Art

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is seeking a Senior Technical Artist with a focus in animation to join our studio for the development of our next AAA game.  This is a chance to join an experienced group of developers in pre-production for a new IP.

The ideal candidate is a skilled Technical Artist with experience in rigging and animation.  You will be working with small, multidisciplinary groups of artists, designers and engineers to develop efficient, intuitive workflows, build production tools, and identify performance metrics parameters.

Responsibilities

• Work within a multidisciplinary team to develop efficient, maintainable workflows capable of supporting a large, complex project with a wide range of animation needs
• Develop tools and workflows to support animators
• Develop and maintain runtime animation graphs
• Provide direct support to the animation team
• Work with Engineering to develop best practices, technical guidelines, and performance metrics for animation
• Document workflows and advocate best practices

Qualifications

• Fluent in one or more programming language (Python, C#, C++, etc.)
• Solid technical background with ability to design and implement systems
• 3+ years relevant industry experience
• A Bachelor’s degree in an art-related discipline
• Solid understanding of kinematics, animation principles and ability to translate this into tangible production tools and processes
• Experience with runtime animation tools, techniques and capabilities (Unity, Havok Behavior, Natural Motion, or proprietary systems, etc.)
• Experience working with an animation graph or similar system
• Experience rigging characters for animation
• Understand differences between production and runtime animation requirements
• Strong troubleshooting skills
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.

Preferred Skills

• Mocap Experience
• Experience working with 2 or more animation pipelines
• Linear algebra
• Perforce
• PyQt/PySide
• General interest in contemporary CGI techniques

Overview

We are seeking a skilled Technical Animator to help further develop our animation pipeline. The focus of this position will be on runtime animation integration and animation handling in the pipeline.

You will work with animators to develop blend graphs that produce smooth, AAA quality animation, seamlessly combining animated motion with various runtime input sources. You’ll help define animation related workflows and systems, and you’ll assist animators in all technical aspects of animation production. Working with multiple disciplines to identify effective solutions, you will serve as a communicator with the goal of ensuring all involved parties have a common understanding of the system and our shared goals.

Preference will be given to candidates who have experience writing animation authoring tools (in Max, Maya, etc.), though this is not the primary area of coverage. If you have experience programming in any form, this is a huge plus. If you have experience with MOCAP that is also beneficial. If you are technical, highly motivated and passionate about animation, please apply for this position. It’s an uncommon opportunity.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with Animation, Design, and Engineering to develop the means by which these groups interact with animation data
• Play a positive, proactive role in communication between all involved departments
• Advocate for Animation while maintaining attention to performance issues
• Provide ongoing support and training to Animation throughout production cycle
• Communicate, promote, and document animation related processes and best practices
• Help to identify tools that will make managing large amounts of animation possible

Qualifications

• 5 or more years industry experience
• 3-5 years runtime animation system experience (can overlap with industry experience)
• Professional experience working with 2 or more animation pipelines
• A Bachelor’s degree in an art-related discipline
• Strong technical skillset and love of getting hands dirty
• Strong understanding of kinematics and eye for animation
• Experience with runtime animation tools, techniques and capabilities (Unity, Havok Behavior, Natural Motion, or proprietary, etc.)
• Familiarity with rigging
• Some familiarity with MOCAP workflows
• Understand differences between production and runtime animation requirements and data
• Clear, demonstrable understanding of animation data and how it moves through the pipeline
• Self-sufficient, motivated and independent
• Strong communication and time management skills
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: HVK/GR2/OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.

Portfolio: Please include links to your work and clearly indicate your contributions. Resumes without work samples will not be considered.

Preferred Skills

• Some understanding of shaders
• Any programming experience
• Pyside/PyQt
• Perforce
• Experience with special effects and non-character animation
• General interest in contemporary CGI techniques

Overview

We are seeking an enthusiastic Senior VFX Artist to collaborate with our Art and Design teams and create amazing effects for The Elder Scrolls Online.

