Job Description

Software Developer, Nuke


DNEG\xe2\x80\x99s digital compositing department is home to a team of highly skilled artists who use cutting edge technology to combine photography and CG imagery into the final composite, the stunning photorealistic VFX content that viewers will see projected on cinema screens or streamed to their TVs. Compositing is a complex discipline, taking and manipulating a variety of animated and static image sequences that serve as inputs aside from in-camera photography and pure GCI. These other inputs include articulated holdouts generated by our team of rotoscope artists, highly detailed and realistic digital matte paintings produced by our DMP crew, and prepared plates where scratches, wires and rigs are painted out or otherwise erased by our specialist prep team. Finally our Motion Graphics department creates a wide variety of dynamic animated visuals, including simulating futuristic or complex computer graphics displays within VFX shots, on-screen graphics overlays or stunning title sequences.


To provide efficient and artist friendly workflows to these teams, DNEG\xe2\x80\x99s 2D technology group integrates class leading commercial applications such as Nuke by Foundry into our proprietary VFX pipeline systems with extensive plugin and script based extensions. The team, working largely in Python and C++, greatly expand the capability of such off-the-shelf software by providing tools for automating otherwise laborious, repetitive tasks and provide efficient and user friendly interfaces for importing assets, building and sharing compositing templates, publishing outputs and sharing image data across the global organization. We also develop our own image processing algorithms to manipulate pixel data, for example to work with \xe2\x80\x98deep\xe2\x80\x99 opacity data where 2D images contain 3D data. Another example of unique technology developed by this team is \xe2\x80\x98Noodle\xe2\x80\x99, our completely proprietary rotoscoping application used full time by the entire roto crew to segment moving images into foreground and background, often in very complex and intricate detail.


As well as demonstrating technical skill and initiative, your ability to communicate between technical developers and non-technical artists and end users will help you thrive in this role. We encourage a technically creative attitude and are looking for individuals who are willing and able to bring their own solutions and ideas to the table.


We follow Agile development methodologies and you will work closely with Product Owners and Stakeholders to understand artist needs and deliver bespoke software products. You will have influence in all aspects of the software development life-cycle; designing, supporting and maintaining software as well as integrating tools into our existing pipeline.


This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing Product Development department, contributing to the technology behind exceptional VFX and Feature Animation work, partnering with smart, creative and versatile teams of technologists and artists.

Must have:

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or relevant professional experience
• Programming experience in C++ and/or Python
• Experience of software development in a Linux environment
• Knowledge of Nuke

Nice to have:

• Experience with source control systems and developing within a team
• Experience with unit/integration testing
• Experience developing multi-threaded software
• Experience in Qt, Boost,
• Knowledge of the core principles of digital photography and compositing
• Experience OpenGL, OpenCV, OpenImageIO, OpenColorIO
• Experience with the Nuke C++ NDK and Photoshop javascript

A note on Equal Opportunities
We would not be able to produce award-winning work without our Production Technology department, which is committed to nurturing an inclusive, diverse and exciting workplace. Our teams have a variety of backgrounds and originate from a number of different countries, working across the globe at the forefront of technology in the industry.