Balazs Kiss

CG Supervisor · Lighting Supervisor · Senior Lighting TD

About

Highly accomplished Lead / Senior Lighting Technical Director and CG Supervisor with 20+ years of experience in high-end VFX and AAA game development. A proven track record in leading teams, developing complex lighting pipelines, and delivering shots on Oscar-winning and nominated feature films, including Avatar: Fire and Ash, the Planet of the Apes and The Hobbit series. Core expertise in Katana, Maya and Unreal Engine.

Balazs Kiss in conversation during an interview

Bio

Born in Hungary in 1975, Balazs started out in the late 1990s as a game artist on indie projects such as CyberBall and HydroJet, drawing pixel art and competing in digital art contests under the name “Ward”. Winning the 3D Festival in Denmark in 2000 and a photoreal elephant study that followed opened the door to feature film work.

In 2003 he joined The Moving Picture Company in London as a texture artist on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, painting the Whomping Willow and quickly moving into lighting. Credits at MPC and Framestore followed, including Kingdom of Heaven, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Superman Returns.

He first worked at Weta Digital in New Zealand on Peter Jackson’s King Kong in 2005, and returned in 2008 for almost a decade as Lead and Senior Lighting TD on Avatar, The Hobbit trilogy, the Planet of the Apes films, The Jungle Book and many more. Since then he has supervised CG at ReDefine / DNEG on Borderlands and Ripley, led lighting on the AAA game Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and returned to Weta FX for Avatar: Fire and Ash and Greyhound 2.

Nationality
Hungarian, New Zealander
Based in
Switzerland
Can work in
All EU countries, Switzerland, UK, Australia and New Zealand (remote preferred)

Academy Award-credited productions

Balazs contributed lighting shots to these Best Visual Effects winners and nominees as a Lead and Senior Lighting Technical Director. The Academy credits each film's supervising team rather than individual artists.

  • Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)Winner
  • Avatar (2009)Winner
  • The Jungle Book (2016)Winner
  • King Kong (2005)Winner
  • War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)Nominated
  • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)Nominated
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)Nominated
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)Nominated
  • Prometheus (2012)Nominated
  • Superman Returns (2006)Nominated
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)Nominated

Career

  1. May 2026 – Sept 2026 · Remote

    Senior Lighting Technical Director

    Weta FX

    • Greyhound 2 (Tom Hanks).
    • Water-heavy shots, environments and explosions.

  2. June 2024 – Nov 2025 · Remote

    Senior Lighting Technical Director

    Weta FX

    • Led lighting on key sequences of Avatar: Fire and Ash, ensuring creative and technical continuity.
    • Optimised large-scale environment and character lighting setups in the Manuka and Katana pipeline.

  3. Sept 2022 – May 2023 · Remote

    CG Supervisor

    ReDefine / DNEG

    • Oversaw parts of the CG production on Borderlands and the Ripley series.
    • Managed communication between lighting, modelling and texturing teams for asset integration and quality control.
    • Multi-site shot briefing across India, Spain, London and Canada.
    • Render resource management, priorities and quality approvals.

  4. Aug 2020 – Dec 2020 · Remote

    Senior Lighting Technical Director

    Weta Digital

    • The Suicide Squad.

  5. May 2020 – Aug 2020 · Remote

    Lead Lighting Artist

    A44 Games

    • AAA title Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn.
    • HDRI asset verification pipeline, LUTs, title menu lighting, desert sequence lighting and light source design.

  6. July 2008 – Dec 2017 · On site

    Lead & Senior Lighting Technical Director

    Weta Digital

    • Lead Lighting TD on Academy Award-nominated features including Avatar (2009), The Hobbit and Planet of the Apes films.

  7. Feb 2008 – Apr 2008 · On site

    Senior Lighting Technical Director

    The Moving Picture Company

  8. July 2006 – Sept 2007 · On site

    Sequence Lead Lighting Technical Director

    The Moving Picture Company

  9. Jan 2006 – June 2006 · On site

    Lighting Technical Director

    Framestore CFC

    • Superman Returns.

  10. Sept 2005 – Dec 2005 · On site

    Lighting Technical Director

    Weta Digital

    • Academy Award-winning King Kong.

  11. June 2003 – Aug 2005 · On site

    Lighting Technical Director, Digital Texture Artist

    The Moving Picture Company

  12. June 2002 – May 2003 · On site

    3D Artist

    Pineapple Interactive

    • Bloody Waters (game).

