Description
Studio Gobo was founded as a boutique
developer with the premise to GO Beyond Ordinary. So far we have been lucky
enough to work with some amazing development teams and help augment their teams
with our hugely talented people here at Gobo. We've been trusted with
responsibility for full development of headline features by our partners -
we're proud that our partners can see and trust our total devotion to quality
and excellence.
Recently Gobo has supported Avalanche Software,
based in Salt Lake City USA, on Disney Infinity - a major toys-to-life game
from Disney Interactive which launched in August 2013. We were responsible for
the Pirates of the Caribbean play set which was one of the three launch
playsets for the platform and more recently the Guardians of the Galaxy.
We’re now looking for a Lead level
Technical Artist to join the team.
The Technical Artist is an individual contributor
who is a recognized expert in their field and holds a wealth of knowledge in
dealing with the technical issues around content creation for video games. The TA
will produce work that is at the highest level of quality and difficulty. They
have a proven track record of resolving the most complex and broad reaching
challenges in relationship to content construction, pipeline management and
leading edge visuals. This is a ‘forward looking’ role. In addition to current
“best practices” and competitive awareness, the TA is expected to understand
emerging trends and technologies in video game content and make strategic
recommendations as to how they may benefit and/or impact the organization. The TA
makes important contributions to key initiatives and projects and participates
in setting product and/or functional vision within the studio. Areas the
Technical Artist is responsible for include visual R&D, performance
monitoring, standard setting, authoring content for in-game use, as well as
process and pipeline issues.
Role
responsibilities:
·
Day to day support for the
artists on the team, trouble shooting and giving technical support.
·
Identifying and or selecting tools
and technologies to enhance the content creation process.
·
Competently debug data export
problems in Maya and where possible issue a fix or assist in resolving the
problem further.
·
Collaborate with other
technical and aesthetic experts within the company to define clear goals for
the toolset, pipeline and construction processes.
·
Analyse competitive products
and makes recommendations to senior management.
·
The Artist spearheads R&D
efforts for tools, content and new technologies in relationship to art and
Aesthetics.
·
Participates in setting vision
for content and tools and collaborates with engineers to develop cutting edge
tools and technologies.
·
Works with the other content
producers to ensure proper game performance and optimizations.
·
Identifies and test external
3rd party tools that would help maintain our leading edge in content
constructions and visuals.
·
Identifies and executes on the most difficult
content creation problems for the project.
·
Contributes to content creation for in game use.
Qualifications / person specs:
·
Ideally a First in Fine Art, Computer Animation,
Digital Media Design or relevant degree
·
Ideally, 10 or more years of art or animation
experience.
·
Must have shipped competitive products in the
functioning role of TA.
·
Extensive knowledge of Maya, comfortable diagnosing
problematic scene graphs and instigating solutions to typical day to day
issues.
·
Strong technical proficiency in understanding
proprietary tools and technology.
·
Excellent communication, interpersonal, and
organizational skills.
·
Must be familiar the majority of modern 3D software
packages and Engines (Maya, 3D Studio Max, Motion Builder, zBrush, Unity,
Unreal etc.).
·
Technically proficient rigging skills.
·
Technically and artistically proficient, with the
ability to switch quickly between the two roles when the need arises.
·
Ability to support both the art and design teams
with rapid prototyping and previz to convey loosely defined or new concepts.
·
A high standard of hard surface modelling skills,
organic modelling a bonus.
·
A good understanding of industry standard data
compression types, as well as data reduction and optimization techniques.
·
Strong understanding of methods for optimizing game
art assets for game engines and optimizing pipelines and processes.
·
Well versed with typical performance bottlenecks
and understand how to profile and communicate to the larger art team.
·
Strong understanding of Python and capable of
developing simple tools and productivity / workflow enhancements. Advanced
scripting and tools development are a bonus.
·
Confident in working with intermediate data formats
and understand the typical processes involved in data flow from source to
engine.
·
Strong 2D drawing and digital painting skills is
bonus.
·
A solid understanding of modern shader and
surfacing technologies such as PBR?
·
Ability to work well under pressure and to
deadlines.
·
Diligence with individual and team tasks, schedule
and adherence to budget limitations.
·
Strong troubleshooting skills.
·
Positive attitude and a desire to bring new ideas
to the team.
·
Passion for making and playing great games, with an
awareness of current titles and industry trends.