Open to opportunities

Abhinav Karanwal

@abhinavkaranwal

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I build responsive combat, facial, and cinematic animation for games.

India

Message

What I'm looking for

I'm open to global relocation and opportunities creating high-fidelity combat, facial, cinematic, and gameplay animation for AAA or mobile games, while improving scalable animation pipelines and collaborating across multidisciplinary teams.

I've delivered character, facial, and cinematic animation for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto Online at Rockstar Games, using motion capture, hand-keyed refinement, and RAGE engine integration.

At Garena, I produced gameplay and cutscene animation for an upcoming stylized cricket game and designed a shared three-rig system reused across 40+ characters, reducing animation production time and cost by about 70%.

Across Electronic Arts, Reliance Games, PlayMotion, and Technicolor, I've built animation pipelines, defined combat frame data and fighting logic, led a 10-member animation team, reviewed outsourced work, and helped teams create believable character mechanics for AAA and mobile games.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Senior Character Animator

Garena

Jul 2021 - Dec 2025 (4 years 5 months)

Produced gameplay and cut-scenes animations for a stylized cricket game. Designed a shared 3-rig animation system with face bones, reducing animation production time and cost by about 70%.

Maya Unity Jira Perforce GitHub Quality Control

Senior Facial Animator

Rockstar Games India

Jan 2018 - Jun 2021 (3 years 5 months)

Created cinematic facial animation using motion capture and hand-keyed refinement for Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA Online. Integrated and debugged animation assets inside the RAGE engine.

Faceware Rage Facial Animation Motion Capture Cinematic Animation

Senior Animator

Technicolor – Rockstar Dedicated Unit

Jul 2016 - Dec 2017 (1 year 5 months)

Cleaned complex full-body motion capture data and produced facial performances using markerless capture pipelines for Red Dead Redemption 2. Assisted with rigging and animation troubleshooting.

Faceware Perforce Motion Capture Cleanup Facial Animation

Senior Animator

PlayMotion

Apr 2014 - Jun 2016 (2 years 2 months)

Led animation benchmarks and production quality for Iron Kill and Mad Hop. Built the 3ds Max to Unity animation pipeline and directed cinematic trailers including storyboards and camera animation.

3D Max Unity Photoshop Jira Animation Pipeline Cinematic Animation

Senior Character Animator

Electronic Arts

Apr 2013 - Mar 2014 (11 months)

Created gameplay animation and character rigs using Maya for Theme Park and Monopoly. Rebuilt an old animation pipeline into a Maya-based export workflow and prototyped creature rigs for gameplay systems.

Maya Unity Perforce Character Rigging Animation Pipeline Gameplay Animation

Lead Animator

Reliance Games

May 2010 - Mar 2013 (2 years 10 months)

Led a 10-member animation team delivering multiple mobile titles including Real Steel, WRB, and Total Recall. Defined combat animation timing and frame data with programmers and designed rigs and animation systems for 30+ characters.

Character Studio Unity Maya SVN Combat Animation Team Leadership