Wade Brainerd

Summary

  I am a technology architect, team leader and firefighter with a track record
  of high quality, commercially successful products.


Experience

- C/C++, Assembly (x64/PPC/Cell/AMD GCN), Python, Perl, PHP, JavaScript, C#,
  Objective C, LaTeX

- PlayStation 1/2/3/4/4.5, XBox 1/360/One, N64/GC/Wii/WiiU, PSP/Vita, 
  Dreamcast, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Oculus, Arduino

- Software architecture, Team management, Computer graphics, Performance 
  optimization, User interface design, Parallel programming, Embedded systems, 
  Linux server administration, Asset pipelines


Activision - Santa Monica, CA - 1998-Present - Principal Technical Director

- ACME Technology Studio: Co-founder, 2008-Present

  Founded a small studio in Portland, ME with another technical director.

  Working remotely, we initiate technology collaboration and community 
  building efforts, host an internship program, perform independent research & 
  development, and provide direct firefighting services to studios.

  In particular, we hold significant technical responsibilities in the
  development of the annual Call of Duty franchise.

  + Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, shipping Fall 2016

  Participated in technical direction & planning for the project.
  Researched & implemented realtime volumetric fog based on [Wronski2014].
  Overhauled editor live-update feature, improving reliability & usability.
  Coordinated ACME's rescue of the stalled Xbox D3D12 port.

  + TedFS: Hierarchal storage management for Perforce, 2016 research project

  Conceived and developed a NT kernel driver which delays population of
  files onto the client workspace until they are accessed through the 
  filesystem. Drops sync+storage requirement to build & run COD:IW from ~900GB
  to ~40GB. Currently in testing at multiple studios.

  + Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, shipped Fall 2015

  Led the graphics portion of the firefighting effort to ship the PS3/360
  SKU after the failure of an external contractor to deliver. Secured and
  managed programming resources, set technical priorities, participated in
  creative problem solving at the executive level.
  Both SKUs shipped on time and the PS3 received a Players' Choice award.

- Studio Central: Principal Technical Director, 2001-2008

  Managed the development of a graphics library and other technology
  initiatives shared between internal and external Activision studios. 

  Provided programming services for various teams, often alternating between
  research & development and firefighting roles.

- Treyarch: Programmer, 1998-2001
  
  Hired to start the Dreamcast version of Treyarch's internal ArchEngine,
  designed and implemented various engine systems, held graphics programming
  positions on various titles.

JVC Digital Arts Studio - Torrance, CA - 1996-1998 - Lead Programmer

- Iron John Hawk: shipped June 1998, Lead Programmer

  Hired as a 17-year-old high school graduate, promoted to lead.
  Managed a 7 programmer team through the creation of this 2D isometric action 
  game for Windows 95. Published by Capcom.


Credits

  Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016)  Call of Duty 3                     
  Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare         Shrek SuperSlam                    
  Call of Duty: Black Ops III            Call of Duty 2: Big Red One        
  Call of Duty: Ghosts                   Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Remix   
  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3         Ultimate Spider-Man                
  Call of Duty: Black Ops II             Spider-Man 2                       
  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2         Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer          
  Call of Duty: Black Ops                Minority Report                    
  Blur                                   Sega Sports NHL 2K3                
  Cabela's Big Game Hunter               Spider-Man: The Movie              
  Tony Hawk Ride                         Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (Dreamcast) 
  Transformers: War for Cybertron        Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm         
  Marvel Ultimate Alliance               Triple Play 2001                   
  Call of Duty: World at War             Triple Play 2000 (N64)             
  Spider-Man 3                           Iron John Hawk: The Shards of Power


Selected publications

Efficient GPU Rendering of Subdivision Surfaces using Adaptive Quadtrees
ACM Transactions on Graphics 2016 (TOG)

  Co-first author on a novel approach to rendering Catmull-Clark subdivision 
  surfaces using GPU tessellation hardware.


Selected volunteer work

One Laptop Per Child - Game & Activity Development

  Won second prize in the OLPC 2007 Game Jam with a wireframe 3D Pong.
  Ported the homebrew Nintendo DS painting application Colors! to XO.
  Wrote additional activities and coordinated activity development.

Design That Matters - Incubator Project

  Developed PIC microcode for a $200 infant isolation unit targeted at 
  developing nations. Assisted with the design of the user interface and 
  electronics.


Education

  Santa Monica College - Santa Monica, CA - Individual classes.

  Orono High School - Orono, ME - Graduated 1996.


Contact

  Email:   wadeb@wadeb.com                  Mobile: (310) 498-3750
  GitHub:  https://github.com/wadetb        Blog:   http://wadeb.com/blog 
  Twitter: @wadetb