Naughty Dog released a quite interesting video detailing what the job of a Visual Effect Artist at the highly acclaimed studio entails. Aiming to attract new talent, VFX artists Eben Cook and Iki Ikram, give us a small glimpse of a work-in-progress explosion in Uncharted 4 (at the 2.54 mark) and of some shooting (at the 0:40 mark).
Sony Computer Entertainment America is looking for a Senior Character Blendshape Artist for its Visual Arts Services Group, as part of its Product Development Services Group.
Responsibilities:
- The Blendshape Artist will be responsible for bringing highly-realistic faces to life for both cinematic and in-game sequences
- This person will make the final tweaks to the topology edge-flow and determine the final positioning and refinement to key assets such as eyes, teeth, tongue and eyelashes
- When the model face is finalized the artist will sculpt a full array of naturalistic FACs and corrective blendshapes for expressive photorealistic human
- Sculpting a series of high-resolution wrinkle maps to add a final level of polish and nuance to the expressions
Qualifications
- Solid grasp of realistic human anatomy with special emphasis on the head/face (examples required)
- Strong understanding of Maya and basic understanding/use of blend shapes
- Experience with facial rigging of any kind (examples required)
- Experienced with sculpting in Zbrush, Mudbox etc. (examples required)
- This person should be comfortable making facial expressions in the mirror and ideally capable of isolating difference expressions/actions in the face
- This person should have an extreme attention to detail and an eye for minute differences/movements in face
- This person should be able to grasp technical concepts at least from a broad perspective and follow technical workflows while pushing artistic limit
- This person should be able to self-manage and keep track of their own progress and troubleshoot technical issues with Maya
- This person should be able to brainstorm ideas that keep in mind the overall goals of the project
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with facial blend shape workflows on realistic humans.
- Expert understanding of human facial anatomy.
- Versed in Facial Action Coding System (FACS)
- Experience with Blendshape Combination System (BCS) plug-in
- Experience with Perforce
The Visual Arts Services Group is a division of SCEA's Product Development Services Group. VASG is a full-production studio located in San Diego that specializes in Animation, Motion Capture, Cinematics, Art and Scanning. We are currently looking for Blendshape Artists to come aboard and work in conjunction with our riggers, the Animation Supervisor and the Art Director to bring highly-realistic faces to life for both cinematic and in-game sequences. The successful candidate will be working with all of the triple A studios like Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio (God of War Franchise), Guerrilla and many more.
Naughty Dog revealed that they have a brand new studio dedicated to Twitch streaming, so hopefully some interesting broadcasts can be expected, something which will likely bode well with fans disappointed from the delay of Uncharted 4. At least we will be able to get a closer look at its development.
Many fans are looking forward to see what Naughty Dog has in store for us at E3. Following the disappointing announcement of the delay of Uncharted 4, PlayStation 4 owners have lost one of the most exciting and biggest exclusives of the year, and E3 2015 will show us what the extra development time can do for our beloved franchise.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is currently planned for a Spring 2016 release for the PlayStation 4. We will bring you any new information on Uncharted 4 and Naughty Dog as soon as it becomes available, but we can surely look forward to the game having a huge presence at E3 2015 next month, and we will be sure to bring you full coverage from the show floor.
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