Summer Intern - Technical Volumetric Appearance Modeling For Surfaces

Full Time Unpaid Internship
The Walt Disney Animation Studios Technology Department develops software for our animated films. Software engineers work closely with production users to create tools for modeling, rigging, animation, dynamics, effects, look, lighting, and rendering while leveraging experience in graphics technology, mathematics, and research. Software engineers on the rendering team work on Disney's proprietary production renderer Hyperion, which has been used to render all of the studio's films since Big Hero 6.

Project Overview
With recent breakthroughs in efficient rendering of multiple scattering in participating media like cloud and skin, volumetric path tracing has been proven practical for animated feature film production. The goal of this internship is to explore and extend the definition of volumetric materials to single/layered surfaces or fabrics, where multiple scattering effects have previously been either modeled in an ad-hoc way or often overlooked. 

Responsibilities

• Familiarize self with existing rendering code base and workflows
• Gather requirements and input from production artists and software engineers
• Take direction but also work independently with support and mentoring
• Do self-guided research and exploration of relevant existing rendering techniques
• Experiment with production assets to evaluate capabilities, effectiveness, and limitations of applicable algorithms
• Integrate prototypes into existing production workflows
• Demonstrate products to stakeholders
• Document progress, results, and code throughout the internship with a final presentation at the end

Requirements
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong C programming skills
• Majoring in computer science, mathematics, physics, or related field
• Experience or relevant coursework in computer graphics

Preferred Qualifications

• Physically based rendering experience
• Shader writing experience
• Experience in modeling the appearance of volumetric materials
• PhD student in relevant field

The Walt Disney Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer.