Senior Effects Artist - Brisbane

We are currently seeking experienced Senior Effects Artists to join our growing crew.

Employment periods: Short - long term contract, starting ASAP
Location: Brisbane, Australia. This position is open to Australian and international applicants. Visa and relocation assistance provided where applicable.

Position Overview 
Reporting directly to the Effects Supervisor you will be responsible for the development and creation of wide ranging natural phenomena for a variety of live action feature films.

Applicants presenting highly realistic effects work in their portfolio will be reviewed with priority. RSP is a Houdini based effects facility operating in a Linux system environment.

As a Senior Effects Artist, you'll have extensive experience with Houdini in SOPS, DOPS, VOPS, VEX and Python.  You'll be comfortable working in Linux and using command line tools. You will have experience setting up effects for other artists.

You work openly and collaboratively with other departments. You are an excellent time manager and forward thinker who delivers to schedule and to brief. Using Houdini, you have previously been responsible for creating wide ranging naturalistic effects simulation including destruction, water, fire and procedural effects.

Your ability to own your delivery is highly regarded by your previous supervisors. As a professional Effects Artist, you provide confidence to the production team because you maintain absolute clarity in what is expected of you. You are the highly technical lead who seeks to understand the brief and help your team nail it.

Responsibilities

• Create and deliver technical and creative effects solutions; including effects simulation, and effects look development,
  that match the brief.
• Tightly adhere to production schedule and deliver to key milestones, presenting your work-in-progress daily.
• Work with animation, lighting & compositing as necessary in order to meet FX animation objectives.
• Adapt your effects and setups as the brief evolves.
• Lead your team in diagnosing and resolving issues using Houdini and Python scripts
• Review and QA both your work and the work of your team for internal and external delivery ensuring it hits creative and technical notes.
• Assemble and / or modify complex shaders.
• Create consistent caches & shaders of effects simulations for the lighting department.
• Create consistent lighting and effects render passes for compositing.
• Create effects composites in order to demonstrate the effect relative to the plate.
• Work in a manner that allows other effects team members to pick up your work if necessary.
• Contribute to creative and technical conversations, with a view to raising the quality level
  of the final image.
• Actively mentor and develop less experienced team members.
• Manage your workload. Advise the head of department of any obstacles which may affect delivery quality,
  timeliness or budget.
• Promote a collaborative and enjoyable workplace influencing morale, fostering purposeful discussions
  and a positive work ethic.

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum 4-5 years professional experience creating high-end effects for live-action
  feature films.
• Previous experience leading a team of Effects Artists for a sequence/show highly beneficial.
• Expert user of Houdini, and Arnold. RSP operates in a Linux system environment.
• Strong scripting experience using Python and VEX
• Utilitarian knowledge of other discipline software such as Nuke.
• Ability to create look development for effects from start to finish, that can be executed across many shots.
• Real world understanding of physics, math, proportion, depth and colour.
• Understanding of naturalistic light and motion with a focus on dynamics and natural phenomenon.
• Superior level of attention to detail and strong eye for aesthetic composition.
• Expert organisational skills.
• Act as an example to others for professionalism and morale.
• Maintain a calm and professional demeanour in a delivery focused work environment.
• Technical and creative problem solving with a can-do mindset.
• Visual Effects, Fine Art, Computer Science, Physics or Mathematics or related tertiary
  qualification may be required for international applicants.

Those closely matching this job description will be contacted for further information.

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