Ramblings of a DirectX MVP playing at the sharp end of 3D graphics
April 17, 2007
So after digging through the millions of emails I backed up during my downtime (about 99.9% were good old spam [rolleyes]) I found one requesting I fill in some paperwork on what community-related stuff I've been upto as a precursor to hopefully getting my MVP status renewed in July.
Ran a quick sea…
Ran a quick sea…
April 13, 2007
...and then three come along
(I assume the subject/above might not mean anything to non-brits, but it's relevant nonetheless)
So after moving to London over about 6 weeks ago I now have internet access to my main desktop PC.
We took Sky up on their Phone+TV+Broadband offer but for various crappy reaso…
(I assume the subject/above might not mean anything to non-brits, but it's relevant nonetheless)
So after moving to London over about 6 weeks ago I now have internet access to my main desktop PC.
We took Sky up on their Phone+TV+Broadband offer but for various crappy reaso…
April 02, 2007
Right, about time I checked in again - I still don't have internet access at home and there's only so much I can get away with in the office [grin]
I've started planning my next project in D3D10. I'm in no immediate hurry so I'm thinking it through before starting to write any code.
My current idea i…
I've started planning my next project in D3D10. I'm in no immediate hurry so I'm thinking it through before starting to write any code.
My current idea i…
March 21, 2007
Famous last words... but I don't believe in this 'jet lag' nonsense.
I've only done two transatlantic flights in my lifetime, but I've not had any problems after arriving back in the UK (I'm told that it's when time jumps forwards it kicks in?). I landed at LHR 2.30pm yesterday and was in the office…
I've only done two transatlantic flights in my lifetime, but I've not had any problems after arriving back in the UK (I'm told that it's when time jumps forwards it kicks in?). I landed at LHR 2.30pm yesterday and was in the office…
March 18, 2007
As I write this I'm at the ZMan's palace - a house of size, quality and features that I probably won't ever be able to afford in the UK. Maybe my UK-oriented metrics don't work in the US, but 'palace' is a fitting term to me [smile].
I should also point out that I'm currently sitting in front of the…
I should also point out that I'm currently sitting in front of the…
March 16, 2007
So I'm currently sitting in the Seattle public library (very cool building if you can find some pictures of it!) with about 20 minutes on this machine before I get kicked out... And I've got a couple of very weird mumbling locals sitting around me that are starting to scare me [oh]... Oh, and I obv…
March 06, 2007
Thought I'd make one final journal entry before I disappear off on holiday [grin]
Since finishing my part of the book (well, finished until any changes are required [lol]) I've done no development outside of the day-job - I quite enjoyed having a weekend of doing absolutely SFA.
Bought 'Supreme Comma…
Since finishing my part of the book (well, finished until any changes are required [lol]) I've done no development outside of the day-job - I quite enjoyed having a weekend of doing absolutely SFA.
Bought 'Supreme Comma…
March 02, 2007
It's done!
As of 3am today I finished my section of the 'Programming Vertex, Geometry and Pixel Shaders' book project. I then proceeded to get 4hrs sleep before getting up for work and I'm running on a full tank of caffeine fuel today [oh]
In the end I've clocked up 33,411 words over 112 A4 pages (~1…
As of 3am today I finished my section of the 'Programming Vertex, Geometry and Pixel Shaders' book project. I then proceeded to get 4hrs sleep before getting up for work and I'm running on a full tank of caffeine fuel today [oh]
In the end I've clocked up 33,411 words over 112 A4 pages (~1…
February 28, 2007
Looks like I'm going to start some MCTS training on C# and .NET 2.0 soon. Could be quite useful - I've been guessing my way through .NET using intellisense for 6 months now [lol]
Would be curious as to any thoughts on the MCTS training if you've any experience of it [wink]
Regarding the book project.…
Would be curious as to any thoughts on the MCTS training if you've any experience of it [wink]
Regarding the book project.…
February 22, 2007
Another chapter down...
Just got to do a few tiny tweaks to the 7th chapter covering the Strauss lighting model.
I'm hoping this chapter will generate some interest when published - the model is 17 years old already, but it became fashionable again courtesy of 3DMark06. From my initial research a few…
Just got to do a few tiny tweaks to the 7th chapter covering the Strauss lighting model.
