WENDY CHEN

ABOUT ME

Senior Software Engineer | Technical Director

Taken in 2023 at Pixar

Hi, I'm Wendy! I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Pixar Animation Studios with nine years of experience building production graphics software and collaborating directly with artists in feature animation. I have designed and developed USD/Hydra-based shading systems and material authoring workflows for both Pixar's in-house tools and commercial DCC applications.

My current assignment is as a Global Technology Technical Director, working on the production of Incredibles 3!

Before Pixar, I earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Yale University and interned at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Blue Sky Studios.

Outside of work, I love drawing and painting, and I'm most excited by opportunities that bring together engineering and art. Let’s make something great together!

REEL

REEL

Fall 2025 Demo Reel
(Password: doremi123)

PORTFOLIO

PORTFOLIO

A collection of (mostly older) work, spanning personal artwork, early career, and student projects.
Please see my Resume and Reel for current professional work.


Digital Painting
DIGITAL PAINTING
Disney
DISNEY
Blue Sky
BLUE SKY
Where I'll Go
WHERE I'LL GO
Don't Blink
DON'T BLINK
OS video mode

VIDEO
MODE
MCERTIKOS
Rendering
RENDERING
Painting
TRADITIONAL PAINTING
Sketches
SKETCHES

DIGITAL PAINTING

Assorted digital paintings/studies and concept art for personal story ideas.
Click image to expand.

Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study.
Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study.
Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Concept art for personal story. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study. Color study.

DISNEY

Selected shots, summer 2015.
Password: chendy

BLUE SKY

Geometry reduction tool, summer 2016.
Deployed for production use, fall 2016.

WHERE I'LL GO

2D animation, winter 2015.
Focuses on environments, world-building, and atmosphere.


REVISED ANIMATION TEST

Swimming animation test, winter 2015.
Set in the world from "Where I'll Go".

DON'T BLINK

Virtual Reality horror game, spring 2016.
For implementation details, please see the project documentation.

VIDEO MODE IN MCERTIKOS

Enabling video mode in mCertiKOS, fall 2016.
For implementation details, please see the project documentation.

RENDERING

Accelerated ray tracer, fall 2015.   GPU ray tracer, spring 2016.   Unidirectional path tracer, fall 2016.
Images shown below were produced from the above ray tracing and path tracing projects.
Click image to expand.

Accelerated ray tracer. Happy buddha, glossy red material. 100,010 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford bunny, gold material. 69,676 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford dragon, glass material. 100,016 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford bunny, matte pink material. 69,676 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford dragon, mirror material. 100,016 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Happy buddha, matte pink material. 100,010 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford bunny, glass material. 69,676 triangles.
Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford dragon, glossy green material. 100,016 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford bunny, shiny aquamarine material. 69,676 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Happy buddha, glossy green material. 100,010 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford dragon, glossy red material. 100,016 triangles. Accelerated ray tracer. Stanford bunny, shiny red material. 69,676 triangles. Unidirectional path tracer: Direct lighting only.
Unidirectional path tracer: All lighting (direct, indirect, russian roulette). Unidirectional path tracer: Indirect lighting and russian roulette only. Unidirectional path tracer: Direct and indirect lighting, no russian roulette. Unidirectional path tracer: All lighting for scene with multi-colored lights. Unidirectional path tracer: All lighting for physically implausible scene with floating spheres, multi-colored lights.

DISTRIBUTED GRAPH

Four iterations of a graph store service, fall 2016.
For implementation details, please see the project documentation.

SKETCHES

Assorted sketches and assorted gesture drawings from life.
Click image to expand.

Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Gesture drawing Gesture drawing
Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches
Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches Sketches

TRADITIONAL PAINTING

Assorted paintings/studies in gouache, acrylic, and oil.
Click image to expand.

Gouache painting from life. Gouache painting from life. Gouache painting from life. Gouache painting from life. Gouache painting from life. Gouache painting from life. Gouache study of Miyazaki film. Gouache study of Miyazaki film. Gouache study of Miyazaki film. Gouache study of Miyazaki film. Gouache study of Miyazaki film. Oil portrait of Marianne Hall, my high school art teacher. Flowers in the dark, 4. Flowers in the light, 3.
Portrait of my headmaster. Portrait of my brother. Portrait of my mother. Miniature self-portrait. Portrait of my father. Portrait of my father. Portrait of my maternal grandmother. Self-portrait. Portrait of my Michael Jackson. Portrait of my brother. Floating library inspired by Max Ernst's 'Paris Dream.' Deconstruction of Caravaggio's 'Calling of Saint Matthew.' Flowers in the light, 2.
Master copy of Max Ernst's 'Paris Dream.' Portrait of my paternal grandmother. Miniature portrait of a friend. Hand for scale. Portrait of my maternal grandfather. Pink and blue buildings inspired by Max Ernst's 'Paris Dream.' Flowers in the dark, 2. Floral spotlights inspired by Max Ernst's 'Paris Dream.' Tree and mountains inspired by Max Ernst's 'Paris Dream.' Self-portrait. Flowers in the light, 4. Flowers in the dark, 1. Flowers in the light, 1. Flowers in the dark, 3.
RESUME

RESUME

PDF VERSION
WENDY CHEN
PICTURES & CODE

WENDY CHEN

  Contact

Senior Software Engineer & Technical Director

wenchenme@gmail.com

LinkedIn

vverovvero

wendyyychan

  Skills

Languages

C/C++, Python

Software

USD, Hydra, Flow, Luna, Presto, Katana, Houdini, Mari, Maya, Procreate, Photoshop

  Experience

Pixar
Global Technology Technical Director
August 2026 - Current

Current production assignment on Incredibles 3.

Senior Software Engineer, Shading
July 2017 - July 2026

  • Architected and led development of Leonardo, a new procedural shading system at Pixar built on USD/Hydra with a Houdini frontend, establishing a new workflow for authoring procedural materials independent of generated input signals. Partnered with shading, lighting, and FX artists to define production workflows and requirements.
  • Designed new procedural material editing workflows in Pixar's next-generation lighting application (Luna), integrating Presto with new USD/Hydra artist-facing workflows.
  • Developed core material authoring and shading workflows for in-house shading application (Flow), supporting character and environment production across multiple feature films.

Character Shading Technical Director (Inside Out 2)
September 2022 - June 2023

  • Developed procedural particle shading techniques in Houdini and Flow for Anger's signature crystalline "sugar particle" appearance.
  • Developed skin shading networks and texture workflows for hero human characters using Mari, Flow, and Katana.
  • Provided production technical support through debugging and pipeline tooling.

  Education & Early Career

Yale University
B.S. Computer Science
August 2013 - May 2017
Blue Sky Studios
Production Engineering Intern
June 2016 - August 2016

Developed pipeline tools, web applications, and Maya plugins.

Walt Disney Animation Studios
Art & Production Intern
June 2015 - August 2015

Look development for hero assets on the intern short film Brew.