Creative Technology / Staff Engineering
Michael Becker
Staff-level engineer specializing in OpenUSD interoperability, AI-assisted creative tooling, and real-time production systems across film, VFX, and immersive media.
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- Seattle, WA / Remote
Summary
I build production technology at the intersection of real-time graphics, open standards, and creative workflow. My work has focused on making complex assets portable, inspectable, reusable, and useful across studio boundaries: from OpenUSD and MaterialX pipelines to browser-based review tools, Unreal Engine workflows, spatial computing prototypes, and emerging AI-assisted VFX systems.
The throughline is practical interoperability. I like tools that respect artists, survive production pressure, and give teams a clearer way to move between experimental systems and dependable pipelines.
Core Strengths
OpenUSD & Interoperability
- OpenUSD pipeline architecture
- MaterialX and open shading standards
- Cross-DCC asset exchange
- Production interoperability and downstream reuse
Real-Time Graphics & XR
- Unreal Engine and Unity
- WebGPU, WebXR, and OpenXR
- Spatial computing and visionOS
- Real-time rendering and asset optimization
AI-Assisted Creative Workflows
- ComfyUI and node-based workflows
- AI-assisted VFX tooling
- Image and video generation
- Depth estimation and generative asset workflows
Pipeline & Technical Leadership
- Cross-functional technical strategy
- Production tooling architecture
- Vendor collaboration
- Mentorship, documentation, and prototyping
Professional Experience
Disney Studios - Staff Software Engineer, Creative Technology
- Led cross-studio interoperability initiatives focused on OpenUSD- and MaterialX-based asset exchange, downstream reuse, and production tooling in collaboration with Pixar, ILM, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel, and external partners.
- Designed and implemented a web-native OpenUSD inspection and rendering platform for lightweight production review, scene exploration, and asset validation directly in the browser.
- Embedded with Pixar to support real-time XR and downstream asset reuse initiatives for feature-film workflows built on Unreal Engine and OpenUSD-based pipelines.
- Collaborated with Marvel Animation and external VFX vendors to support standardized delivery and reuse of more than 1,500 production-grade assets.
- Developed cross-platform asset ingestion, simplification, and visualization tooling for web review and Unreal Engine integration across Disney production banners.
- Helped prototype and ship immersive XR environments for the Disney+ Apple Vision Pro experience using real-time rendering and spatial computing technologies.
Selected Projects / Initiatives
OpenUSD Web Inspection & Review
Built browser-based review and inspection workflows for OpenUSD content, making production assets easier to validate, explore, and discuss without requiring heavyweight desktop tooling.
Studio Asset Interoperability
Advanced OpenUSD and MaterialX exchange patterns across studio, vendor, and game-engine contexts, with an emphasis on durable downstream reuse rather than one-off conversion.
AI-Assisted Creative Prototyping
Explored ComfyUI, multimodal generation, image-to-video workflows, depth estimation, and production-oriented VFX experiments as practical creative systems rather than novelty demos.
Emerging Visualization Systems
Prototyped and evaluated Gaussian splats, volumetric capture systems, real-time visualization pipelines, and lightweight web-based review tooling for production stakeholders.
Technical Skills
- OpenUSD, MaterialX, asset interchange, pipeline architecture
- Unreal Engine, Unity, real-time rendering, optimization
- WebGPU, WebXR, WebGL, OpenXR, visionOS
- ComfyUI, AI-assisted VFX workflows, image/video generation
- Browser-based production tooling and lightweight review systems
- Cross-studio technical leadership, vendor collaboration, documentation