Lookdev Technical Director, Animation Studio
We are looking for an experienced Lookdev Technical Director to join our growing animation studio in London. In this role, you will bring your smart technical solutions to our creative teams, working with modelers, groomers and texturing/surfacing artists to support the mission of creating outstanding characters for the big screen.
At Dream Games, all team members have a genuine chance to contribute to the final product and have an impact on the company. If you want to be part of a fast-growing company, you might be the person we are looking for.
Responsibilities
- Enabling the artistic vision of the feature animation Asset & Lookdev team through your technical skills
- Configuring and maintaining the core animation pipeline, including how we load and publish work at each step of the asset department
- Supporting teams to review their work in a consistent and meaningful way
- Articulating and documenting best practices to build a culture of continuous improvement
- Creating sanity checks to ensure the highest quality assets
- Advising and supporting the animation team in creating assets that render efficiently
- Working with department leadership to accelerate workflows to reduce friction and automate manual steps
- Proposing and implementing new workflows or tools to continuously improve creative output
- Representing the character team on workflow decisions and cross-departmental technical challenges
- Helping artists with workflow and technical questions
- Contributing to our mission of delivering world-class animation content
Requirements
- Deep understanding of feature animation character-build workflows (model, groom, texturing, lookdev)
- Deep understanding of core asset creation tools like Houdini, Maya and Blender
- Understanding of USD, particularly in regards to characters (variants, shading, etc)
- Python and VEX skills to create gizmos, HDAs, and tools
- Background in lookdev or rigging favorable
- Experience with AYON, Renderman, Shading, C++, or AI is a plus
- Proven ability to manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders and tight deadlines
- Experience working with both internal teams and external vendors
- Appreciation and understanding of teamwork
- Passion for storytelling, animation, and games
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