Senior Facial Character TD

Insomniac Games; United States; Remote; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Facial Character TD to push the boundaries of facial rigging and technology. In this dynamic role, you will author high-quality facial rigs, collaborate with talented teams, and contribute to innovative tools and workflows. Your expertise in facial anatomy and cutting-edge techniques will be pivotal in creating photorealistic characters for games and film. Join a creative environment that values collaboration and continuous learning, where your contributions will shape the future of character animation.

Benefits

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Qualifications

• Expert-level experience with Maya for facial rigging.
• Strong understanding of FACS and facial anatomy.
• Experience with machine learning for facial scanning.

Responsibilities

• Author high-quality photorealistic facial rigs using blendshapes.
• Collaborate with teams to deliver high-quality assets.
• Contribute to tools for authoring and editing facial rigs.

Skills

Maya

ZBrush

Mudbox

Python

C++

Machine Learning

FACS

Facial Anatomy

Tools

Wrap3

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Unity

Unreal Engine

Job description

Insomniac is looking for its next Senior Facial Character TD. In this role, the Senior Facial Character TD is responsible for authoring facial rigs from scratch or utilizing a variety of high-resolution scan-data; participate in facial research & development efforts; pioneer and recommend new tools, techniques and technology for pushing visual boundaries, performance and efficiency. Responsible for a strong understanding of FACS and facial anatomy, as well as cutting edge approaches to facial technology.

Essential Duties and Responsibilitiesinclude the following:

• Authors high quality photorealisticfacialrigs based on FACS using blendshapes.
• Authors rigging systems to augment or support blendshape-basedfacialrigs.
• Authors or contributes to systems/workflows for integrating head and body rigs.
• Collaborates with Character Art, Animation, and Engineering teams to deliver the highest quality assets with animator/mocap friendly interfaces that run smoothly in engine.
• Contributes to toolsfor authoring and editingfacialrigs(python/pyqt/pyside).
• Contributes to automated tools and workflows for runtime optimization.
• Contributes to tools for ingesting 3rd party facial rigs.
• Contributes tofacialanimation systems such asfacialsolvers and R&D (python/C++/Machine Learning).
• Sculpts FACS (from scratch if necessary) using deformers and/or sculpting tools.
• Processes and cleans 3D or 4D scan data from FACS sessions.
• Keeps up with state-of-the-art approaches tofacialrigging for photorealistic characters in film and games.
• Has strong understanding of facial shape transfer techniques and ability to implement shape transfer pipelines.
• May be asked to direct actors through FACS during facial acquisitions.
• May ingest and integrate facial assets from 3rd parties.
• May be expected to maintain relationships and provide feedback to external vendors.
• Adheres to lawful and ethical business practices in support of a diverse team of
  artists.
• Other duties may be assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities: This role has no supervisory duties but may mentor other TD’s with regard to facial mechanics, rigging, sculpting, or solving techniques.

Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Computer Skills:

• Expert-level experience with Maya.
• Experience sculpting details with ZBrush, Mudbox, or comparable; processing scan data with Wrap3 or comparable; with deformation transfer workflows.
• Preferred experience with machine-learning based solutions forfacialscanning/authoring/solving (TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc); authoring plugins that aid infacialdeformation transfer or solving (python or C++); and working with faces in realtime (Unity, Unreal or other).

Other Skills: Strong understanding of state-of-the-art approaches to rigging photorealistic faces for film or games; of FACS, how it relates to facial anatomy, and ability to identify primary action units on sight; Understands current approaches tofacialperformance capture & solving; of modern approaches to scanning including lightstage and 4D scanning.

Expert understanding of facial skeletal and muscle anatomy; Passion for achieving highest quality detail through iteration and refinement. Ability to think outside the box to achieve more realistic solutions or optimize runtime performance. Passion for collaborating and sharing knowledge across teams.

Please refer to ourCandidate Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.

At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision. Click here to learn more.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate.

$75 - $87 USD

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