https://christiansantori.com/blog Technical animation, rigging, and pipeline writing from Christian Santori. Maya/Unreal tools, NPC facial systems, and shipped-game war stories. en-us Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:45:00 GMT https://christiansantori.com/blog/profiling-mass-entity-crowds-unreal-engine https://christiansantori.com/blog/profiling-mass-entity-crowds-unreal-engine Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT Unreal Engine Measure Mass Entity crowd performance with repeatable camera routes, representation and simulation LOD checks, Unreal Insights captures, and transition tests. https://christiansantori.com/blog/debugging-zone-graph-connections-unreal-engine https://christiansantori.com/blog/debugging-zone-graph-connections-unreal-engine Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT Unreal Engine Diagnose broken Zone Graph junctions in Unreal Engine with directed-link checks, tag-filter tests, loading-state checks, and repeatable route validation. https://christiansantori.com/blog/maya-mesh-update-skin-weight-blendshape-transfer-checks https://christiansantori.com/blog/maya-mesh-update-skin-weight-blendshape-transfer-checks Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT Maya Tools Check Maya skin weight and BlendShape transfers after a mesh update, from vertex correspondence and deformer order to pose tests and release notes. https://christiansantori.com/blog/unreal-engine-smart-objects-interruption-cleanup https://christiansantori.com/blog/unreal-engine-smart-objects-interruption-cleanup Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT Unreal Engine Debug interrupted Unreal Engine Smart Object interactions with clear claim ownership, failed approach recovery, montage cleanup, and slot reuse tests. https://christiansantori.com/blog/what-makes-a-game-world-feel-alive https://christiansantori.com/blog/what-makes-a-game-world-feel-alive Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:35:00 GMT Game Development Independent activity, coherent responses, shared rhythm, traces and quiet: a reflective developer field guide to living game environments. https://christiansantori.com/blog/custom-rig-solvers-matrix-math-code https://christiansantori.com/blog/custom-rig-solvers-matrix-math-code Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Technical Animation How transforms become motion, when a custom solver is justified, and how to separate matrix math, dependency-graph evaluation, scene integration, and animator-facing controls. https://christiansantori.com/blog/lets-talk-about-triangulation https://christiansantori.com/blog/lets-talk-about-triangulation Tue, 12 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Technical Animation Why triangulation matters more than most artists think — how it quietly affects skinning, deformation, cloth, morph targets, and exports across Maya and Unreal pipelines. https://christiansantori.com/blog/bake-curve-cleanup-tool-maya https://christiansantori.com/blog/bake-curve-cleanup-tool-maya Sun, 15 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Scripts A Maya Python tool for reducing dense, key-heavy animation curves from mocap, constraint bakes, retargets, and any per-frame animation — while protecting important contact controls. https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-json-became-one-of-my-favorite-pipeline-tools https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-json-became-one-of-my-favorite-pipeline-tools Tue, 05 May 2026 14:00:00 GMT Maya Tools A simple way to move, compare, store, and reuse data across Maya, Unreal, and beyond — and why every technical artist should reach for JSON more often. https://christiansantori.com/blog/what-retro-games-still-teach-modern-developers https://christiansantori.com/blog/what-retro-games-still-teach-modern-developers Tue, 05 May 2026 13:00:00 GMT Game Development A reflective look at what older games still teach about clarity, pacing, identity, and respect for the player — through Mario 3, Kirby, Banjo-Kazooie, Crash, and Dark Cloud. https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-i-still-love-making-tools-in-maya https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-i-still-love-making-tools-in-maya Tue, 05 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Maya Tools A practical, first-person look at when a Maya task becomes tool-worthy — and how I scope, build, and ship small Python tools that quietly remove friction from production. https://christiansantori.com/blog/bring-back-couch-co-op https://christiansantori.com/blog/bring-back-couch-co-op Mon, 04 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Work A personal essay on why local multiplayer, split-screen, and same-room gaming still create the most lasting memories — from a developer, husband, and dad. https://christiansantori.com/blog/ai-doesnt-replace-the-work https://christiansantori.com/blog/ai-doesnt-replace-the-work Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Work How I use ChatGPT as a multiplier for life, fatherhood, art, and game development — not a replacement for craft, taste, or doing the work. https://christiansantori.com/blog/face-patch-skin-staging-tool-maya https://christiansantori.com/blog/face-patch-skin-staging-tool-maya Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Scripts A Maya Python utility that turns selected clothing faces into an isolated patch mesh, with optional skin weight transfer — built for layered garment skinning and staging. https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-i-still-love-the-game-boy https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-i-still-love-the-game-boy Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Work Nostalgia is a huge part of it. But great game design is the bigger reason. A developer's reflection on what a tiny handheld can still teach us. https://christiansantori.com/blog/maya-joint-chain-aim-rename-tool https://christiansantori.com/blog/maya-joint-chain-aim-rename-tool Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Scripts A small Maya utility for quickly orienting cloth, sim, and appendage joint chains while applying clean production naming. https://christiansantori.com/blog/maya-safe-disconnect-smart-reconnect https://christiansantori.com/blog/maya-safe-disconnect-smart-reconnect Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Scripts A Maya utility for safely disconnecting and reconnecting incoming rig connections on joints, controls, and other nodes. Useful for reorientation fixes, rig cleanup, and preserving hookups while making technical changes. https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-i-still-freelance https://christiansantori.com/blog/why-i-still-freelance Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Work Why I still take on freelance and smaller contracts even while on long-term projects—keeping range, curiosity, and craft alive alongside steady work. https://christiansantori.com/blog/making-technical-art-repeatable https://christiansantori.com/blog/making-technical-art-repeatable Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Tech I'm starting a blog to share practical technical art notes, tools, and safe-to-share scripts for Maya/Unreal pipelines—focused on repeatable, buildable workflows. https://christiansantori.com/blog/buildable-character-files-preflight https://christiansantori.com/blog/buildable-character-files-preflight Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Tech The quick preflight checklist I run before handoff/export so rigs stay buildable, predictable, and easy for other artists to open and use. https://christiansantori.com/blog/joint-based-facial-rigs-for-npcs https://christiansantori.com/blog/joint-based-facial-rigs-for-npcs Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Tech A production-minded breakdown of why joint-based facial rigs scale better for NPC crowds, iteration, and performance than heavy blendshape workflows. https://christiansantori.com/blog/rig-skin-split-workflow https://christiansantori.com/blog/rig-skin-split-workflow Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Tech How I split rig files and skin files so characters stay rebuildable, clean to version, and easy to hand off across teams.