Job Summary

Swaybox Studios is seeking a skilled and detail-oriented 3D Tracking / Matchmove Artist to help bridge the gap between live-action footage and CG integration. In this role, you’ll be responsible for extracting motion data from filmed plates, tracking both environments and facial performance, and aligning CG elements with precise real-world movement—whether using lidar scans, measurements, or solving without them.

You’ll play a critical role in our highly stylized yet technically demanding productions, including our groundbreaking collaboration with DC Comics, a project that’s set to redefine industry standards in performance-driven storytelling.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform accurate 3D camera and object tracking in live-action plates with or without on-set measurements and lidar scans.
• Extract camera motion, object tracking, and character movement (including facial performance) using a variety of matchmove techniques.
• Create rotoanim of CG character rigs to match puppet movement—including subtle facial expressions.
• Hand-key and solve complex motion where automated solutions fall short.
• Deliver clean, usable matchmove data to layout, animation, and compositing departments.
• Collaborate with the VFX and CG teams to troubleshoot tracking challenges and maintain alignment with production needs.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years experience as a matchmove or tracking artist in film, episodic, or high-end VFX.
• Expert knowledge of matchmoving principles: camera focal lengths, lens distortion, film backs, rolling shutter, parallax, and real-world camera behavior.
• Proficiency in tracking software such as PFTrack, Syntheyes, 3DEqualizer, MMSolver, and Maya.
• Solid understanding of cinematic language, camera operation, and on-set data acquisition practices.
• Proven ability to work independently and maintain accuracy under tight deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with rotoanim, facial tracking, and performance capture.
• Familiarity with MoCap data, KeenTools, and Nuke for projection and compositing integration.
• Working knowledge of layout, animation principles, and basic compositing.
• Scripting skills in Python, PySide, PyQT, or MEL to improve workflow or develop internal tools.
• Understanding of stylized performance-driven animation pipelines.

Job Summary

Swaybox Studios is looking for an Unreal Supervisor to lead our real-time pipeline and elevate the visual quality of work produced in Unreal Engine.

This role sits at the intersection of look development, lighting, and technical execution. You’ll guide a team of artists in building and refining assets, materials, environments, and lighting shots inside Unreal, while also diving deep into the engine yourself to solve problems, optimize workflows, and push visual fidelity.

You should be equally comfortable directing the creative look of a scene and understanding the underlying systems that make it work. You will foster a collaborative and efficient team environment that supports artists, while raising the bar. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone fluent in Unreal who can translate artistic intent into real-time results with efficiency, scalability, and innovation in mind.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee all Unreal Engine-based workflows across production.
• Define and drive the visual look of scenes through lighting, shading, and real-time rendering techniques, ensuring a smooth replication of lighting from live action plates onto our CG environments.
• Contribute to the execution of CG environments, set extensions, and DMP projections, while utilizing different techniques and cheats to save on render time and budget.
• Guide artists in achieving high-quality results, while maintaining performance and pipeline integrity.
• Partner closely with the VFX Supervisor to translate creative direction into real-time implementation.
• Troubleshoot scenes, assets, and technical issues directly in Unreal alongside the Unreal TD.
• Optimize scenes for efficiency without sacrificing visual quality.
• Collaborate with TDs and Pipeline teams to improve tools, workflows, and scalability.
• Contribute to early R&D and look development inside Unreal.
• Support production needs including reviews, planning, bidding, recruiting, and team mentorship.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in VFX, animation, or game development, with 3–5 years in a supervisory or lead role.
• Expert-level fluency in Unreal Engine, including real-time rendering, lighting, materials, and scene optimization.
• Deep understanding of shading/material systems and how they impact final visual output.
• Extremely knowledgeable in environment building.
• Strong artistic eye for lighting, composition, and cinematic presentation.
• Proven ability to lead teams and provide clear, actionable creative and technical direction.
• Experience working in real-time pipelines for film, episodic, or games.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work hands-on in production.
• Understanding of performance optimization for real-time environments.
• In-depth knowledge of texture mapping techniques.
• Deep understanding of visual language- texture, color, dimension, scale, perspective, shade, motion blur, depth of field, proportion, spatial awareness, etc.
• Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to adapt quickly to unique or proprietary workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with virtual production workflows, including LED volumes and in-camera VFX.
• Familiarity with asset pipelines between DCC tools (Maya, Houdini, etc.) and Unreal Engine.
• Understanding of CG modelling and rigging workflows.
• Experience with photogrammetry, shooting your own HDRIs, and scanning.
• Scripting or technical experience (Blueprints, Python, C++) to support workflow improvements.
• Experience working in hybrid pipelines that blend real-time and offline rendering.
• Background in both stylized and photorealistic rendering approaches.
• Working knowledge of on-set camera work, including understanding of lenses, lighting setups, and performance tracking.
• Familiarity with digital matte painting and the compositing process.
• Traditional art background or fine arts education.

