Insomniac Games is looking for a Character TD responsible for creating character setups, including the rigging of various heroes, enemies, weapons, vehicles and props, and for support of the Animators and others with scripts and tools. They’ll contribute to the design, implementation and maintenance of the animation and rigging pipeline. Character TD’s are also responsible for developing scripts in support of the art pipeline.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:
- Create high quality animation rigs, systems, setups, and workflows
- Set up technical animation/simulation setups for things such as hair and cloth for real-time in-engine or for animation within Maya.
- Write and maintain scripts using Python and PyMel. General scripting duties include developing systems and workflows for animating and rigging characters, expediting the character setup and animation process, and writing scripts to aid the art team when required
- Possess a comprehensive understanding of animation techniques for the purpose of proactive problem solving and trouble shooting
- Support the Core team creating Maya tools and improving the art pipeline between the game engine and Maya
- Contribute to the design and improvement of the character set-up process
- Complete the work assigned at the highest quality possible while staying on schedule
- Work in concert with the broader development teams to attain production goals
- Assist the animation team in troubleshooting setup and animation problems as they arise, especially as they relate to projects
- Act as an intermediary between the animation and technical teams to elucidate the workflows, needs, and terminologies of each team
- Understand (and assist when technical needs arise) the entire process of creating cinematics including set construction, camera setup, character blocking, character animation, motion capture, cloth simulation, animation troubleshooting, and ensuring that scenes run properly on the real-time game engine
- Create simple Entity animations for the purpose of testing new and existing systems, and animate cameras and simple Entities for gameplay and cinematics as necessary
- Maintain an understanding of skeletons, facial animation methodologies, constraints and other Maya tools and systems used for character animation
- Edit and improve existing character animation systems, including facial setups and animation transfer tools
- Stay informed about the latest improvements in Maya and on the latest in animation techniques from various sources of media
- Good understanding of UI design using PyQT and Python
- Other duties may be assigned
Education/Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from a four-year college or university; or two to four years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- One to four years of experience in character setup, MEL, Python, and PyMel scripting and a comprehensive understanding of all technical aspects of Maya animation.
- One to two years of animation training covering all basic animation principals.
- Extensive knowledge of Maya, proprietary tools and a working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel.
- Strong working knowledge of MEL, Python, and PyMel scripting as it applies to character setup and animation.
- Basic knowledge of DOS.
- The ability to articulate thoughts and ideas effectively both verbally and in writing.
- This position may be required to help evaluate new technical tools, and make suggestions in either the implementation or practical uses of said tools.
Please note: This is a project hire position and we anticipate the length of the project to run through May 2020.
If this is the opportunity that you have been looking for, we’d like to hear from you. Please click the Apply button on this link :
to submit your application.
Thanks!