I'm hoping this chapter will generate some interest when published - the model is 17 years old already, but it became fashionable again courtesy of 3DMark06. From my initial research a few…
February 21, 2007
Finished off the chapter on the Cook-Torrance lighting model this evening. Mostly just required a copy-n-paste of some code and a few diagrams/images. But its good to have another one crossed off the list...
Deadline: 8 days
Outstanding: Chapter 2, 6, 7, 8, 9
I'm giving serious thought to axing chapte…
Deadline: 8 days
Outstanding: Chapter 2, 6, 7, 8, 9
I'm giving serious thought to axing chapte…
February 20, 2007
Getting ever closer to the 100,000 views on this journal [grin]
Finished up another chapter tonight - Number 6 covering the Oren-Nayar lighting model is now wrapped up with source code. Yay!
So, NINE days remaining and Chapter's 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 left to do...
Complex Oren-Nayar on the left, Simpli…
Finished up another chapter tonight - Number 6 covering the Oren-Nayar lighting model is now wrapped up with source code. Yay!
So, NINE days remaining and Chapter's 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 left to do...
Complex Oren-Nayar on the left, Simpli…
February 18, 2007
Just to demonstrate how much work I'm having to put into this book that hopefully you'll all go and buy (at least three copies each please [wink]) I set my alarm for 6am on a Sunday and was sitting at my desk typing away by 7.15am.
Three hours later and I've finally finished the third chapter from m…
Three hours later and I've finally finished the third chapter from m…
February 17, 2007
Decided to file the image from my previous journal entry as a bug with Nvidia. I can't work out why its doing it and the RefRast does what I want, therefore i'll let them think about it for a while [smile]
I spent all afternoon working on chapter 3 of my section - 'Techniques for Per-Pixel Lighting.…
I spent all afternoon working on chapter 3 of my section - 'Techniques for Per-Pixel Lighting.…
February 16, 2007
Whilst the above image is sort-of pretty, its not the intended result!
Running against the reference rasterizer generates the expected greyscale image without any funky contour lines [rolleyes]
Nvidia, I'm looking at YOU.
Luckily I'm only on 100.59 and I've heard the 100.64's are out now, so I guess I…
February 14, 2007
Daily progress report:
Finished chapter 1 - "Foundation and Theory"
Tidied up and finished first half of chapter 3 - "Techniques for Per-Pixel Lighting"
Proved interesting to try and draw up a meaningful diagram for DXGI_FORMAT_BC5_SNORM; lots of blocks of bits and bytes (damned those awkward 3-bit …
Proved interesting to try and draw up a meaningful diagram for DXGI_FORMAT_BC5_SNORM; lots of blocks of bits and bytes (damned those awkward 3-bit …
February 13, 2007
I suppose congrats are due to the Staff (mostly Richard and Don from what I gather) for getting this place up-and-running again. I say 'suppose' because I was making good progress with less distractions - I really was lost for places to visit online when GDNet wasn't around... [lol]
Anyway, I've bee…
Anyway, I've bee…
January 31, 2007
So my new 580w PSU arrived yesterday - conveniently when I had to spend the day in the Solihull office. I was a little surprised when I walked all the way across town to pick up a rather large box. A box that was around 50cm cube - somewhat bigger than the power supply I knew was contained within.
L…
L…
January 26, 2007
As the cool kids would say:
I got my GeForce 8800 working with some updated drivers just now. No more random crashes and seemingly full featured - including Direct3D 10 [grin][grin]
I'm going to run through some stress-tests to see how it handles under load and see if my crappy 420w PSU can handle it…
I got my GeForce 8800 working with some updated drivers just now. No more random crashes and seemingly full featured - including Direct3D 10 [grin][grin]
I'm going to run through some stress-tests to see how it handles under load and see if my crappy 420w PSU can handle it…
January 26, 2007
Right, so thanks to saruman's advice (something I thought was a possibility but was trying hard to be optimistic and ignore [smile]) I've had to invest GBP74 in a new PSU [crying]
What with moving house and a GBP1500 holiday coming up I'm now very poor. Thankfully I still have my student account's G…
What with moving house and a GBP1500 holiday coming up I'm now very poor. Thankfully I still have my student account's G…
January 25, 2007
I hate Windows Vista
I hate Nvidia
(I retract the above temporary frustration [smile])
Had to detach my damned motherboard to get my 8800 in - I'm sure its bigger than the bricks used to build my house!!
