Weekend Look Development Artist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Dept Number/Name: 0-4601-000 / Innovative Education

Salary Plan: Administrative

Job Code/Title: 1119 / Virtual Production Artist

Hiring Salary/Salary Range: $70,000 – $85,000

Position Number: 00054818

Innovative Education Studios at USF is seeking a talented Virtual Production (VP) Artist to join our team, creating environments for virtual production. Under the supervision of the Virtual Production Supervisor, you will be creating custom, high‑quality, and visually stunning real‑time content using Unreal Engine for virtual production. This role encompasses on‑set and remote virtual production support, where you will play a crucial role in delivering and overseeing complex technical shoots. As a VP Artist, you will provide on‑set support, including technical previsualization, tech visualization, virtual camera operation, and other technical assistance to clients and the production team. This is a unique opportunity with Innovative Education Studios to contribute to cutting‑edge virtual production projects while also helping to shape the student engagement and interaction through innovative educational and marketing media. The VP Artist will have the opportunity to work in two different Virtual Production studios featuring state‑of‑the‑art LED volume and live compositing technology.

• Design and Development: Visualization and creation of assets, design, development and delivery of props, levels, environments, and content for virtual production under tight schedules. Implement virtual lighting setups and dynamic lighting effects to enhance the visual quality of virtual environments. Ensure assets and scenes are properly integrated into Unreal Engine, maintaining a high level of visual fidelity and performance.
• Production Support: Support on‑set virtual production operations of LED volumes and live compositing programs (i.e., Zero Density’s Reality Engine). Troubleshoot and debug technical issues related to asset integration, optimization, and performance. Optimize virtual sets / rebuild assets for real‑time rendering and production‑day problem‑solving.
• Collaboration: Collaborate with directors, designers, production team, and other stakeholders to translate artistic direction and vision into virtual environments. Work with internal and external teams on mock‑ups / concepts, blocking out sequences and animatics, look development, and design of interactive experiences.
• Professional Development: Stay updated with the latest developments and techniques in real‑time rendering, virtual production, and Unreal Engine to contribute innovative ideas and approaches to the team.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Minimum: Bachelors Degree in film, art, video game development, 3D animation, or related field. 2 years of experience working in virtual production, game development, or 3D animation. Experience with Unreal Engine is required. 4 years of related professional experience may substitute for formal education.
• Preferred:
  • Proven experience as an Unreal Engine Artist or similar role, with a strong portfolio demonstrating expertise in real‑time rendering and virtual production.
  • Proficiency in using Unreal Engine, including its material editor, lighting system, Blueprints, and particle system.
  • Solid understanding of real‑time rendering principles, shading techniques, and optimization strategies for real‑time environments.
  • Strong understanding of pipelines and processes for virtual production and ICVFX.
  • Familiarity with virtual production tools and workflows, such as virtual cameras, motion capture systems, and real‑time compositing.
  • Excellent problem‑solving skills and ability to troubleshoot technical issues related to asset integration, optimization, and performance.
  • Strong artistic and design sensibilities, with an eye for detail and composition.

Proficiency in using Unreal Engine, including its material editor, lighting system, Blueprints, and particle system. Familiarity with virtual production tools and workflows, such as virtual cameras, motion capture systems, and real‑time compositing. Solid understanding of real‑time rendering principles, shading techniques, and optimization strategies for real‑time environments. Knowledge of nDisplay and the use of Switchboard for networked machine cluster node live rendering. Familiarity with programs such as Blender, Maya, ZBrush, Cinema4D are all bonuses. Also, photogrammetry software and apps (reality capture, Pix4D, etc.) lidar scanning & tools/apps as well as NeRF (neural radiance fields) experience – Luma AI, MobileNeRF, Polycam, etc.

USF is an equal opportunity, equal access academic institution that embraces diversity in the workplace.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), and Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA).

USF – Tampa Campus.