Hair is some of the most expensive specialist work in character art. Every groom is built strand by strand by hand, every character needs one, and every style starts from a blank scene.
This pipeline replaces the blank scene. Point a camera at real hair, and the system produces a strand-based 3D model with hundreds of strand variations — a working groom that artists refine instead of rebuild. I architected the tool at Sony Interactive Entertainment, where it is patented, and it is moving into production across PlayStation Studios.
Sony presented it publicly at the May 2026 Corporate Strategy briefing in Tokyo. The slide above is from that presentation.
A curated trace, not a CV. For the full arc, see the bio; for the hands-on craft years, visit the technical direction archive.
01 / 02Architect & technical lead · patented
Built and patented the AI pipeline that turns video of real hair into a strand-based 3D model — a working groom artists refine instead of rebuild. The full story is in the case study.
Case study
01 / 04Character Shading Technical Director
Real-time shaders for skin, fabric, hair, eyes, leather, metal, blood, and grime on one of the most acclaimed character pipelines in games. C++, PSSL, Python, Mari, Substance Painter.
01 / 05Senior Look Development
Material systems, shader networks, and artist-facing material workflows for the animated feature — including Muttley and Captain Caveman, and the material templates the texture team built on.
Lighting TD & Look Development
Lookdev and lighting for characters, vehicles, and environments on Marvel's largest VFX undertaking of the decade. Maya, Clarisse, Mari.
Senior Shading & Look Development
Shading, materials, and look development for sets and props on Paramount Animation's feature — Arnold shader networks, lookdev turntables, and production quality standards at Spain's biggest animation studio.
01 / 02Shading & Lighting Technical Director
Shading and surfacing for characters, creatures, and digital doubles — including Javier Bardem's facial replacement work in Skyfall, and the Tengu Lord, Tengu Monks, Spider and Wolf in 47 Ronin.
01 / 02Shading & Lighting Technical Director
Shading, materials, and look development on James Cameron's Avatar and Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. Maya, RenderMan, Mari, Apple Shake.
Co-founder, 3D Generalist, Line Producer
Co-founded a studio in Madrid, pitched Deadlight to Microsoft, defined the pipeline and infrastructure, assembled the core team. The first lesson in building tools and teams that ship.
Producer & Shading Technical Director
Pre-production and early development of the Xbox 360 reboot — production planning on one side of the desk, shading and look development on the other. The first time both halves of my career worked the same project.
3D Generalist
First credits: textures and 3D assets on Commandos: Strike Force for PS2, and an ambitious cancelled title called COPS — an early lesson that most of what a studio builds never ships, and the craft counts anyway.
From the people who managed, supervised, and shipped alongside me. Verbatim, from LinkedIn.
01
“Lauren is the rare combination of someone who not only has the visual acumen to create great imagery, but also the technical and intellectual expertise to be able to write the underlying shader code used to create said great imagery. […] He understands how artists work, and thus is able to write shaders that are artist-friendly.”
02
“An all-round look development artist with incredibly strong technical skills. […] As a CG Supervisor, any time I had look development technical concerns or questions, Lauren was always one of the key persons that I liked to consult.”
03
“I enjoyed working with Lauren both at Naughty Dog and The Initiative. He is very friendly, open-minded, dedicated in his profession and has his heart at the right place.”