Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

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DannyChapman
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:29 pm
Location: Oxford, England
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Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by DannyChapman »

We're looking for a Behaviour Engineer to join the technology team at NaturalMotion (Oxford, UK) - working on procedurally generating human/animal motion in real time using physics simulation and artificial intelligence.

There's more information about the technology and its uses in video games on our website http://www.naturalmotion.com/middleware/euphoria/, and here's a video (albeit a little old) showing it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HauN98naZ9U.

The work brings together the areas of physics simulation, control systems, maths, software engineering, artificial intelligence and aesthetic judgement/understanding of animation quality.

If you're interested and have experience in these areas, please contact NaturalMotion directly (see below), or feel free to send me a message if you have any questions or want a better idea about what we do.

- Danny

Here are the details from the advert on our website: http://www.naturalmotion.com/behaviour-engineer/3442/

Responsibilities

The Behaviour/Technology team are responsible for the creation of cutting edge physics-based behaviours for interactive 3D character control. This role will suit individuals from an engineering or applied mathematical background with an interest and ability to find innovative solutions to the problem of synthesizing physical human animation. Utilising your strong technical capability, you will design and implement real time controllers for dynamically simulated characters.

Experience and Skills

• Background in advanced engineering, applied maths and/or physics
• Have a good eye for believable human motion
• Worked with articulated bodies and/or physical animation
• Experience with third party physics engines or in-house / proprietary physics engines
• 2+ years’ experience in C++ application development

Want to really stand out? Know about these!

• Proven experience in integrating third party or proprietary technology into games engines
• Ability to lead small development teams (up to 4 people) and manage customer relationships
• 2+ years games industry background
• Graduates also considered with relevant background and experience
• Familiarity with 3D animation tools (Maya, 3DSMax and / or XSI
BluePrintRandom
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:16 am

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by BluePrintRandom »

Interesting, I have similar results, but not quite as refined, using logic bricks and the BGE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s57ipxhX ... DNbPOLc-y4
DannyChapman
Posts: 84
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:29 pm
Location: Oxford, England
Contact:

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by DannyChapman »

BluePrintRandom wrote:Interesting, I have similar results, but not quite as refined, using logic bricks and the BGE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s57ipxhX ... DNbPOLc-y4
Oh yes - I saw this a little while ago. Controlling characters like you've done is potentially useful, but actually quite different to what Euphoria does. It looks to me like you apply external torques to the character parts, which can (and does) generate behaviour that is totally impossible with internal joint torques - i.e. joint targets. With this one could balance a simple rod undergoing perturbations... useful, but not realistic! In other situations, though, it can provide a good way to control characters in situations where you want semi-physical behaviour.

Euphoria generates animation that is consistent with purely internally generated joint torques (representing muscles). Obviously there's scope to enhance the character's ability using external torques and forces too.

There are some interesting approaches to this. One that I really like, because it is fundamentally incredibly simple (in principle!) is this: http://homes.cs.washington.edu/~todorov ... IROS12.pdf - and see the video here: http://youtu.be/2FJtJDYCQIE?t=1m57s All the behaviour emerges from minimising some very simple cost functions... though it's not fast enough to run in real time.
BluePrintRandom
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:16 am

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by BluePrintRandom »

My next step is to use physics forces to attempt to match a IK target,

Then I want to integrate a featherstone solver,

I love your work btw.

My work is mit 3.0 cc

So.....

Just let me know if anything is useful,
spidersharma
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:42 pm

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by spidersharma »

Hi,

I have been following Natural motion closely for a few years, and am very much interseted in what you do. I am from india, and have a background in Physics.
I am interested in knowing if you welcome candidates from outside UK?
btw I work for a Gaming company, and in free time I am developing a 2d Physics Engine. here is the link::
https://code.google.com/p/dirac2d/

Thanks
bone
Posts: 231
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:56 pm

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by bone »

I would recommend using the links in the first post to contact them directly, I doubt they are monitoring this forum post.
DannyChapman
Posts: 84
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:29 pm
Location: Oxford, England
Contact:

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by DannyChapman »

bone wrote:I would recommend using the links in the first post to contact them directly, I doubt they are monitoring this forum post.
Actually I'm a regular here, but it's true you're best off contacting us through our website. For the right applicant we'd jump through whatever hoops are necessary/practical, I think.
spidersharma
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:42 pm

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by spidersharma »

Hi Danny,
I had applied for the given position in Jan on Natural motion web site, however there is no reply on that.
DannyChapman
Posts: 84
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:29 pm
Location: Oxford, England
Contact:

Re: Physics/animation engineer position @ NaturalMotion

Post by DannyChapman »

spidersharma wrote: I had applied for the given position in Jan on Natural motion web site, however there is no reply on that.
PM sent...
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