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Cinematic Animator
2 years ago
Responsibilities:
Reporting to the Animation Director, the Cinematic Animator is responsible for creating high-caliber, dramatic and action-oriented character animation for cinematic scenes in the game. Candidates need to have solid animation skills, a firm background in storytelling, an in-depth understanding of cinematic principles, as well as strong organizational and communication skills. The Cinematic Animator will work closely with the Narrative and World Design teams to ensure the direction/intent of the scene or performance stays on target, while also addressing qualitative animation feedback from the Animation Director.
Essential Functions:
- Create dynamic cinematic animation primarily through motion capture with some hand-keyed elements
- Work with the Animation Director and the production team to provide reasonable time estimates, and ensure that the quality bar is being hit while still meeting deadlines
- Collaborate with narrative and world design teams to implement and iterate on ambient and narrative animations to create compelling, entertaining, and visually appealing performances throughout the game
- Address animation feedback from the Animation Director to ensure visual consistency across all cinematic animation
- Assist with integration of animations from external partners and ensure that everything works as intended
- Work with tech animation to ensure that all rigs and tools function properly and efficiently, both in Maya and in-engine
- Attend standups and meetings as required
- Respond quickly to changing requirements and feedback
- Understand and follow best practices, production pipelines and workflows
Preferred Qualifications:
- Minimum 3 years of animation experience
- Demo reel showcasing solid acting and dynamic body mechanics with both motion capture and hand-keyed work
- Good understanding of animation principles (timing, staging, follow through, etc.) as they apply to film and games
- Extensive experience with Maya
- Excellent interpersonal, communication, and time management skills
- Knowledge sharing attitude
- Good grasp of how other disciplines interact with animation
- Ability to work on animations from concept, through source and implementation into engine
- Bonus points if you have experience with:
- Unreal Engine
- MotionBuilder
- Rigging and character art pipeline
- Familiarity with animation networks/state machines/etc.
Aspyr is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at Aspyr are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Aspyr will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Aspyr encourages applicants of all ages.
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