Portfolio
Simulation
Game Industry
Responsibilities: Team leader / Graphics and Real-time Rendering Engineer. Key member of a team that develops 3D stereoscopic, haptic-enabled, virtual reality simulators for training surgeons in robotic surgery. The company provided both in-house hardware and software, as well as simulation software for medical technology companies. Implemented systems for physically-based dynamic lighting, material systems, real-time shadows, post-process effects, real-time cutting and deformation, UI, audio and sound effects, and streaming video. Developed and maintained the tool-chain for exporting scenes and assets from Maya into the flagship simulator.
Click the MORE buttons for visual examples and further details on my work in each category.
Content note: Because this work is surgical simulation, some images depict simulated blood, organs, and needles.
Responsibilities: Rendering and engine programming.
Modified and extended
Unreal Engine 3 to meet the specific requirements of the project.
Responsibilities: Implemented a variety of graphical systems, including but not limited to the ocean, waves, rivers, roads, bridges, and a terrain contour system. See screenshots below or by clicking the box cover art. Also performed graphics optimization, localization coding, and voice-over acting.
This project is a soft body physics system that simulates cloth.
This project is a real-time shader that enhances bump mapping by simulating visual parallax.
This project was created as an exercise while learning the RenderMan interface.
The goal of this project was to design a game that used a client/server architecture and would allow any number of players to play simultaneously over a network. The choice of the game itself was purposely kept simple, in order to focus on the client/server design.
Principal Graphics Software Engineer
I’m a graphics engineer with 18 years in real-time rendering. I specialize in lighting, physically-based rendering, shader development and engine architecture.
I have a strong affinity for both the arts and sciences. I started in games at Firaxis, as a graphics programmer on Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. There I built water systems, a terrain contouring system, time-of-day lighting, and extended Unreal Engine.
Since 2011 I’ve been at Surgical Science (formerly Mimic Technologies) in Seattle, building the rendering behind stereoscopic VR simulators that train surgeons in robotic surgery. In that time I’ve moved the renderer from DirectX 9 to DirectX 11 and designed a PBR/HDR lighting system calibrated to the real light output of surgical endoscopes. I’ve also built stereo display, video streaming, and synthetic-image rendering for medical AI training. Today I’m a Principal Graphics Software Engineer: I lead graphics work, mentor engineers and am the team’s main code reviewer.
I care about images that are both beautiful and accurate, and about using them for something that matters. I’m most at home on teams that share knowledge openly and I constantly strive to improve work culture. My educational path started with an AA in Physics and Mathematics, then a BFA in Music and Theater, followed by an M.S. in Computer Science from DePaul University.