Hey there! My name is Daniel W.B. Olson and I am an aspiring engine and graphics programmer. I have accepted a Real-Time Rendering Internship at Disney for Summer 2020 *RESCINDED DUE TO COVID-19*.
I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in Computer Science also at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, primarily focused in graphics programming.
Currently, I am a Graduate Research Assistant in Dan Keefe’s IV/LAB at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I have worked off and on for Dan Keefe the last couple summers and semesters, both as a Graduate and an Undergraduate. My current project involves taking a very bulky VR project and trying to optimize it for the Oculus Quest through rendering and engine optimizations. In past projects I primarily worked on increasing graphics rendering performance. As a Graduate, I focused on remote rendering of textures to try and improve performance of cluster/multi-node rendering. As an Undergraduate, I focused mainly on maintaining high fidelity visuals while also boosting performance, through things such as Level-Of-Detail and Instancing in Unity as well as some python automation in Blender to decimate meshes and calculate normal maps. I have also done some work with artist-focused interaction techniques for VR data visualization. I recently was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for a program design and development course at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. My work was primarily designing and implementing a 2D web library for students to use and interact with simulations they will be running.
At the University of Minnesota, I have also served as a lab assistant working in Unreal Engine on a game based on Metal-Organic-Frameworks, found here. I was also Club President of Programming and Visual Production, or PVP. I started PVP hoping to section off time during the week to learn how to make games and other visual media. PVP grew much bigger than me, as we soon had 10 members and were making steady progress on games twice a week. The club’s overarching goal at creation was to learn how to make games and have fun while doing it, using programs such as GameMaker and Unity.
I also do more advanced rendering programming in my free time. Currently, I have a Deferred Rendering engine with Light Volumes with a lot of cool features that you can find in my Portfolio.
I am an avid gamer and lover of fantasy novels. It is hard to find me without a Brandon Sanderson, Garth Nix, or Orson Scott Card novel nearby, just to name a few.
I hope you are impressed with my work! Don’t hesitate to ask questions!
About Me
Hey there! My name is Daniel W.B. Olson and I am an aspiring engine and graphics programmer. I have accepted a Real-Time Rendering Internship at Disney for Summer 2020 *RESCINDED DUE TO COVID-19*.
I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in Computer Science also at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, primarily focused in graphics programming.
Currently, I am a Graduate Research Assistant in Dan Keefe’s IV/LAB at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I have worked off and on for Dan Keefe the last couple summers and semesters, both as a Graduate and an Undergraduate. My current project involves taking a very bulky VR project and trying to optimize it for the Oculus Quest through rendering and engine optimizations. In past projects I primarily worked on increasing graphics rendering performance. As a Graduate, I focused on remote rendering of textures to try and improve performance of cluster/multi-node rendering. As an Undergraduate, I focused mainly on maintaining high fidelity visuals while also boosting performance, through things such as Level-Of-Detail and Instancing in Unity as well as some python automation in Blender to decimate meshes and calculate normal maps. I have also done some work with artist-focused interaction techniques for VR data visualization. I recently was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for a program design and development course at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. My work was primarily designing and implementing a 2D web library for students to use and interact with simulations they will be running.
At the University of Minnesota, I have also served as a lab assistant working in Unreal Engine on a game based on Metal-Organic-Frameworks, found here. I was also Club President of Programming and Visual Production, or PVP. I started PVP hoping to section off time during the week to learn how to make games and other visual media. PVP grew much bigger than me, as we soon had 10 members and were making steady progress on games twice a week. The club’s overarching goal at creation was to learn how to make games and have fun while doing it, using programs such as GameMaker and Unity.
I also do more advanced rendering programming in my free time. Currently, I have a Deferred Rendering engine with Light Volumes with a lot of cool features that you can find in my Portfolio.
I am an avid gamer and lover of fantasy novels. It is hard to find me without a Brandon Sanderson, Garth Nix, or Orson Scott Card novel nearby, just to name a few.
I hope you are impressed with my work! Don’t hesitate to ask questions!
Updated: 4/19/2020