January 16, 2012
About Pixar Canada
Pixar Canada is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pixar Animation Studios, the world leader in animated films. The Vancouver studio produces short-form animation focusing on legacy Pixar characters from films such as Toy Story and Cars. This is an opportunity to be part of a diverse and talented team producing world-class digital character animation.
Summary of Position
The Software Engineer will join a small team responsible for developing, supporting, debugging and extending Pixar’s animation software and
production specific technologies at the Vancouver studio. Additionally, he or she will be responsible for technical animation, rendering and pipeline
trouble shooting and problem solving, as well as technical innovation in areas including dynamics, deformation, simulation and procedural
techniques. The Production Software Engineer is a self confident, positive person who thrives on constant change and learning. He or she will report
to the Production Software Lead.
Responsibilities
Hands-on software engineering, directly responsible for design, programming, testing, debugging, documentation, and artist/production staff
support of production software tools.
Collaborates, shares and openly receives feedback from other Engineering team members on code quality, software construction methodologies and
development infrastructure systems
Supports our proprietary animation system. Support includes problem solving, reading code to understand a program’s intended usage, analyzing
and resolving bug reports, and teaching production crew members on how best to use the system
Proposes, designs, implements, tests and supports extensions to the animation system.
Supports technology related to Pixar Canada’s production data pipeline and distributed rendering system
Writes and maintains plug-ins for licensed 3rd-party tools such as Maya, Houdini, Shake and Photoshop.
Writes, maintains and supports project-specific programs to aid in the development and deployment of digital models, shaders, effects, and imagery.
Writes and maintains documentation, both in-code and user level, for local software and local software changes.
Functions as a very technical Technical Artist (“TD”), providing programming and technical support to other TDs who may not be programmers.
Uses programming skills and extensive knowledge of software internals to assist in modeling, shading, rendering, simulation and effects.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in computer science, mathematics, physics, or engineering.
Must have strong programming skills (C/C++, Python) and substantial experience developing software and scripting in a UNIX/Linux environment or
OS X
Must have professional coding experience in large code bases developed in team
Must have strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail and quality.
Must have good written and verbal communication skills, and be able to communicate clearly and effectively with both technical and non-technical users of the software.
Must be able to work alone and collaboratively, often with multiple tasks and under deadline pressure.
Must be open to direction and able to embrace change.
Must have a strong interest in animation, computer graphics, visual art or film
In addition to these required qualifications, any of the following attributes will be considered a plus:
•An understanding of 3D computer graphics theory and practice including abstract data types and mathematical concepts
•Experience in CG animation production for television, film, games or visual effects.
•Experience with a high-end 3D modeling and animation system (such as Maya, Modo, XSI, Houdini or 3D Studio Max).
•Experience with a rendering program such as Pixar’s RenderMan™.
•An understanding of composition, physical motion, weight, balance, texture and form.
•Skill in drawing, sketching, or sculpting.
Submission Process
If you are interested in and qualified for this position, please submit your cover letter and resume on our website www.pixarcanada.com.
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