3D Animator/Rigger (Contract - Project Based)

WISEcode

11d

About The Position

WISEcode is seeking an experienced 3D character artist, technical rigger, and animator to create a fully controllable, reusable 3D character system based on their existing branded owl. This is a contract, project-based role. The goal is to develop a master owl asset that can be recolored, posed, and animated for use across WISEcode products, websites, marketing materials, and future AI experiences. The character must maintain the design, proportions, personality, and visual identity of the current WISEcode owl. The final deliverable will be a production-ready master owl that supports color variations, expressive animation through a professional control rig, and can be exported as an optimized GLB for web and application use, while also being maintainable by another artist or developer post-handoff.

Requirements

• Experience as a 3D character artist, technical rigger, and animator.
• Ability to create a complete 3D character model with accurate geometry, animation-ready topology, clean UVs, normals, and deformation areas.
• Proficiency in developing professional, animator-friendly control rigs with specific controls for face, head, eyes, beak, mouth, body, wings, tail, legs, and feet.
• Experience with modular color and material systems for character customization.
• Expertise in creating facial expression and speech systems, including visemes and lip-sync.
• Skilled in creating a core animation library with reusable behaviors and smooth transitions.
• Proficiency in optimizing 3D assets for real-time use, particularly for web and application environments (GLB/glTF export).
• Experience with Three.js and React Three Fiber is required.
• Ability to maintain the design, proportions, personality, and visual identity of an existing character.
• Must be able to create a master asset that can be recolored, posed, and animated without rebuilding.
• Must be able to export as an optimized GLB for web and application use.
• Must be able to support future accessories, animations, and character variations.
• Must be able to maintain the system for another qualified artist or developer after handoff.
• Must provide a portfolio including character modeling, rigging reels, facial rig examples, creature/bird/winged-character examples, real-time character examples, and GLB/glTF export examples.
• Must provide an animation reel, rig-control demonstration, proposed production software, recommended technical approach, proposed milestones, cost by project phase, revision policy, testing and quality-assurance process, and identification of work to be subcontracted.

Nice To Haves

• Simplified animator-facing control panel.
• Developer-facing control API.
• Procedural eye tracking.
• Procedural blinking.
• Runtime gaze targeting.
• Emotion-intensity controls.
• Animation state-machine recommendations.
• Reusable accessory socket system.
• Lightweight mobile model.
• Automated color-variant generation.
• Automated GLB export tools.
• Animation compression recommendations.
• Browser-based character test environment.
• Reusable animation layers.
• Better methods for managing feather performance.
• Scalable system for future owl personalities.
• Integration documentation for developers.
• Practical roadmap for expanding the animation library.

Responsibilities

• Create a complete three-dimensional interpretation of the supplied WISEcode owl, ensuring accurate geometry, animation-ready topology, clean UVs, normals, and deformation areas.
• Develop a professional, animator-friendly control rig for the owl, providing direct control over face, head, eyes, beak, mouth, body, wings, tail, legs, and feet.
• Implement a modular color and material system to support multiple branded owl identities (blue, green, red initially) from the same master model without repainting textures or rebuilding the character.
• Develop a facial expression and speech system that allows the owl to communicate emotion clearly through eyes, eyelids, beak, head, and face, supporting core expressions, beak movement, and stylized speech.
• Create an initial animation library focusing on reusable product and brand behaviors, including idle states, communication gestures, product reactions, emotional reactions, and basic movement (standing, walking, flight, perching).
• Ensure animations are reusable, clearly named, and delivered as separate clips or actions, supporting clean looping, smooth transitions, crossfading, and layered animation.
• Optimize the final GLB asset for real-time use in modern browsers, preserving the skeleton, animations, materials, and color variations, and ensuring it works with Three.js and React Three Fiber.
• Deliver all required assets including the rigged master Blender file, high-quality and optimized models, texture source files, shape keys, animation clips, GLB/glTF and FBX exports, and comprehensive documentation.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed