Meet the Magnopians: Alessio Regalbuto
Alessio is a talented software engineer in love with new technologies, innovation, and research. He moved from Italy to the UK in 2015 to complete his PHD at the University of Hertfordshire, then joined Magnopus in 2021. He has been with us for four years now, and continues to wow the team every day with his skills, especially when it comes to Gaussian Splats!
Tell us about your journey and how you got into software engineering!
Well, I started using computers for 3D animations and writing code from a very young age, and my passion just never extinguished!
On the left, Alessio in the 90s, on the right, Alessio in 2020 (not much has changed, just more beard!)
I studied computer science and graduated from Università di Catania in Italy. During my time there, I competed worldwide at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup in 2013 with my Italian team, “TeamNameException”. We even won first place!
In 2015, I moved from Sicily to the UK to study at the University of Hertfordshire. That’s where I completed my PhD and published my thesis on “Remote visual observation of real places through virtual reality headsets”.
After my PhD, I joined Ncam Technologies, a company specializing in real-time camera tracking for films and live events. There, I expanded my skills in C++ and Unreal Engine while working on challenging AR pipelines to previsualize movies and live events – including the Fortnite World Cup Finals in 2019!
In 2021, I joined REWIND (now Magnopus), and the journey has been incredible ever since.
What was it that attracted you to Magnopus?
I originally joined REWIND before it was acquired by Magnopus. I was fascinated by the talent in the company and its great portfolio of VR and AR experiences. As mentioned, I have always been passionate about XR throughout my career journey, and joining REWIND felt like a natural continuation of that passion.
Since REWIND became Magnopus, I’ve been even more excited to see how much bigger our reality has become, with colleagues in both the UK and the USA, and with many global projects, ranging from virtual production to XR apps and games.
The culture and the friendly, knowledgeable people that make up our teams are unbeatable. We have lots of opportunities to mentor others and be mentored ourselves. This not only sharpens our skills but also makes learning a key driving force behind our powerful team. I am honored to be part of it!
Tell us more about your current role at Magnopus!
Currently, I am working on our OKO platform as a Senior Specialist Engineer, jumping between Unity and Unreal to improve our implementation and add new features. The fun part for me is to study and integrate brand-new, cutting-edge technologies into our products, especially in the field of digital twins, XR, and radiance fields.
What has been your proudest/standout moment while working with us?
One of my proudest moments has been the success of our core product, OKO, after all the efforts my colleagues and I have put into it. While working on OKO, I got the opportunity to study and integrate new technologies (such as Gaussian Splats), work with a range of different platforms, and expand my knowledge and skills in the process.
Making the Gaussian Splat viewer from scratch for our OKO Unreal plugin and OKO Unity implementation has definitely been another fantastic personal achievement, together with some recent hackathons and proof of concepts I have been involved with.
Last year, I also got the chance to showcase OKO and our team work on stage at the IEEE MetroXRAINE 2024 conference, which was a very rewarding and exciting experience.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt in your career?
Never stop learning and enjoy knowledge sharing with your colleagues. There is always something new to study, research, and turn into innovative solutions. That mindset fuels my passion for innovation, making it nearly impossible to get bored with my job. Throughout my career, my role has always involved challenging engineering problems, rarely explored by other companies. Instead of seeing them as a burden, I see them as a chance to experiment with new things, making them more fun and entertaining.
Here at Magnopus, our learning is stimulated even more by the number of mentoring sessions, hackathons, and dedicated R&D spikes that we perform every sprint. I really value this aspect of my career, not only because it keeps me motivated, but also because it gives me the opportunity to create things that haven’t been explored before by the industry. An important lesson I’ve learned is that a team grows together. By building strong relationships with colleagues, tackling challenging problems collaboratively, and being proactive in the interest of our projects, the whole team thrives – and everyone’s success naturally grows along with it.
If you could wake up in the body of another person (just for one day) who would it be and why?
If fictional, I would choose Dr. Emmett Brown from Back To The Future, so that for one day I could have his creative genius mind to make crazy inventions, travel in time, and drive the legendary DeLorean.
If I could choose to go back to the 90s, I would say Steven Spielberg, while shooting the first Jurassic Park – he is just a master filmmaker, plus I would love to see backstage!
What are you reading/listening to right now?
I recently read 1984 by George Orwell. It’s striking how relevant the themes of surveillance and control still feel today. A recommended read for sure.
Tell us something that would surprise us!
One of Alessio’s recent 3D assets viewable on his ArtStation - A Retrofuturistic PC!
I am almost a pro at playing Beat Saber with the Quest 3! I started during the lockdown, and got quite competitive at it 🙂. Another thing that might be surprising is that apart from coding, I love making 3D animations! And when I’m inspired, I publish them on my YouTube channel, where I also have some video tutorials and showcase my assets for the Unity asset store. Recently, I also made an Artstation profile for my hobbyistic 3D modelling journey. It’s something that relaxes me and helps me to express my creative side.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
I’m torn between choosing teleportation or the ability to know the future. But I’d probably go with teleportation — it would save so much time and money, and open doors to places you’d never normally reach (yes, even bank vaults!). Plus, life’s more exciting when the future still holds surprises.
What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
Visit Sicily and have an almond & chocolate granita with a brioche while staring at the sea in Catania; you will not regret it!
Apart from that, make your dreams come true and stop postponing, we only live once – do not waste it. 🙂
