General Summary
The Render Technical Director (TD) is responsible for technically supporting the Lighting department, under the guidance of Technical and Creative Leadership to create complex, photorealistic lighting elements necessary to support the artistic goals and story concepts of the production, through the design, implementation and support of tools and workflows that address production needs.
Job Functions
- Work with fellow Pipeline Technical Directors (TDs) to design, develop and maintain digital pipeline tools that pertain to lighting, including shots and CG assets as well as procedural systems for complex, photorealistic lighting setups.
- Extend the capabilities of Katana through custom scripts and plugins, addressing the needs of Lighting and Look Development Artists.
- Diagnose and resolve technical and creative lighting issues encountered by artists.
- Collaborate with the Technology Team to integrate Lighting and Look Dev products into our Asset Management system for the core Lighting and Look Dev DCCs, including Katana, Mari, and Substance Painter.
- Collaborate with Technical and Creative leadership to refine, support and extend USD based pipeline tools and techniques in accordance with evolving industry standards.
- Identify areas of industry innovation and help to develop and maintain custom tools, templates, scripts, workflows, and documentation for the lighting team; identify productivity improvements in collaboration with artists across disciplines.
- Provide technical guidance for quality control of other artists’ work, as needed.
- Support relevant supervisors and leads, working with Show and Facility Technology to design, develop and deliver visually creative and technically sound solutions that address the needs of shots and sequences.
- Assist with the support of existing tools via bug fixes and version updates.
Qualifications
- 5+ years’ experience lighting high-end photo real VFX for feature films or television.
- Strong knowledge of lighting principles, tools and workflows.
- Experience working with Katana, its various APIs, and Plug-in System.
- Expertise in coding with Python and Lua, including familiarity with best practices, as well as the Python core library and common external libraries.
- Experience with Mari and/or Substance Painter, a plus.
- Working knowledge of Nuke and compositing principles.
- Understanding of applicable software and platforms including Maya, Houdini and Renderman.
- Experience with advanced techniques such as Global Illumination, HDRI, subsurface scattering and real-world lighting set ups.
- Experience with Universal Scene Description (USD) APIs and usage, a plus.
Physical Demands and Work Environment
The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Physical demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to walk; stand; sit; use hands to operate standard office equipment; reach with hands and arms; balance; stoop; talk or hear both in person and by telephone. The employee must lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus.
- Work environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee works under typical office conditions and is exposed to variable indoor temperatures. The noise level is usually quiet or moderate.
Location
On-site in Hillsboro, OR / and also eligible for remote work.
Salary
Salary is commensurate with skills and experience.
Disclaimer
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified.
Please review our EMPLOYMENT DISCLAIMER and MATERIALS SUBMISSION AGREEMENT.