Job Summary

Swaybox Studios is seeking an experienced and hands-on Compositing Supervisor to oversee the seamless integration of our VFX elements. In this key leadership role, you will be managing the overall visual consistency across practical and CG environment extensions, props, and vehicles, and other FX elements to achieve photorealistic and stylized composites.

This position requires a deep understanding of compositing for film, strong leadership with mentoring abilities, and technical proficiency in Nuke. You will work closely with artists and Technical Directors to refine and develop tools that support a smooth, scalable, and artist-friendly workflow, while also managing team morale, quality control, and creative vision.

This is a studio-based role working onsite in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the seamless compositing of multiple elements from different departments to maintain their visual integrity per shot and in the overall aesthetic of the film.
• Work closely with the CG, Character Comp, Tracking, and other team Supervisors and Leads to ensure a smooth handoff of elements to the compositing team.
• Maintain high artistic and technical standards/methodology, while ensuring efficient and timely delivery of shots; balancing quality with schedule requirements.
• Delegate and manage shot progress, with a sharp awareness of deadlines, as well as contribute to on-the-box work as needed.
• Provide technical support and troubleshoot artist files.
• Guide the compositing team, offering regular feedback, mentorship, and support to foster a productive and collaborative working environment.
• Collaborate with the Supervisors and TDs to determine best practices, diagnose technical problems, identify technical needs, and recommend new tools or workflow improvements.
• Recognize knowledge gaps and actively collaborate with the team to find solutions; taking a proactive approach to challenges.
• Stay up-to-date with emerging tools, technologies, and compositing methods to enhance efficiency and output.
• Collaborate in R&D and early visual development before full production rollout.
• Participate in reviews and team syncs, clearly communicating creative and technical goals and giving constructive feedback.
• Communicate with vendors, when needed.
• Independently translate and refine notes from VFX Supervisor/Director/Stakeholders with minimal oversight, while maintaining the fidelity and visual language of the film.
• Ensure the team interprets and applies feedback effectively and in a timely manner.
• Participate in recruitment, scheduling, bidding needs, and progress reviews with the VFX Supervisor and Production.
• Create clean, efficient, and well-structured scripts and templates that can be shared throughout the team to speed up workflows.
• Maintain up-to-date documentation for internal tools and compositing processes, helping ensure consistency across the team.
• Adhere to organized files and established pipeline standards and naming conventions.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience high-end, live-action film or episodic compositing experience, with a strong emphasis on environments and realism.
• Proven leadership or supervisory experience in a compositing team environment, including mentoring, feedback, and artist support.
• On-the-box compositing of complex shots (live action and CG); utilizing projections, warping, depth of field, and photographic optical effects.
• Ability to comp both stylized and realistic environments with attention to storytelling detail and cinematography.
• Great understanding of DMP and CG pipelines.
• Expert knowledge of Nuke, Gizmos & Group workflows, and advanced compositing techniques.
• OCIO/ACES Color config and management experience.
• Working knowledge of vector-based compositing tools and techniques.
• Strong capacity to be flexible, adapt quickly, and thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment with evolving creative direction.
• Capability to revise work based on feedback in a timely manner.
• An artistic mindset and willingness to receive and implement constructive feedback, whether that’s with draw-overs, over the shoulder adjustments, or team meetings.
• Demonstrated ability to learn new toolsets and willing to expand knowledge of toolsets.
• Excellent communication, organization, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills with unique or proprietary workflows.
• Deep understanding of visual language- texture, color, dimension, scale, perspective, shade, motion blur, depth of field, proportion, spatial awareness, etc.
• Solid experience using lidar scans, HDRI’s, and photogrammetry.
• Strong comprehension of cinematography, photography, and color science; including understanding of lenses, lighting setups, and performance tracking.

Preferred Qualifications

• Nuke particles experience is great to have.
• Knowledge of KeenTools is a plus.
• Understanding of lighting workflows.
• Experience in Python scripting for Nuke or batch automation is a huge plus.
• Previous experience in developing or influencing pipeline tools in collaboration with Technical Directors.
• Familiarity performance-tracking pipelines, rotomation, or hybrid workflows.
• Basic experience with Unreal Engine or other real-time rendering tools.