Downloaded the latest 8800 drivers from Nvidia but Windows Vista is not Windows XP and everything c…
I hate Nvidia
(I retract the above temporary frustration [smile])
Had to detach my damned motherboard to get my 8800 in - I'm sure its bigger than the bricks used to build my house!!
Downloaded the latest 8800 drivers from Nvidia but Windows Vista is not Windows XP and everything c…
January 24, 2007
My GeForce 8800 GTS arrived today [grin]
Decided to run 3DMark 2006 on my turbo-charged beast of a GeForce 7300LE for reference purposes - scores a cracking 530 3D Marks [lol]
The back of the 8800's box claims its a little over 5x faster than the 7300 series GPU's. Should give me a nice figure of ~25…
Decided to run 3DMark 2006 on my turbo-charged beast of a GeForce 7300LE for reference purposes - scores a cracking 530 3D Marks [lol]
The back of the 8800's box claims its a little over 5x faster than the 7300 series GPU's. Should give me a nice figure of ~25…
January 21, 2007
I bought one of these for GBP262.01:
Wonder if my 420w PSU will explode on contact - looks like another GBP60 to get a decent PSU over 500w [headshake]
Figured I might as well have one on hand for as soon as Nvidia get their ass in gear and release some drivers. Hopefully I'll be content-complete on …
Wonder if my 420w PSU will explode on contact - looks like another GBP60 to get a decent PSU over 500w [headshake]
Figured I might as well have one on hand for as soon as Nvidia get their ass in gear and release some drivers. Hopefully I'll be content-complete on …
January 15, 2007
Evening all,
Just dropped by the journals page and realised mine had fallen off the bottom into obscurity. Probably a subtle hint I should be putting more content in here [lol]
I've been crazily busy since the start of the year. I'm starting to feel the pressure with this book project as I've got aro…
Just dropped by the journals page and realised mine had fallen off the bottom into obscurity. Probably a subtle hint I should be putting more content in here [lol]
I've been crazily busy since the start of the year. I'm starting to feel the pressure with this book project as I've got aro…
January 04, 2007
Last time I was dealing with lighting models I still had access to a university library which meant I could get all the conference proceedings and publications for free.
Now that I don't have that luxury I've just had to cough up $29 to buy two papers (Oren-Nayar and Strauss). Not exactly big money,…
Now that I don't have that luxury I've just had to cough up $29 to buy two papers (Oren-Nayar and Strauss). Not exactly big money,…
January 04, 2007
Found the MVP Summit registration email in my inbox this morning. Think it'd only been open for a few hours before I got to the registration page and the hotel I wanted was already taken for some of the nights I wanted [headshake]
Decided to go with the Sheraton instead. Fingers crossed I'm not the …
Decided to go with the Sheraton instead. Fingers crossed I'm not the …
January 03, 2007
Just booked my flights to the 2007 MVP Summit in Seattle [grin]
GBP368.80 return in sardine class is about as good as I could of hoped for - I paid GBP550 to go to the last summit and the price has been fluctuating north of GBP400 for the last month or two.
Whilst I'm probably going straight to hell …
GBP368.80 return in sardine class is about as good as I could of hoped for - I paid GBP550 to go to the last summit and the price has been fluctuating north of GBP400 for the last month or two.
Whilst I'm probably going straight to hell …
January 02, 2007
Right, I'm back from my "winter festival" (okay, enough silliness - shall we just settle for "commercial holiday" instead?) break.
I took my laptop home with me over xmas and whilst it doesn't run Vista I decided to just put as many words down as I could and come back and fill in any finer details a…
I took my laptop home with me over xmas and whilst it doesn't run Vista I decided to just put as many words down as I could and come back and fill in any finer details a…
December 22, 2006
H A P P Y
"W I N T E R F E S T I V A L"
Figured that I'd go with the apparently PC greeting - the newspaper said that some schools here in the UK aren't celebrating Christmas due to it's obvious religeous connection. That'd be discriminating against people of other religeons (such as Jedi's) so it's…
December 18, 2006
During my slightly unproductive days off last week I started to get the feeling the table of contents for my section of the book was a little excessive. From a logical level it made a lot of sense, but when I started writing I realised that I didn't actually want to write entire chapters on parts t…
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