Ken Faiman Technical art / AI systems

Rigging & simulation / agents, retrieval & local AI

Character systems
and AI systems,
in production.

Two practices, both current. Character rigs, simulation and artist pipelines for film, cinematics and avatars. Agent, retrieval and generative systems that run on my own GPU, each with its test results published.

13 feature films, The Matrix to How to Train Your Dragon 25+ Blizzard cinematics across seven franchises 50+ Meta peers adopted my multi-agent research system
Play the Blizzard reel The AI systems

Blizzard reel

Blizzard Cinematics, 2015 to 2022

Rig/Sim show lead, overseeing 10+ riggers: character rigs, facial, muscle, cloth and hair, my team's and mine. Each simulation was scoped with the people who needed it before it was built, then tuned pass by pass.

Fig. 01

The shipped editor, 2025. The images are Meta's.

Meta Avatars

Meta Reality Labs / 2022 to 2026 / Senior Technical Artist, GenAI & Avatars

I built the universal hair rig for Meta Avatars and its authoring pipeline. 10+ artists authored 200+ dynamic hairstyles on it, for a system with more than a billion avatars.

Also at Meta
Core rigging and deformation for the same avatars: auto-rigging, autofit deformation, skinning, blendshapes, a parametric body with skeleton-refit retargeting.
Avatar Clothing
With the Avatar Clothing team: the clothing rig and deformation, garment fitting to the parametric body, and the Maya tooling artists use to author outfits.
Training inputs
100+ character rigs for a physics-based ML rigging model.
Pipeline work at Meta
The C++ Horizon Worlds USD pipeline library: conversion, correction, rendering and CI validation, including AssetGen 2.0.
Links
Meta Avatars, the shipped system
AssetGen 2.0, Meta Horizon developer blog

Index / 01 to 09

Nine systems, nine case studies.

Retrieval, generation, agents, infrastructure, and one Unreal Engine tool, from a knowledge server measured in VRAM against score to an agent that finishes 1980s adventure games on its own. Each case study says how the thing works and how it was tested.

Retrieval and generative Two systems

AI systems · Mainframe MCP · In daily use A knowledge server you can check. Thousands of notes on my own GPU. A second model ranks the matches and returns evidence with source references. The current stack runs in 3.7 GB of VRAM at 92% of the score of the 13.5 GB stack it replaced. Source code How it works
Generative · font generation · Research build A font from two letters. Two letters in, the other 92 characters out, traced into a font you can install. A FLUX.2 LoRA trained on 925 typefaces, scored on 50 it never saw. How it works

Agents Three systems

Infrastructure and tools Three systems

Character tools Unreal Engine

Character work / Film & cinematics

A career of characters.

Character rigs, simulation systems and the work that brings them to life.

