Creature Rigging Supervisor

Description

Atomic Fiction is looking for a Creature Rigging Supervisor to help with a variety of exciting projects. The
person 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 CG, the Rigging Supervisor 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. They will oversee the development and maintenance of the studio’s proprietary rigs and 
ripping pipeline.

Principal Duties and 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;
• Attend turnover meetings, asset breakdowns, and bidding/re-bidding over the course of the shows;
• Collaborates with multiple department 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 aesthetics 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 Include:

• At least 5+ years experience in a similar role;
• Proficient Python / Pymel development skills and debugging techniques;
• Object oriented programming design skills;
• Thorough understanding of techniques and technologies relating to rigging; 
• Excellent working knowledge of Maya; 
• Experience with Qt, PyQt, PySide; 
• Deep knowledge in anatomy and muscle dynamics;
• Rigging knowledge ranges from simple props to complicated creatures

Required Competencies:

• Excellent communication, and leadership skills; 
• Good eye for aesthetics of body/face deformations; 
• Able to work well in a fast-paced environment; 
• Strong verbal and written communications skills; 
• Technical support focused; 
• 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; 
• C++ programming experience; 
• Linux knowledge; 
• Bilingual English/French; 
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or similar field