Category Archives: Technical

Wannabe: Dimensionality

As I proceed farther into wannabe, I find I need more content to test and validate the work I’m doing.  That is the purpose for the vignette milestones over in the issue tracker.  So, I’ve finally started on one: Rain.  … Continue reading

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Wannabe: The Perils of Hidden Voxel Removal

At least part of the problem Wannabe has with rendering is that we’re blindly drawing every voxel in a somewhat arbitrary manner.  Right now, it’s sorted only by Z, the rest stays in the order added to the initial grid.  … Continue reading

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Wannabe: Interlude

I’ve not not been working on wannabe — in fact I have significant code and written content that I haven’t posted.  I’ll try to get somewhere more this weekend.  In a nutshell, there’s at least two problems: I use a … Continue reading

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Wannabe: Gaining some perspective

Small diversion:  What I didn’t really mention in the last post was that I had actually gotten the PsuedoPerspective working a bit better.  Let’s see what that looks like!

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Wannabe: Advanced cubism

Continuing the Cabinet projection effort from the last post let’s see if we can close out issue #1 on github.  We need to add sides and make sure things look good under different circumstances.

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Wannabe: making a Cabinet

I’ve copied several of the issues from the last post into the github project’s issues list. Herein, I work on issue #1: A Cabinet (Projection).  Read on to see how we can make these little squares a little more cubey.

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Even a wannabe needs goals

In the first article, I described the basics of wannabe: a simple graphics engine.  I haven’t been letting it sit, I’ve added some small features to it and have been making plans. On github: wannabe: Multiplatform low-resolution 3d engine. For … Continue reading

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The wannabe graphics engine

After recently getting an Ouya device, I got inspired to make a game.  Then I realized two things: I don’t have any skill with 3d, and I learn by doing. Here’s a quick guide to what I’ve done so far: wannabe, … Continue reading

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Making an Android app look like a web browser

I’m not in the business of writing web browsers, but my HTC One X has a problem: HtcLinkify. Due to an annoying lawsuit from Apple, HTC changed the behavior of web links on their devices.  Instead of jumping right into … Continue reading

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I’m on a Mac: Recovery

Tried to boot up my macbook after a long weekend.  Got the inscrutable flashing folder with a question mark.  Tried a couple of tips from the internet, like holding option or ‘c’ down, neither of which worked. Then, hooked up … Continue reading

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Upgrading Git on MacOS X Lion

This was way harder than it needs to be, because MacOS X Lion ships with git 1.7.4.4 in /usr/bin.  Here’s a quick sequence of steps: Download and install latest version from http://git-scm.com/.  This appears to work but won’t change anything … Continue reading

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I’m on a Mac: Utilities you need to survive

Several utilities that make life bearable on the mac: KeyRemap4MacBook — awesome way to make sensible keyboard changes.  Recommend the following settings: Change Eject Key / Eject to Forward Delete Change Fn Key / Fn+letter to Control_L+Letter (note: I use … Continue reading

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I’m on a Mac: Screensavers and keys

No real editorial here, just capturing some metrics.  Number of keys lost when coming out of screensaver or sleep to the unlock password prompt: Windows XP: 1..n — You have to hit ctrl-alt-del anyway.  And all keys between CAD and … Continue reading

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I’m on a Mac: Operating System

As mentioned in my post, I’m using a MacBook now, every day, as my work computer.  And, well, I’ve not died nor been struck by lightning or anything.  But am I a convert?  Read my of my experiences with the … Continue reading

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Pretending to Git Good

Git tries its darndest to be as hard as possible to use.  More than anything, it suffers from too-many-options-itis and correspondingly confusing options, often a warning flag for a programming language or tool.  But git’s core is good, and it … Continue reading

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I’m on a Mac: Hardware Wrap-up

As mentioned in my post, I’m using a MacBook now, every day, as my work computer.  And, well, I’ve not died nor been struck by lightning or anything.  But am I a convert?  Read my of my experiences with the … Continue reading

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I’m on a Mac: Keyboard

As mentioned in my post, I’m using a MacBook now, every day, as my work computer.  And, well, I’ve not died nor been struck by lightning or anything.  But am I a convert?  Read of my experiences with the platform.  … Continue reading

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Revising MuddyHorse

I’m moving to wordpress to administer my whole site, ultimately.  So this is a bit in progress.  I’ll restore all the bits in a bit.  You can still find content on to the old blog if you want to, though … Continue reading

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I Love Apple

I love apple.  You?  Apple very Square, yet not square!  Tasty, and not tasty. And so on.  Here are some very quick impressions from almost two days.

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Pat's Favorite FireFox Extensions, Oct 2010

Here’s an update to a .  Extensions have come and gone, and Firefox is much updated now, at 3.6.x, with 4.0 on the near horizon.

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