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Virtual Production Technical Artist Fellow

Deadline to apply: Ongoing; first consideration will be given to those who apply by Sunday, September 6, 2026. (This posting may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received.)

Application Link: https://myumi.ch/RQ3P2 

Location: 317 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (75% weekly in-person fellowship experience)

Pay Rate: Undergraduate $17/hr, Master’s $20/hr, Doctoral $23/hr

Job Duration: 10 – 15 hours/week for the fall 2026 semester, with the possibility of extending the fellowship

Supervisor: Eric Schreffler ([email protected])

Who We’re Looking For:

The Center for Academic Innovation’s EdTech Accelerator team is seeking a creative and technically skilled student with a strong foundation in 3D content creation and Unreal Engine to join our virtual production fellow team. In this role, you’ll help design and build the digital assets, environments, and real-time systems that power a series of short-form video projects produced on our LED volume.

This position is ideal for someone who lives at the intersection of art and engineering; comfortable modeling and texturing in a DCC tool, confident in Unreal, and eager to learn cutting-edge virtual production techniques including in-camera VFX, camera tracking, and media server workflows. You’ll work closely alongside the XR Production Fellow, Video Technician Fellow, and Media Design Fellow as a true production team: scoping small projects together, sharing responsibilities across pre-production, on-stage operation, and post, and encouraged to stretch beyond your primary role to learn new skills.

What You’ll Do: 

As the Virtual Production Technical Artist Fellow, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Build Unreal Engine scenes and environments for use on the Studio X LED volume, including lighting, shaders and materials, and Sequencer setups
  • Create 3D content — models, textures, and Gaussian splats — using your preferred DCC pipeline (Blender, Maya, Houdini, Cinema 4D, etc.)
  • Operate Disguise and RenderStream during production sessions, driving real-time content to the LED wall in sync with camera tracking data
  • Optimize scenes for real-time performance, applying framerate targets, Nanite/Lumen, and other Unreal 5 features
  • Collaborate with the other three student fellows across the full production pipeline — scoping, planning, designing, shooting, and finishing a series of 3–5 short video projects (≤2 minutes each), where each project is designed to exercise a different aspect of the virtual production toolset and provide space to experiment and fail safely
  • Contribute to post-production tasks alongside the Media Design Fellow (compositing, cleanup, finishing) as projects require
  • Document workflows and lessons learned to support future fellows and the broader Studio X team
  • Regularly participate in Student Fellowship Program (SFP) events, professional development sessions, workshops, and community-building activities.

The Experience and Skills You’ll Gain: 

  • Hands-on experience with Virtual Production techniques, including:
    • Recording, editing, and producing short-form video
    • Experience with camera tracking systems
    • Experience manipulating 3D real-time environments

Student Qualifications:

  • Current student at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor campus (any level, undergraduate through doctoral)
  • Proficiency in at least one digital content creation (DCC) tool — Blender, Maya, Houdini, Cinema 4D, or equivalent
  • Intermediate Unreal Engine experience, including Sequencer, Take Recorder, Movie Render Queue, shaders and materials, Blueprints, and familiarity with framerate optimization techniques
  • Strong communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively as part of a small production team
  • Willingness to learn new tools and workflows on the job, and to experiment with unfamiliar techniques

How to Apply:

To apply, please complete the Student Fellowship Application and upload your resume with the following supplemental documents:

  • Brief Cover Letter
    • Optional: Link to an electronic Portfolio, sample scene, breakdowns or demo to your cover letter