jobby: Riggers, The Little Prince (feature), Montreal

Last updated on November 8, 2013

November 4, 2013
The Little Prince is looking for Riggers to join its team in Montreal. The Little Prince, based on the beloved book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is an Animated Feature Film directed by Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda) with Production Design by Lou Romano (The Incredibles) and Character Design by Peter De Sève (Ice Age). It is being produced by Onyx Films and animated at Mikros Image Canada in Montreal. Responsibilities:

-‐ Must be able to rig advanced props, vehicles, sets and characters with an average amount supervision.
-‐ Familiar with all rigging tools.
-‐ Able to write average scripts using MEL and/or Python.
-‐ Possess a solid understanding of how the module system works, including how to create a custom rig.
-‐ Provide technical direction on models, mesh resolution and wireframe structure, that by the time a model reaches the rigging phase it meets the technical requirements needed for the highest level of rigging and skinning.
-‐ Work closely with Animators to develop rigs that will allow animators the full range of motion and acting that is called for by the story, as well as, a logical and easy to use control structure
-‐ Communicate needs for custom tools, scripts, etc, to Character Supervisor, Rigging Supervisor, other Riggers, and TD’s. Assist in the planning and design, as well as developing the tools and scripts as needed.
-‐ Maintain a thorough knowledge of the production pipeline.
-‐ Communicate work status to Character Supervisor, Rigging Supervisor, and others, as required.
-‐ Constantly be learning and experimenting with new techniques to better our process.

Qualifications and Experience:

— Qualified candidates should have a solid understanding of anatomy and articulation of realistic humans and creatures.
-‐ Experience with Python is strongly recommended.
-‐ Basic modeling skills as well as a good understanding of polygonal mesh flow and traditional animation principles is a bonus.
-‐ Knowledge of Softimage rigging tools including; joint and skeleton creation, skinning and weighting, IK setup, blend-shapes and deformers.
-‐ Strong knowledge on Maya’s dependency nodes, DAG node architecture to develop a custom node connections.
-‐ Knowledge of bipedal human, quadrupedal animation and bird anatomy.