Senior 3D Generalist + Editor — Mustard-Level Documentary Animation (Ongoing Channel)

**Title:** Senior 3D Generalist + Editor — Mustard-Level Documentary Animation (Ongoing Channel) **Read this first** I want the finished videos to be indistinguishable in quality from the YouTube channel Mustard (https://youtube.com/@mustardchannel). Not "inspired by", not "a similar vibe". Same level. If that's above what you can deliver, please don't apply — I'd rather wait for the right person than pay for an approximation. **About the project** I'm building a documentary-style YouTube channel in the same territory as Mustard: engineering, machines and the stories behind how they were built. I write every script and deliver the finished voiceover. You take script + VO and deliver the finished video. **The quality bar, concretely** Go watch two Mustard videos and look at what's actually happening on screen: - Hard-surface 3D models with correct proportions, panel lines, rivets, glazing and subtle wear — built or kitbashed to a level that holds up in close-up - Physically based materials and HDRI + area lighting, graded so the renders sit next to real archival footage without clashing - Slow, deliberate camera work: long-lens dollies and orbits, subtle depth of field, motion blur, no snappy templated moves - Cutaways, exploded views and mechanism animation with correct kinematics (gear trains, landing gear, control surfaces, engine internals) - A consistent 2D graphic system on top: spec bars, dimension lines, callouts, labels, simple maps — flat, restrained, always the same typeface and colour palette - Archival footage cut in, cleaned up and matched in grade - Sound design tied to the mechanics, mixed under the VO, music that supports the pacing instead of driving it **Scope of work per video** Shot list from my script; 3D assets modelled or sourced and reworked; animation, lighting and rendering; the full 2D graphics package; the complete edit including archival footage, sound design, music and mix; 4K master plus all project files and assets. **How I want to work — three phases, each its own milestone** 1. **Paid test.** One 20–30 second sequence from a real script: one hero object, one camera move, one cutaway, one spec-graphic overlay. Two or three candidates get the same brief, and everyone gets paid for it. 2. **Style build.** With whoever wins the test: a style bible and a reusable kit — shader library, lighting rigs, camera presets, graphic templates, render settings, project structure. A separate project of its own, and I expect it to be a real chunk of work. 3. **Production.** Ongoing videos built against that kit. Tell me the cadence you can hold at this quality — I'd rather release fewer videos that hit the bar than run a schedule that erodes it. **Requirements** Several years of hard-surface, product or technical visualisation work, with at least one mechanical subject in your reel that you animated yourself. Blender, Cinema 4D, Maya or 3ds Max. Strong lighting and rendering (Cycles, Redshift, Octane, Arnold). After Effects or Fusion for the graphics and comp. Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve for the edit. Sound design and mixing to a VO track. Hardware or a render farm that can actually carry this — tell me what you render on. English good enough to follow a technical script without me explaining every term. **Rights** All models, project files and assets are delivered to me with full commercial rights. Any purchased or third-party model must come with a licence that covers commercial YouTube use — send me the licence, not just the file. **How to apply** 1. Start your proposal with the word TURBINE so I know you read this. 2. Link one to three pieces of your own work with timestamps, and state exactly which shots are yours and what you did on them. 3. Tell me your hours per finished minute of animation at this quality, and what you render on. 4. Pick any single Mustard shot and tell me how you'd rebuild it — assets, lighting, camera, render time. 5. Tell me how many hours per month you can commit. Generic proposals and AI-written cover letters get ignored. Solo generalists and small teams both welcome; if you're a team, tell me who does what.