3D Animator / Technical Animator (Unity Focus)

CurlyBlue; Philippines; Hybrid; PHP 600,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health insurance

Flexible working hours

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

CurlyBlue is seeking a highly technical 3D Animator to bridge Blender and Unity, creating high-quality animations, rigs, and real-time animation systems directly within Unity. You will implement Mecanim-based animation workflows, build robust rigs, and ensure accurate retargeting across characters.

You will collaborate with developers to optimize pipelines, troubleshoot imports, and deliver responsive, polished game feel for locomotion, combat and interactions in a real-time engine.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience as a 3D Animator or Technical Animator in the video game industry.
• Experience working directly inside the Unity engine on at least one shipped title.
• Strong knowledge of Mecanim, Animator Controllers, Blend Trees, and the Animation Rigging package.

Responsibilities

• Unity Integration & Animation Systems (Mecanim) development and optimization.
• Rigging & technical setup for Unity-ready characters and rigs.
• Animation & game feel: locomotion, combat, interactions, idle states.
• Optimization & pipeline troubleshooting: FBX/glTF import and runtime performance.

Skills

Mecanim & Animator Controllers

Blend Trees

State Machines & Behaviors

Animation Events

Timeline & Cinemachine

Procedural IK

Rigging & Skinning

Unity integration

Character animation

C# scripting

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

Tools

Unity

Blender

Maya

3ds Max

Animation Rigging package

FBX/glTF pipelines

Job description

Apply to: [e-mail]

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We are looking for a highly technical 3D Animator to join our development team. In this role, you will be the bridge between our DCC software (Blender) and the Unity engine. You will be responsible for creating high-quality animations, building robust rigs, and implementing complex animation systems directly within Unity. If you love working with Mecanim, setting up procedural IK, and bringing characters to life in a real-time engine, we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities

Unity Integration & Animation Systems (Mecanim)

• Build, manage, and optimize complex Animator Controllers, utilizing advanced Blend Trees, Sub-State Machines, and State Machine Behaviors.
• Set up and configure Unity Avatars (both Humanoid and Generic) to ensure seamless animation retargeting across different character models.
• Implement Animation Events precisely to trigger VFX, audio, and gameplay logic (e.g., hitboxes, footstep sounds) in sync with character movements.
• Utilize Unity's Timeline and Cinemachine to animate and sequence in-game events, interactions, or cutscenes.

Rigging & Technical Setup

• Design and build animation-friendly skeletons and rigs in your preferred DCC (Maya, Blender, etc.) optimized specifically for Unity's rendering and skinning systems.
• Leverage Unity's Animation Rigging package to build runtime procedural constraints, multi-aim setups, and custom Inverse Kinematics (IK) for dynamic character interactions.
• Perform meticulous skin weight painting and anatomical deformation setup to ensure natural movement without visual clipping.

Animation & Game Feel

• Create fluid and dynamic keyframe animations (locomotion, combat, interactions, idle states) with a strong emphasis on weight, anticipation, and impact.
• Collaborate closely with Gameplay Programmers to ensure smooth transitions, responsive controls, and a highly satisfying "game feel."

Optimization & Pipeline Troubleshooting

• Profile and optimize animation performance within Unity, managing bone counts, vertex weights, and utilizing features like GPU skinning or culling modes.
• Troubleshoot import pipelines (FBX/glTF) to ensure animations and rigs translate perfectly from DCC tools into Unity.

Requirements

Experience:

• 3+ years of experience as a 3D Animator or Technical Animator in the video game industry.
• Extensive, proven experience working directly inside the Unity engine on at least one shipped title.

Technical Skills:

• Exceptional proficiency with Unity's animation ecosystem: Mecanim, Animator Controllers, Blend Trees, and the Animation Rigging package.
• Strong skills in standard 3D software (Maya, Blender, or 3ds Max) for keyframe animation and rigging.
• Deep understanding of real-time optimization constraints (hierarchy depth, skin weights, draw calls related to skinned mesh renderers).
• Solid knowledge of anatomy, biomechanics, and the traditional principles of animation.
• Bonus: Experience with C# scripting to interact with the Animator component or Playable Graph API.

Professional Skills:

• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to troubleshoot engine-specific animation bugs.
• Strong autonomy and attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills to collaborate effectively with designers and programmers.

Working Conditions

• Salary: Competitive, based on experience and technical expertise.
• Flexibility: Remote, hybrid, or on-site options available.
• Benefits: Comprehensive health insurance, flexible working hours, and professional development opportunities.
• Culture: A collaborative, creative, and problem-solving environment where technical art is highly valued.

Position Type: Full-Time Independent Contractor