Personal awards

  • H3D homepage — 3D competition winner — June 2000
  • Assembly 98, Finland — graphics competition, 4th Place
  • The Party 97, Denmark — graphics competition, 11th Place
  • Hungarian scene graphics competitions — 1st–3rd places, including Scenest 96 and Antiq 98
  • Animago Award – Animals category, 1st Place – June 2003
  • 3Dluvr.com – Of Ship and Sea contest, 1st Prize – April 2001
  • 3D Festival 2000, Denmark – Digital Hero Award (3D still)
  • CGTalk forum – Choice Award – May 2004, April & June 2003
  • 3Dluvr.com – Iron Horse contest, 2nd Place – June 2001
  • Pixxelpoint Festival 2000, Slovenia – 2D/3D stills finalist

Visual Effects Society

Tools

Render / Lighting

Katana, Manuka, Clarisse, PrMan

DCC / 3D

Maya, 3ds Max

Game engine

Unreal Engine

Compositing / Post

Nuke, DaVinci Resolve

Pipeline

Perforce, ShotGrid

AI tools

ComfyUI, Nano Banana, Kling AI

Interviews

  • 04/2013
    Filmkultura.hu

    Hobbit / Iron Man 3 interview listed on the original site; its source points to the existing Origo 2012 article

  • 05/2006
    3Ds Max.hu

    Interview and showcase of feature-film work (Hungarian)

  • 12/2005
    Index Cinematrix

    Interview and showcase of work (Hungarian)

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    Mindentbele.hu

    Interview and showcase of work (Hungarian)

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    Diary of Kistarcsa magazine

    Interview and showcase of work (Hungarian)

  • 07/2014
    Index.hu

    “Tíz éve rajzol Alieneket és majmokat egy magyar” – interview and showcase (Hungarian)

  • 01/2013
    ITBusiness.hu archived copy

    “Fényfestő animátor” – intro spread (Hungarian)

  • 07/2012
    Origo

    “A szörny olcsó, a vízesés drága” – in-depth interview on The Hobbit, Avatar, Prometheus and Tintin (Hungarian)

  • 07/2012
    Mandiner

    “Jól dolgozom nyomás alatt” – interview (Hungarian)

  • 07/2012
    Scene.hu archived copy

    “Egy magyar Scener a Weta-nál” (Hungarian)

  • 03/2010
    Transindex.ro

    General interview and showcase of works (Hungarian)

  • 12/2009
    TV2 Magellán

    TV interview on Avatar and showcase of work (Hungarian)

  • 12/2009
    RTL Klub Reggeli

    Breakfast show TV interview on Avatar (Hungarian)

  • 12/2009
    Origo

    “Magyar fény csillog az Avatarban” – Avatar interview (Hungarian)

  • 12/2009
    Videa – Filmklub

    Avatar clip featuring Balazs’s work

  • 06/2006
    TopTenReviews archived copy

    “Meet Balazs Kiss” – bio and work history by Brenna Kimber (English)

  • 06/2006
    3D Valley archived copy

    Interview and King Kong showcase (English)

  • 01/2006
    Radio Petőfi archived copy

    Radio interview on King Kong (Hungarian, audio)

  • 12/2005
    Fix TV

    General and in-depth interview on King Kong

  • 12/2004
    Graphic-Tutorials.com archived copy

    General interview and showcase of work (English)

  • 12/2004
    DeathFall / CGChannel / InsideCG / Rendernode

    Interview and showcase of personal work (English)

  • —
    3DNSPIRATION #2

    Artist of the issue – interview and showcase

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    3DNSPIRATION #3

    General interview and showcase of works

  • 07/2005
    Chip Magazine

    General interview and showcase of work

  • 06/2005
    Chip Magazine

    In-depth interview on Kingdom of Heaven

  • 07/2004
    PC Games magazine

    In-depth interview on Alien vs. Predator, pp. 22–23

Publications

  • 02/2008
    3D World #100 — Where are they now?

    Retrospective feature revisiting early digital artwork and Balazs’s move into film VFX

  • 2006
    Digital Art Masters (3DTotal)

    Making-of article on the “Temple study” and showcase of works

  • 2004
    SFX magazine #12

    Alien publicity still renders

  • 2003
    Maya 4.5 / 5.0 Visual QuickStart Guide

    Personal artwork published

  • 2003
    EXPOSÉ 1 – Ballistic Publishing

    Personal artwork in the first Exposé digital art book

  • 12/2002
    3ds Max 5 Bible

    Personal artwork published

  • 11/2002
    Digital Fantasy Painting

    Artwork and articles – inside cover, pp. 7, 38–39, 78–79

  • 11/2000
    3D World exhibition gallery

    Personal artwork published

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    3D Studio Max 3.0 Bible I & II (Hungarian)

    Personal artwork published

  • —
    3D Artists gallery archived copy

    Online gallery feature

  • —
    3D World homepage gallery

    Personal artwork published

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    3D Cafe homepage gallery

    Personal artwork published

  • —
    CG Channel gallery

    Personal artwork published

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    3D Valley gallery

    Personal artwork published

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    Planet 3D Art gallery

    Personal artwork published

Other appearances

  • —
    3D World #46

    Appearance on page 15

  • —
    3DLuvr.com — Sedley Brown / NV Film

    Interview

  • —
    EFX Art&Design

    Appearance on page 40

Tutorials

  • —
    DeepPaint I — Basics

    Tutorial published on 3DLuvr.com

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    Temple — Lighting study

    Making-of article published on 3D Total

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    Photoreal Elephants

    Making-of article published on Design 21 (Hungarian)

  • 12/2003
    When dragons fly…

    Making-of article in Digit Magazine, page 38

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    Golden age of Battleships

    Making-of article published on 3DLuvr.com