Technical Artist Question

Professional
1

Hello world!

I had a question for all of you; I basically need a good description of what a Technical Artist does. My friend is telling me that I have the perfect background to become one, but I’m a little nervous that I’m not experienced enough with programming.

During my first major job, I was hired essentially as a CG gofer. There was only my supervisor and myself on the project, and by the end I had worked on the modeling, rigging, skinning, motion capture debugging, facial animation, fur work, environment interaction, and reconstructive deformation. (I also have a long history with traditional painting and graphic novel work).

After that job ended, my life went a bit topsy, and I ended up taking refuge in my parents basement, where I got some books on mel scripting as it applies to advanced rigging. I have a solid knowledge of the grammar, have successfully written and applied a few scripts, but would not call myself a programmer.

Later, I worked for awhile in the same kind of capacity with a company called Medical Simulation Corporation, doing the same kind of crunch time get stuff out role.

My demo reel is online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TofHFdkVmXo

So… all being said and done, is this the kind of work experience history a company would look for when hiring a Technical Artist? I am easy to get along with, learn quickly, and have a creative and adaptive mind. I’m really nervous at the idea of applying to positions when I’m not 100% sure what the job description is, and I would REALLY appreciate just having someone to talk with about it.

Thanks!

Annie

2

Well there are many kinds of TA/TDs out there.
However in the game studio they usually are split between a General TA and a Rigging/Animation TA.

The Rigging TA is responsible for doing the character setup and weighting as well as providing any associated tools required by the animation department. He/she might also be involved in engineering/developing/supporting the animation pipeline.

The General TA is responsible for everything else :slight_smile: Including but not limited to engineering/developing/supporting the export pipeline, validation tools, modeling tools, and etc.

To a lesser extent a TAs might be involved in writing real time shaders.
And of course all TAs are responsible for trouble shooting assets and other problems.

Hope this helps!

3

Not my words.

Technical Director (also called a TD) is a common job title in computer animation and visual effects companies. Some companies use the title “TD” for several different jobs:

Lighting TD’s (the most popular use of the word) are the artists who light and render 3D scenes.

Character TD’s are responsible for rigging a character with a skeleton, clothing, hair, and deformation controls.

Shader TD’s write and adjusts shaders to determine the appearance of models, and prepare objects to be painted by the texture painters.

At some companies, TD’s are sometimes doing modeling work in earlier stages of a production, are involved in compositing and effects animation, or “Pipeline TD’s” are involved in developing the architecture that links all of the departments together. Despite all these different meanings of TD, if someone doesn’t specify what kind of TD they are, then they are usually working on lighting and rendering.

How “Technical” are TD’s?

TD positions require a balance of artistic sensibilities, technical savvy, a good eye, and good problem-solving skills. A few TD’s are programmers, but most are not. Many TD’s know how to write scripts in different scripting languages, such as MEL, Tcl, Perl, or Python. Almost all TD’s are able to work with different operating systems, including being proficient with common UNIX shell commands. Among the TD’s that have scripting or programming skills, most spend their time working on specific characters or shots, and only doing scripting or programming when needed to speed up their work or solve a production problem. If you want to find where the real, hard-core programmers are working in a larger studio, look at the Programming, Tools, or R&D departments - they are all more “technical” than the TD’s.

Are TD’s really “Directors?”

The work that many TD’s do in lighting and rendering is similar to the work of the “Director of Photography” (or DP) in live-action film production. Otherwise, the name TD can be a bit misleading, and some studios don’t even use the term. At some companies, the person lighting a shot would be called a Lighting Animator or simply a Lighter, instead of a Lighting TD. People rigging characters are sometimes called a Rigger, Puppeteer, Physiquer, Technical Animator, or other titles instead of Character TD. Because of this, some companies will never list a help-wanted ad for TD’s. A TD by any other name is still a TD, though, and they still need to hire people with similar skills for any computer graphics production.

What do I need to do to become a Lighting TD?

It’s hard to sum up everything that goes into good lighting in one paragraph (it’s almost as if I’d need to write a whole book…) but a good lighting reel should show both well-lit all-CG shots, and also show CG elements integrated into live-action environments with matching lighting, shadows, and reflections if needed. Stills are acceptable to include, but also include some animation, perhaps including different times of day, or moving objects like curtains or tree branches or doors that cast different shadows and change the lighting during the shot. If you are also interested in an effects TD position, some particle animation, such as smoke or fire could be good to integrate as well.

