About / Danci Shen

I make real-time worlds feel alive, across film, immersive experiences, and interactive installations.

A creative technologist working where code meets craft: shaders, procedural systems, and AI tools that help the whole team move faster. I'm happiest when a problem is half creative, half technical.

San Francisco Bay Area Available for collaboration

Published

Short paper, ACM Web3D 2026PlaySplat: hand-tracked 3D Gaussian Splatting in the browser.

Speaking

SIGGRAPH 2026, Birds of a FeatherImmersive visualization for research, art, and digital twins.

Featured

NVIDIA Omniverse LivestreamSplatGarden demo and pipeline walkthrough, 18K+ views.

(01) / Expertise

What I do.

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Substrate. HLSL / GLSL / MSL shaders and materials, real-time lighting and look development with Lumen. Mobile shader optimization for iOS AR.

LED volume and ICVFX pipelines, nDisplay, Composure, RenderStream, Disguise. On-set color grading, dynamic lighting, and live troubleshooting for broadcast delivery.

Houdini VEX, PCG, HDAs and VAT. Procedural systems plus tooling and automation: a custom Blender addon, Unity editor scripts, and Python for Maya, Blender, Houdini, and Unreal. Perforce, GitHub.

3D Gaussian Splatting, OpenUSD PointInstancer, AI-assisted asset generation with ComfyUI and diffusion, MediaPipe tracking. Recent work moved 3DGS into the browser with WebGL and WebGPU, published as a short paper at ACM Web3D 2026. Currently researching real-time across physical AI, robotics, and film.

(02) / Research & Speaking

Papers and talks.

Publication

ACM Web3D 2026 Short paper Accepted July 2026

From Viewing to Playing: Bring-Your-Own-Scene Interaction for 3D Gaussian Splatting on the Web

PlaySplat brings hand-tracked, real-time interaction to browser-based Gaussian Splatting. Load your own capture and reach into it, no install.

playsplats.com

Talks

Jul 2026 SIGGRAPH 2026Speaker, Birds of a Feather: Immersive Visualisation for Science, Research, Art and Digital Twins Applications. Los Angeles, USA Jul 2026 NVIDIA Omniverse LivestreamGuest speaker. Demoed SplatGarden and the browser 3DGS pipeline live on air, capture to interactive scene. 18K+ views. Live stream

(03) / Experience

Where I've worked.

Jul 2026 – Now 4DV.AICreative Technologist (4DGS). Freelance effects R&D for brand collaborations including Burberry: Houdini particle simulation layered over virtual production with 4D Gaussian Splatting assets; ongoing R&D on bringing 4DGS into post-production pipelines. Remote / Los Angeles

2025 – Jun 2026 Aako.IncTechnical Artist (AR). Custom shaders and procedural VFX in Reality Composer Pro and Unity; brought USDZ assets into Unity URP; shipped in a live iOS app rated 4.9 on the App Store. Remote / San Diego

2022 – 2024 FieldFusion TechnologyTechnical Artist (AR). Real-time AR for live entertainment and brand work, including a New Year's Eve livestream that peaked at 50,000 concurrent viewers; split production with R&D on Gaussian Splatting, cloth simulation, and AI tooling. Hangzhou, China

Mar – Jun 2022 MORE StudioMotion Graphic Designer. 100 motion pieces for the Award360° Facet exhibition at pidan Gallery; dynamic logos for brands like cyclecycle. Shanghai, China

(04) / Education

Education.

2024 – 2026 Savannah College of Art and DesignMA, Interactive Design & Game Development. Graduated May 2026. Savannah, USA

Jun – Jul 2021 China Academy of ArtPLAYSHOP visiting program. Art direction for the AR face filter "Isn't it real?" Hangzhou, China

(05) / Community

Community.

Apr – Jun 2026 Women in AnimationMentee, Mentorship Circle. A program on virtual production workflows and real-time animation tooling. Virtual

Jun 2025 AWE USAConference volunteer at the world's largest XR industry event. Long Beach, USA

(06) / Selected Projects

What I've built.

Jul – Aug 2026 Burberry × 4DV.AITechnical Director, effects R&D layering Houdini particle simulation over virtual production with 4D Gaussian Splatting assets 4DGS

Mar 2026 – Now SplatGarden | WebGL 3DGSTechnical Director, browser-based Gaussian Splatting viewer in Three.js, built on the PlaySplat system Real-time

Mar – May 2026 The Memory ClocksmithLighting TD, Maya-to-Unreal workflow with Lumen. The Rookie Awards 2026, Selected. Animated Film

Mar – May 2026 Soul RevealUnreal Engine Artist, real-time XR stage environments for a costume design capstone short film. XR Film

Jan – Mar 2026 Gentle Monster XRTech Lead, Unreal virtual production (SCAD x Harbor Picture Company x ETC). The Rookie Awards 2026, Selected. XR Brand Campaign

Jan – Mar 2026 AI Voxel StudioTechnical Pipeline Lead, 3DGS to Unreal (2nd Place, NVIDIA AI Summit) Tool Dev

Jan – Mar 2026 ManitaireTech Art, Unity VFX Graph for immersive UI (GDC 2026) VR

Oct – Dec 2025 Lotos StationTech Lead, Unreal virtual production (SCAD Day) XR Film

Oct – Dec 2025 Kohler LEDTech Art Lead, LED volume workflows (SCADPro) XR Brand Campaign

Jun – Aug 2025 Mayo ClinicTechnical Artist, real-time shaders and VFX for VR (SCADPro) VR

Jun – Sep 2024 HUGTechnical Director, Houdini-to-Unreal real-time rendering (Dubai Design Week) Digital Art

(07) / Recognition

Awards & shows.

Awards

NVIDIA AI Summit2nd Place2026

The Rookie AwardsSelected, Gentle Monster & The Memory Clocksmith2026

Meta Morph AwardShortlisted2024

London Chinese Art ExchangeSilver Award2023

Golden Crown Intl DesignGold Award2021

H.C. Andersen Art AwardsBronze Medal2021

Hiiibrand Intl Brand DesignMerit Award2021

Singapore Art DesignSilver Award2021

Hong Kong Contemporary DesignBronze Medal2021

Exhibitions

GDCManitaire VR2026

SCAD DayLotos Station2025

Dubai Design WeekHUG2024

ChinaJoyRecur2024

London Chinese Art ExchangeGroup exhibition2024

Let's build something alive.

Currently researching real-time across physical AI, robotics, and film. Always open to collaborations that live between code and craft, and to talks or workshops on browser-based 3D. Selected work lives on the Works page.

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