Crowd Technical Director - Advertising, Episodic & Immersive

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced Mid-Senior Crowd TD to work in our London office across Advertising, Episodic & Immersive projects. The right candidate will have knowledge of Houdini crowds and have the right to work in the UK.

We are initially looking for artists with availability to work between March - May 2024.

Crowd Technical Directors are responsible for creating the motion of crowds, including the animating and simulating of tens of thousands of characters for high-end projects. They are also responsible for the setup and ingestion of crowd data to Houdini and the management of shading and workflow of crowds through the pipeline.

Responsibilities:
• Creating simulations of crowd characters as briefed by the Visual Effects/CG Supervisor or Lead
• Developing locomotion, motion, and triggering behaviours to ensure a variety of looks can be achieved
• Developing and supporting shaders to efficiently render crowds with available resources
• Liaising with other departments involved in the crowd pipeline including Modeling, Rigging, Animation, Motion Capture, and Lighting
• Involvement in developing crowd tools and techniques
• Ongoing communication with Production and Leads regarding schedules and deadlines

Essential Skills:
• A thorough knowledge of Maya and Houdini
• Experience using Houdini Crowds professionally in a similar role
• A basic familiarity Vex
• Technical understanding and experience with at least one renderer
• Familiarity with creation and management of Houdini OTLs/HDAs
• Creative problem-solving skills
• An appreciation of both the aesthetic and technical requirements of the role
• A good understanding of animation and an eye for motion
• A strong work ethic and a willingness to be involved in both development and shot execution
• The ability to work as part of a team in a challenging, changeable and deadline-oriented environment
• Excellent organisation, communication, and interpersonal skills and the ability to liaise across departments
• A good understanding of the entire visual effects process
• A familiarity with pipeline and workflow issues, especially working between multiple packages
• Adaptability and the willingness to learn new processes, software, and technical skills
• Experience of working under a Unix/Linux systems environment

Desirable Skills:
• Experience with Arnold renderer
• Experience with OSL or a similar shading language
• Python programming experience
• Advanced Vex programming experience
• A good understanding of particle systems
• Experience in developing tools, scripts, and plug-ins to help streamline workflow
• Previous experience working with motion capture data

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d2mybm-13-59-149-79-42 in your application.