Technical Artist II

Requisition Number: 166451

Position Title: Technical Artist 2

External Description:

A SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sport through industry-leading sports videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, and EA SPORTS UFC.

Technical Artist II 

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 artistic vision or exceeding the technical limits of the chosen platform. The Technical Artist works as part of the art team and coordinates with the lead artists, the art director, and with the lead programmers.

The main responsibilities 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 investigate new techniques and implementing them within the team. 

The Technical Artist typically works one step removed from the direct creation of game art assets, setting up the systems of production and solving problems as they arise. It’s crucial for the Technical Artist to keep up-to-date in changes in technology, both regarding console hardware, art packages, and new techniques. The Technical Artist will 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 help provide 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 technologies and art workflows.
• Identify art workflow problems, and work with Technical Producers, Expert’s, CG Sups and TA’s to solve them.
• Establish and enforce naming conventions within assets, tools, and workflows
• Integrate new technologies into art workflows.
• Work with other artists/TA's on a daily basis to identify challenges and provide solutions.
• Oversee asset and meeting budget (memory and performance).
• Oversee asset build stability.

What skills does EA look for?

Technical Artists II, are expected to have three years of experience, involving both art and programming experience. A Technical Artist can come from either background, though most tend to have been artists who have specialized in an area of art production.

You have a detailed knowledge of multiple industry-standard art packages. 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 a Technical Artist is a specialized one. You will show technical proficiency in areas such as lighting and rendering, texturing, and graphics-related programming languages such as shaders. You should also have knowledge of art packages ranging from modeling to texturing and special effects and can 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 is; experience working with art tools and game hardware on multiple projects.

Skills and Experience

• 3 years of games/animation/FX production experience.
• Intermediate knowledge of CG fundamentals: modeling, texturing/shading/surfacing, rigging, animation, lighting, rendering, and compositing.
• Understanding of multiple gaming platform limitations with regard to visual assets.
• Experience with at least one 3D package.
• Intermediate scripting experience with Python or Mel/Maya API.
• Proficiency with C# or C++
• Experience troubleshooting CG issues.
• think creatively to resolve technical challenges and limitations.
• Experience providing a bridge between artists and software engineers.

City:

State:

Community / Marketing Title: Technical Artist II

Company Profile:

Electronic Arts Inc. ist ein weltweit führender Anbieter interaktiver Unterhaltungssoftware. EA bietet Spiele, Inhalte und Online-Dienste für internetfähige Spielkonsolen, Personalcomputer, Mobiltelefone und Tablets an.

EEOText: EA engagiert sich für Chancengleichheit und Gleichstellung. Alle Personalentscheidungen werden unabhängig von Ethnie, Hautfarbe, Herkunft, Abstammung, Geschlecht, Geschlechtsidentität oder ausgelebtem Geschlecht, sexueller Orientierung, Alter, genetischer Information, Religion, Behinderung, Krankheit, Schwangerschaft, Familienstand, Veteranenstatus oder anderer durch das Gesetz geschützte Charakteristiken getroffen. Wir berücksichtigen unter Einhaltung der geltenden rechtlichen Bestimmungen auch qualifizierte Kandidaten mit Vorstrafen. EA sorgt außerdem für die durch geltendes Gesetz vorgeschriebenen Anpassungen am Arbeitsplatz für Individuen mit anerkannten Behinderungen.

Days Open: 82

Can this position be remote?: 1

EEO Employer Verbiage:

EA engagiert sich für Chancengleichheit und Gleichstellung. Alle Personalentscheidungen werden unabhängig von Ethnie, Hautfarbe, Herkunft, Abstammung, Geschlecht, Geschlechtsidentität oder ausgelebtem Geschlecht, sexueller Orientierung, Alter, genetischer Information, Religion, Behinderung, Krankheit, Schwangerschaft, Familienstand oder Veteranenstatus getroffen. EA sorgt außerdem für die durch geltendes Gesetz vorgeschriebenen Anpassungen am Arbeitsplatz für Individuen mit anerkannten Behinderungen.