Environment Generalist Technical Supervisor

Creative Supervision Vancouver, Canada


Description

Position at DNEG

The Environment Generalist Technical Supervisor works within a department under direct supervision of the Head of Department and is typically assigned to one or more productions. They support and collaborate with the Department Supervisors, Leads and Artists by developing, documenting and supporting artist tools and workflows required to create, alter and position 2D and 3D environment geometry, shader and image assets in a consistent and efficient manner at the highest standard within the time allocated. Example tools or workflows might include Houdini Digital Assets for architecture, industrial facilities, cities, vegetation, ecosystems, terrain, cliffs, debris, clouds.
 
Key Responsibilities
  • Review the technical requirements of current and future shows in relation to existing tools and workflows to support Department Supervisors in determining what new tool/workflow developments or improvements may be required to deliver the highest quality environments in the time available.
  • Work closely with the Department Supervisors and Heads of Department who will provide support and also ensure their tasks, methodology and priorities are in line with the department's roadmap and future projects.
  • Collaborate globally with Environment Generalist Heads of Department and Technical Supervisors in other sites to ensure tools and workflows are used consistently throughout the company.
  • Deliver tools and workflows on schedule by efficiently managing their own tasks, development teams and cross department communication.
  • Deliver tools and workflows that ensure the output of the department is completed to the required quality standards.
  • Act as a bridge between artists and the Production Technology department while contributing to relevant working and steering committees to drive our technology roadmap forward.
  • Support any transition of maintenance and support of tools from the department to the Production
    Technology team, ensuring any code written is documented and easy to maintain.
  • Manage, schedule out and determine tasks for the tech-leads in collaboration with head of environments

Must Haves
  • In-depth knowledge of Houdini
  • VFX industry experience as a Environment artist or 3D-Generalist Lead/Senior working on high end features or television
  • Proven experience of pipeline and tool development
  • Proven experience troubleshooting scripts and templates
  • Team leadership experience and training artists on best houdini / usd / workflow practices
  • Ability to communicate visual aspects to your team
  • Strategic thinking and be able to drive change
  • Experience creating documentation for tools and plugins
  • USD (Universal scene description) knowledge
  • Working knowledge of python and VEX
 
Nice to Have
  • Working knowledge and experience of Unreal Engine, realtime rendering, UE blueprints and C++.
  • Experience using Maya, Substance suite, Speedtree, Terragen, Gaea.
  • Working knowledge of PBR workflows and asset model/texture/look development.
  • Working knowledge of the Houdini contexts LOPS, SOPS & TOP's.
  • Understanding of the principles of Pixar USD APIs
  • Comfortable working in an IDE and debugging.
 
About You
  • Previous experience in an artist role in a related field to ensure first hand understanding of the day to day pressures and priorities of VFX Artists.
  • Proven experience of developing systems to procedurally create and populate dynamic assets for
  • landscapes and world building.
  • A portfolio/showreel that demonstrates the key areas listed above, with samples or documentation using
  • Houdini tools.
  • Keen to collaborate, enjoys supporting and helping others within a global team.
  • Strong communication, self-management, and organizational skills.
  • Proactive and a self-starter and eager to learn

 

The base salary range for this full-time position is $145,000.00 to $175,000.00. DNEG salary ranges are determined by function, department, level and location. An individual's pay within a given range is determined by their transferrable or job-related skills and work experience. Salary ranges are modified from time to time based on external market data collected through our third-party surveys.


About Us
We are DNEG, one of the world’s leading visual effects and animation companies for the creation of award-winning feature film, television, and multiplatform content. We employ more than 9,000 people with worldwide offices and studios across North America (Los Angeles, Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver), Europe (London), Asia (Bangalore, Mohali, Chennai, Mumbai) and Australia (Sydney).