Motion Capture Animator

Company Description

DON’T NOD Montréal is the Canadian studio of the independent publisher and developer DON’T NOD. Founded by key members of the original Life is Strange development team, DON’T NOD Montréal builds on this legacy to create new IPs that explore unprecedented avenues in interactive storytelling.

With a strong emphasis on memorable characters and meaningful choices, the Montreal team leads the development of internal titles such as the critically acclaimed Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. As part of the DON’T NOD family, the Montreal studio is committed to designing innovative and inclusive games that resonate with players worldwide.

Enter the immersive and innovative universe of the studio on the website dont-nod.com

Job Description

Why join us?

• You want to participate in DON’T NOD Montréal’s new narrative project (Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, Life is Strange);
• You wish to join a diverse and committed team, both in its culture and in the content of the games it creates;
• You are looking for a studio whose controlled size maximizes iteration efficiency, simple human interactions, and the individual satisfaction of each team member;
• You want to use your animation and motion capture (mocap) processing talents to contribute to an original and engaging character-driven experience.

What will your daily life be like?

Under the responsibility of our Character Art Director at the Montreal studio, your role will be to manage motion capture data (mocap data) from the capture studio until its use by the animation team members to create cinematics and gameplay animations.

Your mission will be:

• Retarget, spot check, and process motion capture data;
• Create animations for cinematics and gameplay systems;
• Maintain and update our data folders and work closely with our Character Art Director and Animation Technical Director to ensure that animation team members have all required motion capture data;
• Resolve and troubleshoot animations in MotionBuilder or similar software and Unreal Engine: identify problems and collaborate with those involved in their resolution;
• Assist the Animation Technical Director during motion capture shoots;
• Assisting the Creative Director on the motion capture set to ensure the quality and accuracy of captured movements.
• In collaboration with our producer, interact when necessary with our external motion capture studio partners to maintain and update motion capture data;
• Collaborate with our rigging team to share improvement proposals for our motion capture rigs;
• Contribute to the design, integration, and validation of animation elements to be implemented, as well as modify and maintain navigation/gameplay systems in Unreal Engine.

Qualifications

What skills should you have?

• 3D animation degree (minimum 3 years) / DEC in 3D animation and/or an AEC (Attestation of Collegial Studies) in motion capture;
• Minimum 6 years of experience in a motion capture specialist or animator role;
• Having worked on at least two complete production cycles of published video games;
• Confirmed expertise with motion capture software Vicon / OptiTrack software, Xsens/MVN Animate, Maya, MotionBuilder;
• Confirmed expertise with motion capture post-processing software (tools like Vicon Shōgun Post or Motive);
• Mastery of motion capture data reconstruction (tracking), custom skeleton creation (Skeleton setup) and the entire animation transfer pipeline between rigs (Retargeting);
• Mastery of exporting motion capture data in different formats: FBX, BVH, ASCII, C3D, X2D;
• Complete mastery of MotionBuilder, processing, and retargeting of motion capture data;
• Ability to clean raw mocap data, animation, and correct contacts;
• Mastery of polish tools in MotionBuilder;
• Mastery of integrating final animations in Maya and Unreal Engine;
• Mastery of “Blueprints and level sequence” in Unreal Engine;
• Mastery of scripting (Python preferably) and custom tool development;
• Knowledge of biomechanics — understanding how muscles, bones, ligaments, and joints interact / move;
• Strong animation experience;
• Attention to detail, performance, and preservation of movement fidelity;
• A good sense of positioning, weight, and timing in your animations;
• Ability to demonstrate concentration and effectively manage a large volume of data;
• Interest in narrative games and their ability, through their characters, to convey emotions;
• A good sense of communication and collaboration;
• Demonstrate initiative, originality, and resourcefulness in problem-solving.

What would be a plus for us?

• Facial animation: Keyframe and facial capture
• Finger animation (Fingers animation / gloves capture)
• Performance capture: Knowledge of synchronizing body capture with facial, finger, and voice capture
• Knowledge of automated LipSync tools (JALI or Speech Graphics or similar software);
• Knowledge of small-scale motion capture solutions (Rokoko, Xsens, etc.).
• Experience in setting up, daily maintenance, and calibration of a motion capture stage.

Additional Information

At DON’T NOD Montréal, we celebrate diversity and inclusivity in our games, but also in our teams. We respect the principles of equal employment opportunity, and that is why we encourage women, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, Indigenous people, people with disabilities, visible minorities, as well as any other person who can contribute to the diversity of our studio to apply for our positions.

We build human-sized teams to encourage the professional development of each of us.

Our teams benefit from many advantages, including flexibility, a generous leave bank, the right to disconnect, and career development support, as well as a personalized lifestyle expense account.

Other benefits included:

• The possibility to work anywhere in Quebec;
• Insurance coverage and telemedicine from day 1;
• An annual bank of 40 hours of menstrual leave;
• Partial reimbursement of transportation costs (OPUS, BIXI, and parking);
• Access to the gym and fitness classes, plus a multi-sport field in summer that transforms into an ice rink in winter;
• Referral bonus;
• RRSP with employer contribution.