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.

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Community / Marketing Title: Associate Technical Artist

Company Profile:

Electronic Arts Inc. 是全球领先的互动娱乐软件公司。 EA 提供适用于联网主机、个人电脑、手机和平板电脑的游戏、内容和在线服务。

EEOText: EA 是一个奉行机会均等的雇主。 所有招聘决定均不考虑种族、肤色、国籍、血统、生理性别、社会性别、性别认同或表达、性向、年龄、遗传信息、宗教信仰、残障状况、医疗状况、怀孕状况、婚姻状况、家庭状况、退伍军人身份或其他任何受法律保护的特征等因素的影响。 我们也会遵照相关法律，考虑雇佣带犯罪记录的合格申请者。 EA 还会遵照相关法律，为符合条件的残障个体改善工作环境。

Days Open: 110

Can this position be remote?:

EEO Employer Verbiage:

EA 是一个奉行机会均等的雇主。 所有招聘决定均不考虑种族、肤色、国籍、血统、生理性别、社会性别、性别认同或表达、性向、年龄、遗传信息、宗教信仰、残障状况、医疗状况、怀孕状况、婚姻状况、家庭状况或退伍军人身份等因素的影响。 EA 还会遵照相关法律，为符合条件的残障个体改善工作环境。