About us

As Founding CEO & Owner of AInVFX, Adrien Toupet leads the team to bridge traditional VFX craft and generative AI — with a human-in-the-loop philosophy that keeps artists at the center of every pipeline.

With over 20 years in the VFX industry and credits on more than 30 films — including the Avatar series, Game of Thrones, and Terminator: Dark Fate — Adrien brings rare production depth to his work. As former Head of Effects at Wētā FX, he managed global teams of over 100 technical directors, delivering groundbreaking visuals on some of cinema's most ambitious productions.

Beyond entertainment, Adrien has led large-scale digital transformation initiatives in the public sector, managing cross-functional teams of developers, researchers, and advisors to deliver nationwide projects — including the digitization of New Zealand's immigration processes. This experience sharpened his ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments and drive delivery at scale.

A certified AWS Machine Learning Engineer and Solutions Architect, Adrien is first and foremost an educator — passionate about making AI concepts accessible and empowering artists to thrive through change. A French-New Zealander now based in Canada, he is a strong advocate for ethical AI, the open-source community, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As a Principal Service Design Advisor to AInVFX, Jasmin Cheng brings her expertise in human-centered innovation to ensure AI solutions are designed with artists and studios in mind, designing tools and workflows that deliver better outcomes for everyone.

With over a decade of experience in digital transformation across local government, public health, finance, and the private sector, she applies practical techniques from Service Design, organizational strategy, and digital innovation. She is passionate about breaking down silos and guiding teams toward a more sustainable, forward-thinking future.

Jasmin's career is grounded in hands-on experimentation and making. A graduate of Fab Academy, she has explored the social impact of digital fabrication and worked at Fab Lab Wgtn, helping students and professionals prototype and refine ideas using cutting-edge technology. That same passion for learning, testing, and iterating now drives her work as Senior Manager Service Design at CIBC, where she is committed to transforming how the organization evolves and innovates.

Taking an inclusive and relational approach, Jasmin uncovers deep customer insights, co-designs with communities, technologists, and frontline teams, and aligns decision-makers around a shared vision. Whether improving employee experiences, launching new services, or coaching teams in Service Design, she ensures that change is both impactful and human-centered.

As a Principal Machine Learning Advisor to AInVFX, Dr. Tiffany J. Callahan designs and deploys advanced AI systems that bridge data, mechanism, and real-world impact. Her work focuses on agentic AI, causal modeling, and large-scale scientific systems across biology, chemistry, and engineering.

She earned her PhD in Computational Biology from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she developed novel methods in graph representation learning and neural-symbolic reasoning for biomedical knowledge systems, earning the Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Dr. Callahan has led and contributed to cutting-edge AI platforms across academia and industry. At IBM Research, she built multi-agent and retrieval-augmented AI systems for scientific discovery, supporting initiatives such as the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, the All of Us Research Program, and HuBMAP. At SandboxAQ, she advanced agentic AI and mechanistic modeling for drug discovery, leading development of causal "virtual cell" systems and contributing to high-impact demos and patent filings in scientific AI and molecular modeling.

She is currently a Principal Applied Machine Learning Engineer at Manas AI, where she builds next-generation AI systems for molecular design, integrating physics and biophysics into generative and optimization pipelines. Dr. Callahan's work centers on moving beyond prediction to causal understanding and simulation, building modular, production-grade AI systems that are interpretable, robust, and grounded in real-world science. She has authored over 50 publications and is an active contributor to the broader AI and scientific community.

As Senior Machine Learning Advisor at AInVFX, Antoine Bouthors leads our internal research, bringing a rare combination of deep VFX knowledge and AI research expertise to the team.

With over 15 years as a Machine Learning Scientist and Software Engineer at industry-defining companies like Wētā FX and Metaphysic (now part of DNEG), Antoine pioneered the integration of AI into the creative pipeline — including diffusion models, GANs, LLMs, multimodal architectures and more. His technical contributions have powered major productions such as Avatar: The Way of Water, The Avengers, Alita: Battle Angel, and The Hobbit.

Having worked directly on shots for films like Avatar and Tintin, Antoine possesses an intimate understanding of the realities of film production. He often acts as a bridge between the artistic experience and AI research, translating the nuanced challenges artists face into practical, technology-driven solutions.

Beyond research, Antoine previously helmed the Wētā FX Look-Dev R&D department, managing a portfolio of tools used by hundreds of artists across major productions. His passion for ethics and community also led him to co-found the Wētā FX DE&I committee. Antoine holds a PhD from Université Grenoble-Alpes, where his research focused on real-time realistic cloud rendering for games and simulators. He is driven by a mission to empower artists with the best technology available, while always keeping people first.

As a Machine Learning Engineer at AInVFX, Hien Nguyen is our data wizard — from collecting, to analysing and making sense of complexity.

Hien earned her Master of Computer Science, Data Science, and AI with Merit from Victoria University of Wellington (2024). Her research focused on generating synthetic COVID-19 X-rays using DCGAN and WGAN-GP models to address class imbalances in medical datasets. She also developed explainable Facial Expression Recognition systems through genetic programming and symbolic regression. Her expertise spans generative AI, transparent machine learning, and all things data.

Currently working as a Business Insights Analyst at Heritage Lifecare, she applies Python and Power BI to bring modern data practices to a changing industry. Prior to academia, Hien held leadership roles in e-commerce, hospitality, and revenue management, driving data-informed strategies. She thrives in multicultural teams and is passionate about bridging technical innovation with real-world impact.

As a 3D AI Researcher at AInVFX, Rafael Drelich grounds the integration of procedural CG and generative AI in human-centered design principles.

Based in Toronto, he works as a Senior Effects TD and educator specializing in digital simulations, procedural workflows, and the integration of generative AI into CG pipelines. He holds a Master of Digital Media from Toronto Metropolitan University, where his research explored how generative AI is reshaping digital media and artist practices, culminating in a thesis presented at SIGGRAPH Asia 2025. He is also the co-author of the Houdini ComfyUI Bridge, an open CG-AI toolkit enabling seamless data exchange between Houdini and ComfyUI.

His production background spans Mr. X, WeFX, and Pixomondo, with credits including Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, Halo, From, American Gods, and more. He also spent time at SideFX as an Image Processing TD, researching AI-driven VFX technology at the intersection of Houdini and ComfyUI.

Rafael currently teaches at Seneca Polytechnic and Humber Polytechnic, sharing his expertise in generative AI and procedural workflows with the next generation of VFX artists.