Lead Blendshape Artist

Los Angeles, CA

It is preferred this position be onsite in San Diego or Los Angeles once we return to the studio, open to remote

PlayStation Studios Visual Arts (PSVA) on our San Diego campus provides world-class content, development and services to Worldwide Studios. Our team is always at the cutting edge of technology and partners with the industry’s best minds and companies!

We are looking for a Lead Blendshape Artist/Facial Modeler to come aboard and work in conjunction with our riggers, the Animation Supervisor and the Character Supervisor to bring highly-realistic faces to life for both cinematic and in-game sequences. You will work with our multi-award winning team while working with AAA Worldwide Studios like Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, San Diego Studio, Guerrilla Games, and more!

If you're someone who pays attention to detail, has an eye for minute differences in facial movements, and one of "those" artists comfortable making facial expressions in the mirror... We want to talk to you!

Responsibilities:

Our Lead Blendshape Artist will make the final tweaks to the topology edge-flow and determine the final positioning and refinement to key assets such as eyes, teeth, tongue and eyelashes.
When the model face is finalized you will sculpt a full array of naturalistic FACs and corrective blendshapes for expressive photorealistic humans.
Sculpting a series of high-resolution wrinkle maps to add a final level of polish and nuance to the expressions.
Work closely with the external clients, internal artists and external clients to keep quality and style consistent across all characters.
Create and lead others in the creation of photo-realistic humans, with particular attention to advanced facial modeling and expression modeling.
Lead and mentor both internal character teams and outsourcing partners to reach aesthetic and technical goals.
Document and communicate requirements, and provide feedback.
Constantly and proactively seek to improve the production processes, tools and pipelines for character creation, rigging and animation and rendering.

Qualifications:

7+ years of professional character art experience in high-end 3D games and/or films with at least 3 published titles or movies.
Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent.
Solid grasp of realistic human anatomy with special emphasis on the head/face.
Capable of isolating different expressions/actions in the face.
The ability to grasp technical concepts at least from a broad perspective and follow technical workflows while pushing artistic limit.
Self-manage and keep track of progress and troubleshoot technical issues with Maya.
Brainstorm ideas that keep in mind the overall goals of the project.

Desired qualifications:

Experience with facial blend shape workflows on realistic humans
Expert understanding of human anatomy
Versed in Facial Action Coding System
Experience with Blendshape Combination System
Experience with Perforce
Excellent understanding of Maya and use of blend shapes
Experience with facial rigging of any kind (examples required)
Experienced with sculpting in Zbrush, Mudbox etc. (examples required)

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, legally protected physical or mental disability, covered veteran status, status in the U.S. uniformed services, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information or membership in any other legally protected category.

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We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you spent in contacting us and we thank you for your interest in PlayStation.

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