Technical Surfacing Artist

Starz Animation, Toronto, one of Canada’s largest 3D Animation Studios, is currently in production on Miramax Film’s major animation movie, “Gnomeo and Juliet”. Directed by Kelly Asbury and with music and lyrics by legendary songwriting team ELTON JOHN & BERNIE TAUPIN, this animated feature will be released in 2011.

Position Description and Requirements:

• Helps establish and/or guide the look
and qualities of characters, props and
environments for an animated film
with direction from the VFX
Supervisor, Art Director and Surfacing
Supervisor.
• Ensures that Surfacing files are complete and ready for lighting
• Spot and flag creative and technical issues as they arise – fix them where possible or work closely with TDs to adjust. Assist other surfacing artists with technical demands as required
• Communicate with other departments to convey Surfacing needs (primarily Modeling) and provide for other departments needs (primarily Lighting).
• Maintains awareness of the broader show needs as they relate to the Surfacing Department (schedule, complexity of setups, shader issues, technical aspects etc.)

• Minimum 3 years of high-end production
experience on feature films
• Strong painting skills and artistic
eye for detail combined with a strong
understanding of the technical side
• Detail oriented and the ability to
understand the complexity of a 3D
pipeline and work closely with TDs
• Familiarity with mental ray as a
renderer
• Familiarity with Polygonal texturing
using image maps
• Strong uv-ing skills is a must

Familiarity with construction of shaders and utilities

• Experience with hair, fur, cloth
systems
• Ability to debug complex shader
networks
• Strong photoshop knowledge
• Experience with mudbox or zbrush
• Some experience with mel scripting or
python scripting would be an asset –
minimum requirement is to be able to
read scripts and debug with TDs
assistance
• Openness to existing workflows
• Ability to solve problems independently
• Takes initiative and enjoys learning
from and teaching others
• Ability to work well in a team
setting, guide/mentor others as needed