Sony Pictures Imageworks Seeks Software Engineers for Render Development, Motion Capture/Facial Animation, & Other Positions

Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is an Academy Award-winning, state-of-the-art
visual effects and character animation company dedicated to the art and
artistry of digital production and character creation. The company has been
recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Oscars
for its work on "Spider-Man 2" and the CG-animated short film "The
ChubbChubbs!," and nominations for "Spider-Man," "Hollow Man," "Stuart
Little" and "Starship Troopers."  Imageworks continues to raise the level in
the visual effects and character animation businesses, becoming a major
force in the industry by providing leading edge technology to its
world-class artists.

Current projects include:  "Zathura," "The Chronicles of Narnia:  The Lion,
The Witch and The Wardrobe," "Superman Returns," "Monster House," "Ghost
Rider" and Sony Pictures Animation's first animated feature, "Open Season."


Imageworks is a division of Sony Pictures Digital, which oversees the
digital production and online entertainment assets of Sony Pictures
Entertainment. Sony Pictures is an EO/AA employer currently looking for the
following:  Software Engineer, Render Development; Software Engineer, Motion
Capture/Facial Animation; 3D C++ Developers; a Color Scientist; and Senior
Production Services Technicians. (See below for job descriptions.)

Please e-mail your resume (PDF, Word, or HTML format) to
swjobs-/[email protected]

For more info on Imageworks (plus additional job listings), go to:

www.imageworks.com

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Lisa Kelly/Tech Recruiter

***

Job Descriptions:

Software Engineer, Render Development

Job focus is on the development and integration of a global illumination
renderer into a Maya centric lighting pipeline.  Experience with GI
rendering in a production environment a plus. Experience in the following
areas highly desired:

    - C/C++ experience
    - excellent math skills
    - ray tracing
    - global illumination
    - sampling algorithms / PDF's
    - ray differentials / texture filtering
    - spatial data structures
    - subdivision surfaces

***

Software Developer for Motion Capture/Facial Animation 

Will help in-house facial animation development effort for movie production.

Required Skills:
- College Degree in Computer Science, Math or Physics
- Must have worked on projects that relate to data driven facial animation
- Must have strong math skills - worked on 3D graphics, numerical analysis,
optimization
- Strong programming skills in C/C++

Additional desirable skills
- Production experience with visual effect/games
- Worked and written plugins/MEL code for Maya
- Previous mocap experience, knowledge of 3D reconstruction, retargeting
- Usage of DIVA, matlab, python - a definite plus

***

3D C++ Developers

Design, develop, and maintain software tools for CG productions.

Essential skills:

-Knowledge of 3D computer graphics
-Strong programming skills in C/C++
-Knowledge of GUI programming
-Experience using 3D modeling/animation software (Maya, Houdini, etc.)
-Experience in Unix/Linux -Strong math background

Desirable skills:

-Programming skills in Python
-Knowledge of Qt GUI programming
-Maya/MEL knowledge
-Experience working on a CG feature film

***

Color Scientist

The Color Scientist will be responsible for the maintenance and tracking of
all color issues in the facility.

Responsibilities:

    * Develop and maintain new color space techniques based on changing
technology.
    * Work with film I/O personnel in maintenance of film recorder and film
scanner color Look-Up-Tables
    * Work with systems staff in developing standardized calibration
procedures for artist monitors, digital cinema    and film projectors
    * Create standardized viewing environments for proper color viewing.
    * Automating color calibration procedures
    * Measuring and characterizing color displays, projection systems and
film scanning and recording equipment.
    * Develop and maintain 3D look-up table creation methods

Qualifications:

    * Familiarity with display colorimetry including CRT, LCD and Digital
Cinema display devices.
    * Capable of measuring, calibrating and comparing data of various
display devices.
    * Familiarity with standard motion picture film lab procedures and film
exposure guidelines.
    * A strong understanding of motion picture film release print procedures
and adjustment parameters.
    * An expert understanding of display color-spaces including color gamut,
luminance and dynamic range of various displays, recording and storage
pipeline elements.
    * Familiarity with the color elements of standard High Definition
broadcast formats (Advanced Television formats).
    * Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent.
    * Experience in image processing and numerical techniques
    * Programming experience in C/C++, Python
    * Math or physics background a plus

***

Senior Production Services Technician

The Senior Production Services Technician position is a great opportunity
for technical individuals with an interest in visual effects to assist in
the production of feature films. This group is responsible for managing all
data for a particular show, including file backup and retrieval, monitoring
of renders and image processes, and various troubleshooting tasks.

Duties include:

    * Troubleshooting a wide variety of technical problems.
    * Communication with Digital, Feature Production, Editorial, I/O,
Systems and Software departments.
    * Render queue management.
    * File/image processing and manipulation.
    * Quality control of images displayed in dailies.
    * Creating reports for dailies, rounds and archiving.
    * Prepping and loading frames onto high resolution viewing systems.
    * Monitoring nightly filmouts.
    * Disk resource management.
    * Data archiving and restoration.
    * Handling of outside vendor media.
    * Digital I/O for the Inferno department.
    * Scripting tools to automate common tasks and improve workflow. 

Qualifications:

    * Bachelors degree in a technical field.
    * Solid Linux or UNIX Operating System experience.
    * Proven shell/Perl scripting skills.
    * Strong communication, troubleshooting and multitasking abilities.
    * Past leadership or managerial-type role.
    * Previous production experience preferred.
    * Knowledge of various graphics applications a plus. 

www.imageworks.com 





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