Responsibilities

• Develop visually stunning particle and shader effects within the defined visual style through creative use of particles, geometry, and animation
• Work with the Design and Concept Art teams to develop clean, highly readable VFX that support gameplay initiatives
• Designing, creating, and integrating VFX from start to finish
• Ensure that VFX assets are built efficiently and perform within performance budgets
• Concept, propose, and present creative ideas
• Collaborate with our Artists, Animators, Designers, and Programmers to implement effects
• Set dressing of environments and cinematics with VFX
• Testing, debugging, solving problems and fixing bugs
• Performance testing and optimizing VFX for different platforms
• Provide creative input specific to assigned tasks

Qualifications

• Thorough understanding of particle effects technology, techniques, and implementation
• Demonstrable technical knowledge of effects generation within an engine
• 5+ years of professional industry experience creating effects; experience shipping at least two AAA titles as a VFX Artist preferred
• Portfolio demonstrating a wide variety of VFX
• An aptitude for learning new systems quickly
• Experience with 3D Studio Max and Photoshop
• Ability to quickly conceptualize, present, and execute ideas
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organization skills
• Excellent sense of scale, timing, detail, form, texture, and color
• Must have the drive to conquer technical challenges
• Ability to handle a variety of tasks in an efficient manner and within deadlines

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is looking for an experienced Senior Environment Artist. Primary responsibilities are to develop all environments and environmental/ambient objects and to ensure consistent quality within the established art style.

Responsibilities

• Model and texture both organic and hard surface models to the highest level possible while maintaining game restrictions and guidelines
• Match the look, feel, and style of our game
• Collaborate with the Concept team in producing quality assets; work independently or without Concept when needed
• Problem-solve and work collaboratively with the Design team
• Receive and provide feedback in a constructive and collaborative manner
• Critique one’s own work and meet set deadlines

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as an Environment Artist or other relevant experience in the industry
• Must have a portfolio demonstrating excellence in both 2D and 3D art
• Experience in 3dStudio Max, Substance Painter, Photoshop, and Zbrush
• Have a positive attitude, be a team player, and have excellent communication skills both verbally and written
• Passion for making excellent art

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Mobile Artist with an emphasis in 3D to work closely with our mobile game team to bring life to a wide variety of characters, creatures, environments, and VFX to the defined technical and artistic parameters. Flexibility is our key requirement as we develop content within many visual styles and game formats. We seek a team member who can complement our existing skill sets and bring new experience and skills to the team.

Responsibilities

• Create high quality content, primarily inventive creatures, characters, environments, and VFX
• Work with Engineers on asset implementation in the Unity environment
• Collaborate with Designers on solving gameplay problems while maintaining artistic vision
• Contribute to the creative process with original ideas and inspiration

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience as a Game Artist; mobile development experience is a bonus
• Solid technical abilities with respect to the implementation of game assets into a game engine (Unity) with the ability to create performant content
• Unity experience preferred
• Extensive knowledge of 3D Studio Max, Maya, or Blender, Z-Brush, Mudbox, and other asset creation tools (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.)
• Wide and current experience in art asset production including but not limited to 3D modeling and animation, 2D animation, VFX, and UI
• Candidates must be able to work in a small, focused team of Designers, Artists, and Programmers with short development cycles

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is looking for a Technical Character Artist to assist with the production of characters. This technical art position will work with various members of the Figure Art team to address character rigging related issues: from in-game editing and data set-up to vertex weighting adjustments. This Technical Artist will also be making art changes and adjustments to submitted assets, so experience with character art is important. This is a dynamic environment that will challenge you as you become a full-fledged professional game developer.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Outsourcing Managers, other Tech Artists, and Character Artists
• Prepare armor, costumes, weapons, mounts, and monsters for export into game
• Evaluate all incoming outsourced art for technical issues
• Adjust vertex weighting for armors, costumes, mounts, and monsters
• Geo and texture adjustments on outsourced assets when necessary
• Export adjusted geometry to engine
• Data set-up of exported assets in engine
• Learn proprietary tools for rigging of the game-ready character meshes and internal tools for export

