Aradhana Vaidya: Creating Better Art Through Code

Aradhana started her career as successful 3D artist for such prestigious companies as Intel, and Dreamworks, and was even involved in widely known productions such as the Puss in Boots movie, and Madagascar 3. However there was a moment in her career when she found that she couldn’t go any further artistically, unless she was willing to get her hands dirty and start learning the underlying code that fueled the programs she was using to do her work.

She started out by teaching herself Maya, which is a software system that is used for creating 3D models in virtual environments employed by video games and media. She then moved on to learning Python, which gave her even greater insight into the fundamental principles of her artistic endeavors. She also enjoyed the learning process, and went on to gain proficiency in Unity so that she could employ it in her own personal projects, and as another tool to assist her in her professional endeavors.

The path that she chose, combining her artistic talents, with an intrinsic understanding of the tools she was using to create, has given her the opportunity to be involved in a number of different and exciting projects. In addition to her impressive body of work in feature film animation and game technology, she has also employed her skills in 3D data visualization, as well as the creation of art tools and scripts for Autodesk Maya, using Python and MEL.

One challenge that Aradhana has had to overcome in her career is a lack of confidence, and difficulty communicating and interacting with people in the industry. She’s also found herself feeling isolated in companies where she was one of the few, or the only woman working there, which often exasperated these issues.

Women Who Code has been particularly important in helping her overcome these issues. She discovered the group back in 2013 when she found herself working as the only female in a relatively large technology firm. Joining the local WWCode meetup group gave her a place where she could interact with other women in the industry, and find the support and guidance that she needed. They also provided her with a valuable networking system that was incredibly helpful when she started looking for new employment opportunities.

According to Aradhana, “Some of the events more specifically focused on career development, especially the one led by Wendy in San Francisco, it helped in polishing my resume and brushing up on my interviewing skills.”

The support has been so successful that Aradhana now actually enjoys being in front of customers and presenting product demos. She has even represented her company at Game Developers Conferences, Siggraph, and many other developer tech events. She also maintains an active blog and regularly posts insightful articles on LinkedIn.

Today, Aradhana is working at Autodesk on a Cloud rendering service for customers such as architects, interior planners, and product designers. She also has an exciting personal project called Think3D, which is a Unity web app that renders graphic interfaces that can be used to help visualize the layout of interior spaces using different objects and elements. However her dream job is to one day become a program manager that focuses on making product feature related decisions which drive milestones, while engaging closely with the needs of customers.

When asked about her decision to include an understanding of code as part of her process, Aradhana said, “If you are designer or an artist who wants to start programming, I would say ‘Just do it’. There are people out there who take the initiative everyday. You can do it too!”

Find out more about Aradhana on her Website
Or follow her on Twitter: @aradhanav