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Lead Environment Artist

Crystal Dynamics, a part of the Square-Enix family, is constantly on the hunt for top-tier gaming talent worldwide. We pride ourselves on attracting and developing the best talent available to concept, create, and contribute to the most exciting projects in gaming today. 20+ years of history creating fun and exciting titles for the world to enjoy as well as our studio’s 1000+ years of combined game industry experience provides a rich tapestry of tested and new ideas to draw from as have established us as one of the best studios in the world to work for.

Join now to be part of a new, original AAA game being built in our Redwood City studio, just south of San Francisco. Benefits for this full-time position include competitive salary, health insurance options to suit all lifestyles, generous paid time-off, as well as other studio and corporate perks, such as a free gym and discounts on games and goodies.

Position Summary:

Crystal Dynamics is looking for a Lead Environment Artist who has achieved an excellence in environment modeling, texturing and lighting. Come work with amazing Art Directors, Artists and Designers to create dynamic 3D environments for games at our unique studio. You will be pleasantly surprised to find our toolsets extremely powerful and easy to use. We're looking for highly collaborative, passionate and motivated candidates that will help launch our creative teams to new successes.

Essential Duties :

• Work in tandem with the Designer, a joint creative and technical effort to build worlds from initial concept to complete, polished form
• Know the fundamentals of cutting edge 3D graphics techniques including: Working with physics based spaces, High poly modeling (Maya and ZBrush) Baking normal and displacement maps from high-poly to game-res meshes, Shader manipulation, Modular construction and assembly techniques, Knowledge of baked and dynamic lighting models, Post Effects, etc.
• Create visually stunning, atmospheric, effective and efficient 3D models of natural and architectural environments with strong drawing, texturing, and lighting skills and an excellent sense of spatial relations and structural logic
• Conceptualize, present, and execute ideas within a schedule, while actively participating in technical and artistic problem solving

Essential Requirements:

• 6+ years' experience as an Environment Artist on hot titles
• Strong spatial sense and an eye for good composition
• Software: Microsoft Word, Maya, ZBrush (preferred) and Photoshop
• Architecture or traditional art background, cinematography experience

SPECIAL NOTE:
** A portfolio submission is required for this position. Please focus this portfolio on personal contributions to your projects. Please include a shot breakdown specifying what you were directly responsible for creating. Considered portfolios should include the following:

• 10-15 best examples of your work (Maya renders in addition to in-game screen shots or video)
• 3-5 Mesh shots (that show efficiency & good work process)
• 3-5 Texture Sheets including diffuse, spec and normal maps (that shows correct use of maps, efficient use of UV space and artistic skill)
• Example of lighting