Rigging Artist

Job Description

Mikros Animation is a global CGI animation studio located in Paris, Montreal, Los Angeles, Bangalore and London, offering front end services through to final picture for feature, long-form episodic and traditional episodic animation. Thanks to our global capabilities, we adapt our scale to always serve every project in the best possible way.

We believe great animation is about making connections with real people. To ignite connection and to make images unforgettable, we unite with filmmakers to tell their stories. We embrace our clients' creative ideas in our culture of collaboration, making our studios the home of the projects we are entrusted with. We help filmmakers define and develop their vision from script up to screen to make every project a unique one. We craft striking CG animation and we create characters that connect with audiences on an authentic and emotional level, at the highest creative quality and best price possible.

In less than ten years, Mikros Animation has contributed to ten released feature animations and to numerous high-quality episodic shows for the world's best-known animation studios, either as creative studio, line producer or executive producer. Mikros Animation has also produced more than 250 hours of programming, broadcast by notable channels including Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, TF1, France TV, Gulli, M6, Gloob, and Super RTL. Our episodic content airs and streams globally, in over 180 countries.

The Rigging Artist is responsible for designing and maintaining a smooth and efficient rig for 3D model assets. Must have a strong understanding of animation pipelines, production methods and a strong management style with excellent artistic & technical skills.

Responsibilities:
• Must be able to communicate and work in collaboration with Design, Animation and Scene Planning Drawing character sketches showing key movements.
• Creating joints and moving points to rotate and pivot.
• Creating, testing and maintaining consistency of setups.
• Ensuring character movements are fluid, free of glitches and believable.
• Writing MEL scripts to customize tools to specific automated requirements.
• Working with animators to create user-friendly characters.
• Following established character setup procedures.
• Identifying issues and following through with enquiries from animation team and troubleshoot them.
• Testing rigs and ensuring they hold up in animation.
• Maintain a good team dynamics.

Qualifications
• Solid knowledge of human & animal anatomy, mechanics and movement.
• Understanding of functionalities of limbs, the effect of skin weights, and the behavior of skin and flesh.
• Ability to create calisthenics to test extreme poses.
• Adaptability, especially in terms of quality and time constraints.
• Excellent working knowledge of Maya environment and Nodes.
• Good Knowledge in Auto Rigs.
• Strong skills in rigging tools and scripting languages like Mel, Python.
• Good communication skills.

Any of the following experience is a great advantage
• Previous experience with Games pipeline is plus.
• Having 3dx Max and C++ knowledge is an additional advantage.

The details above provide an outline of the skills and experience we are looking out for. Within our artist team structure, we have a range of positions. These are:
• Junior
• Mid
• Senior
• Lead

During our recruitment process we will be assessing where your skills and experience best fit.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-ren2e2-18-117-105-28-42 in your application.