Member Profile: Jordi Torres
1. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I’m a software engineer specialized in 3D massive data visualization, natively and web. I like to work both in the data pipeline and in the rendering engine. I’m working in the industry for almost 15 years now. Right now I’m working for Cesium, the reference for 3D Geospatial on the web.
2. What was your first job?
I started to work in computer graphics as an intern in a research group in my university, working in a 3D GIS application. Then I became a researcher in this same group and stayed there for several years. My first non-industry work was as a waiter in a cool downtown restaurant.
3. Where did you complete your formal education?
I got my Bachelor degree and M.Sc. in the Polytechnic University of Valencia(UPV), in Spain.
4. How did you first get involved with ACM SIGGRAPH?
My first contact was with the spanish section of EuroGraphics, publishing a couple of articles and later as a reviewer. At that moment going to SIGGRAPH was like a not achievable dream.
5. What is your favorite memory of a SIGGRAPH conference?
I finally managed to attend to SIGGRAPH in 2019 in Los Angeles (thanks Sketchfab!). I was really impressed about the scale of everything and the need to plan very well my schedule to try to not miss anything important (that was impossible, by the way). Maybe the best moment for me was the real time live demo in the conference, but also was great to talk with other industry colleagues doing amazing things.
6. Describe a project that you would like to share with the ACM SIGGRAPH community.
I guess we all have side projects that we would love to give more time. So when I have some spare time I’m writing (or better said trying to write) a rendering engine for the web, trying to learn more about WebGPU/Vulkan and webassembly. I have a little kid, so these days it is a bit more difficult to deserve time to side projects :).
7. If you could have dinner with one living or non-living person, who would it be and why?
This is a difficult question! I guess I would love to cook some Paella for my grandpa, he was a great paella cooker and I would like him to see I got some of his abilities.
8. What is something most people don’t know about you?
I love exploring all things outdoors, biking, hiking, scuba diving, snowboarding, traveling, you name it… Also I’m a big fan of electric guitars and I own a little collection that I hope to become bigger in the future.
9. From which single individual have you learned the most in your life? What did they teach you?
I learned a lot from very different people, and I like to think I’m still learning every day. But, without any doubt, my mom is the one I learned life values, how to behave and to stand against injustice. If we talk about tech I would like to thank my mentor and friend Rafa Gaitan who introduced me to 3D and best practices in software development. Last but not least, I would like to thank all the people that released code and papers freely available to the public.
10. Is there someone in particular who has influenced your decision to work with ACM SIGGRAPH?
I think it was Javier Lluch, the lead of the research group when I was in the university who was the first one talking to me about the importance of publishing the results about our research. These days I love how Patrick Cozzi (Cesium CEO) talks about openness and contributing to the industry ecosystem.
11. What can you point to in your career as your proudest moment?
I think I feel proud each time I manage to solve a hard problem. So I’m more leaning towards a day to day improvement than a single moment in my career.