The VR Job Hub: Axon Park, CONICAL & Phaser Lock Interactive

VR Job Hub

Every weekend VRFocus gathers together vacancies from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industry, in locations around the globe to help make finding that ideal job easier. Below is a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on immersive entertainment.

LocationCompanyRoleLink
RemoteAxon Park3D Environment Concept ArtistClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon Park3D AnimatorClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon Park3D ModellerClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkAI & Machine Learning EngineerClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkE-Learning Curriculum DesignerClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkHigher Education Curriculum DesignerClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkIntern – Industry AnalystClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkMarketing ManagerClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkSenior VR DeveloperClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkSenior Technical ArtistClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkVR Networking EngineerClick Here to Apply
RemoteAxon ParkXR Course ProducerClick Here to Apply
Auckland, New ZealandCONICALMultimedia Specialist (3D Game Designer)Click Here to Apply
Austin, TXPhaser Lock InteractiveSenior Game DesignerClick Here to Apply
Austin, TXPhaser Lock InteractiveSenior Environment/Prop ArtistClick Here to Apply
Austin, TXPhaser Lock InteractiveSenior Technical ArtistClick Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

Augmented, virtual reality see uptake during pandemic

Virtual Reality health simulation with Arch Virtual. (Image courtesy Arch Virtual.)

The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating the use of virtual reality and augmented reality, experts say, especially in retail, education and health.

Taylor Freeman

“The trajectory is clear that this technology is set to become the next ubiquitous computing platform, much like we saw with mobile devices and personal computers,” Taylor Freeman, founder of Axon Park, an extended reality training simulation platform, told Hypergrid Business.

“Gaming has seen a large uptick in playtime and sales,” he said, “and personal well-being, with meditation and mindfulness apps.”

But the biggest growth areas are health care and education, he said, as well as events and conferences that have moved from in-person events to virtual reality.

For example, the Cannes Film Festival will focus on extended reality in its special Cannes XR virtual show this year.

And WaveXR just raised $30 million for its virtual events platform, which proves there are unique opportunities for augmented and mixed reality in the event space, as conventions, concerts and conferences start to move digital, Cory Grenier, CEO of Genee — an augmented reality authoring and publishing platform, told Hypergrid Business.

Dave Dolan

The growth is expected to continue after the pandemic. According to a May report by Vynz Research, the virtual and augmented reality market will grow from $22 billion of revenue this year to $161 billion by 2025.

“We are also seeing a surge in many other areas, such as showrooms, remote training and walk-throughs,” Dave Dolan, chief product officer at virtual reality education platform Veative, told Hypergrid Business. “Just in the last two months, we have seen a 30 to 40 percent increase in demand for remote training.”

Retail shopping and advertising

Seek XR, an extended reality company whose augmented reality platform is used by companies to increase sales and to create interactive customer experiences as well as for interactive learning, has noted a 600 percent increase in usage of augmented reality through its customers’ websites since the beginning of March when much of physical retail shut down.

Jon Cheney

To date, Seek XR has deployed more than 10 million experiences to over 100 million users.

And the company reports increases of between 10 200 percent in its corporate clients’ conversion rates — that’s the percent of visitors who turn into paying customers.

“Product returns are dropping by 25 percent and time to make buying decisions has been cut in half,” Seek XR CEO Jon Cheney told Hypergrid Business. “Augmented reality is making impacts with real return on investment that can’t be ignored, even without the looming fears of coronavirus.”

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Education and training

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced 1.53 billion learners out of school and the closure of schools in 184 countries around the world, which has affected learning for 87 percent of learners globally, according to a fact sheet posted by a UN initiative called Education Cannot Wait.

Some of these schools are turning to virtual and augmented reality to help address the needs of these students.

This was a challenge for some platforms, since students don’t usually have VR headsets at home.

Veative now has own virtual reality headset to diversify their products. (Image courtesy Veative.)

One such company, Veative, offers virtual reality-based STEM educational content, serving over 200 schools in more than 24 countries.

During the pandemic, the reported an increase in use — but only after they started to offer web-based mixed reality content that didn’t require that students have virtual reality headsets.

