Tom Roff

Programmer, 3D Artist, Wanderer (sometimes)

General Reel Animation Reel

About Me

A photo of Tom Roff

Hi There! My name's Tom Roff, a programmer and 3D artist from Houston, Texas. I love learning new tools and applying them to team-based project environments. I'm creative but always open to feedback on how I can improve my work, and always eager to help a project however I can. Want to learn more about what I do? Keep scrolling!


  • Born in Houston, TX
  • Attending Davidson College, set to graduate in May 2025
  • Enjoys singing in the car, hiking, and baking
  • ...Has about a 60% success rate in baking
  • Passionate about making virtual experiences since age 5
  • Loves his cat, Mufasa
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Projects



Borrowed Time

Hackathon-winning game where players race against time to regain their soul.


Skills Used:

  • Collaborated with a dedicated team in a 36-hour sprint to create a 2.5D platformer in Unity.
  • Created 3D models with dynamic materials according to variables such as player health using Blender and Unity's shader graph.
  • Programmed player animations according to player input and game state using Unity's animation graph.
  • Designed and programmed gameplay mechanics and levels.
  • Playtested and polished the game into a track-winning demo.
A 3D render of a Habitat for Humanity ReStore location
A realistic 3D scene of a space freighter lobby

Vanguard Division

An independently developed multiplayer shooter with tower-defence gameplay against endless waves of robots.


Skills Used:

  • 250+ models created in Blender, including basic rigging and UV map creation
  • 150+ of these models given realistic textures in Substance Painter
  • Hundreds of gameplay mechanics and actors created using Unreal Engine 4's Blueprint system
  • Custom and Dynamic Materials made using Unreal's Material System
  • Dozens of VFX created using the Niagara Particle System

Habitat for Humanity Architectural Visualization

High-fidelity 3D renders used to demonstrate proposed renovations to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore location.


Skills Used:

  • Collaborated with store executives to understand their needs and goals for the renovations
  • 100+ models measured to real-life scale and faithfully recreated in Blender
  • Recreated realistic outdoor and indoor lighting to better convey lighting solutions to the Habitat for Humanity team
  • Received feedback and made changes to model according to team needs in an evolving process
A 3D render of a Habitat for Humanity ReStore location
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Feathers and Leathers

A 3D animation short film about a book and a bird featuring advanced modeling, lighting, and animation. Still being worked on!

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Human Computer Interaction Projects

A webpage compiling my work for the class CSC 363: Human Computer Interaction. This class emphasized best design practices and making interfaces that captured functionality, beauty, and accessiblity.

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Alyson Archives

I contributed the bulk of the HTML, CSS, and Omeka work to this archive of LGBTQ+ literature.

Experience



A realistic 3D scene of a space freighter lobby

Detailed Character Animation

Throughout the courses of Animation Mentor, I created multiple high-quality animations of characters in Autodesk Maya. I then created Demo Reels of my work in Adobe Premier.

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Food Service: Pappas Burger

I worked as a host and a server for Pappas Burger here in Houston. There I received the Pappas' Pride award for always being helpful to my coworkers, even during the slow hours.

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Professor Assistant

During this summer job, I helped a Davidson College professor edit his web development textbook. I additionally helped him with his research into the East German Secret Police, including making intricate 3D models as seen on the right. This machine in particular opened letters in such a way that they could be sealed again without detection.

Other Passions



Students singing in a band. Two are behind pianos.

My Band :)

I organized various friends of mine together to form a student band. Since it's creation we've been featured at many important events on and off campus.

A realistic 3D scene of a space freighter lobby

Games Leadership

After a bit of time at Davidson, I became president of the Games Club, a club with over 300 members. I started many new programs that the students enjoy, including the competitive collegiate Counter Strike team, shown on the left.

A realistic 3D scene of a space freighter lobby

Volunteering

I was taught growing up that I should help others, however possible. I enact this in my life today in many ways. I started the Habitat for Humanity club at Davidson (shown left), volunteered at Les Restaurants du Coeur while studying abroad in Paris, and often volunteer at Davidson's local community garden.

Interested in chatting? I can be reached in the following ways:

Email

[email protected]

Phone

+1 (713) 878-7409