About the role
Job Overview
Creature - Tokyo (Hybrid)
Employment Type: Contractor
Role Summary
Megalis is seeking a Creature FX Artist to join their global team. This role involves creating and supporting simulations and setups for hair, cloth, muscles, skin, feathers, and other secondary animation. This position combines technical rigging and simulation expertise with creative sensibility, contributing directly to the final look and feel of CG creatures and assets. This role is suited for technically skilled artists with a strong understanding of physical motion, anatomy, and behavior in simulated environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Creature Simulation: Create realistic and stylized simulations for cloth, hair, feathers, muscles, and skin.
- Non-Character Simulation: Apply simulation skills to non-character elements such as sails, flags, ropes, curtains, and soft props. Adapt character-based simulation knowledge to suit environmental and secondary motion needs.
- Rigid Body Dynamics: Set up and simulate rigid body systems for accessories and props such as jewelry and armor, maintaining believable motion while preserving physical constraints.
- Setup: Build robust and modular Creature FX setups that can be reused across multiple shots and assets.
- Tool Development: Create tools, scripts, and procedural workflows to streamline workflows, improve simulation results, and support artist productivity. Develop UI elements where appropriate to make tools accessible to non-technical users.
- Integration & Optimisation: Integrate setups, simulation data, and caches into the production pipeline using USD-based workflows, and optimise simulation performance for efficiency in complex scenes.
- Simulation Debugging: Identify, troubleshoot, and resolve issues in simulation behavior, stability, or performance.
- Cross-Department Collaboration: Work closely with rigging, modelling, animation, and FX teams to ensure simulations integrate cleanly with character rigs and align with production goals.
- Technical Support & Documentation: Identify and troubleshoot simulation issues, provide technical assistance to other artists during tight deadlines, and document workflows to support team onboarding and training.
Qualifications and Requirements
- Software Mastery: Strong knowledge of Houdini for production Creature FX simulation. Comfort in Python and VEX scripting for tool development.
- Anatomical Foundation: Familiarity with anatomy and the behavior of skin, muscles, and other deformable materials, alongside an understanding of rigid body simulation approaches for character props.
- Pipeline Experience: Experience building and maintaining simulation setups for team use, understanding asset pipeline integration, and working within Linux-based production workflows.
- Communication Skills: Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work across departments. Proficiency in English is required.
- Adaptability: A willingness to learn and develop new skills. Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to debug and improve simulation performance.
Preferred Qualifications
- Familiarity with Maya simulation workflows.
- Experience with basic Maya rigging.
- Experience with Crowd simulation.
- Japanese language skills.
Additional Information
- Creature FX is a broad and multidisciplinary field; applicants who meet most core requirements but not all are encouraged to apply.