Shading Tech Artist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Job Summary:

Swaybox Studios is looking for a talented and detail-driven Senior CG Texture and Lookdev Artist to bring characters, props, vehicles, and environments to life through rich, realistic, and stylistically consistent texture and shading work. This role blends technical expertise with artistic finesse and plays a vital part in achieving the visual tone of the project.

You'll work across a range of hero assets (with the main focus being characters): developing textures from scratch, using live-action reference footage/photography, or projecting real-world materials digitally. A solid understanding of UV mapping, pixel density, lighting, color theory, and the structure of 3D models is essential. You will play a hands-on role in bringing our CG assets to life, improving workflows, resolving creative challenges, and collaborating with Supervisors and Technical Directors to evolve tools that enhance production efficiency. This is a perfect position for a VFX artist who understands the fine details and synchronization between texture, shading, and lighting.

Key Responsibilities:

• Create high-quality, production-ready textures and shaders for characters, props, and environments that match the visual style of the film.
• Utilize various techniques including hand painting, photo-sourcing, and projection mapping using live-action reference to replicate our practical assets and overall aesthetic of our film.
• Research and collect visual reference materials to inform surface detail and realism.
• Collaborate with outsource vendors, other CG artists, and comp artists on visual looks, tech, training, and workflow for characters, props, vehicles, and environments.
• Adhere to any pre-lighting or color key reference that have been established in pre-vis, when taking texture and lookdev to the final output.
• Maintain output quality and momentum in a fast-paced environment.
• Manage and optimize UV mapping for clean and efficient texture workflows.
• Work closely with modelers and supervisors to ensure seamless texture & shader application, and visual consistency across various assets, and determine best approaches to solving challenges when developing the final look.
• Collaborate with VFX Supervisor, MoMo Art Supervisor, and TDs to identify areas of improvement in the pipeline, including tool and workflow development.
• Create efficient shader setups in order to optimize render farm usage.
• Maintain organized texture libraries and adhere to studio naming conventions and pipeline standards.
• Communicate effectively with production and creative leads to align visual performance with narrative goals.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of professional experience in texture painting and shader creation for film, TV, or cinematic animation/VFX.
• Strong understanding of UV mapping, form, light, color, and perspective in a 3D context.
• Proficiency in Maya, Houdini, and at least one industry standard texturing package (e.g., Substance Painter, Mari, Photoshop).
• Expert knowledge of how textures and shading integrate with modeling, rigging, and lighting pipelines.
• Keen eye for detail and the ability to match style across a wide range of assets.
• Deep understanding of visual language- color, scale, perspective, proportion, spatial awareness, etc.
• Comprehensive knowledge of physically based rendering and optimizations, as it pertains to texture and lookdev, using Arnold or similar engines.
• Solid grasp of geometry formatting, including, but not limited to Primvars.
• Ability to build and maintain complex shading networks with artist usability and user-interface support in mind.
• Robust problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to adapt quickly to unique or proprietary workflows.
• Experience with projection techniques and integrating textures from live-action reference footage.
• Ability to prioritize tasks, manage time well, and provide accurate time estimates.
• An artistic mindset and willingness to receive and implement constructive feedback, whether that's with draw-overs, over the shoulder adjustments, or team meetings.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Solid eye for cinematic and real-world lighting, color grading, and shot continuity is a plus.
• Paint or traditional art background is advantageous. 
• Understanding of cinematography, photography, exposure, color grading, lens and camera behavior, and HDR workflows.
• Experience with ZBrush or other modelling programs.
• Understanding of real-time rendering or game engine workflows (e.g., Unreal Engine).
• Comfort working across stylized and photorealistic visual styles.