2003 — 2023 / 54 characters & groupsDrag to explore
Neo — The Matrix Reloaded. Universal capture.
2003NeoUniversal capture
Agent Smith — The Matrix Reloaded. Universal capture.
2003Agent SmithUniversal capture
Keymaker — The Matrix Reloaded. Universal capture.
2003KeymakerUniversal capture
Morpheus — The Matrix Reloaded. Universal capture.
2003MorpheusUniversal capture
Catwoman — Catwoman. Universal capture.
2004CatwomanUniversal capture
Catwoman rooftop — Catwoman. Background VFX.
2004Catwoman rooftopBackground VFX
Centaur crowds — The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Crowd rigs.
2005Centaur crowdsCrowd rigs
RJ — Over the Hedge. Fur / Character FX.
2006RJFur / Character FX
Vincent — Over the Hedge. Fur / Character FX.
2006VincentFur / Character FX
Ozzie & Heather — Over the Hedge. Fur / Character FX.
2006Ozzie & HeatherFur / Character FX
Porcupine kid — Over the Hedge. Quill shot work.
2006Porcupine kidQuill shot work
Verne / hose shot — Over the Hedge. Character FX shot work.
2006Verne / hose shotCharacter FX shot work
Hammy — Hammy's Boomerang Adventure. Fur / Character FX.
2006HammyFur / Character FX
Vanessa — Bee Movie. Hair rig.
2007VanessaHair rig
Bee characters — Bee Movie. Fur / Character FX.
2007Bee charactersFur / Character FX
Ken / shower curtain — Bee Movie. Shower curtain sim rig.
2007Ken / shower curtainShower curtain sim rig
Bee Movie lawyer — Bee Movie. Shot cloth simulation.
2007Bee Movie lawyerShot cloth simulation
Po & Tai Lung — Kung Fu Panda. Shot cloth simulation.
2008Po & Tai LungShot cloth simulation
Stoick — How to Train Your Dragon. Simulation rig.
2010StoickSimulation rig
Berk crowds — How to Train Your Dragon. Simulation rigs.
2010Berk crowdsSimulation rigs
Puss in Boots — Puss in Boots. Simulation rig.
2011Puss in BootsSimulation rig
Kitty Softpaws — Puss in Boots. Simulation rig.
2011Kitty SoftpawsSimulation rig
Crow — Puss in Boots. Feathers / wing rig.
2011CrowFeathers / wing rig
Heidi — Me and My Shadow. Hair + cloth sim rigs.
UnreleasedHeidiHair + cloth sim rigs
Bubble ship — Home. Bubble dynamics rig.
2015Bubble shipBubble dynamics rig
Varian — World of Warcraft: Legion cinematic trailer. Hair rig.
2015VarianHair rig
Mondatta — Overwatch: Alive. Character rig.
2016MondattaCharacter rig
Crowd omnics — Overwatch: Alive. Character rigs.
2016Crowd omnicsCharacter rigs
Yakuza thug — Overwatch: Dragons. Character rig.
2016Yakuza thugCharacter rig
Hero thug — Overwatch: Hero. Character rig.
2016Hero thugCharacter rig
Beaten-up omnic — Overwatch: Hero. Character rig.
2016Beaten-up omnicCharacter rig
Reaper — Overwatch: Infiltration. Character rig.
2016ReaperCharacter rig
Queen of Ghosts — Queen of Ghosts Kerrigan - Heroes of the Storm. Character rig.
2016Queen of GhostsCharacter rig
Alarak — Queen of Ghosts Kerrigan - Heroes of the Storm. Character rig.
2016AlarakCharacter rig
Alexstrasza — Heroes of the Storm: Dragons of the Nexus. Hair sim rig.
2017AlexstraszaHair sim rig
Sylvanas — World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth cinematic trailer. Hair + cloth sim rigs.
2017SylvanasHair + cloth sim rigs
Zekhan — World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth cinematic trailer. Character + sim rigs.
2017ZekhanCharacter + sim rigs
Anduin — World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth cinematic trailer. Hair / sim rigs.
2017AnduinHair / sim rigs
Ava — Hearthstone: Hearth and Home. Hair + fur sim rig.
2017AvaHair + fur sim rig
Harth — Hearthstone: Hearth and Home. Hair sim rig.
2017HarthHair sim rig
Malto — Hearthstone: Hearth and Home. Character + sim rigs.
2017MaltoCharacter + sim rigs
Saurfang — World of Warcraft: Old Soldier. Simulation rigs.
2018SaurfangSimulation rigs
Footman — Warcraft III: Reforged announcement cinematic. Simulation rigs.
2018FootmanSimulation rigs
Sorceress — Diablo Immortal announcement cinematic. Hair sim rig.
2018SorceressHair sim rig
Thrall — World of Warcraft: Safe Haven. Simulation rigs.
2019ThrallSimulation rigs
Symon — Diablo IV: By Three They Come. Hero simulation.
2019SymonHero simulation
Fionn — Diablo IV: By Three They Come. Hero simulation.
2019FionnHero simulation
Kiriko’s mother — Overwatch 2: Kiriko. Face / character rig.
2022Kiriko’s motherFace / character rig
Kiriko’s neighbor — Overwatch 2: Kiriko. Face / character rig.
2022Kiriko’s neighborFace / character rig
Knights — Diablo IV: Official Release Date Trailer. Character + sim rigs.
2022KnightsCharacter + sim rigs
Priest — Diablo IV: Official Release Date Trailer. Character + sim rigs.
2022PriestCharacter + sim rigs
Sojourn — Overwatch 2: Calling. Character + sim rigs.
2023SojournCharacter + sim rigs
Grunt omnic — Overwatch 2: Calling. Character + sim rigs.
2023Grunt omnicCharacter + sim rigs
Null Sector boss — Overwatch 2: Calling. Character + sim rig.
2023Null Sector bossCharacter + sim rig

Character work / Selected images

Film VFX / 2002 to 2015 / DreamWorks Animation · ESC Entertainment · Rhythm & Hues

Thirteen feature films.

Character FX Lead at DreamWorks for a team of 25+, with hands-on cloth, hair and skin on hero characters across eight of them. Digital-human facial work on The Matrix sequels at ESC for Warner Bros.

Visual effectsESC Entertainment · Rhythm & Hues · 2002 to 2005

  1. 2003The Matrix Reloaded
  2. 2003The Matrix Revolutions
  3. 2004Catwoman
  4. 2004The Ladykillers
  5. 2005The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Feature animationDreamWorks Animation · 2005 to 2015

  1. 2006Over the Hedge
  2. 2007Bee Movie
  3. 2008Kung Fu Panda
  4. 2010How to Train Your Dragon
  5. 2011Puss in Boots
  6. 2013Turbo
  7. 2014Penguins of Madagascar
  8. 2015Home

2000 to present

25 years building character systems.

  • Toolset

    Maya · Houdini · Unreal

    Python · C++ · OpenUSD

    • Python throughout; C++ for the Unreal plugin, interpreters, USD
  1. 2022–2026

    Senior Technical Artist, GenAI & Avatars

    Meta Reality Labs

    • Hair technical lead: universal hair rig and Maya pipeline
    • Auto-rigging, autofit, skinning, blendshapes, parametric body
    • Clothing rig, deformation and garment fitting
    • Research agent shared company-wide, 50+ users
  2. 2015–2022

    Rigging & Simulation Lead

    Blizzard Entertainment

    • Rig/Sim show lead, 10+ riggers, every franchise
    • Overwatch 2 Sojourn cinematic, Diablo IV release trailer
    • Stitches build system: Nucleus sim framework, core modules
  3. 2005–2015

    Character FX Lead / Senior Simulation Developer

    DreamWorks Animation

    • Character FX lead for a team of 25+
    • Cloth, hair and skin on hero characters, eight features
    • Universal skin collision solver; Puss in Boots feather rigs
    • Rod and curve solvers with R&D; curve solver at SIGGRAPH
  4. 2002–2005

    Facial & Crowd Systems

    ESC Entertainment · Rhythm & Hues

    • Universal Capture core contributor; VES 2004, Sci-Tech 2015
    • Superpunch sketch author; Electronic Theater, SIGGRAPH 2004
    • Autonomous crowd characters, The Chronicles of Narnia
  5. 1996–2001

    UCLA · Gnomon · Activision

    B.A. Film & TV, Honors · Game Artist