Become part of a team working on some of the most rewarding, large-scale creative projects to be found in any entertainment medium - all within an inclusive, highly-motivated environment where you can learn and collaborate with some of the most talented people in the industry.
Rockstar is on the lookout for a talented engineer to join our Animation R&D team, with a background in animation retargeting or related techniques.
This position will help us develop advanced animation systems for our large open world character-based games. The successful applicant will have strong C++ programming skills, good knowledge of and interest in character animation systems, and passion for realistic, high quality character motion.
This is a full-time, in-office position based out of Rockstar’s NYC headquarters in Downtown Manhattan.
WHAT WE DO
- We develop animation technology, from performance capture to a sophisticated runtime engine, for massive open world games.
- We are a global team of programmers and researchers who collaborate on pushing the boundaries of character animation on next generation hardware.
- We support and work closely with animation, gameplay, physics, tools, graphics, performance capture, and technical art teams across multiple Rockstar studios.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Help invent, develop, expand, maintain, and support an extensive runtime animation system, pipeline, and tools.
- Develop robust and performant technology to adjust animation to different characters, situations, and environments.
- Collaborate and contribute to the research and development of features related to procedural animation, motion adaptation, and character motion synthesis.
- Keep up to date with the latest academic and industry breakthroughs, independently research and develop improvements to continuously push our technology forward.
QUALIFICATIONS
- A degree in Computer Science or a related discipline, or equivalent industry experience.
- Proven development of solutions in animation retargeting, motion adaptation, or related subjects.
- Experience creating, extending or working directly with an animation system within a game engine.
SKILLS
- Good communication skills, ability to clearly share complex technical information with other programmers, animators and technical artists.
- Knowledge of character animation technology, particularly retargeting and IK systems.
- Familiarity with common optimization and multi-threading techniques.
PLUSES
Please note that these are desirable skills and are not required to apply for the position.
- Industry experience working on AAA character based games, or character based VFX animation.
- C# or python programming skills.
- Experience developing within a large existing codebase, collaborating, or working independently within a large team.
- Experience with motion synthesis or style