I have spent more than twenty-six years building technology — inside some of the world's tech giants, and for some of the largest names in tech and finance. I was CTO and a founding member of a fintech company that became a unicorn. I founded an award-winning technology company that worked across several regions. I helped pioneer 3D in-game content, I hold a patent in computer vision, and I wrote a book on generative AI.
But through all of it, one fascination never left me: sound and picture.
I have worked with After Effects and 3D since their early versions — mostly for the love of it, sometimes professionally. I write songs through Mere Welkin, my music project. I have always loved the moment when an image and a sound meet, and make you feel something you can't quite put into words.
2023
In 2023, an idea arrived that brought those worlds together.
So many of us now live part of our lives in front of a camera — on calls, on streams, in videos. And everything we add to that picture sits flat on top of it, like a sticker on glass.
I wanted the opposite. I wanted words, characters and moments to live in the room with you. On your wall. On your shelf. Staying exactly where you put them, even when the camera moves.
From prototype to engine
I built a prototype. I filed an international patent application with WIPO (WO2025116832A1). And then came the long part: years of development — building, testing, breaking things and building them again, and caring about the details most people never notice, but everyone can feel.
Pop Magics is what came out of those years: an engine anyone can use, not only studios with big budgets.
And it isn't finished. It never will be. With every release the engine gets better, and I'm pushing it toward something truly cinematic — the kind of effects I used to build by hand in After Effects, running live, in your room.
Piruz Labs
Pop Magics is made at Piruz Labs, my independent lab. Piruz Labs creates audio-visual tools from the heart — made by someone who loves art, and loves artists.
If something you make with Pop Magics makes someone smile, send it to me. I'd love to see it.
Let's create to be alive!
Piruz Afruz
Founder · Piruz Labs