Qualifications

• Ability to skin meshes to various rigs
• Love of characters and animation
• Strong grasp of anatomy, form, proportion, and color
• Intermediate+ understanding of character modeling and texturing principles
• Understanding of good mesh topology for deformation
• Some working experience in rigging characters for video games
• Working knowledge of 3D Studio Max, Zbrush, and Photoshop
• Familiarity with game engines
• Interest in working with and supporting Artists and Animators in the production environment
• Responsive to direction
• Tenacious problem solver
• Strong aesthetic sense and ability to communicate creative ideas clearly
• Strong communication skills: written and verbal
• Self-sufficient and capable of independent learning

Preferred Skills

• Familiarity with modular character customization systems is a plus
• Experience with animation is a plus but not required
• Enjoy playing MMOs

Overview

We are seeking an enthusiastic Lead VFX Artist to collaborate with our Art and Design teams to create amazing effects for The Elder Scrolls Online.

Responsibilities

• Develop visually stunning particle and shader effects within the defined visual style through the creative use of particles, geometry, and animation
• Work with the Design and Concept Art teams to develop clean, highly readable VFX that support gameplay initiatives
• Design, create, and integrate VFX from start to finish
• Ensure that VFX assets are built efficiently and perform within performance budgets
• Concept, propose, and present creative ideas and input
• Collaborate with our Artists, Animators, Designers, and Programmers to implement effects
• Set dressing of environments and cinematics with VFX
• Test, de-bug, solve problems, and optimize VFX for different platforms
• Review work of other VFX Artists and provide feedback
• Train and mentor VFX Artists
• Handle scheduling and scoping to provide realistic timelines for studio objectives

Qualifications

• Thorough understanding of particle effects technology, techniques, and implementation
  
• Demonstrable technical knowledge of effects generation within an engine
  
• 5+ years of professional industry experience creating effects; experience shipping at least two AAA titles as a VFX Artist
  
• Experience shipping at least one AAA title as a VFX Lead preferred
  
• Portfolio demonstrating a wide variety of VFX
  
• An aptitude for learning new systems quickly
  
• Experience with 3D Studio Max, Houdini, and Photoshop
  
• Ability to quickly conceptualize, present, and execute ideas
  
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organization skills
  
• Excellent sense of scale, timing, detail, form, texture, and color
  
• Must have the drive to conquer technical challenges
  
• Ability to handle a variety of tasks in an efficient manner and within deadlines
  

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is seeking an ambitious and creative Character Artist to work within our art team to create unique and diverse characters and creatures that will pull the player into our universe. Candidates should have a strong understanding of human and animal anatomy, character modeling, and texturing as it applies to gameplay and should be able to successfully execute those ideas in engine.   

Responsibilities

• Create dynamic humanoid, animal, and creature models and textures with a strong grasp of form, scale, and proportion while working within defined technical constraints
• Communicate and work with Concept Art team, Animation, and Technical Artists
• Adapt to the established art style
• Closely follow art and design concepts
• Have a thorough understanding of pipelines and art integration into the game
• Contribute to the creative process through original ideas and inspiration
• Participate in critiquing your work and the work of other artists
• Work with the entire Development team in an energetic and creative environment

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional industry experience as a Character Artist
• At least one AAA published game credited as a Character Artist
• In depth knowledge of character modeling as related to game development
• Excellent sculpting skills in Zbrush or Mudbox
• Texturing skills using Substance Painter or similar software
• Strong knowledge of human and animal anatomy
• A strong understanding of rigging and animation principles
• Excellent fine art skills
• Knowledge of industry software tools and pipelines (3dsmax, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marvelous Designer, Maya, Substance Painter)
• MMO or RPG experience a plus

Preferred Skills

• Rigging and animation experience
• Facial blendshape creation experience
• Marvelous Designer experience
• Hair and cloth simulation experience
• Traditional art skills such as painting and sculpture
• Clothing design and construction knowledge is a plus

