Facial Rigger

Performance (Animation, Creature, and FX) Vancouver, Canada


Description

Position at DNEG

Facial Riggers at DNEG are crucial to the making of our world famous creatures and assets. Working closely with the CG Lead and Animation Lead, they are responsible for the creation of animation rigs for specialist characters. 


Key Responsibilities

Our Facial Riggers have the ability to see the bigger picture and advise the Leads on pipe friendly rigs for texturing, grooming, lighting and rendering. Animators and modellers will lean on you to develop intuitive and responsive rigs for characters so it’s important you are collaborative and a strong communicator.
 
Technical minds are always fostered at DNEG and we encourage our teams to work with the R&D department to help deliver the tools and technologies needed to deliver high-quality rigs.  From time to time, it may be necessary to implement proprietary tools to aid in creating animation rigs. This is a team effort, so you'll work closely with our Rigging Supervisors and Animation Leads/Supervisors to develop the most suitable rigging solutions. 
 

Must Have
  • 5+ years of experience with significant creature/character projects
  • Thorough knowledge of their area of character specialization (i.e., body, face, mechanical rigs)
  • In depth knowledge of FACS and Animal FACS
  • Full working knowledge of Maya
  • Needs to be comfortable with the more technical aspects of character/creature work where appropriate and have strong visual and artistic skills
  • Familiarity with pipeline issues and a typical character/creature-heavy post-production environment
  • Extensive understanding of human and animal anatomy
  • Understanding of the fundamental laws of physics
  • Proficiency in mathematics (linear algebra)
  • Fundamental animation knowledge  

Nice to Have
  • Programming or scripting skills (i.e., MEL, Python, C++)
  • Experience in USD / Solaris / Houdini
  • Knowledge of Facial Capture, MetaHuman, and other facial capturing tools  

About You
  • Good communication skills
  • Team oriented
  • Courteous and helpful
  • Pro-active 
  • Adaptable
  • Able to take direction well 
  • Good organizational skills

 

Please note that this is a unionized position and will be covered by a collective agreement between DNEG and IATSE, in the coming months. As a unionized employee, you will be required to join the union and will benefit from the conditions set out in the collective agreement. Union dues will be required once the collective agreement is in place.

The base salary range for this full-time position is $120,000 to $138,000. 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).