Job Summary:

Swaybox Studios is seeking a creatively driven and technically adept Senior CG Lookdev and Lighting Artist to integrate CG facial performances into our cross-department workflows. This role is central to maintaining the emotional fidelity and character consistency of our hybrid puppetry performances, ensuring the final output meets the high artistic standards of the studio.

The Senior CG Lookdev and Lighting Artist will focus on facial performance replacement with a handoff to the compositing team. This person will play a hands-on role in bringing our characters to life, improving workflows, resolving creative challenges, and collaborating with Supervisors and Technical Directors to evolve tools that enhance production efficiency. This is a perfect position for a VFX artist who understands the subtle art of expression, character performance, and hybrid storytelling.

Key Responsibilities:

• Implement best practices in our face replacement pipeline, ensuring poses and expressions are seamlessly matched to animation and puppet facial performances.
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of surface characteristics to create, adjust, and match textures and shading to our fabricated puppets.
• Replicate lighting from live action plates onto our characters with an emphasis on fine details, performance nuances, and the overall aesthetic of our film.
• Collaborate with VFX Supervisor, MoMo Art Supervisor, and TDs to identify areas of improvement in the pipeline, including tool and workflow development.
• Maintain output quality and momentum in a fast-paced environment.
• Preserve cohesive character consistency across facial replacements and ensure smooth integration of our internal puppet performances, animation, and live action plates.
• Communicate effectively with production and creative leads to align visual performance with narrative goals.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years experience in high-end, live action VFX films, with a strong emphasis on beauty lighting and lookdev.
• Proficient in UV, texture, shading, and lighting within all of the following programs: Substance, Mari, Photoshop, Houdini, and Maya.
• Expert knowledge of Houdini and rendering in Arnold.
• Basic knowledge of compositing in Nuke to create and refine slap comps for presentation and handoff to the compositing team.
• In-depth knowledge of texture mapping techniques.
• Deep understanding of visual language- texture, color, dimension, scale, perspective, shade, motion blur, depth of field, proportion, spatial awareness, etc.
• Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to adapt quickly to unique or proprietary workflows.
• Prior experience with photogrammetry, shooting your own HDRIs, and scanning.
• An artistic mindset and willingness to receive and implement constructive feedback, whether that’s with draw-overs, over the shoulder adjustments, or team meetings.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Understanding of CG modelling and rigging workflows.
• Experience with ZBrush and other 3D software is advantageous.
• Familiarity with scripting or tool development (e.g. Python, MEL, etc.) to support pipeline enhancements.
• Background in traditional art.
• Working knowledge of on-set camera work, including understanding of lenses, lighting setups, and performance tracking.
• Prior experience in both stylized and realistic texture and shading creation of digital faces is great to have.
• Familiarity with hybrid workflows that span traditional VFX and digital puppetry.

Job Summary:

Swaybox Studios is seeking an On-Set Compositor (Stage Comp Tech) to work alongside the puppeteers to help visual their layered performances through slap comps. You will be responsible for retiming and tracking the different performance layers—across varying shooting styles and scales—into movements that align with the stylistic aesthetic of the project. This role is critical in ensuring a streamlined transition from our puppeteers on stage to our digital puppetry team.

This position is part of a very fast paced environment. Your ability to keep production speed alongside the puppeteers will be essential for this role and will help keep the production on schedule.

Key Responsibilities:

• 2D Tracking (stabilizing and matchmoving) the live-action puppet layers to retain puppeteer performances.
• Retime plates to match the desired performance for our puppeteers.
• Slap comp multiple puppet layer performances together with basic keying to assess timing and motion with the puppeteers.
• Preparing visual reference for puppeteers to match to.

Required Qualifications:

• Experience using Nuke Studio to do editing, retimes, basic compositing, and tracking.
• Experience using Nuke to do retimes, keying, compositing, warping, and tracking.
• Excellent communication skills and willingness to receive and implement constructive feedback.
• Comfortable working in fast-paced environments.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience with Heiro is great to have.
• Strong understanding and implementation of animation principles.
• A solid grasp on human anatomy and physical movement, as it applies to realistic puppet animation.
• Live action experience using Nuke to do retimes, keying, compositing, warping, and tracking
• 3D tracking experience is a plus.
• Previous work in high-end film production is highly sought after.