Hands-on experience with an end-to-end character pipeline, including asset creation and integration into a game engine.
Knowledge of rigging and animation needs to effectively guide the pipeline and collaborate with animation teams.
Understanding of technical budgets, polygon counts, materials, asset structure, and modular character customization.
Proven experience in establishing workflows and standards for character production.
Familiarity with Unreal Engine 5 or relevant experience with Unreal Engine 4.
Responsibilities
Identify technical needs across character creation, rigging, skinning, and engine integration.
Shape the character technology vision in collaboration with technical directors and associate technical directors.
Define the character pipeline, including workflows, naming conventions, and validation steps.
Set and share character standards for asset structure, versioning, rigs, and materials.
Create or recommend tools for character artists, riggers, and animators to enhance productivity.
Optimize and debug character assets for performance metrics like geometry and shader complexity.
Resolve complex character issues, including deformation quality and modular character systems.
Benefits
Collaborative work environment with a focus on innovation.
Opportunity to shape the technical direction of character creation.
Access to cutting-edge technology and tools in game development.
Professional development opportunities within a leading gaming company.
Full Job Description
As a Senior Technical Artist - Characters (Unreal) at Ubisoft Montréal, you will be the point of reference for technical matters related to character content creation, from concept handoff through in-engine integration. You will define how characters are produced on the project and put the end-to-end pipeline in place. You will guide the resolution of complex issues across modeling, texturing, rigging, skinning, and runtime integration, while advising on the project's broader technical direction.
What you'll do
Identify technical needs across character creation, rigging, skinning, levels of detail, materials, and engine integration
Shape the character technology vision with technical directors and associate technical directors, in line with the art and animation vision
Define the character pipeline, including creation-to-engine workflows, naming and export conventions, and validation steps
Set and share character standards for asset structure, versioning, rigs, skeletons, materials, and textures
Create or recommend tools for character artists, riggers, and animators, including export automation, asset validators, rig builders, and batch processing utilities
Optimize and debug character assets for geometry, draw calls, skinning cost, memory use, and shader complexity
Resolve complex character issues, including deformation quality, cloth and hair integration, and modular character systems
Collaborate with animation and programming teams on character features and runtime systems, and communicate progress to associates and technical directors
Document standards and tools, follow developments in character technology, help align teams around shared goals, and contribute to performance evaluations within the specialty
QUALIFICATIONS
What you bring to the team
Hands-on experience with an end-to-end character pipeline, including how character assets are created and integrated into a game engine
Knowledge of rigging and animation needs sufficient to guide the pipeline and work with animation teams
Knowledge of technical budgets, polygon counts, materials, asset structure, and modular character customization
Experience establishing workflows and standards for character production
Experience with Unreal Engine 5, or relevant character pipeline experience with Unreal Engine 4
What to send our way
Send your CV highlighting relevant skills and experience
Share a portfolio or links to relevant projects
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA is a French video game company headquartered in Montreuil with several development studios across the world. It publishes games for several video game franchises, including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Just Dance, Prince of Persia, Rayman, Raving Rabbids, and Tom Clancy's. The company's largest development studio is Ubisoft Montreal in Canada, which is responsible for the development of Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Watch Dogs, among others. Ubisoft is the fourth largest publicly traded game company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalization, after Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two Interactive. The company has over 18,000 employees and has development studios in 35 countries. Ubisoft's revenue for the fiscal year 2020-2021 was ?2.2 billion.
