Senior Visual Effects Artist

Insomniac Games; United States; Remote; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior VFX Artist to elevate the visual experience of their games. In this role, you will create stunning photorealistic effects that enhance gameplay, environments, and cinematics. Your expertise in tools like Houdini and Maya will be essential as you collaborate with various departments to ensure seamless integration into the game engine. This position offers the opportunity to push the boundaries of visual fidelity while mentoring junior artists, making a significant impact on the creative direction of exciting projects. Join a dynamic team where your artistic vision can thrive!

Qualifications

• Expert in crafting photorealistic VFX for gameplay and cinematics.
• Proficient in Houdini and Maya for creating complex visual effects.
• Strong knowledge of modern game engines like Unreal and Unity.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement real-time effects using 2D/3D elements.
• Collaborate across departments to integrate VFX into the game engine.
• Mentor junior artists to enhance workflow and aesthetics.

Skills

Houdini

Maya

3D modeling

Procedural modeling

Animation/keyframing

Shader creation

Real-time particle systems

Technical scripting

Photoshop

Collaboration skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Art or related field

Tools

Unreal Engine

Unity

Substance Designer

After Effects

PopcornFX

Job description

The Senior VFX Artist is a proven expert in crafting high-quality, photorealistic visual effects for gameplay, environments, and cinematics. They design, implement, and optimize real-time effects, VFX textures, and shaders while collaborating across departments to ensure seamless integration into the game engine. Skilled in Houdini, Embergen, and other VFX tools, they orchestrate complex, layered effects, refine internal workflows, and guide external development partners. With a keen eye for artistic direction and technical performance, they push visual fidelity while maintaining efficiency.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:

• Creates, designs, and implements real-time effects using both static and animating 2D/3D elements.
• Implement VFX across all areas of the game, including environmental and gameplay VFX, and cinematics.
• Creates VFX textures (albedo, normal, specular, roughness, ambient occlusion, height, and emissive maps).
• Creates VFX shaders with node-based shader networks.
• Creates geometry and UV sets.
• Optimizes VFX for framerate and memory.
• Collaborates with other departments to ensure that VFX are implemented appropriately in the game engine.
• Works with Art Director to help create and maintain VFX art direction for game.
• Understands and adds to the overall art style of game.
• Orchestrates complex VFX events involving layering and timing of different VFX to create a believable scene.
• Evaluates and experiments with techniques and art programs to improve efficiency, workflow, or visuals in game.
• Creates VFX assets such as simulated models or textures for gameplay using DCC applications such as Houdini, Maya, or other equivalent software.
• Prototypes VFX concepts for gameplay and engine.
• Helps guide further development of internal effects editing tools and pipeline workflows.
• Work with, train, and guide external development partners.
• Works under time constraints in a rapid production environment.
• Works both autonomously with little direction, or in a group setting as a proactive contributor in leading and driving game-dev initiatives with others.
• Other duties may be assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities: This job has no supervisory responsibilities, but may mentor, tutor, and aid more junior artists to improve workflow, efficiency, aesthetics, and pipeline.

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:

• Highly proficient in Houdini and Maya: excellent understanding of these DCC visual effects packages, competent working with joints and locators, animation/keyframing, rigid-body and fluid simulations, materials, shaders, lighting and rendering.
• 3D modeling and procedural modeling/UV’ing skills are a must.
• Strong knowledge and experience with modern game engines/editors such as Unreal, Unity, proprietary, etc.
• Proficient with real-time particle-editors and VFX systems such as Unreal’s Niagara, PopcornFX, etc.
• Highly proficient in complex node-based shader networks such as those used in Unreal, Unity, etc.
• Familiarity with game scripting and/or node-based systems (e.g. Unreal Blueprint, etc).
• Have strong grasp of technical scripting, programming and expressions pertaining to DCC and graphics: e.g. MEL, Python, Houdini VEX, HLSL Shaders, etc.
• Proficient in Photoshop for painting and editing textures.
• Strong knowledge of procedural texture generation software (e.g. Substance Designer, Filter-Forge, After-Effects, etc).
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite.
• Knowledge of other visual effects or CG software a plus (e.g. Blender, Nuke, etc).

Other Skills: Good team skills, collaborative attitude, good observation skills and ability to use reference materials. Ability to work independently and self-directs. Proficient Animation and timing skills. Solid traditional arts background a plus.