Associate Technical Artist

Requisition Number: 156526

Position Title: Associate Technical Artist

External Description:

Technical Artist

Role Overview

The Technical Artist (TA) acts as a bridge between the artists and programmers working on a game. They ensure art assets can be easily integrated into a game without sacrificing the overall artistic vision or exceeding the technical limits of the chosen platform. The role is a relatively new one for the games industry, but it is becoming increasingly important as game systems become more complex. The Technical Artist works part of the art team and coordinates closely with the lead artists and the art director, as well as with the lead programmers.

The main areas of responsibility for Technical Artists include setting up and maintaining the art production workflow and making decisions about which art packages and tools a studio should use. Technical Artists are also charged with investigating new techniques and implementing them within the team. The job often includes an instructional element, with the Technical Artist sharing their knowledge with other artists via training and mentoring sessions.

The Technical Artist typically works one step removed from the direct creation of game art assets, setting up the systems of production as well as solving problems as they arise. It’s crucial for the Technical Artist to keep up-to-date in changes in technology, both in terms of console hardware, art packages, and new techniques. The Technical Artist is expected to be able to create custom tools to improve the efficiency of their team. This is usually carried out using the scripting languages included in the main modeling and animation packages.

Technical Artists will play a key role in providing feedback or debugging complex assets such as character skeleton rigs and skinning systems. They will also research and oversee the implementation of rendering techniques such as normal and specular maps, particle systems, and pixel shaders as well.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and improve technologies and art workflows.
• Identify art workflow problems, and work with Technical Producers, SME’s, CG Sups and TA’s to solve them.
• Establish and enforce naming conventions within assets, tools, and workflows
• Integrate new technologies (internal and external) into art workflows.
• Interact with other artists/TA's on a daily basis to identify challenges and provide solutions.
• Accountable for asset delivery on time and meeting budget (memory and performance).
• Accountable for continuous asset build stability.

What skills does EA look for?

Technical Artists for EA will have experience involving both art and programming. A Technical Artist can come from either background, though most tend to have been artists who have specialized in a particular area of art production.

They should have a detailed knowledge of at least one industry-standard art package. The use of scripting languages is required, as is an understanding of the limitations of console hardware. Some Technical Artists come to games after holding a similar position in the film or special effects industries, where the experience of high-end rendering techniques or complex animation are useful skills.

The role of Technical Artist is a specialized one. Candidates must be able to show technical proficiency in areas such as lighting and rendering, texturing, and graphics-related programming languages such as shaders. They should also have extensive knowledge of art packages ranging from modeling to texturing and special effects and be able to customize them to be as streamlined as possible for specific projects.

Most Technical Artists will have a degree in a relevant visual art or technical subject; however, the most important prerequisite for the role is experience working with art tools and game hardware on a wide range of projects.

 Skills and Experience

• At least 3 years of games/animation/FX production experience.
• Intermediate knowledge of CG fundamentals: modeling, texturing/shading/surfacing, rigging, animation, lighting, rendering, compositing.
• Understanding of various gaming platform limitations with regard to visual assets.
• Advanced understanding of at least one 3D package, preferably Maya.
• Intermediate scripting experience with Python and/or Mel/Maya API.
• Proficiency with C# or C++ is preferred
• Excellent aptitude for troubleshooting CG issues.
• Ability to think creatively to resolve technical challenges and limitations.

Excellent communication skills, with a willingness and confidence to provide a bridge between artists and software engineers.

City:

State:

Community / Marketing Title: Associate Technical Artist

Company Profile:

Electronic Arts Inc.는 세계를 선도하는 인터랙티브 엔터테인먼트 소프트웨어 기업입니다. EA는 인터넷 콘솔, 개인용 컴퓨터, 휴대전화, 태블릿용 게임과 콘텐츠 및 온라인 서비스를 제공합니다.

EEOText: EA는 균등한 기회의 제공을 실천합니다. 모든 채용은 인종, 피부색, 출신 국가, 혈통, 생물학적/사회적 성별, 성 정체성 또는 표현, 성적 성향, 나이, 유전 정보, 종교, 장애 여부, 질병 유무, 임신 여부, 혼인 상태, 가족 상황, 군 복무 여부, 또는 법으로 금지된 기타 요인을 고려하지 않고 결정됩니다. 또한, 해당 직책에 합당한 능력을 갖추고 있다면 범죄 기록이 있는 지원자도 관련 법률을 준수하는 방식으로 채용 여부를 고려합니다. EA는 관련 법률에서 명시하는 대로 업무 공간에 장애가 있는 입사 지원자 또는 예정자를 위한 시설을 마련해두고 있습니다.

Days Open: 110

Can this position be remote?:

EEO Employer Verbiage:

EA는 균등한 기회의 제공을 실천합니다. 모든 채용은 인종, 피부색, 출신 국가, 혈통, 생물학적/사회적 성별, 성 정체성 또는 표현, 성적 성향, 나이, 유전 정보, 종교, 장애 여부, 질병 유무, 임신 여부, 혼인 상태, 가족 상황, 군 복무 여부 등의 요인을 고려하지 않고 결정됩니다. EA는 관련 법률에서 명시하는 대로 업무 공간에 장애가 있는 입사 지원자 또는 예정자를 위한 시설을 마련해두고 있습니다.