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JOB DESCRIPTION
Title - Facial Rigger
Division - CREATURE DEPARTMENT
Locations - UK
Job Description
Facial Riggers at DNEG focus on developing high-performance facial rigs that enable expressive, believable performances for world-class VFX and TV productions. Working closely with modelling, animation, look development, and capture teams, you will design robust and efficient rig systems capable of supporting complex facial performances in extreme close-ups, LED volume environments, high-resolution formats, and next-generation real-time workflows.
Your work will ensure that digital humans and creatures can achieve subtle and convincing facial performances, supporting both keyframe animation and performance-capture pipelines.
Key Responsibilities / Job Duties
- Develop high-quality facial rigs for digital humans and creatures that support a wide range of expressive performance.
- Build and maintain FACS-based facial rig systems that enable natural deformation and animation control.
- Work closely with facial modelling teams to ensure topology supports deformation requirements and efficient rig implementation.
- Integrate blendshape, joint-based, and procedural deformation systems to achieve high-fidelity facial motion.
- Support facial performance capture workflows including marker-based systems, HMC capture, and retargeting pipelines.
- Collaborate with animation teams to refine control systems and ensure rigs are intuitive, flexible, and animator-friendly.
- Work with pipeline and rigging teams to ensure facial rigs integrate seamlessly with body rigs and production workflows.
- Optimize rigs for performance and stability within production environments.
- Troubleshoot rigging and deformation issues during production and provide technical solutions to support shot work.
- Participate in asset and shot reviews, providing feedback on deformation quality, performance fidelity, and animation usability.
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Job Requirements (Must Haves)
- Strong experience building facial rigs for high-end VFX projects.
- Excellent understanding of facial anatomy, expression mechanics, and muscle systems.
- Expert knowledge of rigging in Maya, including deformers, rigging tools and Python scripting.
- Experience implementing FACS-based facial systems and corrective deformation workflows.
- Strong understanding of how facial rigs support animation and performance capture pipelines.
- Ability to troubleshoot complex deformation issues and develop practical technical solutions.
- Experience working with proprietary pipelines and the ability to learn new tools quickly.
- Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
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Nice to Have
- Experience with performance capture pipelines, including marker-based facial capture or HMC systems.
- Familiarity with wrap workflows, photogrammetry, or facial scan processing.
- Experience with real-time pipelines or game engines such as Unreal or Unity.
- Familiarity with machine learning-driven facial systems or facial retargeting tools.
- Experience working with USD pipelines.
- A passion for human and creature anatomy.
About You
- Meticulous, observant and committed to delivering photoreal results.
- Clear communicator and collaborative team player.
- Adaptable and eager to learn new tools and techniques, including in-house technologies.
- Calm under pressure with strong time-management skills and an accurate sense of task duration.
- Self-driven with a proactive, solution-focused mindset.
- Objective and self-critical eye with a strong sense of quality control.
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