Walt Disney Animation Studios is looking for a Simulation Technical Director.
The Simulation TD has strong artistic skills built on top of a solid technical foundation. The Simulation TD is responsible for generating high quality hair and cloth simulation rigs. You will work closely with the industry's top talent to bring characters to life. This is a regular, full time, staff position that will be located at our Vancouver, BC studio. Please note that relocation eligibility may be determined based on role and individual circumstance.
Responsibilities:
- Tailor and fit garments for use in simulation rigs to maintain appeal and art-direction through a wide range of motion
- Create garments that are principally constructed and fine tune their properties to express specific and often stylized materials
- Collaborate closely with the Look Development Department in the development of the hair groom
- Construct robust hair simulation rigs that maintain appeal and art-direction through a wide range of motion
- Shepherd the simulation aspects of the character from design turnover to delivery into technical animation and debugging any assets/shots with self-sufficiency
- Work closely with adjacent departments (comprised of visual development, modeling, rigging, look development, animation and character fx), iterating quickly and addressing notes accurately
- Actively engage in and potentially be cast to other tasks that the department supports (rigging, simulation setup, and technical animation)
Requirements:
- Strong understanding of the real world construction of garments
- Knowledge of real world tailoring and pattern making
- Deep understanding of Marvelous Designer and/or Clo3D
- Understanding of the principles of animation and design
- Strong desire to understand simulation tools, solvers, and real world physics
- An attention to detail focused on delivering a quality product
- Experience working in collaborative environments and taking direction
- 3+ years of professional experience in cloth and hair simulation
- Comfort with Linux environments
- A Bachelor's degree in Art, Design, Illustration, Computer Graphics, Engineering, related field or equivalent experience
An applicant will benefit from having:
- Previous leadership/mentoring experience
- An understanding of Python scripting
- Experience in modeling, grooming, rigging, and/or character fx