About Me
Hi! My name is Sam Hatfield, and I'm a technical artist and software engineer. I enjoy working on projects that let me exercise both my creative and technical skills, and I aspire to work on fun, positive entertainment that appeals to a wide audience.
This site is primarily designed as my professional portfolio for job applications, though I may add more personal content in the future.
Background
I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering (Computer Science Focus) from Texas A&M University, with minors in Art and Mathematics. Shortly thereafter, I took a job at Microsoft Game Studios as a SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test), writing automation software to test server scalability for games like Microsoft Bingo.
I then returned to Texas A&M to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Visualization, which I completed in December 2017. My graduate studies taught me the basics of computer animation production, as well as more specialized knowledge on rendering, shading, lighting, and physics simulation. I also expanded my understanding of fine art theory and practice, and combined my love of photography with my technical skills to develop artwork for my MFA final exhibition.
For additional details about my background, please see my resume.
Skills and Interests
Here are some technical artist-related services I offer:
Writing shaders, with particular interest in non-photorealistic rendering and stylized effects
Developing art- and graphics-related tools (1, 2) to increase efficiency in asset creation and improve artist and developer workflows
Helping others troubleshoot pipeline issues
Facilitating communication between artists and programmers
Other skills and interests of mine include:
Writing and copyediting
Project management and leadership
Data visualization
Graphic design
Automated test development, particularly related to server stress testing
For more specifics on my skills, including a (non-exhaustive) list of programming languages and software packages I’m familiar with, please check out my resume.
Contact Me
If I sound like someone you'd like to have as part of your team, or if you'd just like to say hello, I'd love to hear from you! Please get in touch via email (hadvil@gmail.com), Twitter (@hadvil), or LinkedIn.
