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Rigger – Lead
Image Engine
Vancouver, , Canada
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ABOUT IMAGE ENGINE
Based in Vancouver BC, we are a world-class visual effects studio led by a team of creative and passionate individuals who are committed to furthering the art of visual storytelling, and helping our exceptionally talented crew to push the boundaries of artistic and technical achievement.
Well known for our Academy Award Nominated work on Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, we have gone on to create numerous incredible creatures, epic environments and extraordinary digital effects for a broad range of feature films including; Zero Dark Thirty, Jurassic World, Game of Thrones, and Independence Day Resurgence.
We can do this because we place awesome new tools in the hands of our artists. R&D is central to our philosophy of driving creativity through innovation, with a focus on continually evolving our robust production pipelines and pioneering in the area of proprietary software development.
POSITION PURPOSE
The Lead plays a very important role in the quality control and leadership of the Rigging team. The Lead is responsible for communicating internal and client notes/feedback to artists in a constructive manner. They will provide leadership, training, guidance, and support to the rest of the Rigging team while still handling their own work on active shows. Also, the Lead may sometimes need to assess rigging tasks and delegate those tasks to the team.
The Lead will also contribute to the overall operation and improvement of the Rigging team by setting and maintaining department standards. This will include, but will not be limited to engaging in cross-department communication, flagging/providing solutions to critical issues, documentation, taking part in interviews and participating in the buddy system for new employees. In addition, the Lead will help develop new processes and stay up to date on innovative technologies to keep the Rigging team on the cutting edge.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
• Communicate the creative brief and real-world references from the VFX Supervisor and Director to the Rigging team
• Apply client notes to all assets with minimal guidance
• Create final rigged assets with minimal supervision and within the studio pipeline
• Help determine the broad technical and creative approach to an asset, in conjunction with the CG Supervisor and Asset Supervisor
• Build and maintain character animation rigs of varying complexity (Biped and quadruped rigs, hero and background characters, motion capture rigs, face rigs etc) with minimal supervision and within the studio pipeline
• Responsible for the integration of rigs into the show pipeline
• Communicate successes and challenges faced by the team to the Asset Supervisor
• Process requests from other departments within the pipeline
• Use time management skills to attend meetings and tasks effectively
• Ability to efficiently manage tasks across multiple shows within the facility
• Manage time and resources to meet weekly targets
• Write utility scripts to help other riggers, animators and pipeline developers
• Overcome technical issues (day to day problem solving), in conjunction with R&D, the CG Supervisor and Asset Supervisor
• Work with our production team to most effectively schedule the work, including casting the work to the strengths of the individuals in the Rigging team
• Receive creative feedback from the VFX Supervisor and Director, and translate those into more specific and technical notes for the Rigging team
• Communicate well with all members of the Rigging, Production and Supervision teams
• Promote teamwork interdepartmental collaboration
• Ensure all email correspondence and scheduling is up to date, responding to emails in a timely manner
• Assist members of the Rigging team to learn and grow their skills to meet their career aspirations
• Work with Rigging team, as required, to maintain continuity
• Support other departments (Modeling, Animation, CFX, etc) to ensure information is communicated up and down the pipeline
• Attend dailies, reviews, and team meetings as required
• Work with a team of artists in a hands-on capacity to ensure technically and artistically proper implementation of rigged assets
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
• 5+ years’ of Rigger experience with high end film
• Experience leading teams (3+ people) on large projects of 300 + shots
• Demonstrated proficiency in defining and creating photo-realistic assets
• Thorough understanding of traditional art skills (Form, architecture, topology)
• Strong understanding of human and animal anatomy and hard surface functionality
• Excellent attention to detail when finalizing, approving or quality controlling assets
• Ability to balance quick turnaround while achieving a high degree of aesthetic quality
• A strong understanding of Animator requirements
SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Technical skills
• Understanding of Lead best practices
• Ability to train and coach artists in Rigging techniques and best practices
• Senior level experience in MEL / Python / C++/PERL scripting (python preferred)
• Deep understanding of the Maya rigging tool sets
• Experience with Houdini is also appreciated
• Experience with LINUX/UNIX
Core skills
• Ability to help with bidding; determine the timeframe and scope required for each project
• Ability to troubleshoot and deal with competing priorities and projects
• Capable of managing a team of artists; setting expectations, and managing their time
• Ability to assess artist’s strengths and weaknesses to assign tasks and manage workflow
• Ability to adapt quickly to new technologies and applications
• Ability to teach new techniques and apply new approaches to push assets to the next level
• Strong leadership skills
• Excellent time management and communication skills