Character Technical Artist

Job Description

ILMxLAB Character Technical Artist (Creature Technical Director) - Expression of Interest San Francisco, CA

Description

Position at ILMxLAB

This posting is an opportunity to submit your resume for future consideration; this is not a role that is open at this time. We anticipate this role may be open in the future, but we are not actively hiring for the position. If you would like to be considered for this potential role, please submit your resume. If the role becomes available, you may receive an email or call from a recruiter.
*Remote Work Option Available*

From a galaxy far, far away to other globally-beloved universes, ILMxLAB’s body of work spans multiple award-winning experiences in virtual reality, mixed reality, and more. The team is looking for candidates who are interested in creating the next generation of storytelling for the premium immersive entertainment space powered by real-time graphics.

This fusion of high end graphics and immersive storytelling means creating unparalleled real-time worlds that exponentially raise the bar for consumer experiences. We continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible. We are looking for talented and driven technologists, artists and designers to join our collaborative, creative, and highly technical work environment.

We're looking for a Character Technical Artist (Creature Technical Director).

Have a look at the description below. If it sounds like you, send us your stuff!

What You'll Do
• Collaborate with dev team to advance the state of real-time rendered immersive experiences, striving for highest possible visual representation of characters while ensuring optimal performance.
• Design, build and test advanced animation rigs, setups, systems and workflows for a variety of ultra high-end characters, creatures, vehicles and props via Maya, Unreal and ILM's proprietary toolsets.
• Assist in development & maintenance of systems and workflows for animating and rigging characters which expedite our character setup and animation process, as well as writing scripts to facilitate art production when required.
• Maintain understanding of industry gold-standard, as well as monitoring promising new techniques, in terms of available tools & systems - via Maya, Unreal, etc. - for skeletons, facial animation methodologies, and constraints used for character animation.
• Develop familiarity & understanding of proprietary toolsets & workflows in the ILM pipeline, integrating as necessary with established best-practices for real-time production workflow, adapting and evolving to solve problems within that hybrid framework. This position calls for an individual who enjoys the difficulty of solving problems, with a keen attention to detail and sense of anticipation.
• Consult in development of breakdowns, task lists, estimates, schedules, milestones and overall project goals as necessary; participate in project stand-ups, meetings, and reviews.
• Actively participate in concept testing of new ideas and building of rapid prototypes.

What We're Looking For
• Minimum 3 yrs experience as a Character TD, Technical Artist-Rigger or Technical Animation Setup role for AAA game development, directly supporting the production with rigging, scripting & tool development.
• Minimum 3 yrs production experience with Maya, Maya API
• Excellent working knowledge of scripting - Maya Python/PyMEL, C++ API, and PySide/PyQt GUI design experience
• A strong understanding of the real-time art production pipeline & process for different types of asset creation - with super-powered understanding of potential pitfalls for movement mechanics & deformation.
• Strong grasp of basic of animation principles, clear understanding of anatomy, kinematics & deformation
• Extensive experience with integration of performance capture animation for both body & face
• Experience with run-time, blend-tree based animation systems. Unreal and Maya experience preferred.
• Strong understanding of Unreal Animation features & toolsets: blueprints, component anims, physics-based anims, Sequencer, Matinee
• Experience with cloth, hair, fracturing and rigid simulations
• Working knowledge of Linux, Perforce, Linear Algebra
• VFX production experience
• Experience or interest in the creation of VR & MR experiences

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rzb72r-18-223-196-59-42 in your application.