SAMAR SHOOL

VFX SUPERVISOR | HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT | CTO

I'm a two-time Emmy Award-winning CG/VFX Supervisor, AI Technologist, Mixed Reality Developer, and founder of The Creative Lounge — a 100% remote creative studio delivering high-end visual effects, CGI animation, AI production, and immersive XR experiences across broadcast, film, and interactive media.

With 25+ years in the industry, my work spans television, museum exhibitions, and film — for clients including award winning Pixeldust Studios, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Universal Studios, PBS, WebMD, and many more. In addition to two Emmy wins — for Ancient Oceans (Curiosity Stream, 2020) and National Mall: America's Front Yard (PBS, 2016) — I hold 7 Emmy nominations and 6 Telly Awards.

As VFX Supervisor, AI Technologist, and Head of Development at The Creative Lounge, I lead photoreal real-time rendering pipelines using Unreal Engine 5 and Unity HDRP, drive AI production workflows leveraging the latest generative platforms, direct AR/VR experiences across Meta Quest, Magic Leap, and mobile XR platforms, and manage 3D/VFX teams across projects. My toolkit spans Unreal Engine, Houdini, Maya, Unity, Da Vinci, Nuke, After Effects, and cutting-edge generative AI production platforms.

My most recent awesome gig, currently at Meta's Reality Labs, I work as part of the XR AI Experiences team — researching and developing Generative and Agentic AI workflows across Unreal Engine, Unity, Houdini, and other VFX platforms, with a deep focus on ComfyUI integrations and AI-driven asset pipelines for real-time and interactive environments.

I hold an MFA in Animation from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Mumbai, India — a foundation that continues to inform my eye for space, composition, and design.