Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Computer Graphics, Physics-based Rendering, Material Modeling, Artificial Intelligence (AI). Personal page
Biography
Zahra is a lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the University of Manchester in the department of Computer Science. Her field of research is physics-based computer graphics with a focus on photorealistic rendering and appearance modeling for complex materials such as cloth, hair, and fur. She worked as a research consultant at Disney Research and collaborates with WetaDigital on joint research projects. She received Star Wars movie credit for The Mandalorian and her research paper was used in the production of Avatar, The Way of Water.
Before joining academia, she was a Research and Development at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). She holds a PhD in Computer Science from University of California, Irvine (UCI), advised by Shuang Zhao, and worked under the supervision of Professor Henrik Wann Jensen. During her studies, she interned at Pixar Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation, and for two years at Luxion (makers of KeyShot). She received her M.Sc. in Computer Science from UCI in 2017 and her B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in 2015, Iran.
My group
I am honored to work with these exceptional researchers:
Current PhDs:
- Apoorv Khattar – started in Sep 2022
- Chenghao Wu - started in Mar 2023
- Yi Ke - started in Sep 2026
Alumni PhD:
- (2026) Bowen Xue, next: Intern at NVIDIA
- (2026) Fengxi Jin
- (2024) David Petrescu, next: Lecturer at University of Manchester
Teaching
COMP37111 - Computer Graphics and Virtual Environment (2022, 2023, 2025, 2026)
COMP1INTRO Computer Science - Welcome Week (2023)
Comp10120 - First Year Tutorials (2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024)
Comp30040&30030 - Third Year Project (2022/2023, 2023/2024)
Social responsibility
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Computer Science, Computer Graphics, University of California, Irvine
16 Sept 2015 → 11 May 2021
Award Date: 8 Sept 2021
Master of Science, Computer Science, University of California, Irvine
15 Sept 2015 → 11 Jun 2017
Award Date: 8 Sept 2018
Bachelor of Science, Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology
21 Sept 2010 → 29 Dec 2014
Award Date: 3 Mar 2015
External positions
Consultancy, Disney Research
1 Apr 2022 → 30 Nov 2022
Research & Development, Industrial Light & Magic
Aug 2021 → Dec 2021
Research Assistant, Luxion (Makers of KeyShot)
Jun 2019 → Jan 2021
Research & Development Intern, Pixar Animation Studios
Jun 2018 → Sept 2018
Research & Development Intern, DreamWorks Animation SKG
Jun 2017 → Sept 2017
Research Assistant, Koc University
Jun 2014 → Aug 2015
Areas of expertise
- QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
- Computer Graphics
Research Highlights, Institutes and Platforms
- Digital Futures
- Creative Manchester
Keywords
- Computer Graghics
- Rendering
- Appearance Modeling
- Neural Rendering
- Physics-based rendering
- Photorealistic rendering
- Visual Computing
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure -
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics where Zahra Montazeri is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
- 1 Similar Profiles
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A Real-time, Multiscale and Procedural Feather Appearance Model
Chen, X., Chen, B., Wang, S., Montazeri, Z., Yan, L., Wang, L. & Zhu, J., 3 Jul 2026, In: ACM Transactions on Graphics.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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PBR‐Inspired Controllable Diffusion for Image Generation
Xue, B., Guarnera, G. C., Zhao, S. & Montazeri, Z., 10 Apr 2026, In: Computer Graphics Forum. e70329.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Real-Time Neural Hair G-Buffer Anti-Aliasing
Wu, C., Shen, Y., Huang, T., Yan, K., Montazeri, Z. & Wu, K., 17 May 2026.Research output: Preprint/Working paper › Preprint
File3 Downloads (Pure) -
VideoNeuMat: Neural Material Extraction from Generative Video Models
Xue, B., Hadadan, S., Zeng, Z., Rousselle, F., Montazeri, Z. & Hasan, M., 6 Feb 2026.Research output: Preprint/Working paper › Preprint
File3 Downloads (Pure) -
VideoNeuMat: Neural Material Extraction from Generative Video Models
Xue, B., Hadadan, S., Zeng, Z., Rousselle, F., Montazeri, Z. & Hašan, M., 19 Jul 2026, SIGGRAPH.Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review
Prizes
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Doctral Fellowship at UCI (Fully Funded)
Montazeri, Z. (Recipient), 2015
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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LightSpeed Venture Partners Summer Fellowship
Montazeri, Z. (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)
Montazeri, Z. (Recipient), 2015
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
Activities
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Invited talk at CoSTAR
Montazeri, Z. (Speaker)
3 Jul 2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
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Invited talk at EPFL
Montazeri, Z. (Speaker)
Feb 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
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Invited talk at University of California San Diego (at Pixel Cafe)
Montazeri, Z. (Speaker)
18 Nov 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
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Invited talk at University of California Irvine
Montazeri, Z. (Speaker)
16 Nov 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
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Invited talk at University of Santa Barbara
Montazeri, Z. (Speaker)
15 Nov 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research