Jeremy Birn is a Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios, and the author of the book Digital Lighting & Rendering.

4

This article is a bit old, but it shows why people like to get Technical Artists as well, also a brief description of what they are.

5

This helps clarify things a lot, thank you guys! I really appreciate it.

6

At my current (game)company the TA is responsible for the following.

  • Create and Manage all aspects of Visual Effects; Lighting, Materials, Particles, Physics, Dynamic animations and Post Processes.
  • Maintain and create pixel shaders for artists use
  • Collaborate with all team members to implement Art Director and Creative Director’s visions
  • Assist and mentor artists with proper use of our game engine and other pipeline issues.
  • Research and recommend external software to improve art production and quality.
  • Configure a proper renderfarm!
  • Work with artists/programmers to identify key elements and tools that would help art creation and optimization.
  • Install Art software and license them properly. Understand some networking and its quirks. Don’t rely on IT if you’re in a small company. They do not have the development background to deal with these problems. You could wait days for them to license a software, days you don’t have!
  • Maintain, schedule, distribute and review technical art assets.
  • Quality control and assist with external contractors.
  • Identify risks of art/level creation that may impact game performance.
  • Help optimize levels to a shippable state
  • Maintain communication with external technical support for our 3rd party software issues.

TA is a generalist, a master communicator, and must be able to understand programming logic. You don’t always have to know programming/scripting, but you need to be able to describe what you want to a programmer without bringing in art lingo. Secondly, you have to be a teacher to be able to pass on your knowledge. If you don’t offload your knowledge, you’ll carry a lot of burden when deadlines come.

7

I’d really hate to have to “Install Art software and license them properly. Understand some networking and its quirks.” Thank god we have our IT guy that takes cares of the farm, software and licenses!
The offloading of knowledge bit is very true indeed though, a TD should be the go to guy of some sorts but shouldn’t hoard all the work.

As a Technical Director at our post production/animation company I first and foremost (preemptively) solve problems and tackle animation challenges. Since we aren’t a very big facility, I do rigging, animation, all the simulations, a little rendering and much to my dismay single handedly develop/maintain our tools and scripts(I did have help at one point which was superb). If it’s a bigger production I also supervise modeling and the creation of assets and desperately try to get a naming convention in place(and no I havent had the time to implement a name dependless fancy asset management plugin:( )
Luckily I´ve recently gotten to do some preproduction stuff as well which i’ve found inspiring.

I think a Technical Artist/Director needs to have strong generalist skills and act as a bridge between the artistic and technical aspects of production work.

8

don’t be self conscious about what you can and can’t do. if you’re looking for entry level work as a tech artist, it’s not uncommon to find someone who isn’t necessarily familiar with everything, but shows a knack for being able to adapt and quickly learn. you’ll fall into your role once you’re on a team, and your role as an employee could be different from the original job posting. it sounds like you’ve got a lot of generalist experience, so being familiar with different aspects of a development pipeline will only work to your advantage. not all ta’s are programmers, and not all ta’s want to be programmers. it’s different depending on the needs of the company. you’ll only find that out as you talk to places and see how they run things.

9

You guys are wonderful and hilarious. I really appreciate all the kind words… and resh, i hope you find some help! o.o Perhaps an adorable slave monkey?

10

I’m a fairly new Technical Artist that has never worked as a Technical Artist before this job.

A brief description of duties:

I’m the Librarian - I document all current art pipeline processes and recommend changes if any are needed. Hold meetings with tools programmers, IT staff, content/production, and art departments to find out where there are communication break downs and fix them.

Document and standardize processes for art assets depending on what engine they will be used in.

The resident expert in use and functionality of game editor.

Pick up any slack for the art department as deadlines loom closer. This could be modeling, animating, texturing, weighting, rigging, etc…

You may have noticed that my job description isn’t exactly the same as others that may have been posted.

The real key is to be confident in your own abilities and just go for it.

11

Listen to complaints from both artists and programmers. Go back to your desk, think of some solution tell them about your idea, and get more anger from both worlds. Hahaha!