1. SAMANTHA RAJA
ksamksamksam@gmail.com
(408) 504-5730
1930 Vine St. Apt 302, Berkeley, CA 94709
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/samantharaja/9/397/57b
EXPERIENCE Pixar Animation Studios >> Simulation Technical Director Feb 2011 - present
● Performed cloth and hair simulation on Brave, Monsters University, Toy Story of Terror,
Inside Out, and The Good Dinosaur.
● Created rigs and simulation parameters for character hair on Brave, Toy Story of Terror,
and Inside Out. Worked closely with the engineering team to ensure physicality in the
new version of the hair simulator on The Good Dinosaur.
● Performed volume and rigid body simulations in Houdini and Presto (Pixar proprietary
animation software) using Bullet and PhysBAM for simulated elements including
character skin and muscles, ropes, necklaces, book pages, and others on Brave,
Monsters University, Toy Story of Terror, and Inside Out.
● Created a set of UI tools to automate the selection and manipulation of simulation
assets
● Created a shared library of rigs and a UI tool to allow artists to store a rig they have
created in the library and re-apply it to any shot.
● Built a set of tools to automate the simulation of shots on The Good Dinosaur, reducing
the number of steps that sim artists needed to perform to start work on a shot.
PAPERS/
TALKS
● “Simulating Monsters University” - FMX 2014
● “Curls Gone Wild” - SIGGRAPH 2012
● “Fruit Senescence and Decay Simulation” - Computer Graphics Forum Volume 30 -
Issue 2 (EG 2011 Proceedings)
Palma VFX >> Technical Director Jun 2009 - Aug 2009
● Created shaders and set up lighting for scenes
● Automated the workflow of artists by creating MEL Scripts and Maya Expressions
● Assisted in various parts of the pipeline, including modeling, cloth simulation, animation,
crowds, and rendering
EDUCATION University of Pennsylvania >> B.S.E., Digital Media Design May 2010
Graphics-focused degree within the Computer Science department that includes
classes in math, programming, art, animation, and film.
● Conducted a graphics research project investigating the simulation of fruit decay,
including patterns of mold formation and volume change due to fluid loss
Awards: Diane Chi Summer Research Achievement Award, 1st Place CIS Summer
Research Program
SKILLS Software >> Maya, Houdini, Photoshop, Mari Languages >> Python, C++, Java