
• Optimize mesh and material complexity for VR constraints

The final output supported both skeleton-based and Virtual Animation Texture (VAT) workflows — each offering different tradeoffs in terms of visual quality and performance.

UP360 was the first company where I truly felt my contributions made an impact. The learning curve was steep, but incredibly rewarding. I gained not only foundational skills in real-time development, but also meaningful relationships with my coworkers.