- Co-developed the Kraddy demo in close collaboration with members of #audio to showcase new technologies in Firefox 4, while helping to coordinate a timely and complete release
- Contributed an Octree implementation and a frustum plane extraction algorithm to CubicVR.js, increasing 3D drawing performance, enabling the use of large, complex scenes, and allowing dynamic lighting
- Improved Blender 2.49's COLLADA exporter, adding extra functionality and fixing misalignments with the COLLADA specification, to enable better interoperability with third-party 3D engines with COLLADA support
- Leveraged Blender to model and texture scenes for the Kraddy demo, and used Processing.js to add animated music-visualization textures
Who I Am
I love programming and discovery as much as I like sharing the two. I am, however, also something of a musician, and the pulse of 8-bit artistry has always satiated my need for fat square waves. As such, the web and the demo-scene have attracted me with their perfect inclusion of three brilliant worlds: great music, beautiful visualizations, and open technology. Previously, in work and play, I have surrounded myself with constant reminders of how alluring those worlds are, and, now, I dabble in everything. I love pretty graphics; I love powerfully catchy music; I love programming; I love new technology; I love openness; I love demoing.Reaping the benefits of the co-op education system at the University of Waterloo, and experimenting with freelancing afterwards, my occupational experience is somewhat diverse. My forays include work for Electronic Arts, soho vfx, the BBC, and the NFB. I have helped develop rendering engines for the Wii, created compact scene compositors for 3D artists, constructed Flash games for kids, and built exploratory 3D image collages for government-funded arts projects.
As a result, I have experience in a wide range of fields within the computer industry, and have discovered different languages, technologies, people, and strategies from all of them. Java, C++, Python, JavaScript, Windows, OSX, Arch, Ubuntu, Pre-Rendering, Real-time Rendering, Agile Development, Extreme Programming, Pair Programming, Unit Testing, Serving, Threading, Fixing, Helping, Sharing, Contributing, Leading - I've had a good time.
Currently, it is my goal to be involved with as many interesting and inspiring projects as possible. Inevitably, this lust has led me into the worlds of JavaScript, Blender, Processing, Processing.js, CubicVR.js, and, finally, Mozilla.
I pine for more. Do help.
What I'm Doing
#mozilla
I am now the Creative Tech Lead under Brett Gaylor of Web Made Movies at Mozilla. Working with popcorn.js and butter, and being the implementation magician to make Web Made Movie's ideas tangible as quick as possible, I'll be helping to make sure <video> earns its rightful place on the web.
#audio
As a member of Mozilla's #audio group, I was jointly responsible for bringing one of the first scene-worthy audio-flavoured WebGL demos to the internet: "No Comply." My frustum-culling & spatial partitioning work on CubicVR.js opened the perfect window of opportunity to help create this one-of-a-kind viewing experience with the important tagline, "This Is Just A Webpage." http://hacks.mozilla.org/category/demo/featured-demo/(soon)
#fractagram
Who doesn't like to stare at interesting fractals? Or, better yet, who wouldn't love watching an animation of a zoom into them? Fractagram is a canvas experiment that displays fractal-zooming animations which are rendered by your computer in your web browser. It uses worker threads to accomplish its speed (on Firefox, thanks to quick ImageData serialization), and lets you share particularly beautiful fractals with friends via twitter & Facebook. I don't think that sharing pretty fractal animations has ever been so free and easy: http://robothaus.org/fractagram/fractagram.html
