Studio: LAIKA
Job Opening: CG Environment TD
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon, US
Type: Full-Time
Responsibilities:
- Work with fellow Pipeline TD’s to design, develop and maintain digital pipeline tools that pertain to environments, including set extensions and layout as well as procedural systems for complex modular environments.
- Design, implement, and refine environment integration with the studio’s digital asset management system, leveraging industry standard frameworks such as Alembic and USD.
- Develop unit and integration tests and user-facing and technical documentation.
- Maintain environment layout and asset parity between the Digimatte department and the CG Lighting department.
- Handle all the technical requirements inherited from ingesting Art Department set and layout data; contribute to the architecture and implementation of a studio-wide Virtual Art Department.
- Advise on the technical process to create digital environments that meet creative direction using live action elements, still photography, concept art, rendered CG elements, and digitally painted elements.
- Combine practical and procedural digital modeling and design to create 2D and 3D environments.
- Visualize, build, incorporate, and refine 3D landscapes while ensuring cohesion with the Production Design and Look of Show.
- Contribute to the development of visual ideas that enhance the story by collaborating with set designers, layout artists, camera team, others and participate in review sessions with other artists and Production Designer on a consistent basis.
- Incorporate environments into shot designs to inform camera team setup and Art Department fabrication.
Qualifications & Skills:
ARTISTIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years’ experience designing CG environments and backgrounds for photorealistic feature films and television.
- Strong understanding of geography and landscape.
- Strong experience in the creation and use of geometry assets, in a production setting.
- Strong Knowledge of polygonal, nurbs and subdivision surface types.
- Strong knowledge of 3D Development software – Houdini, Python, Z Brush, Mari, Maya, Terragen, World Creator, and Unreal.
- Strong knowledge of Photoshop and Nuke.
- Excellent sense of color, lighting, texture, perspective, and composition.
- Strong aesthetic sense and ability to interpret the unique ‘style’ of the film into 2D & 3D designs.
- Ability to take direction and work both collaboratively and independently as a creative problem-solver.
- Deadline driven; able to multi-task, adapt, and work well under pressure.
TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS
- 4+ years’ experience designing, and developing custom tooling for the vfx, game, or animation industries.
- Expertise with Python, its standard library, as well as common external libraries.
- Expertise with one or more industry standard Python apis for DCCs such as Maya, Houdini, and/or Nuke.
- Experience authoring UIs with Python and pyside / pyqt.
- Experience working programmatically with Pixar’s Universal Scene Description.
- Experience with Python testing frameworks such as unittest and/or pytest.
- Experience with one or more production grade renderers such as Renderman.
- Experience managing code with SCM systems such as Git.
