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

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

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 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

We are seeking an ambitious and creative Senior Character Artist to work closely with 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 character modeling as it applies to gameplay and should be able to successfully execute those ideas in engine. 

Responsibilities

• Create dynamic humanoid, animal, and creature characters 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; help mentor junior artists
  
• Work with the entire development team in an energetic and creative environment
  

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional industry experience as a Character/Figure Artist or Senior Character/Figure Artist
  
• Credited with at least two AAA published games
  
• In depth knowledge of character modeling as related to game development
  
• Excellent sculpting skills in Zbrush or Mudbox
  
• 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)
  
• MMO or RPG experience a plus
  

Overview

We are seeking an enthusiastic 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
• 3+ 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 a talented Environment Artist for the Elder Scrolls Online team. The primary responsibilities are to develop all environments and environmental/ambient objects and to ensure consistent quality within the established art style. The ideal candidate will be passionate about contributing to the project and have a strong portfolio focused on environment art.

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
• Work with the concept team to produce quality assets and also be able to work without concept when necessary
• Problem solve and work collaboratively with the design team

Qualifications

• Portfolio demonstrating excellence in both 2D and 3D art
• Bachelor’s Degree in Art or at least 2 years’ experience in the industry
• Experience in 3dStudio Max or Maya, Substance Painter, Photoshop and Zbrush
• Passion for making excellent art
• Have a positive attitude, be a team player and have excellent communication skills both verbally and written
• Be able to take feedback in a constructive and collaborative manner
• Be self-motivated with an ability to critique one’s own work and meet set deadlines

Preferred Skills

• Experience with Substance Designer is a bonus

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is seeking a Principal Level Designer to join our Elder Scrolls Online team.

A developer in this role serves as a key part of the level design team with a focus on creating levels for both open world and “linear” spaces, combat encounter design, and scripting. This role will work closely with the Lead Level Designers and Lead Content Designer to establish and drive vision on a major content area or feature. A key part of this role involves designing the workflow and establishing best practices for content creation.

Responsibilities

• Help establish the vision on a large content feature or area
• Build consensus on the feature set execution across disciplines
• Support the leadership team in establishing and role modeling positive processes
• Help the lead level designers define quality standards for the team through hands on execution and documentation
• Mentoring of more junior members of the team to help them grow in their careers
• Help determine the optimal workflow for content creation
• Work with the tools team to identify the ideal toolset with which to create content

Qualifications

• 5+ years related experience
• Broad gameplay design knowledge
• Ability to drive collaboration and consensus across multiple disciplines
• Strong organization, verbal, and written communication skills
• Deeply creative with a great sense of what makes gameplay fun
• Excellent sense of gameplay pacing and level design skills
• Good grasp of scripting or coding
• Comfortable with a development schedule that is playtest-driven and focused on iteration and polish
• Strong understanding of the discrete elements game levels and combat experiences are built from, and the ability to problem solve both holistically and on a per-component basis

Preferred Skills

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Overview

Zenimax Online Studios is seeking a Motion Capture Animator with experience in high fidelity in-game and cinematic motion capture animation to work with our talented teams. The Motion Capture Animator will bring new worlds to life in an exciting new AAA game at Zenimax Online Studios. 

Responsibilities

• Create high quality motion capture animation sequences for in-game mechanics and cinematics from Optical and Xsens Motion Capture data
• Apply expert knowledge of body mechanics and the principals of animation to process and refine motion capture data
  
• Set up and run internal and remote motion capture sessions using Xsens hardware
  
• Organize and catalogue data from shoots
  
• Collaborate with Engineers and Technical Artists to build and refine our motion capture tools, pipeline, and process
  
• Work with external partners to build strong outsourcing support workflows and provide critical feedback when necessary
  
• Contribute to the creative process with original ideas and inspiration

Qualifications

• Candidates must provide a demo reel that includes examples of previous motion capture animation work, showing strong understanding of body mechanics and polished performances
• 3+ years of professional experience as a Motion Capture Animator
  
• Ability to build gameplay experiences with motion capture sequences
  
• Demonstrated technical abilities with respect to the implementation of animation into a game engine
  
• Expert knowledge of Maya, MotionBuilder, or equivalent software
  
• Understanding of the motion capture process and its technical dependencies and limitations
  
• Deep understanding of anatomy and human kinetics
  
• Deep understanding of fundamental animation principles
  
• Aptitude for learning new systems quickly
  
• Strong communication and teamwork skills
  
• Passion for video games
  

Preferred Skills

• Receptive to direction and constructive feedback; willingness to work through an iterative process
• Experience processing and polishing motion capture performances for use in game mechanics and cinematics on humans and creatures
• Familiarity with Optical and Magnetic mocap systems such as Xsens hardware and software
• Proven ability to convert motion capture performance to sequences
• Experience building and using motion libraries
• Experience in moving arts such as Acting and/or Martial Arts is a plus