“We managed to pivot and offer our virtual reality content on web-based extended reality,” said Veative’s Dolan. “Schools have welcomed it and we expect to double our user base by the end of summer.”

Other organizations are responding to the challenge by issuing headsets to at-home users, especially enterprises using virtual reality for training.

Nathan Pettyjohn

“Lenovo’s ThinkReality team is receiving more customer inquiries specifically as a response to the global pandemic,” Nathan Pettyjohn, commercial augmented and virtual reality lead at Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group told Hypergrid Business. “Companies are looking for solutions to enhance their workforces through training and re-skilling with immersive virtual reality experiences or using augmented reality to enable workers to do more remotely or be more productive with fewer workers on site.”

Lenovo just announced the release of its Mirage VR S3 virtual reality headset.

It is supported by Lenovo’s ThinkReality software platform, on which companies and enterprises can deploy and manage applications and content.

Healthcare

During the pandemic, companies in healthcare are using virtual and augmented reality for health-based learning, simulation such as surgery, VR-based treatments, and remote monitoring of patients.

XRHealth, for example, has added 500 clinicians on-board its platform and between 500 to 1000 new active patients per month as a result of the pandemic.

The extended reality health company now runs extended reality clinics in 17 states in the United States, with certification from the Federal Drug Administration,

“During this time, both clinicians and patients are seeking out alternative and remote methods for treating various conditions,” company CEO Eran Orr told Hypergrid Business. “Extended reality is a unique platform that is designed to treat so many conditions like pain management, anxiety, memory loss, and hot flashes — and we have experienced a significant spike in interest during COVID-19.”

 

XRHealth supplies patients with virtual reality headsets.

Its telehealthcare services became accessible to coronavirus patients in all the United States hospitals in March and patients can, on its website, join others in virtual support groups moderated by physicians.

“Our challenge is keeping up with the demand and letting others benefit from our solution, now that we are out there,” said Orr. “Many patients have expressed that they have been getting better results from using our platform than from in-person therapy since their time with clinicians is completely focused on them without the outside noise that comes with being in-person.”

Health surgery simulation using virtual reality, with Arch Virtual platform. (Image courtesy Arch Virtual.)

Vendors providing technology to help train medical staff have also seen increased demand.

Oxford Medical Simulation, another medical training platform in the United States, has recruited more than 17,000 doctors and nurses to train during this pandemic using its augmented reality simulation platform.

Osso VR, a virtual reality surgical simulation platform, has seen a ten-fold increase in demand from teaching hospitals as a result of COVID-19 outbreak and lockdowns.

Axon Park and Survios’ CTO to Teach Unreal Engine VR Masterclass

A couple of days ago VRFocus reported on John Moores University in Liverpool, UK, announcing plans to launch an MA in Immersive Arts later this year. Which is fine if you happen to live or plan to move to the UK. Not everyone does or can, which is why remote, online courses are popular avenues for learning. This week virtual campus Axon Park has revealed it’ll be running a full semester course taught in virtual reality (VR).

Axon Park image

Axon Park has begun a strategic partnership with VR First with the Unreal Engine VR Masterclass being the first endeavour. They’ve brought on board Survios CTO and Co-Founder Alex Silkin to teach the course who will also be supported by the Unreal Engine Team. Survios is well known for a number of VR titles including Raw Data, Sprint Vector, Creed: Rise to Glory and Electronautsas well as upcoming projects Battlewake and The Walking Dead Onslaught.

Starting on 4th September and running for 14 weeks until 11th December 2019, the course is designed for expert-level developers used to Unity (or other engines) who want to learn Unreal Engine 4 of VR. Classes take place two times per week with the curriculum being project-based. Prerequisites include 3D linear algebra, C++ and access to a VR ready PC and Oculus Rift/Rift S.

“This is not just a simple online class,” commented Silkin in a statement. “This is the first class of its kind. We’ll meet twice a week in virtual classrooms and build amazing virtual reality content together. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with VR since 2012 and contribute to the development of many innovative VR systems over these years. I want to share my experience with the community to make it easier for newcomers to break into the VR industry. I am beyond excited to help students invent their solutions for the still relatively untamed landscape of VR development.”

