About this role
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Develop and maintain animation systems for quadruped characters
- Set up Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Blend Spaces, Animation Layers
- Create and configure IK/FK, Full Body IK, and procedural animation systems
- Set up locomotion: walk, trot, canter, gallop, turns, starts/stops, jumps
- Configure blending, additive animations, sync groups, and transitions
- Work with IK Rig / IK Retargeter and adapt animations between different skeletons
- Work with motion capture data, cleanup, and retargeting
- Create and maintain Control Rig tools
- Fix foot sliding, popping, IK, and blending artifacts
- Optimize Animation Blueprints, Control Rig, and skeletal animation systems
- Develop and maintain animation systems for multiplayer projects
- Work with networked locomotion, prediction, and reconciliation
- Synchronize Montages and locomotion states in networked gameplay
- Collaborate with animators, game designers, and programmers
- Develop and improve the animation pipeline and internal tools
REQUIREMENTS
- 5+ years of experience in technical animation / gameplay animation
- Hands-on experience with quadruped characters
- Portfolio with quadruped animation examples — required
- Strong knowledge of Unreal Engine: Animation Blueprints, Control Rig, IK Rig / Retargeter, Blend Spaces, State Machines
- Solid understanding of animal biomechanics and quadruped locomotion
- Experience with rigging, skinning, and skeleton setup
- Experience with motion capture pipelines
- Experience with Maya, MotionBuilder, or a similar DCC tool
- Understanding of root motion, animation curves, notifies, montages, additive animation
- Experience debugging and optimizing animation systems
- Understanding of the differences between local and replicated character state
- Understanding of which animation states/variables should be calculated locally versus driven by replicated gameplay state
- Understanding of latency, desync, animation popping issues, and ways to minimize them
- Conversational English
NICE TO HAVE
- Experience animating large quadrupeds (not just domestic animals, but heavy/massive locomotion)
- Motion Matching / Pose Search
- Full Body IK / procedural locomotion
- Python / scripting
- C++ in Unreal
- Building animation tools
- Experience optimizing NPC crowds / large numbers of skeletal meshes