Lead Look Development Technical Director

About ILM

Founded by George Lucas, ILM is the leading effects facility in the world, with studios located in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Sydney and Mumbai. ILM has created visual effects for over 325 feature films and has played a key role in seven of the top 10 worldwide box-office hits of all time and has contributed to 25 of the top 50. ILM has set the standard for visual effects, creating some of the most stunning images in the history of film. At the forefront of the digital revolution, the company continues to break new ground in visual effects, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema. You can see some of our current projects here.

Your role?

Lead Look Development Technical Directors produce high-quality look dev and shading for our CG Assets, needing only initial direction and guidance from their Supervisors.

What will you be doing?

• Assist the Lookdev team, artistically and technically

• Develop and maintain the material networks and tools the team needs

• Help to assign the work to the right person in the team

• Works closely with Lighting Supervisors, Lookdev Supervisors and CG Supervisors to determine the best approach to solving CG challenges and developing the final look

• Creates efficient rendering setups in order to optimize render farm usage

• Stays on schedule and meets set deadlines while maintaining the highest level of work quality

• Ensures there is ongoing communication with Production and Lookdev team regarding schedules and deadlines

• Helps mentor Junior Artists within the Look Dev team

• Create & maintain custom hero materials and shading networks when necessary

• Deep understanding of real world materials

• Understanding of energy conservation principles

• Deep understanding of Physically based rendering and shader models

• Ability to work and communicate with model, texture and groom artists to get the best possible results

• Ability to build and maintain complex shading networks with artist usability and user-interface support in mind

To be a contributing member of this team, you will have a mix of these skills:

• Degree and/or professional training in Computer Graphics, with advanced work experience in VFX or Feature Animation

• Exhibits excellent listening and communication skills, able to receive direction and criticism

• Demonstrates an excellent aesthetic eye, anticipates potential problems and uses knowledge of how to use the tools to achieve the desired look

• Demonstrates the ability to help and teach more junior-level artists

• Demonstrates the ability to prioritize tasks, manages time very well, provides everyone with accurate time estimates on shot task completion

• Demonstrates the ability to work within a team environment with minimal supervision to complete an asset

• A thorough understanding of the vfx pipeline from modeling through texturing, grooming, rendering and compositing

• Ability to pick-up new techniques and the ability to learn new software quickly and easily

• Knowledge of Katana and Renderman is beneficial

• Knowledge of python is beneficial

• Excellent knowledge in shading technologies

• A strong understanding of Linux based operating systems

• Good understanding of physically plausible shading techniques

JoinILM

This position is with Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. LLC, which is part of a business segment we call Industrial Light & Magic.

Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, colour, religion or belief, sex, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, disability or pregnancy or maternity. Disney fosters a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a rapidly changing world.