Rodrigo Cano
- XR Engineer
- Performance and Optimization
- Technical Art
Senior Programmer @ TikTok
I am currently a member of the graphics team at TikTok, focusing on profiling tools and engine features. Previously, I served as the performance and optimization team lead for Assassin’s Creed VR, a AAA VR game. I have been professionally working in the XR space since 2016, starting at Magic Leap. My time at Magic Leap allowed me to take on various roles, design, and explore, as AR was still a relatively new field at the time. At TikTok, I have worked on a diverse range of tasks, from developing intricate engine features to creating viral new filters. I am passionate about leveraging technology to explore and express creativity.
Employment
Senior Engineer @ TikTok
from April 2022 to Present
TikTok
Senior Interactive Engineer specializing in engine features and graphics APIs, and the owner of graphics profiling tools. I have developed engine features, including GLTF importing with full support for all official rendering extensions. More recently, I have focused on implementing both internal and external graphics profiling tools to help engineers and designers optimize filters and features for the diverse range of devices we support.
Senior Programmer @ Ubisoft
from February 2020 to Present
Ubisoft
Performance and Optimization team lead for Assassin’s Creed VR, a AAA VR game. Since February 2020 I’ve been working with a talented 14 person team of engineers and technical artists to improve and maintain the performance of the game while maintaining the creative vision.
Senior Interaction Engineer @ Magic Leap
from April 2016 to January 2020
What is interaction in mixed reality?
In 2016 we began prototyping the UI/UX for the Magic Leap operating system (LuminOS) and system apps. This original prototype was done on a combination of experimental hardware and other products using Unity3D and a lot of hacks. This prototype led to the creation of a number of input algorithms and designs used throughout the operating system. During the creation of LuminOS I was left in charge of art integration, authored various shaders and rendering features for the incorporation of the UI/UX design.
Senior Developer @ iPipeline
from August 2015 to April 2015
Software as a service development in AFFIRM for Annuities
A venture into non-entertainment based programming. AFFIRM for Annuities was a challenging and monolothic codebase that used mainly C# and their own proprietary language under the agile methodology. I Worked closely with clients to deliver customized solutions to major banks. I was also put in charge of maintaining, updating, and building their mobile solution.
Programmer @ SeaShells Education Software
from August 2014 to August 2015
Creating a reading game using speech recognition
At SeaShells I developed a speech recognition driven children’s game called Reading Racer. There is currently no easily available offline speech recognition solution for unity. I wrote two multiplatform plugins using C++ for unity for two different ASR solutions, PocketSphinx and Kaldi.
Programming Intern @ Scientech of Berwick
from January 2010 to May 2010
Data managment for the nuclear industry
Worked on a 10+ year old codebase and database used for tracking in nuclear facilities. Fixed bugs and added features to the Oracle Forms and ASP.net based system. I spoke with clients regularly in order to discuss and address their needs more efficiently when adding or modifying existing features. Scientech had very strict development and QA procedures to follow.
Education
Carnegie Mellon University
from January 2012 to December 2013
Master's in Entertainment Technology
The first semester comprises of rapid prototyping five games in an agile environment. Each game took anywhere from a week to three weeks to create. Afterwards we are put in multidisciplinary teams for semester long projects where we develop for clients such as Electronic Arts. The ETC challenged my tech skills as well as my ability to effectively communicate with others in order to get the most out of an iteration.
Bloomsburg University
from August 2007 to May 2011
Bachelor's in Computer Science
Bachelor's in Mathematics