blog.outer-court.com— Niniane Wang is working at the Googleplex as a tech lead / manager, currently leading “a confidential project.” This is Philipp's interview with her. It rocks.
Oct 17, 2006View in Crawl 4
I worked indirectly with Niniane back in 2002 on the then-still-secret, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, produced by the Microsoft Game Studios. Her talent and personality were remarkable, as she worked: spending most of her time crafting puffy clouds!There isn't much else but clouds in the sky to see, so realistic and attractive clouds are important, but then 3D horsepower was more limited and trying to get those wonderful and artistic clouds to not bring a system down to it's knees was a challenge.Insightfully, Niniane created 'Cloud Impostors' which were mere 2d cloud-textures facing the observer, partially substituting for the wonderful volumetric clouds (percentage selectable by the user no less). They certainly help frame rates, but early on in their development, they were hilariously bugged. You would see them out the c**kpit window, spinning like giant windmills, sometimes gently turning, sometimes not so gently. If only all such bugs could be so humorous and silly, but it was a serious matter and Niniane (with the rest of the team of course) handled it all with skill and grace. If you have used FS9 in it's glory, you will have seen Niniane's work in action.She is as talented and personable as you are being told, and I personally wish her the very best of luck in all her future endeavors. Google is very lucky to have her!
Maybe you got that answer "wrong" because you gave up. I'm pretty sure they were testing your creativity/attitude towards unexpected and difficult situations.For all these "what if" type questions, I always like to take a second and figure out "why" they are asking me such a seemingly unrelated question.
crimesOct 18, 2006
That was a very easy to read interview. I wish I had more co-workers like her.
Closed AccountOct 18, 2006
I worked indirectly with Niniane back in 2002 on the then-still-secret, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, produced by the Microsoft Game Studios. Her talent and personality were remarkable, as she worked: spending most of her time crafting puffy clouds!There isn't much else but clouds in the sky to see, so realistic and attractive clouds are important, but then 3D horsepower was more limited and trying to get those wonderful and artistic clouds to not bring a system down to it's knees was a challenge.Insightfully, Niniane created 'Cloud Impostors' which were mere 2d cloud-textures facing the observer, partially substituting for the wonderful volumetric clouds (percentage selectable by the user no less). They certainly help frame rates, but early on in their development, they were hilariously bugged. You would see them out the c**kpit window, spinning like giant windmills, sometimes gently turning, sometimes not so gently. If only all such bugs could be so humorous and silly, but it was a serious matter and Niniane (with the rest of the team of course) handled it all with skill and grace. If you have used FS9 in it's glory, you will have seen Niniane's work in action.She is as talented and personable as you are being told, and I personally wish her the very best of luck in all her future endeavors. Google is very lucky to have her!
dengzhiOct 18, 2006
Chinese Own!
librarian1968Oct 18, 2006
If she's part of geekdome, than overcrowding is preferred.
vaamyobOct 18, 2006
That does it, I'm going home and teaching my kids ruby.
vaamyobOct 18, 2006
Maybe you got that answer "wrong" because you gave up. I'm pretty sure they were testing your creativity/attitude towards unexpected and difficult situations.For all these "what if" type questions, I always like to take a second and figure out "why" they are asking me such a seemingly unrelated question.