Freelance 3D Character Artist

Job Title: Freelance 3D Character Artist

Experience: 4+ Years

Engagement: Freelance / Project-Based

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced Freelance 3D Character Artist to create, rig, animate, and optimize high-quality 3D characters and digital avatars for web-based applications.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and refine 3D character models using Blender or Maya.
• Develop complete character rigs, including bones, skin weights, IK, and deformation.
• Create facial rigs and ARKit-compatible blendshapes, including the 52 standard facial shapes.
• Develop visemes for lip-sync, including phoneme-to-mouth-shape mapping.
• Handle UV unwrapping, texturing, and PBR materials.
• Prepare optimized GLB/glTF assets for web-based 3D rendering.
• Customize and optimize avatars using Ready Player Me.
• Prepare character assets for integration with Three.js or Babylon.js.
• Create idle, gesture, facial, and other required character animations.
• Ensure models, rigs, textures, and animations are optimized for real-time web performance.
• Collaborate with the development team to resolve technical issues related to 3D assets and integration.

Requirements

• 4+ years of relevant experience in 3D character modeling, rigging, and animation.
• Strong proficiency in Blender and/or Maya.
• Hands-on experience with facial rigging and ARKit blendshapes.
• Strong understanding of visemes and lip-sync animation.
• Experience with UV mapping, texturing, and PBR workflows.
• Experience working with GLB/glTF and real-time 3D assets.
• Familiarity with Ready Player Me and customizable avatars.
• Experience preparing assets for Three.js, Babylon.js, or WebGL environments.
• Strong understanding of character anatomy, facial expressions, deformation, and animation.
• Ability to work independently and deliver high-quality assets within agreed timelines.

Preferred

• Experience with WebGL and real-time 3D applications.
• Knowledge of 3D asset optimization for web and mobile.
• Experience with motion capture or facial capture workflows.
• Portfolio showcasing character modeling, facial rigs, blendshapes, and animation.

Engagement

This is a freelance, project-based opportunity. The selected candidate will work closely with our team to deliver production-ready 3D character assets based on project requirements.