Creature Development Supervisor 

Position Summary

We are looking for a Creature TD Supervisor who reflects the innovative spirit, creative talent, production excellence, collaborative mindset and passion for great filmmaking that define ILM.

The  Creature TD Supervisor primary responsibility is to supervise teams for the set-up of creature pipeline, implementation and supervision of the creature technical director artist group including rigging, simulations (muscle, hair, plus simulations), destruction and crowds when applicable.  

The Creature TD Supervisor is also responsible for triage and troubleshooting related to assets/setups across disciplines.  This position also requires troubleshooting technical issues and providing recommendations. In this role, one must also work with the technical management department to suggest technical advancements and tools to create efficiencies. 

They will partner with the Production and Bidding team to create accurate bids and schedules for potential and incoming work.  The Creature TD Supervisor will delegate  assignments and act as the creative, technical, and morale lead for the creature technical director team.  They will provide constructive feedback on crew performance, making recommendations and resolving issues is an important part of this position.  Mentoring junior level and newly hired creature technical directors is also key in this position.

What You’ll Do

• Works with the Production team representative and Animation/Modeling supervisor to determine the creature set up requirements – allow artists to deal primarily with creative issues and produce the highest quality images with minimum resources and in the shortest time.
• Works with the CG Supervisor and R&D in the assessment of software needs and requirements for asset set-up and simulation.
• Provides technical support and guidance regarding asset set up and simulation to the shows artists to enable them to complete their work to the highest visual standard in the most efficient time.
• Delegates work where appropriate to achieve timely delivery of assignments. Prioritizes tasks effectively and demonstrates openness to cross utilizes digital artist skills to efficiently and effectively complete the work. Is cognizant of the shows budget and driven to achieve the budgetary as well as creative goals. Gives accurate bids and estimates and notifies production as when any budget impacts may occur.

·    Responsible for ensuring the documentation of relevant asset set-up and simulation techniques in the final show report; assures that all appropriate documentation on new asset set-up and simulation techniques is made available.

·     Provides constructive feedback for creature technical director team for end of show reviews

What We’re Looking For

·      10+ years of relevant professional experience. 

·      Fluent in Maya.

·      4+ years experience as Maya rigger for advanced hero assets in digital animation, visual effects, games, commercials. 

·      Experience producing CG characters and creatures for visual media.

·      Experience in corrective sculpting, understanding of anatomy and enveloping.

·      Preferred Skills / Competencies:

·      Strong oral, written and interpersonal communication skills.

·      Experience with Massive or Houdini crowd software.

·      Working knowledge of C++.

·      Basic proficiency in another discipline (Modeling, Texture, TD, Animation).

·      Technical Skills:

·      Experience with Python scripting.

·      Proficiency with Linux.