OPEN POSITION
Principal VFX Artist
Summary of Position
This position is responsible for look development, design and implementation of realtime visual effects for a next-generation console RPG using Unreal Engine. You will be responsible for designing the look of and creating VFX assets for environments, characters, gameplay and presentation. This includes combat and magic, environmental destruction and interaction, and presentation/UI. You should have a passion for making games, strong artistic skills, and an understanding of how to optimize performance for realtime playback. This is a full-time on-site position in Bellevue, WA.
Hidden Path is an inclusive, collaborative environment. You will be working with animators, designers, engineers, and other disciplines from all walks of life who have a variety of different perspectives. Being able to navigate and thrive in this kind of environment will be key to your success.
Your daily responsibilities:
- Identify and plan VFX elements in coordination with design team
- Identify and plan VFX hooks in coordination with engineering team
- Own VFX look development for the project
- Pre-visualize VFX assets
- Create in-game VFX assets
- Optimize VFX for perf/scalability
- Integrate and tune VFX using hooks provided by engineering team
- Refine / iterate VFX assets based on team feedback
- Communicate risks and proposed resolutions in a timely fashion
- Maintain workflow and pipeline docs for VFX
Required skills:
- UE4 Cascade
- UE4 Material Editor
- UE4 Blueprints
- Understanding of UE4 graphics scalability controls and LOD architecture
- DCC tools as necessary (Maya, Houdini)
You should:
- Have both an aesthetic eye and technical proficiency in UE4
- Be passionate about your work and interested in pushing the boundaries of the discipline
- Have a strong work ethic, self-direction, and constant drive to make the game better
- Have clear verbal and written communication skills
- Be able to maintain positive interpersonal relationships with others
- Be organized and able to document your work such that others can understand it
- Make timely deliverables
- Have a love of and passion for games and entertainment
- Possess a low drama personality
Nice to have:
- Procedural/physics-based simulation experience
- Alembic cache workflow from Houdini / Maya to UE4
- UE4 Cloth sim experience
- UE4 Chaos sim experience
- UE4 Niagara experience
- Familiarity with Confluence / JIRA / Perforce
Benefits:
- Robust health insurance options
- 401(k) with company contribution
- Employee profit sharing
- Life insurance
- Vacation time plus paid holidays
- Unlimited sick leave
- Paid parental leave
Internships
Regarding internships, we’re very sorry, but we’re too small a company for internship positions. Please contact us later in your career when you’re ready for high quality, self-directed, full time employment.