Certified Unreal Engine Programme

From December 2025 to February 2026, the Artist Collective in collaboration with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet, and The National Talent Academy for VFX developed an exciting virtual production programme to expand creative expression and give valuable hands on virtual production experience at Studio Ulster.

The Certified Unreal Engine for Worldbuilders programme aimed to give Unreal Engine professionals the opportunity to bring their skills onto the virtual production stage and collaborate at the top of the pipeline.

Running concurrently, the Production Design for Virtual Production programme gave Production Designers, Art Directors, Set Designers and Senior Set Decorators an opportunity to interact with a world class LED volume and Volume Controllers to upskill in the area of virtual production.

The programmes were led by course tutor Graham Robinson, an accomplished artist and director with over 15 yeas of experience in shaping captivating narrative and visual experiences on projects with Netflix, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and the BBC.

Film and TV professionals learned to create virtual environments for LED video walls. Production Designers, led by Rob Carlise were empowered to take ownership of the physical and digital sets to create seamless narrative landscapes.

The programme included an introductory day at the studio to get to grips with the technology and a 10-week online deep dive to learn the ropes of Unreal Engine for the Virtual Art Department cohort, featuring creative project teams with production designer collaborations. This all culminated in an intensive three-day project shoot and additional learning on site at the CoSTAR lab and the Screen LAB VP3 stage at Studio Ulster.

The incredible hard work and talent of the cohorts not only earned them a new professional certification, but a stunning range of projects, powerful collaborations, transformed workflows, and exciting new opportunities. 

"Since completing the course, I have invested in upgrading my PC and equipment to be able to bring what I've learnt into practice in the Art Department. At my current job, I have used VCAM and VR in Unreal Engine to work with the Production Designer, Director and DOP in the design of new sets and planning shots/storyboarding. Without this course I wouldn’t have felt the need to invest as heavily in new equipment, but seeing what was capable, I thought it was a good time and am already seeing the benefits. I’ve also started another course in Unreal Engine."

- Robert Barrett

 

"Thanks a million for everything. I really enjoyed the course and got loads out of it. I hope you end up doing a follow up because I'd love to get a chance to develop this experience further. This course has connected two parts of my experience that had previously sat alongside each other without fully converging: real-time engine work and traditional film production. I now have a much clearer sense of how the creative and technical decisions made in the engine translate to what actually appears on the volume and through the lens. That is knowledge you can only really get by standing in that room and watching it happen, and having done that across fifteen very different projects in three days, I feel genuinely better equipped to work in this space, both as a VAD practitioner and/or as a director/lst AD who can bridge the creative and technical sides of a VP shoot."

- Jennifer Shortall

"I came away understanding that probably one of the most important things is to recruit correctly; then to follow a process that would engage my team from the beginning. It is really reassuring to know how to mix a virtual art department within a traditional art department and that the manufacturer of those virtual worlds should come from the art department. I have instinctively tried to do this, but now having done the course, I have the tools, resources, and the reassurance to help me achieve it. Thank you."

- Fiona Cunningham

 

"I'm much more confident with the VP process, and the integration of physical and virtual space. I'm planning to use my newly acquired knowledge and contacts for the next TV project, already discussed it with Rob. I want to start creating more assets and learn to capture real-life locations for use in VP using LIDAR scanning and Gaussian splatting (already have a client for that!)."

- Anna Pytlowany

 

"For both my career and creativity it has been so great, to be comfortable in another software and style of creating for personal projects, commercial work and VP is invaluable. I can’t wait to continue putting it all to use now. Thanks again for hosting the course and all of the amazing teaching, it was so great to get to learn and get on set in Belfast working with everyone."

- Oisin O'Sullivan

 

"My ambition is to investigate a route to using VP in RTÉ. The benefits of being able to tell stories in an interactive fashion is the kind of new content which could be well received as RTÉ attempts to change direction over the next few years. I feel confident that I could pitch an idea knowing some of the possibilities and limitations of VP after completing the course. I feel like I have a good grasp on the concepts involved."

- Richard Pritzel

 

"Thanks again for leading a great course. I hope there will be a follow up course some day. I found the course an excellent way to help guide me through the door into exploring Unreal. My aim now is to continue to journey further into Unreal with the technical side of VAD and explore other software alternatives including Chaos Arena and Nuke Stage."

- Liam Neville

"One thing I appreciated about Graham’s approach was that he never treated VP as just a technical exercise. He consistently brought it back to storytelling, to the role of the art department, and to what actually matters when you’re on set with a crew and a deadline."

"Building a complete environment from the ground up , from raw landscape sculpting through to final camera framing , gave me a hands-on understanding of the full pipeline. It’s one thing to know the individual tools; it’s another to feel how they all connect when you’re working toward a single coherent scene. This course gave me that, and I’m confident it will feed directly into my future work in immersive media and virtual production."

- Mohammed

 

"Overall, this course has changed how I think about both creativity and production. Unreal makes it possible to see results instantly, which makes the process more interactive and flexible compared to traditional workflows. It has also opened up new possibilities for me in terms of career paths, especially in virtual production and real-time content creation."

- Xiaohan