Brian Hawkins

Brian Hawkins is a principal software engineer in Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group (ASG).

His career in imaging technology began with using aerial photographs and photogrammetry to create highly accurate topographic maps for engineering and erosion-calculation purposes.  He then pivoted into a role as a visual-effects artist in the film industry, where he worked as an effects artist and digital compositor specializing in stereoscopic effects on many Hollywood feature films.

Brian’s innovative solutions to common problems faced by effects artists led to his being recruited into research and development as a technical director.  In this role he wrote various software tools to streamline production processes and improve the overall quality of effects.  He later joined RealD, where he wrote an image-enhancement and clarification software package called TrueImage which was used by major Hollywood directors including Peter Jackson, Ron Howard, and Ang Lee.  There he also contributed to research on the human vision system, display hardware development, and machine-learning research for real-time image processing.

He then moved to England to join a cloud-based startup called Sundog Media where he led a team of developers to produce software used in the global distribution of movies and broadcast content.  He is excited to have a role at Microsoft and be part of a team with a global impact on people’s lives and communication at a time when such topics could not be more relevant.

In his personal time Brian enjoys spending time with his wife and four-year-old son and pursuing his hobby of taking photos with random dogs he meets in pubs.