Blendshape Artists - Contract

Why PlayStation?
PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.
PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.
The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.
Blendshape Artist
This is a contracted position through our staffing partner DZConneX with a high likelihood of extension.
Remote, United States
PlayStation Studios Visual Arts on our San Diego campus provides world-class content, development and services to Worldwide Studios. Our team is always at the cutting edge of technology and partners with the industry’s best minds and companies!
We are looking for a Blendshape Artist to come aboard and work in conjunction with our riggers, the Animation Supervisor and the Character Supervisor to bring highly-realistic faces to life for both cinematic and in-game sequences. You will work with our multi-award winning team while working with AAA Worldwide Studios like Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, San Diego Studio, Guerrilla Games, and more!
If you're someone who pays attention to detail, has an eye for minute differences in facial movements, and one of "those" artists comfortable making facial expressions in the mirror... We want to talk to you!
Responsibilities:

• Constantly and proactively seek to improve the production processes, tools and pipelines for character creation, rigging and animation and rendering
• Create and lead others in the creation of photo-realistic humans, with particular attention to advanced facial modeling and expression modeling
• Sculpting a series of high-resolution wrinkle maps to add a final level of polish and nuance to the expressions
• Lead and mentor both internal character teams and outsourcing partners to reach aesthetic and technical goals
• You will work with our senior and leads on the topology edge-flow and determine the final positioning and refinement to key assets such as eyes, teeth, tongue and eyelashes
• Work closely with the external clients, internal artists and outsourcing partners to keep quality and style consistent across all characters
• When the model face is finalized the artist will sculpt a full array of naturalistic FACs and corrective blendshapes for expressive photorealistic humans
• The Blendshape Artist will be responsible for bringing highly-realistic faces to life for both cinematic and in-game sequences
• Create documentation, communicate requirements, and provide feedback to internal artists and outsourcing partners

Qualifications:

• Comfortable making facial expressions in the mirror and ideally capable of isolating difference expressions/actions in the face
• Understanding of Maya and basic understanding/use of blend shapes
• Self-manage and keep track of progress and troubleshoot technical issues with Maya
• Brainstorm ideas that keep in mind the overall goals of the project
• At least 2 years of professional character art experience in high-end 3D games and/or films
• The ability to grasp technical concepts at least from a broad perspective and follow technical workflows while pushing artistic limit
• Must have extreme attention to detail and an eye for minute differences/movements in the face
• Grasp of realistic human anatomy with special emphasis on the head/face
• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent

Desired qualifications:

• Experience with facial rigging of any kind as well as sculpting in Zbrush, Mudbox, etc.
• Experience with facial blend shape workflows on realistic humans
• Expert understanding of human anatomy
• Experience with Perforce
• Experience with Blendshape Combination System plug-in

At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.
Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.
In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision. Click here to learn more.
This is a flexible role that can be remote, with varying pay ranges based on geographic location. For example, if you are based out of Seattle, the estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate.
$43 — $51 USD
Equal Opportunity Statement:
Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.
We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.
PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.