Overview

Are you a Surfacing Lead interested in working with us in our Vancouver studio?! The Surfacing Lead will work with the Surfacing Supervisor to guide the artists in giving models the visual surface qualities that make them appear believable, or stylized per art direction. Surfacing can encompass texture painting, procedural texturing, shading networks, sculpting, grooming and UV layout.

What you’ll get to do:

• Understand the overall brief and goals of a project and communicates this clearly to each member of the team
• Lead a team under guidance from Surfacing Supervisor and production team; mentor less experienced digital artists
• Prioritize and break down a project into organized parts; delegate work responsibly to ensure successful completion of shots across team members of all skill levels
• Works closely with the Production Designer/Art Director to ensure that development of the “look” of the film is consistent and of high quality
• Pro-actively monitor artists’ task progression, evaluate and debug technical issues and/or escalate to the
• Supervisors and/or Asset TDs
• Create photo-realistic textures, either hand painted or procedural, at a level of detail necessary for production assets
• Create photo-realistic (physically plausible) shading
• Create procedural grooms as required for the project
• Take direction from the Surfacing Supervisor, and present solutions or questions to creative or technical issues
• Participate in reviews as required; be willing to show and discuss work in progress
• Encourage and support development of respect, integrity and trust in team members
• Drive team reviews and offer creative/technical feedback on reviewed shots
• Support open communication between your departments
• Ensure conflict is identified early and work with Artist Management to put constructive solutions in place to resolve/diffuse
• Communicate production information to both the artists group and Production Management
• Participate in brainstorming and problem solving to create and maintain production pipeline(s) and support AL’s overall technical goals as required
• Document new techniques and distributes updates
• Work with the Surfacing Supervisor and the production team to prepare bids and pitches as required
• Participate in the recruiting and interview process for new employees as required
• Assist Production Management in preparation of final show reports as required

What you bring:

• 7+ years’ experience in feature animation, VFX, and/or animated television with a focus in Surfacing
• Proven leadership experience within feature animation or VFX
• Proficiency demonstrated through past project work and/or reel/portfolio; proven ability in surfacing and shading
• Excellent attention to detail
• Production experience with node-based procedural shading
• Production experience with node-based procedural grooming, hair/fur or instancing tools – preferably in Houdini
• Extensive production experience in Maya and Mari
• Experience in a modern raytracing package, and thorough understanding of physically based shading
• Thorough knowledge of colour space and linear workflow
• Understanding of principles of lighting and modelling
• A passion for making beautiful looking photo-realistic hard surface cg objects by combining strong visual and technical skills
• Excellence in problem solving and balancing quick turnaround with long term quality
• Strong communication skills and the ability to efficiently organise and prioritise work across multiple areas
• Ability to work solo as well as collaboratively within a team environment
• Ability to take direction and feedback and apply this to assets or shots
• Thorough understanding of USD in production is a bonus
• Ability and interest in pipeline troubleshooting is a bonus
• Experience with Nuke, Houdini, and scripting in Python are bonuses
• Sculpting experience – preferably with Mudbox is a bonus
• Completed education in a relevant field is a bonus