Summary

We are looking for a Rigging Lead to join the Mindshow team while we develop an animation production pipeline for episodic animated series. You must have a thorough knowledge of animation, rigging and deformation tools currently used in the VFX industry, primarily based in Maya, as well as related cross-pipeline and real time workflows.

The Rigging Lead should be experienced and passionate about building stylized animated characters and  creatures, developing tools to help artists and creators tell stories, and have experience in leading/mentoring teams and recruiting and growing talent in all aspects of rigging work. You will oversee the development and maintenance of the studio’s proprietary rigs and rigging pipeline and work directly with engineers and TD’s to help build for the future.

 

Responsibilities

  • Work with technical and artistic supervisors to determine workflows, tool requirements and asset needs

  • Supervise/mentor/grow rigging team, and focus on improving the overall quality and efficiency of character/creature workflow

  • Collaborate with multiple departments to find the most appropriate solution to produce desired CG character performances

  • Ensure the team meets the shows requirements; determine the technical and aesthetic approaches to hit targets on time while monitoring show/shot progress and making fixes as needed

  • Create scriptable 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 full range of desired movements with fine levels of control and high usability

  • Help create efficient portable pipelines for rigging characters, creatures, assets, cloth, etc…

  • Interface with outsource vendors as needed

 

Required Qualifications

  • 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 and stylized animation

  • Familiarity with Mocap

  • Willingness to learn new skills 

  • Proficient Python development skills and debugging techniques

  • Excellent working knowledge of Maya

  • Experience with Qt, PyQt, PySide

  • Proven leadership experience

  • Strong verbal and written communications skills

  • Ability 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

Desired Qualifications

  • Proficiency in cloth/hair/flesh/rigid body simulations. Setting up, running, and troubleshooting cloth, hair, flesh surfaces, and fur/feather simulations

  • Houdini knowledge. VEX; Motion Builder; Unity

  • C++ programming experience

  • Linux knowledge

About Mindshow

Mindshow is a new CG animation studio built upon proprietary software that merges cutting edge video game technology, visual effects and machine learning to make premium content. By making 3D animation production exponentially faster and more accessible to live action talent as well as experienced animators, we’re excited to be creating an entirely new category of content.
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