Dan Patterson (born 30 June 1975; age 49) is a digital character artist and animator at Digital Domain. He was Digital Domain's Data Input/Output (I/O) Operator on Star Trek Nemesis and, most recently, he was the studio's character animator on Star Trek. [1]
Patterson was born in Great Falls, Montana, and graduated from Tempe, Arizona's University of Advancing Technology with an Associate's Degree in Digital Production in 2000. He joined Digital Domain as I/O Technical Coordinator in August 2000; his first project for the studio was the hit film How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which featured Clint Howard in the cast.
He worked on several more films as Digital Domain's Data I/O Operator, including:
- The Time Machine (2002, written by John Logan);
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, featuring John Rhys-Davies);
- A Beautiful Mind (2002, starring Christopher Plummer);
- Adaptation. (2002, featuring Jim Beaver and Gregory Itzin); and
- Daredevil (2003, featuring Erick Avari and Leland Orser)
During his time as an I/O Technical Coordinator, he was only credited in two films, both released in 2002: We Were Soldiers (edited by William Hoy) and XXX.
Patterson was promoted to Digital Artist and Animator in 2004; his first project in this position was The Day After Tomorrow (2004), on which he was specifically a Digital Car Modeler. He also worked as a Digital Character Artist on I, Robot (2004), which starred James Cromwell and Bruce Greenwood.
His subsequent Digital Domain projects have included two films featuring Star Trek: First Contact actor Neal McDonough: Flags of Our Fathers (2006, also featuring Len Cariou, Gordon Clapp, David Clennon, George Hearn, James Horan, and Harve Presnell) and The Hitcher (2007). He was also a digital character artist on The Nativity Story (2006, starring Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Alexander Siddig.
Patterson's credits since then have included Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, featuring Lee Arenberg, Vanessa Branch, and Greg Ellis) and Transformers (2007, written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and featuring Andy Milder, Glenn Morshower, W. Morgan Sheppard, Michael Shamus Wiles, and the voice of Robert Foxworth). He provided character and facial animation for Paramount Pictures' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).