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Industrial Light & Magic · 4 months ago

Creature (Rigging/Tech Anim) Supervisor

San Francisco, CA

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$143K/yr - $188K/yr

10+ years exp

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) builds interactive experiences for Virtual and Augmented Reality and other emerging platforms. They are seeking a real-time Creature Supervisor to lead a team of artists in establishing techniques and processes for character animation while ensuring high-quality output and efficient workflows.

Film ProductionMedia and EntertainmentMotion Capture

Growth Opportunities

Responsibilities

Lead a team of real-time Creature Technical Directors (“Creature TDs”) in creating and supporting a complete character pipeline to accomplish ILM’s mission. Develop and hone the team’s skills to continuously raise the quality bar

Set the discipline’s standard for artistic and technical excellence, efficiency and performance by creating exemplary work that meets project requirements, and providing training and guidance to direct reports

Work closely with artistic directors, cross-functional peers and product owners to achieve the artistic vision of the director(s) and deliver the highest quality characters possible

Oversee the optimization of animated assets to achieve optimal scene performance in the 3D engine

Collaborate with tools engineers to develop appropriate art pipelines, scripts, and plug-ins necessary to ensure the high productivity of the animators and artists. When the development of systems is required, contribute to the visual prototyping of tools, as well as R&D with systems programmers

Work with Producers in the planning stages of proposed projects to advise on the scope of the work and resource requirements, and make recommendations accordingly. Work with production to provide task estimates, track progress, and solve production issues that arise

Establish best practices and workflow for the discipline, and partner with other discipline supervisors to establish cross-functional workflow with other disciplines

Through continuing hands-on work on projects, maintain deep knowledge and user experience on workflow and tools. Innovate discipline workflow and keep up to date on new tools/applications/trends in the industry

Collaborate with Talent Managers to inform talent planning, provide guidance on casting assignments, and offer feedback to support artist growth, skill development, and career goals. Partner with Talent Management and Recruiting on staffing needs and contribute to the evaluation of potential third-party production partners, working with new vendors to define and implement effective workflows

Set the cultural tone & reinforce positive behavior within your group. Work with studio leadership to define and continually refine and shape the team culture

Define the discipline’s ‘Lead Artist’ project role per project. Help project leads solve scope, workflow, etc. issues throughout the project as needed

Speak on behalf of the discipline in technology development discussions to ensure that new development aligns with the discipline’s strategy and workflow

Qualification

Maya rigging techniquesAAA game enginesCharacter pipelinesToolsPipeline engineeringDCC standard softwareReal-time graphicsPeople-management experienceCommunicationCollaborative attitudeStrategic thinker

Required

Undergraduate or graduate degree in game development, digital art, computer graphics, game design, or related field or equivalent experience

Minimum of 10 years experience in game development as a Character Technical Artist (or equivalent) and a minimum of 3 shipped/released AAA titles as a Lead artist

Expertise in Maya rigging techniques and experience with being responsible for supporting animation workflows and developing character pipelines and tools on a AAA product

Experience leading and mentoring artists and helping them develop and grow their skills

Artistic eye with advanced understanding of the creation & integration of 3D art & animation

Advanced working knowledge of all the DCC standard software (Maya, 3Ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, Substance Tools) and end-to-end content creation pipeline

Excellent technical knowledge and familiarity with AAA game engines, particularly Unreal Engine

Experience in tools and pipeline engineering utilizing Python, PySide/PyQt, and Maya API/Mel scripting

Experience with source control via Perforce or equivalent

Collaborative, team-player attitude: open & receptive to new ideas, constructive criticism, artistic direction and changes

Experience leading artists to meet deadlines and mentoring artists to help them develop and grow their skills

Strategic and analytical thinker with exceptional execution and problem-solving capabilities

Excellent communication skills, especially with regards to illustrating technical processes

Experience in and passion for real-time graphics and content creation for emerging platforms (XR, etc.)

Portfolio that demonstrates professional tech art experience in the following areas: programming, tools and pipeline building, content management and optimization, character modeling, rigging, and animation

Preferred

Computer Science Degree or equivalent experience programming in C# or C++

People-management experience

Experience managing outsourced work

A portfolio / reel submission - including a detailed breakdown of your work in each section - is required with all applications

Benefits

A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package

The full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits

Company

Industrial Light & Magic

Glassdoor4.3

Industrial Light & Magic creates visual effects for the motion picture commercial production and attraction industries. It is a sub-organization of Lucasfilm.

Founded in 1975

San Francisco, California, USA

1001-5000 employees