Lighting Artist (Onsite in Redmond, WA)

Job Description:

Halo Studios is seeking a highly skilled lighting artist with experience working in Unreal Engine to support new Halo projects. The artist should be able to demonstrate a deep understanding of composition, color theory, mood and tonality, and gameplay clarity. We're looking for a solid team player with good communication skills who can work with directors, leads, designers, engineers and of course other artists, but also be self-sufficient and work independently as required. You will be creative and flexible, able to follow art direction and concepts and most importantly of all be driven to help us produce the highest quality real-time lighting possible.

Typical Day in the Role:

Purpose of the Team: The purpose of the Lighting Team is to provide beautiful and performant real-time lighting for any Halo Studios project, balancing the visual targets set by Art Direction with our performance budget and design intentions for all of our in-game environments.

Responsibilities:

• Creation of static and dynamic lighting using Unreal game engine software.
• Lighting single player environments at a high level of quality.
• Tweaking of shading materials and textures to increase the fidelity of the lighting to enhance the levels visuals and gameplay experience.
• Post processing; color grading, exposure, SSAO, bloom, tone mapping curves etc.
• Contributing to the development and placing of visual effects related to lighting and atmosphere. Such as: light flares, fog, God rays and camera optics.
• Document lighting processes and technology.
• Manage lighting solutions within our memory and performance guidelines.

Minimum Qualifications & Skills:

• Understanding of CG lighting technology, both real-time and pre-rendered.
• Understanding of lighting theory; color space, exposure, light fixtures, natural light, reflections, occlusion, etc.
• Understanding of cinematography and dramaturgy; the use of camera technology, scene blocking and lighting to set the mood.
• Being pro-active in the use of lighting as a powerful tool in gameplay clarity. For example, to guide the player forward, highlight objectives and enemies.
• Ability to digest the art direction and champion executing it in the game. Used to working with the balancing of visual quality and performance requirements.
• Organization, planning and prioritization skills.Experience lighting within a real-time game engine.
• Experienced Photoshop user.