Lighting Artist (Temporary Assignment)

Recognized as a global leader in interactive and digital entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is responsible for the PlayStation® brand and family of products and services. PlayStation has delivered innovation to the market since the launch of the original PlayStation in Japan in 1994.

Come join the award-winning God of War development team! Sony Santa Monica Studio is looking for a Lighting Artist to help us create stunning worlds that set the visual fidelity bar for entertainment. This individual will contribute to the artistic vision of amazing, top of class games with a specialized focus on creating realistic and fantastical lighting of characters and environments. As a Lighting Artist, you must possess the ability to effectively collaborate with the Art Director and Game Director to light game levels that are visually stunning while also working with a wide range of development team members to ensure technical feasibility. Help us create visuals that will set the PS4 apart from the rest!

* Light levels and characters in real time according to defined quality standards, artistic styles, conceptual designs, development pipelines, technical parameters and production goals. * Serve as a high-level contributor to the development of the lighting techniques and processes utilized to define and achieve a product’s visual style. Encourage artistic evolution within the studio. Develop a comprehensive knowledge of the level art and lighting pipeline and all engine, tools and systems associated with the lighting of art assets. * Work with the Art Director and tech teams to implement post process effects such as bloom, ambient occlusion, depth of field, and color correction. * Facilitate requests or information needs regarding any aspect of the environment/character lighting process as requested. * Problem solve regarding the lighting pipeline and ensure that lighting for levels runs in memory and within budget. * Actively improve skill set and abilities by keeping aware of industry trends and techniques, evaluating competitive products, learning new software packages and traditional art methods. * Generate documentation for the lighting pipeline as it changes. * Demonstrate strong time management and prioritization skills by collaborating with Production to develop task lists to ensure assignments are progressing as expected according to schedules, milestones, and overall project goals.

* Experience with photorealistic lighting for real-time engines * Mastery of lighting fundamentals – how lighting effects mood, gameplay, and frame rate in real-time environments * Proficiency in level art generation in regard to real-time lighting techniques such as vertex baking, light maps, light probes, etc. * Proficiency in asset creation software for authoring and organizing game content, including but not exclusive to: Maya, Photoshop, and Perforce * Strong technical skills for debugging complex lighting problems * Previous or next-gen video game platform experience is desirable * Good communication, organizational, time management, and interpersonal skills * B.A. in fine arts or relevant curriculum, or equivalent skillset * 2-4 years’ industry or related experience * 1 or more published titles considered a strength