Character Technical Director

CONTRACT ROLE

Insomniac Games is looking for a Character TD. In this role, the Character TD is responsible for creating character setups, including the rigging of various heroes, enemies, weapons, vehicles, and props, and for support of Animators and others with scripts and tools. Contributes to the design, implementation and maintenance of the animation and rigging pipeline. Responsible for developing scripts in support of the art pipeline.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:

• Creates animation rigs, systems and setups at the highest quality possible while staying on schedule.
• Creates believable and accurate deformations based on knowledge of physical anatomy using skinning, blendshapes and other applicable deformation techniques as they develop.
• Authors simulation setups for cloth and hair.
• Assists the animation team in troubleshooting setup and animation problems as they arise, especially as they relate to projects.
• Creates simple Entity animations for the purpose of testing new and existing systems, and animate cameras and simple Entities for gameplay and cinematics as necessary.
• Stays informed about the latest improvements in Maya and on the latest in animation techniques from various sources of media.
• Contributes to the design and improvement of the character set-up process, including improvements to tools and workflows.
• Edit and improve existing character animation systems, such as facial setups and animation transfer tools.
• Writes and maintains scripts using Python and PyMel in support of animation rigs, workflows for animating/rigging characters, expediting the character setup and animation process, or to aid the art team.
• Supports Core team by creating tools and improving the DCC-to-Engine art pipeline.
• Acts as an intermediary between the animation and technical teams to clarify and communicate the workflows, needs, and terminologies of each team.
• Understands (and assists 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.
• Other duties may be assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities: There are no supervisory responsibilities.

Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Computer Skills: 

• Knowledge of Maya, and a working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite.
• Working knowledge of MEL, Python, and PyMel scripting as it applies to character setup and animation.
• Basic knowledge of UI development with PySide/PyQt.

Other Skills: 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. Possess an understanding of animation techniques for the purpose of proactive problem solving and trouble shooting. Maintains an understanding of skeletons, facial animation methodologies, constraints and other Maya tools and systems used for character animation.