Special Effects Artist

Ubisoft is a global leader in gaming with teams across the world creating original and memorable gaming experiences, from Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six to Just Dance and more. We believe diverse perspectives help both players and teams thrive. If you’re passionate about innovation and pushing entertainment boundaries, join our journey and help create the unknown!

As a Special Effects Artist at Ubisoft Montreal, you will create and integrate high-quality special effects, in keeping with the creative direction, technological constraints and production deadlines.  

What you'll do (Tasks):

• Understand the game design documents and artistic direction to comprehend the creative direction and have an overall idea of the sign off features; 
• Find reference images and videos of the intended effects and validate these references with the artistic director; 
• See with the graphic design TD if the intended special effects can be created in the engine and suggest alternatives or development options (ex: tools) whenever necessary;  
• Collaborate with the DT to adapt the pipeline to ensure that it fosters the production of the special effects and determine memory and performance budgets; 
• Work in collaboration with programmers to develop adapted tools to meet special effects requirements; 
• Use available tools (particle systems, modelling, texturing, etc.) to create the special effects requested by the artistic team and integrate these effects into the engine; 
• Validate the quality of the effects once they are imported into the game and make any necessary changes in an effort to maximize the user experience; 
• Optimize the special effects on an ongoing basis and account for modifications and technological constraints throughout the project to ensure that the special effects remain of high quality; 
• Foster game accessibility by adapting the various special effects based on comments from the game design team before, during and after the creation of the special effects; 
• Fix the bugs entered by testers and other working units; 
• Communicate with other working units to help members integrate special effects by providing reference documents and other types of support; 
• Carry out all other related tasks. 

What you bring to the team (Skills and Knowledge):

• Attention to detail; 
• Sense of initiative and proactivity; 
• Ability to accept feedback and adapt to change; 
• Ability to work under pressure; 
• Originality and resourcefulness in problem-solving; 
• Knowledge and interest in programming languages an asset (e.g. Max Script); 
• Knowledge of game editors (e.g. Unreal); 
• Knowledge of compositionning software (e.g. After Effects, Illustrator, Houdini, Toxic, etc.). 

Training:

• College diploma in a video game-related field, bachelor’s degree in special effects/film or any other relevant training. 

Relevant Experience:

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in creating special effects for video games, including the design, integration, and optimization of real-time effects within a game engine.

Understand game design documents and artistic direction. Find and validate reference images/videos for effects. Collaborate with technical directors and programmers on pipeline and tool development. Use particle systems, modeling, and texturing to create and integrate special effects into the engine. Validate and optimize effect quality, accounting for technical constraints. Adapt effects for game accessibility. Fix bugs and communicate with other units for integration support. Minimum 5 years’ experience in creating, designing, integrating, and optimizing real-time effects in a game engine.