Raw Data Saija BotGardens

Thanks to the partnership Axon Park and VR First are also announcing a needs-based scholarship program providing students with low cost or free access to VR hardware and resources through their partner network of 850 universities.

“We are inviting organizations and public institutions internationally to build custom in-VR training with VR First and welcoming our VR/AR experts to become the first generation of certified Axon Park trainers,” adds Rahel Demant, COO & Academic Relations Lead at VR First. “We have already started to prepare a diverse range of in-VR courses to be available in Axon Park starting in 2020.”

Head to the Axon Park website for further information on the course. As more VR courses are created VRFocus will let you know.

Survios CTO to Teach Full Semester VR Development Course in a Virtual Classroom

Survios, the studio behind a host of VR games such as Raw Data (2017), Sprint Vector (2018) and Creed: Rise to Glory (2018), has been a stalwart pioneer of the medium since the birth of consumer VR. Now, Survios CTO and co-founder Alex Silkin is set to share his experience by teaching a full semester course on expert-level Unreal Engine VR development. Plenty of high-profile industry pros will also be available too as mentors.

What’s more, the course will be taught in VR, so you can connect remotely and learn from Silkin—virtual face to virtual face.

“We’ll meet twice a week in virtual classrooms and build amazing virtual reality content together,” Silkin explains. “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with VR since 2012 and contribute to the development of many innovative VR systems over these years. I want to share my experience with the community to make it easier for newcomers to break into the VR industry. I am beyond excited to help students invent their solutions for the still relatively untamed landscape of VR development.”

Although the full semester course is priced at just under $2,500, there are also scholarship opportunities for exceptional students. Axon Park has partnered with VR First, an organization which maintains a network of international VR lab-enabled universities and science parks; the partnership will provide needs-based scholarships to get students either low-cost or free access to VR hardware and resources through their partner network of 850 universities.

Prior to Silkin’s course, Axon Park ran the first remote in-VR class at the MIT Media Lab to explore teaching and learning in social VR classrooms. The class focused on VR Development with Unity and was taught remotely by an instructor in LA with students split between two buildings on the MIT campus.

Here’s some of the basic course info, although check out the course website for the full details and application process.

Course Specifics

  • Course Name: Unreal Engine VR Master Class
  • Duration: 14 weeks (September 4 – December 11, 2019 – current dates with MIT fall semester).
  • Frequency: 2 times per week in VR.
  • Target Student Demographic: Expert-level Unity (or other game engine) developers who want to master Unreal Engine 4 for VR.
  • Prerequisites: Game engine development experience (Unity preferred), 3D linear algebra, C++, visual studio (or similar), and Github (or similar). Must have access to VR ready PC and Oculus Rift or Rift S (hardware access scholarships available at selected destinations through partnership with VR First).
  • Curriculum: The course is project-based and designed to help you build a stellar portfolio piece from scratch. Classes are designed to help you learn the core concepts, while providing ample time for project work and support from your instructor and mentors. More details can be found on the syllabus.
  • Select mentors: Nick Whiting (Technical Director at Epic Games, Unreal Engine), Ray Davis (creator of Robo Recall, previously ran Unreal Engine), Jacki Morie (Previously at NASA, Disney, DARPA, Board of Advisors Axon Park), Ron Millar (Chief Creative Officer at VRChat, founding team of Blizzard), Oculus founders, and numerous other industry professionals
  • Tuition: $2,495
  • Scholarship opportunities: Needs-based scholarships will be provided to exceptional students to foster inclusion and diversity in the class.
  • Inclusivity & Equality: Neutral avatars will be used in the admissions process and virtual classrooms to reduce unconscious and conscious student and teacher bias and equalize opportunity.
  • Additional Features: Dedicated networking with VR industry’s top professionals, career coaching, Virtual Field Trips “VFTs” to explore other social VR enabled tools, like MasterpieceVR, and a virtual job fair where top companies will setup virtual booths to meet the students. Axon Park Alumni are invited to meet IRL after graduation with XR Nomads.

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