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Senior Technical Animator

Established in 2007, Sumo Video Games is one of India’s leading video game developers. We work hand in hand with Sumo Digital’s UK studios to build ground-breaking games and content for some of the world’s biggest publishers including Microsoft, Sony, Apple and Sega.

It’s an exciting time to be part of Sumo , winners of the Develop: Star Awards 2019 Best Studio ; big things are on the horizon and we want you to be part of our continued journey. Join us!

The Technical Animator acts as a bridge between the artists, animators and programmers, ensuring the art content and features are easily integrated into the game, while respecting the artistic vision and technical constraints of the project. You will be supporting the animation lead while innovating animation systems and activities. Working closely with animators, riggers, designers, and programmers, they will be handling mocap data, animation rigs, physics rigs, animation trees and dynamic objects. In this role, you will follow, refine or establish pipelines for both conventional and innovative features.

Responsibilities:

• Work with the animation team to define, create and maintain the animation pipeline.
• Work with modelers, animators and programmers to setup 3D art and bring it into the engine.
• Develop 3D art pipeline tools and extensions with an eye towards usability and efficiency.
• Support artists and engineers in the use of the 3D art pipeline and user-facing engine tools.
• Provide hands-on support to artists and engineers regarding asset performance and validation.
• Review creative processes and identify opportunities for tool improvements.
• Design and support complex character, facial, costumes and weapon rigs/skin using 3D tools (Maya/max preferable)
• Solve challenging technical issues in the 3D asset pipeline, 2D asset pipeline would be plus
• Collaborate with engineers and testers to diagnose and resolve in-game problems.
• Create custom tools and scripts to increase the productivity and efficiency of the animation team. 3D tool to game engine (Maya/max preferably)
• Inspire and empower the art team to optimize their processes.
• Collaborate with partner studios to share technology and best practices.
• Assist in planning and scheduling of animation work
• Research and share knowledge of existing engines and animation packages within the industry

Qualifications/Skills:

• Minimum 5-year experience in a digital art animation pipeline as technical animator ideally in the video game industry
• Expert in Rigging/Skinning in 3D art tools and blend shape implementation. 2D rig/skin would be plus (Maya/max preferable)
• Experience in a full digital art content creation pipeline (Knowledge of high and low-poly modelling, Skinning, Rigging, Exporting etc.)
• Ability to create/work with technical specification doc
• Experience working with animation rigs, physics rigs and physic systems for rigid/soft bodies, hair and cloth
• Experienced developing custom tools for Digital Content Creation tools (Maya/Max preferable)
• Experience in Unreal animation pipeline, Unity would be plus
• Knowledge of a high-level coding language. (Python, C#, C++, etc.)
• The number and variety of tech-art areas of interest in your past activity is also important
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Good artistic and anatomical skills (proportion, color, composition, form);
• An exceptional eye for detail.
• Highly self-motivated and collaborative
• Constantly striving to learn and improve your skills

Our Studio is unique in India, giving our staff the opportunity to work directly on all leading gaming platforms, at every stage of game development.

Being part of Sumo's Pune studio is a rewarding experience, one that requires dedication, a strong sense of ownership over your work and an overwhelming enthusiasm for the games you work on.

In return we offer competitive salary, flexi-time & benefits, and excellent working environment and most importantly we will give you the room to be yourself and live your passion.

Additionally, we provide relocation reimbursement from other cities, a performance-linked bonus in addition to the fixed salary, opportunities to attend industry conferences and a complete and all-encompassing medical insurance package for our employees and their children.

Come join the team.