This position is for a temporary engagement through our staffing partner DZConnex.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States for this position.

Summary:

For over 30 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of narrative, gameplay, and technology. Our most recent game, The Last of Us Part II, has received over 300 Game of the Year awards and three of our games are among the top 10 highest scored games on the PlayStation 4. As a part of the Naughty Dog legacy, you'll become a part of continuing the development of extraordinary and enduring experiences for a broad, global range of audiences.

The Foreground Props team is responsible for the creation, rigging, and support of all non-character animating props in the game. This includes weapons, cutscene props, vehicles, collectibles, pickups, and interactables like carried ladders, planks, and push-objects.

Most foreground artists are versatile Maya generalists, but also have specializations in different areas that fall under the team’s realm of responsibilities. Some foreground artists are technical or rigging specialists, others are modelers and texture artists, and some specialize in dynamic set-ups. Through this diversity of specializations, the team supports each other in different ways, actively distributing and sharing the overall workload.

Responsibilities:

Work with geometry provided from another source (such as the background, character team, or outsource), but also have the proficiency to create or correct the art as needed. Maya and Zbrush are used for modeling, while Substance Painter and Photoshop are the texturing tools of choice, with a strong emphasis on Painter for outputting maps appropriate for a PBR material pipeline
Create intuitive, animator-friendly animation rigs for props, vehicles, and weapons
Set-up of real-time physics props using Havok, including creation of an appropriate deformation rig and collision geometry, setting up Havok parameters and constraints, and implementation and testing in-game
For pre-simulated effects - breaking up provided geometry, rigging, and running a dynamic simulation in Maya or Houdini
Cloth and rope animations - using real-time dynamics in-game, Maya, or Marvelous Designer, depending on the situation

Requirements & Skills:

Solid foundation and experience with Maya modeling and Substance Painter texturing tools and pipeline
Ability to create a high quality, game resolution, photo-realistically texture-mapped, PBR-shaded 3D model from concept art or photo-reference
Good communication skills and customer-service attitude to interface and collaborate effectively with requests from other disciplines
Ability to stay organized and prioritize tasks according to their urgency
Work efficiently and be proactive in seeking out new tasks and ways to help the team and the production.
Must be able to provide a demo reel or examples of professional work (Online Preferred), a breakdown of your contributions to the shots, and an accompanying resume
Experience and examples of realistic PBR texturing in Substance Painter

Bonus Skills:

Substance Designer proficiency
Houdini Experience
ZBrush proficiency
Maya advanced technical rigging and/or character rigging
Experience writing Maya Python scripts and tools
Production experience working with remote artists or outsourcing
Prior shipped games or team projects