*The position may require an art test

Overview

We are looking for a wildly talented and experienced Senior Character Rigger to help us develop a robust studio level rigging system. As the Senior Character Rigger, you will be involved in the design and implementation of the system from the earliest stages. You will work with Animation to determine features, needs, and desires. You will also work with Engineering to develop an efficient pathway between the tools and the game.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain high-quality, high-performance animation rigs
• Expand upon the current rigging system with new features and modules
• Work closely with Modelers and Animators to ensure all disciplines are getting what they need
• Develop tools to support Animation
• Document system and advocate best practices

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry experience in character rigging (3ds Max)
• Solid understanding of anatomy and kinematics
• Ability and interest in rigging biomorphics and mechanics
• Solid understanding of animation pipelines
• Ability to develop animation tools to support rigs
• Ability to work collaboratively with technical and creative team members
• Excellent communication and time management skills
• Self-sufficient, independent, and proactive
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: USD/OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.
  

*Please include links to your work and clearly indicate your contributions. Resumes without work samples will not be considered. 

Preferred Skills

• MotionBuilder, Maya, Houdini
• Python, Maxscript, C#, C++
• PyQt or PySide
• Perforce
• Understanding of core game data pipelines
• General interest in contemporary CGI techniques

Overview

Zenimax Online Studios is looking for an experienced Senior Environment Artist to join our team working on a new unannounced AAA IP for next-gen consoles and PC. As a Senior Environment Artist, you will need to be highly competent in 3D modeling, UVing, and in authoring PBR materials and textures. The ideal candidate will be passionate about contributing to the project beyond asset creation.

Responsibilities

• Model and texture both organic and hard surface environment art assets
  
• Work with both Art Direction and Concept Art to help establish visual targets for the project
  
• Work with the Art, Design, and Tech Art teams to establish best practices and pipelines
  
• Problem-solve and collaborate with the Level Design team to create environments and assets that provide an optimal gameplay experience
  

Qualifications

• A strong portfolio featuring AAA quality models and textures
  
• 5+ years of experience as an Environment Artist or other relevant industry experience
  
• Expert knowledge of at least one major modeling package (Maya, MAX, Lightwave, MODO or equivalent), along with industry standard tools such as Photoshop, Substance Painter/Designer, and Zbrush
  
• Must be comfortable working in a proprietary tooling environment
  
• Have a positive attitude, be a team player, and have excellent communication skills both verbally and written
  
• Passion for creating both excellent art and an excellent game experience
  

Preferred Skills

• Knowledge of Houdini is a plus
  
• Experience with procedural pipelines
  
• Experience with modular kit construction
  
• Experience working with a decal driven hard surface asset pipeline
  
• A working knowledge of UE4
  

Overview

Zenimax Online Studios is looking for a talented Environment Artist to join our team working on a new AAA IP for next-gen consoles and PC. As an Environment Artist, you will need to be highly competent in 3D modeling, UVing, and in authoring PBR materials and textures. The ideal candidate will be passionate about contributing to the project beyond asset creation.

Responsibilities

• Model and texture both organic and hard surface environment art assets
  
• Work with fellow Artists to create assets that meet the visual standards for the project
  
• Problem solve and collaborate with the Level Design team
  
• Provide general support for internal and external efforts as needed

Qualifications

• A strong portfolio focused on environment art
  
• 2+ years of experience as an Environment Artist or other relevant industry experience
  
• Thorough knowledge of at least one major modeling package (Maya, MAX, Lightwave, MODO, or equivalent), along with industry standard tools such as Photoshop, Substance Painter/Designer, and Zbrush
  
• Must be comfortable working in a proprietary tooling environment
  
• Have a positive attitude, be a team player, and have excellent communication skills both verbally and written
  
• Passion for creating both excellent art and an excellent game experience

Preferred Skills

• Knowledge of Houdini is a plus
  
• Experience with modular kit construction
  
• A working knowledge of UE4