CFX Artist (Houdini) – TV Featurette

Bardel Entertainment is hiring a CFX Artist (Houdini) for a TV featurette production based in Vancouver, British Columbia. This role sits within the character effects department, responsible for building and delivering cloth, hair, fur, and muscle simulations that hold up through animation, lighting, and final composite. It’s a fit for a Houdini-native CFX artist who has worked inside a real VFX pipeline on high-end television or feature film production and knows how to own a shot from setup to delivery.

About the Role

The CFX Artist (Houdini) works directly with the CFX Supervisor and CFX Lead, embedded in a production pipeline that touches modeling, rigging, animation, and lighting at every stage. The contract runs from August 2026 to February 2027, covering the full character effects workload for a TV featurette produced at Bardel Entertainment. Day to day, this means running simulations, building tools that keep the CFX workflow moving, and troubleshooting technical issues before they become production problems.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute cloth, hair, fur, and muscle simulations in Houdini to meet the quality bar set for the production.
• Build scripts and tools in Python or VEX to streamline CFX workflows and reduce repetitive technical overhead across the team.
• Work within the animation studio’s established pipeline, ensuring CFX outputs integrate cleanly with upstream and downstream departments.
• Participate in dailies and rounds, giving and receiving notes with the CFX Supervisor, Lead, and other department heads.
• Maintain existing CFX rigs and setups, keeping them production-ready as shots evolve through the pipeline.
• For senior-level artists, provide mentorship and technical guidance to junior CFX team members throughout the contract.

What You Bring

• Proven credits as a CFX Artist on feature film or high-end episodic television productions.
• Deep working knowledge of Houdini for character effects, covering cloth, hair, fur, and muscle systems.
• Strong grounding in physics, dynamics, and procedural animation techniques as applied in a production context.
• Scripting experience in Python or VEX is a meaningful asset in this role.
• Familiarity with Maya, Nuke, or Marvelous Designer rounds out a strong application.
• Candidates must be based in British Columbia or Quebec, and a demo reel with clear shot breakdowns is required for evaluation.

Why This Role

Bardel Entertainment has been producing animation for over 35 years, with a track record on projects that span broadcast television and streaming features, making this a studio where CFX work reaches a real audience. The pay range for this contract is CAD $1,300 to $2,000 per week, reflecting the senior expectations of the role. For a CFX artist who wants a defined contract with clear scope and a crew that takes the craft seriously, this is a straightforward opportunity worth looking at.

Apply now for the CFX Artist (Houdini) position at Bardel Entertainment and submit your reel with the breakdown of your contributions to each featured shot.