Today I rewrote parts of Trimesh2’s Mesh Viewer to work with GLSL-shaders. I implemented a simple cartoon shader. This is still pretty basic, since it doesn’t involve sending information back and forth between OpenGL and the shader.
Still, here is the result.
Since Twitter is never far away when I’m working on something, I decided to consistently use the hashtag #thesis in all my tweets concerning my thesis. An RSS feed to grab them can be found here. When the deadlines creep closer and the pressure gets cooking, this feed might not be for the faint of heart – you’re warned :)
Because my current Suggestive Contours/Suggestive Highlights implementation is written using OpenGL calls for rendering, it was best to start work on the vertex/fragment shaders for a GPU implementation in the OpenGL shading language (GLSL). This would reduce OS/Platform dependency too. Another option was using Nvidia’s Cg, which claims to be compatible with an OpenGL renderer too, but documentation about this was scarce
The last few months my jaw dropped to the floor so many times reading about and experiencing the new DRM systems deployed by game publishers I think it’s going to stay there forever. A couple of tales straight out of the hell a paying customer has to go through to get his/her game working follow behind the break.
Game companies need to understand that once pirated copies are, by all means, easier to activate, use and get support on compared to their legal counterparts, it’s time to pause and reflect, instead of shoveling yet another inherently flawed activation procedure on the pile. (Update: Tsk, tsk. It’s like they do it on purpose.) (Update 2: A nice article on SavyGamer)
In the second semester of this year, I’ll have to apply the suggestive contours algorithm I’ve implemented in an interesting way, in order to have some experimental results upon which I can base my thesis. A report on what I found out behind the cut.
I love mashups. Ever since a producer called Danger Mouse took (in his own words) “a very white thing and a very black thing” to create the Grey Album, I’m amazed how combining two or more songs, samples or snippets can create a new experience that sheds a new light on the original material.
My current favorite mashup artists are The Kleptones, a.k.a. Eric Kleptone & friends, from Brighton, England. They’ve just released Uptime/Downtime (download page), a double album containing some of the finest and most original mashups around. Mixing together music and great soundbits, it provides something old, something new, most of it borrowed, and sometimes something blue. ;)
Follow these guys around on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace or Last.fm. And book ‘em in your club! Now. Some of my favorite tracks from the last album behind the cut.
An image you won't find on Google.cn
In response to Google’s blogpost concerning several attacks which were targeted at human rights activists GMail accounts during december, supposedly by the Chinese government, Chinese officials have this response (Jiang Yu, Chinese Foreight Ministry spokeswoman):
China’s internet is open and the Chinese government encourages development of the internet.
No it isn’t. The government requested Google to block search results for topics it considers as dangerous or subversive. The Great Firewall of China blocks websites without any form of clarification, peer review or international debate. For a country in the midst of rapid economic expansion, this is a tightrope walk which is going to end horribly. People deserve access to all knowledge, unfiltered and uncensored. (updated visualisation of blocked keywords and websites in china)
Don’t be evil now, Google.
A couple of weeks ago I purchased Borderlands, but only recently I found some time to install and run it. The hours that followed were a frustrating journey into performance issues, bad port quality and a first-hand experience on how having consoles as a primary market, in the end, backfires on us all.
Wikileaks.org, a site where people can securely and anonymously post sensitive documents concerning governments and organizations, is having hosting problems. Since they want to retain absolute integrity, they’re depending on regular internet users and independent free speech movements to pay for bandwidth.
One cannot stress enough how important sites like these are. People living in a country where publishing sensitive documents to shed light on local problems (ranging from simple fraud to outright genocide) could cost them their life are depending on these services. In the past, several leaks have led to international discussion and debate about vital topics: Guantanamo Bay Procedures document leak, Toxic dumping in Africa (the Minton Report), … Citizens of countries with censored internet access (China, maybe Australia soon) have the right to be whistle blowers.
Donate away, I know I did.
Best songs of 2009.
For some reason, 35. Youtube links where available.
- Massive Attack – Splitting the Atom
Dark, soulful hip-hop. Horace Andy at his best. - Animal Collective – My Girls
Trippy synths, but the melody just keeps on sticking. - The Kleptones – Voodoo Sabotage
A mashup of two epic dancefloor anthems. - Eels – That Look You Give That Guy
Hands down the best song about jealousy. - Wilco – Wilco (The Song)
Wilco will love you baby. - Mason Proper – Get Innocuous/Love Lockdown
I prefer this over Kanye’s version anytime. - Doves – Kingdom of Rust
The reason Coldplay doesn’t deserve to be that famous. - Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak remix)
Anticipated remix, and A-Trak delivers. Close to the original. - Röyksopp – The Girl and the Robot (Spencer and Hill remix)
Great vocals by Robyn, this interpretation just adds a little disco spice. - The Whitest Boy Alive – Islands
Erlend Öye and electronic pop.
more…
