Creature Supervisor
Method Studios
Vancouver, BCThis was removed by the employer on 7/2/2018 1:23:00 PM PST
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Full Time Job
Description
The Creature Supervisor is responsible for the smooth running of the rigging and technical animation pipeline for a project. Experience in creature technology development, efficient rigging, anatomy knowledge, creature simulation (cloth, hair, fur, muscle, skin) and facial rigging is required.
You will be supervising Rigging and Techanim teams, while working closely with the Modelers, Animators, Groomers, CG Supervisors and the production team. This will require maintaining existing technology, integrating third-party technology, and designing and implementing all-new, proprietary technology. This is a broad role which encompasses many departments and disciplines, including but not limited to: modeling, texturing, groom, rigging, techanim and animation.
The Creature Supervisor would also be designing the setup for animation and simulation purpose with the best performance while making sure that what the team produce meets the production need and quality standards within the allowed timeframe.
The Creature Supervisor should be comfortable managing teams (including interviewing, scheduling, and mentoring artists) but also very hands-on in producing work. He or she is also required to develop a deep understanding of the studio pipeline, and guide the team to work within it. When diving into development work, The Creature Supervisor is expected to foresee the show need continue innovate with best approach and workflow for the benefit of the show and the studio.
Responsibilities
• Lead/supervise the team of riggers and technical animators to complete projects on time and on budget
• Coach rigging lead and techanim leads to be successful in their role
• Work with Modeling department to ensure geometry being simulated meets Technical Animation needs
• Design fast and flexible animation rig for animators
• Facilitate rigs for other departments like tracking, crowd, or outsourcing
• Design robust simulation rig for techanimators to handle cloth, hair, muscle, skin simulation need
• Design best approach that meets production need in an efficient, fast, and robust way fbut flexible for potential need changes
• See through and work on techanim work on shots
• Working with Production, assign rigging and technical animation tasks to appropriate artists
• Report to Creature Department Supervisor
• Ensure that rigs and geometry delivered to production pipeline meets each department's needs
• Work in partnership with CG Supervisors, R&D programmers, Groomers, Animators, Lighting TDs, and FX TDs to ensure shots are delivered to the very highest standard
• Work with production team in bids and crewing forecast.
• Provide support to character rigs throughout production
• Develop long-term strategies to automate character production
• Collaborate whole Creature Department team as one united global team
• Respond quickly to notes from the VFX/DFX or CG Supervisor(s) before or during dailies to ensure best possible quality is maintained
• Initiate and maintain clear communication with Department Lead / Supervisor regarding project status and potential issues that might arise
• Other duties as appropriate to the role and determined by Department Supervisor
Qualifications
• Minimum 5 years work experience in Feature film/broadcast VFX production, with 2 or more years supervising
• Good working knowledge in a production environment with Maya.
• Self-sufficient and can manage both his / her own time and needs of the team in order to meet project deadlines.
• Houdini knowledge a plus
• Good photoreal facial rigging experience
• Good working knowledge of hair, fur, and cloth simulation software such as Yeti, Shave & a Haircut, Xgen, nHair, nCloth, and Marvelous Designer
• Good working knowledge of rigging and muscle systems on live action feature film or television productions
• Character animation experience on live action feature film or television productions
• Excellent problem solving and communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills with an emphasis on inspired leadership
• A strong sense of self-motivation and ability to work with little supervision
• Linux scripting experience, especially in Bash/Python is desirable
• Solid knowledge of rigging systems
• Solid time and project management skills - accessibility and willingness to collaborate is a must
• Thorough understanding of techniques and technologies relating to character rigging and animation comprehension of core principles relating to rigging
• Excellent understanding of anatomy, structure, dynamics, and character motion
• Good understanding of the entire visual effects process, from shooting to modeling to texturing, animation and rendering
• Python programming is mandatory
• Maya API C programming also a plus