Jarrod Davis

About

I fly spaceships
for a living.

My lifelong dream was always to fly in space. But even in the best circumstances, the odds of any human accomplishing that are vanishingly long. At least for the next couple hundred years.

As a consolation prize, I decided to fly spaceships around on TV and in movies. That worked out pretty well. Got a nice statue, anyway.

Over the years, I've worked on a bunch of stuff, some of which you've probably seen — including Star Trek and Firefly. I'm not really a bragger, but since this whole site is about me and what I do, I kind of have to put this stuff in.

IMDb Credits Download Résumé

★

Outstanding Special Visual Effects Firefly · Zoic Studios · 2003 Actually real.

Realtime / Engine

VFX / Motion

Design / Dev

Portfolio

Selected Work

Take a look at some of the things I've done. If you want to. I'm not your dad.

▶

VFX · Animation

Main Demo Reel

A comprehensive showcase of VFX, compositing, and animation across film and television.

Watch Video →

2012–2020

⊞

Virtual Production

Virtual Sets

A gallery of TriCaster virtual sets built for news, talk, and broadcast graphics — from studio backdrops to a Star Trek-inspired bridge.

View Gallery →

10 sets

Experience

Career Reel

The frequent short-term nature of work in Hollywood and other creative industries means overlapping dates. This is a rough guide.

1997–98

NewTek, Inc.

I started in technical support for LightWave 3D, spending every free moment teaching myself modeling, animation, lighting, and rendering. Trade shows. Industry connections. This was the beginning.

1999–02

Foundation Imaging

My first industry job. Started on Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles, eventually graduating to the final episode of Star Trek: Voyager and season one of Enterprise.

2000

Digital Domain

Did some high-end commercial work. Also snuck in to watch VFX dailies from the first X-Men movie. That was awesome.

2002–07

Zoic Studios

★ Emmy Award 2003

Joined for Firefly, stayed for the Emmy. Then Battlestar Galactica, House M.D., 24. My first VFX Supervisor credit on Ghost Whisperer.

2007–20

NewTek, Inc. (pt. 2)

Built LiveSet™ virtual sets for TriCaster™, then moved into UI/UX and software. Co-developed the NDI Telestrator and LiveGraphics™ animated title system.

2011–18

Freelance

Award-winning short films, web commercials, indie features — The Adventures of Pepper and Paula, Stage V, Te Ata, Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher

2020–22

Leidos / 16th Air Force

Worked on the full VR digital twins of the EC-130H Compass Call and MC-12W Liberty in Unreal Engine. Rigging and animating all interactive cockpit elements. Character animation lead on an interactive language trainer.

2022–2025

Jackalyptic Games

Senior Technical Artist on a cancelled Warhammer title in Unreal Engine 5. Locomotion animation systems, UI materials, in-editor debugging tools, cinematics work, and modular tank tracks.

Nov 2025–Now

Contract VFX

● Current

I'd love to tell you about this, but if I told you I'd have to... well, you've seen movies, you know what comes next...

Now Streaming

Watch the Films

A few feature films I've worked on, if you'd rather watch than take my word for it. Availability shifts with the whims of streaming services.

Serenity 2005

Watch on Prime Video →

Te Ata 2016

Watch on Kanopy →

Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher 2023

Watch on Prime Video / Peacock →

The Adventures of Pepper and Paula 2015

Watch on Hoopla →

Stage V 2016

Watch on Tubi →

Testimonials

What People Say

Jarrod is one of those guys that keeps surprising you as to the extent of his capabilities. He handled everything from lighting, animation, TD work, even writing custom code and tools. The man is a great asset to any team. I greatly value Jarrod's enthusiasm and good ideas.

Jarrod is one of the best supervisors I have worked for. Very artist friendly with a great insight into how shots work from start to finish. On top of it he is a fantastic artist and really knows how to lead a team. I felt I did some of my best work with him.

Jarrod is a machine! He can work... and work... and work... and work. In addition to his work ethic, he is also very talented. The total package.

Jarrod is among the more learned CG artists I have worked with. It's like having an interactive human software manual with good manners. Working with level-headed people who have the combination of artistry and technical prowess is something I value very highly — and Jarrod has proven himself indispensable.

I fly spaceships
for a living.