Cloud Imperium is looking for a Senior Lighting Artist to work in a cooperative, international, cross-disciplinary team environment, who possesses solid artistic skills, including a thorough understanding of color theory, composition, light, and form. They should have experience with a 3D CG package, demonstrating a solid understanding of rendering, lighting, shading networks, polygonal modeling, and texture UV’s. They should also demonstrate a strong ability to utilize in-house tools to solve technical problems and improve performance as well as interacting with engineers to help develop new tools and workflows.

Covid-19 Hiring Update: We’ve transitioned to a work-from-home model and we’re continuing to interview and hire during this time. This role is expected to begin as a remote position. We understand each person’s circumstances may be unique and will work with you to explore possible interim options.

Responsibilities:

Involved in look-development around key surfaces and shaders to ensure lighting delivers against visual reference
Creating both the exterior and interior lighting within environments and cut scenes
Placing and adjustment of light sources within the environment
Tweaking of shading materials and textures to improve the perception of the lighting
Post processing; color grading, exposure, SSAO, bloom, tone mapping curves etc
Contributing to the development and placement of special effects related to lighting and atmosphere, such as light flares, fog, god rays and camera optics
Prototyping the use of lighting technology to reach the visual targets defined by the art direction
Profile existing and future levels to maximize the quality of lighting on characters and environments while staying within performance budgets

Requirements

Experience in creating and shipping AAA quality titles as a real-time lighting artist
Deep understanding of CG lighting technology, both real-time and software rendering
Strong sense of lighting theory; color space, exposure, light fixtures, natural light, reflections etc
Good understanding of cinematography and dramaturgy; the use of camera technology, scene blocking and lighting to set the mood
Good understanding and experience with physical based lighting system
Being pro-active in the use of lighting as a powerful tool in gameplay clarity. For example; to guide the player forward, highlight objectives and enemies
An ability to thoroughly digest the art direction and be a champion for executing it in the game
Skilled at balancing visual quality against performance requirements
Thorough knowledge of the game development process
Great communication skills and an ability to work autonomously with minimal guidance
Working knowledge of Maya, and/or other commercial 3D authoring packages

This position is offered at our Wilmslow Studio by Cloud Imperium Games Ltd.

If you feel you have something to offer this role, even if you don’t think you qualify for all the above, you should still apply – we are an inclusive employer and if you have potential, talent and a great work ethic, we want to hear from you.