Alexander Wood
Lead R&D Engineer at Ansys
West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolAlexander Wood is a Lead R&D Engineer with 13 years of experience building high-fidelity 3D visualization and rendering systems for complex, multi-scale domains from surface terrain to solar system views. He leads STK’s custom rendering framework at Ansys, driving glTF 2.0, PBR, volumetrics, massive terrain, and 3D Tiles integrations while contributing to Khronos glTF PBR working group efforts. His background blends deep C/C++ graphics engineering and backend systems with full-stack JavaScript work—evidenced by contributions to Cesium (billboards/labels) and lightweight glTF loaders where he added Draco compression, BasisU, and advanced material support. Known for pragmatic problem solving, Alex routinely fixes subtle shader and data-structure bugs that improve visual fidelity and robustness at scale. He pairs academic grounding (MS in Computer Science) with a history of shipping production-grade engines and terrain servers optimized for commodity hardware.
12 years of coding experience
22 years of employment as a software developer
MS, Computer Science, MS, Computer Science at North Carolina State UniversityBS, Information Sciences and Technology, Information Systems: Design and Development Option, BS, Information Sciences and Technology, Information Systems: Design and Development Option at The Pennsylvania State University
Github Skills (28)
webgl10
resium10
javascript10
c-language10
3d-graphics10
gltf10
shader10
geospatial10
glsl10
c1110
c1710
cesiumjs10
3d-models10
3d10
cprogramming-language10
Programming languages (9)
Github contributions (5)
KhronosGroup/glTF-Sample-Models
Jun 2020 - Mar 2022
glTF Sample Models
Role in this project:
3D Artist / Technical Artist
3D Artist / Technical ArtistContributions:8 reviews, 15 commits, 5 PRs in 1 year 9 months
Contributions summary:The user, Eric Chadwick, contributed significantly to the creation and refinement of glTF sample models within the repository. Their primary contribution was the creation and editing of a ToyCar model, including incorporating advanced PBR material extensions like clearcoat, transmission, and sheen. Further, they made iterative changes to existing model files, including fixing decal edges and adding camera configurations to enhance model visualization.
playcanvascolladapbrfbxgltf
CesiumGS/cesium
Aug 2013 - Apr 2018
An open-source JavaScript library for world-class 3D globes and maps :earth_americas:
Role in this project:Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:141 commits, 3 PRs, 19 comments in 4 years 8 months
Contributions summary:Alex Wood primarily worked on implementing and improving billboard and label features within the Cesium library. His contributions include adding support for scale and translucency adjustments based on distance, and pixel offset scaling. He also addressed various bugs and inconsistencies in the existing code, including shader and data structure corrections. These changes involved updates to both the rendering shaders and the core JavaScript components of the library.
3d-globegltfjavascript-librarygeospatial3d-tiles
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