Technical Character Artist

Job Description

Technical Character Artist

EA Create is a collective of content production teams partnering with EA Studios game teams to deliver outstanding visuals, audio and technology. Our teams comprise of artists, engineers, technicians, designers and development directors. Worldwide, we combine our teams to form a global group of extraordinary individuals fueled by imagination and a unified passion for creating amazing visuals, sound and experiences. We are a diverse team, unified through collaboration, culture and craft.

In partnership with Motive Vancouver, we are looking for a Technical Character Artist to join a pre-production team developing a New IP. We are looking for a candidate who can work on-site in at our Vancouver studio in Burnaby, BC for the duration of the project (from pre-production to product launch.)

What the Technical Character Artist does:
• Research, investigate, and guide the development of ideal character core topologies (body, head, face) that support user-driven customization
• Research and develop technical solutions for effectively and efficiently creating character clothing and character customization content
• Partner with Design, Engineering, and Art to determine technical requirements and evaluate solutions for implementation of character customization systems
• Partner with Animation and Rigging to define requirements and technical challenges for effective character setup, including investigation / development of tech for secondary animation / simulation, cloth and hair authoring tools and technology, and advanced deformer systems.
• Develop content structures for characters, that allow for scalable approaches to both tech and content development.
• Stay current with and demonstrate a high degree of technical knowledge about current state-of-the-industry in Character content generation approaches and workflows.
• Work with Artists, Technical Artists, Tools Software Engineers & Rendering Software Engineers to convert prototype content generation solutions into production content generation workflows.
• Establish technical standards and production processes to guide the TA and SE team's work to ensure that their work achieves needed content implementation goals while also meeting performance standards.
• Attend all planning and team meetings; Build user stories and produce time estimates for project planning.
• The Technical Character Artist will report to the Technical Art Leaders on the project.

Who You Are:
• At least 6+ years of cinematic/games production experience. You have completed more than 3 AAA games/movies.
• A bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in a related field.
• Effective at communicating with different audiences: artists, engineers, managers.
• Expert knowledge of a 2D and 3D art packages: Maya/Photoshop needed. Houdini/Substance Designer a bonus.
• A solutions-provider, particularly as it pertains to debugging technical issues as it relates to making functional and performant content.
• A willingness to jump into the unknown and solve new problems; the ability to think creatively to resolve technical challenges and limitations.
• Capability to Model, Skin, Rig, and Texture to support Content/Tool/Tech Prototyping
• Experienced with Cloth and Hair Authoring technologies (Run-Time Solutions ideal)
• Experienced with interacting with / developing content and approaches for Character Customization systems
• Proficiency for scripting / programming in Python or C# highly desired
• Experience with Photogrammetry techniques as applied to production challenges
• Work with other Technical Artists and Engineers to ensure scalability of character content across platforms of varying levels of capability (high-end PC to mobile)
• Work with artists and designers to determine tool and workflow requirements.

What's in it for you? Glad you asked!

We love to brag about our great perks like comprehensive health and benefit packages, tuition reimbursement, RRSP company match and, of course, many other perks! And since we realize it takes outstanding people to make outstanding games, we offer great compensation packages and a culture that succeeds on creativity and individuality.

EA is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-r0jqjg-3-149-229-253-42 in your application.