Title: VFX Art Director - NEON
Company: Samsung Research America (SRA)
Lab: NEON
Location: Mountain View, CA

Lab Summary

We are NEON, a subsidiary of Samsung dedicated to creating Artificial Humans who interact with you in ways indistinguishable from the real world. Our NEONs (Neo humaNs) draw inspiration from the most natural of interfaces: interaction with another human being. Bringing together a world-class R&D team of researchers, developers, and engineers, that are building production technology at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, machine learning, real-time computing, conversational agents, computer graphics, design, and more.

NEONs hold the potential to advance our digital world while preserving the elements of human interaction that are meaningful to all of us. If you share that dream – if you want to make the visions you saw in Her, Blade Runner, and more into tangible reality – and are passionate about taking such ideas into handcrafted renderings, we would love to hear from you!

Position Summary

We are looking for an experienced and visionary VFX Art Director who is responsible for visually interpreting ideas communicated by the Key Creative and Engineers on captures and post processing techniques to generate data that will be used to create artificial humans. This role will also take initiative on learning and implementing new artificial human capture and rendering technologies in both 2D and 3D from hardware to software.

This role is open to immediate and future availabilities.

Requirements

  • 5+ years of experience as a VFX Artist in production/post-production or game VFX art direction.
  • Demonstrated experience in animation / VFX pipelines that scales across multiple platforms if applicable.
  • High proficiency in digital content creation with After Effects, Blackmagic, Resolve, Blender, Cinema 4D, Maya, or Nuke.
  • Knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics of humans including facial expressions and muscle movements with knowledge of motion capture and/or photogrammetry.
  • Prototyping and automating creative workflows within DCC programs. (ie scripting using expressions in After Effects or using node-based software like Fusion, Nuke or Houdini).
  • Understanding what makes a person appear photorealistic in terms of light, color, composition and perspective, and providing look development around technical constraints.
  • Knowledge of hands-on videography/photography, such as shooting with professional camera(s), lighting talent, and audio recording.Knowledge of coding in Javascript or Python a strong plus.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and set technical standards and production processes to ensure work achieves visual quality and performance standards.
  • Lead, maintain, and operate wide range of production equipment for video shoots on and off site.
  • Organize, shoot, and edit footage, including audio, graphics, and animation for post production.
  • Partner with others through pre-, post- and general production to capture highly technical video contents, and oversee logistical and hardware preparations.
  • Interact with talents and crewmembers to facilitate, plan, and direct shoots.
  • Work on multiple concurrent projects with different teams.
  • Understand and organize digital asset management
  • Self driven and passionate about current capture methodologies that can help improve our systems in traditional single camera, multi-camera, motion capture, photogrammetry.
  • Manage and maintain production equipment and space on-site capture stage used for shoots.

A Little Extra!

  • Familiar with multi-camera data capture, like photogrammetry, 360, or motion capture 
  • Experience with 3D Facial Modeling and rigging  

 **Must provide a demo reel/online portfolio to be considered for the role

Additional Information

Work Hours

Incumbent must make themselves available during core business hours.

Physical Requirements

This position will be performed in an office setting. The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers, and reach with hands and arms.

EEO Statement

Samsung is committed to encouraging a diverse workplace and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

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