Nicolas Capens
Principal Software Engineer - Omniverse at NVIDIA
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Summary
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Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolNicolas Capens is a Principal Software Engineer at NVIDIA's Omniverse with 12+ years of deep experience in C/C++ systems, compiler tech, and 3D graphics. Creator of SwiftShader and former Google senior engineer, he led the reference CPU-based Vulkan/OpenGL ES driver used widely in Chrome, Android, and server-side testing. His work spans low-level code generation, x86/LoongArch backends, Reactor intrinsics, and CPU/GPU architecture-aware optimizations, with hands-on x86 assembly and MemorySanitizer fixes. An active open-source contributor, he improves graphics conformance in projects like Khronos WebGL and ANGLE by writing rigorous tests and shader compiler transformations. Based in Montreal, he blends research-grade compiler design with production engineering to make hardware-independent rendering practical. Colleagues rely on him for subtle correctness fixes that prevent rare floating-point and memory bugs in complex rendering pipelines.
12 years of coding experience
18 years of employment as a software developer
Science and Math, Science and Math at Sint-Jozef-Klein-Seminarie, Sint-Niklaas, BelgiumMaster of Science in Engineering Computer Engineering Embedded Systems, Master of Science in Engineering Computer Engineering Embedded Systems at Ghent University
Dutch, English, French, German
Stackoverflow
840reputation
49kreached
7answers
5questions
Github Skills (36)
webgl10
spirv10
vulkan10
c-language10
shader10
compilation10
llvm10
testing10
glsl10
shaderc10
compiler-design10
optmization10
optimisation10
compile10
compiler-optimization10
Programming languages (11)
Github contributions (5)
google/swiftshader
Apr 2014 - Dec 2022
SwiftShader is a high-performance CPU-based implementation of the Vulkan graphics API. Its goal is to provide hardware independence for advanced 3D graphics.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:2398 commits, 2 PRs, 1 branch in 8 years 9 months
Contributions summary:Nicolas's commits primarily focused on the Subzero compiler, specifically involving improvements to its x86 and LoongArch64 backends, the creation of Reactor intrinsics for performance, and various bug fixes. The user addressed issues related to incorrect handling of memory and floating-point operations for a Vulkan graphics API, as well as enhancing support for different architectures. These changes involved core code generation, optimization strategies, and dealing with potential MemorySanitizer issues.
3d-graphicsgraphichardwareswiftshadervulkan
KhronosGroup/WebGL
Dec 2013 - Oct 2016
The Official Khronos WebGL Repository
Role in this project:QA Engineer / Test Automation Engineer
QA Engineer / Test Automation EngineerContributions:5 commits, 1 PR, 1 comment in 2 years 10 months
Contributions summary:Nicolas primarily contributes to testing the WebGL implementation. Their work includes fixing existing test cases, specifically addressing issues related to vertex attribute handling and index buffer usage. The user also adds new tests to cover specific edge cases and features, such as testing samplers in ternary operations and constant expressions in loop conditions, and modifying existing tests for smoother image rendering. Their contributions focus on ensuring the correctness and reliability of the WebGL API.
webgl
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