Luca Vitiello

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Principal / Lead Technical Artist

Milano, Italy
[email protected]
linkedin.com/in/luca-vitiello-ta
technicalart.it

Summary

Principal/Lead Technical Artist with 10+ years in AAA production at Build A Rocket Boy, Rockstar Games, Splash Damage, and Ubisoft. I bridge art and engineering: leading technical art teams, owning performance from budget definition to final optimization, and building the pipelines and procedural tools that keep large art teams fast. Credits include MindsEye, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Grand Theft Auto VI.

Skills

Engines & Rendering

  • Expert in Unreal Engine 5/4: Nanite, Lumen, Virtual Shadow Maps, performance profiling and optimization for console and PC.
  • Shipped on proprietary AAA engines: RAGE (Rockstar), Snowdrop (Ubisoft), Saber3D, KT Engine.

Programming

  • Python (expert) for DCC and pipeline tooling; C# for studio tools; HLSL/GLSL shader development; C++ in Unreal Engine.
  • Docker and orchestration for containerized pipelines and automation frameworks.

DCC & Procedural

  • 3ds Max and Maya tool development; Houdini for procedural modeling and terrain; Substance Designer for procedural materials.

Leadership

  • Lead and mentor multidisciplinary teams (tech art, tech animation, VFX); define performance budgets; trusted partner to art directors; university professor.

Work Experience

Build A Rocket Boy / Playfusion — Principal/Lead Technical Artist

2025 - Present
MINDSEYE (UNREAL ENGINE 5)
  • Own environment optimization and performance across PC and consoles, recovering ~10 ms of GPU frame time in worst-case scenes to hit the directors' targets.
  • Reworked the environment art pipeline around Nanite, Lumen, and Virtual Shadow Maps, and mentor the environment team on best practices.
  • Design, build, and maintain the in-editor tools used daily by environment artists.
2022 - Present
ASCENDANT (UNREAL ENGINE 5)
  • Lead a multidisciplinary team of Technical Artists, Technical Animators, and VFX Artists.
  • Defined the project's performance budgets and the optimization practices used across departments.
  • Partner with the Art Director to hit both visual and performance targets; develop and maintain in-editor environment tooling.

IED Milan — Professor

2022 - Present
CG ANIMATION DEGREE COURSE
  • Teach "Interactive Systems and Technology 2", covering real-time technology and game production.
  • Supervise graduation projects from concept through delivery.

Nacon Studio Milano (prev. Lunar Great Wall Studios) — Lead Technical Artist

2021 - 2022
TERMINATOR SURVIVORS (UNREAL ENGINE 5)
  • Established the studio's new Unreal Engine tools and pipelines, and trained 10 artists across departments on modern workflows.
  • Developed and maintained procedural content tools.
  • Partnered with the Art Director to meet visual and performance targets.
2021 - 2022
TT ISLE OF MAN: RIDE ON THE EDGE 3 (KT ENGINE)
  • Built new tools and pipelines for environment art on a proprietary engine.
  • Mentored junior colleagues in Python and optimization practices.

Rockstar Games — Senior Technical Artist

2020 - 2021
GRAND THEFT AUTO VI (RAGE)
  • Converted existing art tools and pipelines (C#) to be Linux-compatible, enabling large-scale automation workflows.
  • Containerized tooling with Docker and orchestration to support automation frameworks.
2020 - 2021
GRAND THEFT AUTO V & RED DEAD REDEMPTION II (RAGE)
  • Maintained the shipped tools and pipelines (C#) supporting live production.

Splash Damage — Mid to Senior Technical Artist

2020
UNANNOUNCED PROJECT (UNREAL ENGINE 4)
  • Member of the project leadership team, working with executives and leads to define project goals and ambitions.
  • Developed procedural systems enabling flexible, efficient content creation.
2019 - 2020
TECHNICAL ART AUTOMATION TEAM
  • Led a team of three building multi-project pipelines and automation frameworks.
  • Authored documentation and ran training sessions for artists across the studio.
2019
HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION - PC (UNREAL ENGINE 4 / SABER3D)
  • Optimized PC performance in the Saber3D engine.
  • Developed the UI pipeline in Unreal Engine 4 and supported gameplay and core tech teams.
2018
INTERNAL PROTOTYPE (UNREAL ENGINE 4)
  • Provided in-engine support for art, level design, and VFX, alongside gameplay and core-tech support.
  • Developed the company-wide pipeline and toolset.
2017 - 2018
UNANNOUNCED PROJECT WITH WARGAMING (CORE 5 ENGINE)
  • Created and supervised the environment art pipeline, and developed the tools that supported it.
  • Provided in-engine support to the art and level design departments.

Ubisoft Milan — Junior Technical Artist

2016 - 2017
MARIO+RABBIDS KINGDOM BATTLE (SNOWDROP ENGINE)
  • Created and supervised the environment art pipeline on Snowdrop.
  • Developed shaders and in-engine tools, plus Maya and 3ds Max tools that sped up environment and cinematic workflows.

IED Milan — Professor's Assistant

2016 - 2017
CG ANIMATION DEGREE COURSE
  • Taught Unreal Engine 4 and game production, and assisted with graduation projects.

Education

IED Milan

2013 - 2016
BACHELOR'S DEGREE — CG ANIMATION
  • Individual and team projects spanning modeling, animation, real-time rendering, and game production.

Languages

  • ITALIAN: Native
  • ENGLISH: Full professional proficiency, written and spoken
  • SPANISH: Intermediate, written and spoken