Senior Lighting Artist - Temporary Contract

Rodeo FX

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lighting Artist designs and implements lighting and shading solutions that enhance 3D environments and CG elements, closely aligned with the project's artistic vision. They deliver the final renders to the Compositing department while maintaining a high level of visual quality, technical optimization, and cross-department collaboration. As a key player in the 3D pipeline, they contribute to the standard of excellence expected at Rodeo FX.

Requirements

Minimum 10 years of experience in lighting within a VFX or 3D animation environment.
Advanced knowledge of Houdini (lighting workflow, shading, scene optimization).
Solid understanding of render engines (Arnold, Karma, RenderMan, etc.) and pipeline integration.
Strong grasp of 3D/2D workflows: modeling, lookdev, compositing.
Knowledge of Universal Scene Description.
Keen sense of light, color, and staging.
Ability to work independently and rigorously within a multidisciplinary team.
Proactive, solution-oriented, and constructive mindset.

Nice To Haves

knowledge of ShotGrid
Python scripting
in-house tool development

Responsibilities

Create solid lighting setups tailored to the needs of each shot and sequence.
Master lighting tools and workflows in Houdini with rigor and autonomy at every stage.
Refine renders to ensure seamless integration with CG elements and compositing.
Develop efficient solutions to address technical and artistic challenges in production.
Translate the project’s visual direction into inspiring and coherent lighting.
Collaborate closely with Lighting, CG, and Compositing Supervisors to support the artistic vision.
Propose visual adjustments that enhance storytelling and reinforce scene depth.
Maintain high standards of realism, clarity, and subtlety in the final render.
Optimize scenes to reduce machine load without compromising quality.
Follow naming conventions, scene structure, and versioning protocols established by the department.
Identify and fix rendering issues or artifacts prior to submission.
Actively participate in QC passes and quickly address dailies notes.
Provide realistic time estimates, communicate promptly in case of issues or potential delays, and collaborate with production to adjust priorities if needed.
Ensure accurate progress tracking and flag technical issues to Production.
Attend team meetings, turnovers, and briefings to align with project needs.
Be a reliable point of contact for other departments regarding lighting render status.
Document setups and methods to foster collaboration and facilitate task handovers.
Stay up to date on CG lighting advancements and best practices.
Share discoveries, tools, or scripts with the team via Confluence or technical dailies.
Engage in internal training initiatives and embrace new studio approaches.
Foster a culture of continuous improvement with openness and adaptability.