Rigging Lead

Company Description

Artist-driven company by nature, it’s our mission to give talented artists the freedom and resources they need to deliver quality work and to thrive in a fun and creative environment.

Job Description

Only applicants located in the Vancouver area or willing to relocate before their start date will be considered.

We are looking for a Rigging Lead to help with a variety of exciting projects. You must have a thorough knowledge of animation, rigging and deformation tools currently used in the VFX industry, as well as related cross-pipeline workflows.

Reporting to the Head of Rigging, the Rigging Lead should be experienced and passionate about building photo-realistic creatures, develop tools, and have experience in leading/mentoring teams in all aspects of Creature TD work. You will oversee the development and maintenance of the studio’s proprietary rigs and ripping pipeline.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Work with technical and artistic supervisors to determine workflows, tool requirements and asset needs;
• Supervise/mentor rigging team, and focus on improving the overall quality and efficiency of creatures/characters workflow;
• Attend turnover meetings, asset breakdowns, and bidding/re-bidding over the course of the shows;
• Collaborates with multiple departments including the Assets, Look Development, Animation, and show specific VFX Supervisors to find the most appropriate solution to produce desired CG character performances;
• Ensuring the creature team/show meets the shows requirements; determines the technical and aesthetic approaches to hit targets on time while monitoring show/shot progress;
• Create and rig the internal anatomy of a creature, in order to drive the final deformation of the skin;
• Create feature-quality, scripted rigs and refine them based on the needs of animators and downstream departments;
• Implement and refine character, body/face, cloth/deformer and hard-surface rigs;
• Work closely with modelers and animators to ensure an asset is efficiently rigged and capable of believable movements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or similar field;
• Proven leadership experience;
• Rigging knowledge ranging from simple props to complicated creatures;
• Thorough understanding of techniques and technologies relating to rigging;
• Deep knowledge in anatomy and muscle dynamics;
• Good eye for aesthetics of body/face deformations;
• Object oriented programming design skills;
• Proficient Python development skills and debugging techniques;
• Excellent working knowledge of Maya;
• Experience with Qt, PyQt, PySide;
• Excellent leadership skills;
• Technical support focused;
• Strong verbal and written communications skills;
• Able to work well in a fast-paced environment;
• Ability to work under pressure with strict deadlines;
• Ability to work within a team and with other departments.

Nice to Have:

• Highly proficient in cloth/hair/flesh/rigid body simulations. Setting up, running, and troubleshooting cloth, hair, flesh surfaces, and fur/feather simulations;
• Houdini knowledge. VEX;
• C++ programming experience;
• Linux knowledge;
• Bilingual English/French.

Additional Information

Diversity is a core value at Rodeo FX. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable work environment where diversity is celebrated and valued. We believe every member on our team enriches our work by exposing us to a broad range of ways to perceive and interact with the world, identify challenges, and to design and deliver projects.