I’m Balazs Kiss, a senior Lighting Technical Director with over two decades of experience delivering high-end VFX for blockbuster films and AAA games. My forte is building and optimizing lighting pipelines (Katana, Maya, Unreal) and steering multi-site teams to maintain creative and technical continuity across complex productions. From Avatar to The Hobbit and War for the Planet of the Apes, I’ve led lighting across large teams, managed render resources, and shaped look development through HDRI, LUTs, and shader work. I love mentoring colleagues and solving creative-technical challenges to bring imagined worlds vividly to life.…

Balazs Kiss

I’m Balazs Kiss, a senior Lighting Technical Director with over two decades of experience delivering high-end VFX for blockbuster films and AAA games. My forte is building and optimizing lighting pipelines (Katana, Maya, Unreal) and steering multi-site teams to maintain creative and technical continuity across complex productions. From Avatar to The Hobbit and War for the Planet of the Apes, I’ve led lighting across large teams, managed render resources, and shaped look development through HDRI, LUTs, and shader work. I love mentoring colleagues and solving creative-technical challenges to bring imagined worlds vividly to life.…

Available to hire

I’m Balazs Kiss, a senior Lighting Technical Director with over two decades of experience delivering high-end VFX for blockbuster films and AAA games. My forte is building and optimizing lighting pipelines (Katana, Maya, Unreal) and steering multi-site teams to maintain creative and technical continuity across complex productions.

From Avatar to The Hobbit and War for the Planet of the Apes, I’ve led lighting across large teams, managed render resources, and shaped look development through HDRI, LUTs, and shader work. I love mentoring colleagues and solving creative-technical challenges to bring imagined worlds vividly to life.

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Language

English
Fluent
Hungarian
Advanced

Work Experience

Senior Lighting Technical Director (Remote) at Photon VFX
May 1, 2014 - Present
Client-side supervision on animated commercials and trailers, with a focus on lighting for both real-time Unreal Engine projects and traditional pipelines; coordinating with art and technical teams to ensure high-quality, production-ready visuals.
Senior Lighting Technical Director at Weta FX
August 1, 2024 - November 1, 2025
Spearheaded lighting for key sequences on Avatar: Fire and Ash, ensuring creative and technical continuity; optimized large-scale environment and character lighting setups within Manuka and Katana pipelines.
CG Supervisor at ReDefine / DNEG
September 1, 2022 - May 1, 2024
Oversaw CG production for feature projects Borderlands and Ripley; managed cross-department communication between lighting, modeling, and texturing teams to ensure asset integration and quality control; render resource management; multi-location coordination.
Senior Lighting Technical Director at Photon VFX
August 1, 2020 - December 1, 2020
Senior Lighting TD on multiple projects; remote collaboration across teams; contributed to shot lighting, look development and render quality approvals; established scalable lighting pipelines.
Lead Lighting Artist - FlintLock at A44 Games
May 1, 2020 - August 1, 2020
Led lighting for the AAA title FlintLock; oversaw HDRI asset verification pipeline, LUTs, title menu lighting, desert sequence lighting and light source design.
Lead Lighting Technical Director at Weta Digital
July 1, 2008 - December 1, 2017
Led and contributed as Lead/Senior Lighting TD on Avatar-related work and multiple Academy Award-nominated features; built and maintained lighting pipelines; collaborated with CG, texture, and compositing teams.
Senior Lighting Technical Director at The Moving Picture Company
February 1, 2008 - April 1, 2008
Senior Lighting TD responsible for leading lighting on select sequences; contributed to workflows and shot lighting for major feature productions.
Sequence Lead Lighting Technical Director at The Moving Picture Company
July 1, 2006 - September 1, 2007
Led sequence lighting efforts; coordinated with other departments to ensure consistency and quality of lighting across shots.
Lighting Technical Director at Framestore - CFC
January 1, 2006 - June 1, 2006
Lighting TD for multiple productions; contributed to the studio's lighting pipeline and shot-level lighting.
Lighting Technical Director at Weta Digital
September 1, 2005 - December 1, 2005
Lighting TD on projects including King Kong; supported look development and rendering pipelines.
Lighting Technical Director, Digital Texture Artist at The Moving Picture Company
June 1, 2003 - August 1, 2005
Worked on lighting and digital texture development; contributed to texture workflows and lighting for sequences.
3D Artist, Game Development at Pineapple Interactive
June 1, 2002 - May 1, 2003
3D artist contributing to asset creation and game development.

Education

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Qualifications

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Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Software & Internet, Professional Services, Other
    paper Avatar: Fire and Ash

    Senior Lighting Technical Director on James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash