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Internship – (Technical) Artist

- Vacancy-

Internship – (Technical) Artist (20 week)

Posted on October 27, 2025

Start Date: 02/02/2026

Duration: 20 week

FTE: 1

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Can you create an underwater world that feels alive? This internship lets you design and implement dynamic ocean environments—ecosystems that react to weather, human activity, and user interaction. You’ll work with developers and researchers to expand the visual fidelity of Immersive Ocean, creating realistic assets and rule-based environments like coral reefs, offshore wind farms, aquaculture zones, and protected marine areas. Your art will help decision-makers truly see and understand the ocean.

Designing Interactive Ocean Ecosystems in Unreal Engine

We think that planning and decision-making about the maritime economy and marine ecosystems can become more intelligent, interactive and immersive. The ocean is vast, dynamic, and ever-changing. But what if you could see it, experience it, and shape it like never before? By making use of emerging digital technologies, such as games and virtual reality, we can connect geo, maritime and marine data, with eco modelling and maritime simulations. As a result of this vision, and a broader effort, the Immersive Ocean was created as the next-generation virtual twin that transforms the way maritime spatial planning (MSP) is done.

No more static maps or complex GIS data. Immersive Ocean brings the ocean to life—a fully interactive, 3D world where planners, policymakers, and stakeholders can explore marine environments in stunning detail. Whether on PC or in Virtual Reality, you can navigate through dynamic real-time ocean simulations, visualize the impact of human activities, and make informed decisions backed by cutting-edge technology. More info: https://www.mspchallenge.info/immersive-ocean.html

About Cradle

Cradle is the Research & Development lab of the Academy for AI, Games & Media at Breda University of Applied Sciences. At this lab, cutting-edge, innovative games and media applications are designed and developed through projects conducted on behalf of and befitting four professorships: Digital Media Concepts; Creative & Entertainment Games; Applied Games, Innovation & Society; and Applied Data Science & Artificial Intelligence. Most of the projects at Cradle involve external partners and are funded by secondary (e.g. national or EU research grants) and tertiary sources (project-based contracts). Cradle has a staff pool of experienced, tech-savvy researchers, lecturers, designers, and developers. It also offers internships, individual graduation projects, collaborative team projects, as well as support, facilities, and equipment to students, staff, and partners.  

Project Goals

3D Asset Development:

  • Create optimized 3D models for maritime infrastructure and ecological elements (Birds, offshore platforms such as oil rigs, aquaculture installations, vessels, seabed features, vegetation, marine species, coral reefs).
  • Develop modular asset libraries that support procedural generation and dynamic scenario creation.
  • Ensure assets meet performance requirements for PC deployment.

Visual Systems & Shaders:

  • Create dynamic material systems that respond to environmental conditions (noise, weather, time of day, depth, turbidity) and develop visual effects for ocean and marine phenomena (sea birds on-route with wind turbines).

Environmental Behaviour & Procedural Systems:

  • Design Procedural Rule Packs (PRPs) that define how environments assemble and behave (coral reef distributions, wind farm layouts, protected zones).
  • Implement environmental logic where conditions affect visual presentation (wind strength influences wave animations, weather impacts visibility).
  • Create interactive visual feedback systems that communicate simulation states to users.

Performance:

  • The creations you do must be performant in a heavy system.

 What we offer  

  • A financial compensation (where applicable)  
  • A flexible, collaborative environment where your ideas matter  
  • Unique portfolio project 
  • Networking opportunities with professionals and educators across Europe  
  • Support from experienced project managers, researchers, and creative professionals  
  • Ownership & Impact. Your contributions will be published, seen, and shared.  

Your profile

  • 3D Game Art, Technical Art, Creative Media & Game Technologies, or Game Development student (MBO/HBO level).
  • Strong proficiency in Houdini and Unreal Engine 5 asset pipelines.
  • Understanding of optimization techniques for real-time 3D environments.
  • Knowledge of shader/material creation in Unreal Engine.
  • Portfolio demonstrating 3D modelling and environmental art skills.
  • You are available for 6 months. Start/end date is negotiable.
  • You receive ECTS for doing an internship or thesis assignment as part of your study program.

    Optional but Valuable:
  • Technical art skills (blueprints, procedural generation, VFX in Unreal).
  • Experience with VR optimization and asset performance considerations.
  • Knowledge of marine environments, oceanography, or ecological systems.
  • Familiarity with geospatial data visualization.
  • Animation skills for dynamic environmental elements.
  • Passion for environmental applications and ocean conservation

Application process

Interested or do you have any questions? Please send your CV, portfolio and short motivation to cradle@buas.nl. You will receive a reply to your application two weeks after the closing date at latest.

External recruiters need not inquire