|
|
May 1, 2007
Materials Article in Shader X5
I have an article in ShaderX5 called "Transparent Shader Data Binding". Don't let the name scare you - all it is about is a fully automated and convienient way of setting shader constants. It does this through function pointers and some nifty tricks I picked up. 
There are some really nice articles this time around, including: ShaderX5 Articles
- Cascaded Shadow Maps
- Normal Mapping without Precomputed Tangents
- Volumetric Clouds and Mega-Particles
- Irradiance Volumes for Real-time Rendering I have only had the chance to go through a few of these, so there are sure to be many more worth looking in to  There is also a new section just for mobile development, if that's more your cup of tea.
|
November 29, 2006
YOO-HOO IS THE ESSENCE OF LIFE
That is all.
|
October 18, 2006
ApolloNL
At the end of this summer, I recorded some songs that I had been playing around with for a little while. I think they came out pretty good, so I made a website for it, www.ApolloNL.com. There, you can download the record for free, or even buy a real CD if you want to. The record, entitled 'Nothing Else Left But This', has elements of jazz, blues, funk, and contemporary. If you listen to it, you may notice that the songs are fairly devided (ie a few clear-cut jazz songs, a few blues songs, some songs leaning towards contemporary), which came from me wanting to experiment in different genres. For my next record, I wish to combine these a little more synergistically. Now that I know what I like about each of the genres, I am excited about being able to combine them. I should be able to record it over winter break, so look for it in Feburary 2007 or so. Well, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. - Dustin
|
August 5, 2006
DirectX Updates
Ok, some new D3D stuff: KBase Articles
- GPU Skinning
- DXT Compression Formats
- Using DDS To Decrease Load Times
The August DXSDK has also just been release (Download Link). Due to all of the D3D10 components, it weighs in at a whopping 506mb. So you kids out there on dialup, please don't try this at home This update adds a lot of new stuff to PIX. It employs a mesh viewer, that lets you inspect pre- and post-VS vertices, as well as the indices, for a single draw call. It also renders this view in wireframe, which is pretty nice. Also, there is an ASM shader debugger (HLSL code is only intersperced for reference). The word is, they are adding full HLSL debugger capabilities. Until then, I will probably just stick with the debugger integrated in VS2003. Also, Jack has written a nice review of this revision of PIX. You can read it here.
|
June 27, 2006
Mexico Trip: Ixaccihuatl
In the end of May, I took a little trip to Mexico with some of my buds. We went to a lot of different places in the middle of the country, including the Popocatepetl & Ixaccihuatl mountain range. Here are some pictures from it:
 |
Approaching Ixaccihuatl (17,400 feet) from the town of
Amecameca. It is the 7th tallest mountain in North America. |
 |
Popocatepetl (17,900 feet), on the road to Ixac. It is the 5th tallest
mountain in N.A. and is an active volcano. The area surrounding it has
been "closed" for over 10 years, but you can sneak over there (if you are
nuts). |
 |
Guy and me. |
 |
Here we are at Ixaccihuatl base camp (12,500 feet), looking up at the
mountain. She is very wide - the summit is actually on the far left.
The easiest way to get there is to get on the ridge on the very right and
climb the whole way across. |
 |
Looking down away from the mountain. |
 |
A ridgeline that forms at the base of the mountain. There is a deep
valley below it where lots of wild cows graze. |
 |
Now we are going for the summit. This is a shot of Popo on the way
up. Probably at about 13,500 feet by now. |
 |
Until we hit ice, the terrain was very rocky, with lots of loose dirt.
Sometimes clouds would roll in so you couldn't see 5 feet in front of you. |
 |
Up a little higher, probably 14,000. Right after this we hit snow. |
 |
Now the terrain is dominated by snow. This is the start of a pretty
nasty ice traverse across the base of a ridgeline. You can see the
first ridge behind the large rocks in the front. |
 |
Looking back on the traverse. There was tons of exposure on the
right side, so you could have fallen a loooong way. |
 |
This is the first ridge, at about 15,000 feet. To get to the
summit, you would climb to the top of that, then go across. We decided
to turn back because we didn't have adequate ice gear. |
 |
This is the route you would take up this ridge to get to the top of it.
Note that your depth perception really fools you here - everything is a lot
farther away than it seems. |
 |
The backside of the ridge from above. We had to retreat down into a
valley, because clouds covered the ice path we originally took. |
 |
A wider shot of the valley. There were a lot of cows down here,
too. They must be tough to just be hanging out at 15,000 feet. |
 |
Our one friend went ahead a little bit and took this shot of us walking
down. Can you find us?? |
 |
Here we are... It was kind of like a prairie (tall brushy
grass), but with lots of pine trees around. In a matter of about 1,500
feet it went from just ice to all of this. |
 |
Yay, we made it back down! We are at this sweet lady's stand who
made great blue-corn tortillas. Mmmm tortillas. |
Well, that is about it for now. I still have pictures left from Mexico City, Cuernevaca, the beach (Puerto Escondito), and Oaxaca.
|
|
|
|
|
About | Contact
|
© Dustin Franklin, 2005
|
| |
May 2007
November 2006
