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, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT 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.