653 and counting

653 pages...its getting close to the end, though I'm kinda stuck on occlusion culling at the moment, I do know what it is and how to do it, but its quite a chore to get it up..I have to though, as one of the games requires a portal rendering system....ho hum
I also need a lot more graphics, and don't have access to a tame artist...that might prove to be a problem.

I wasted quite a bit of time trying to draw a very large scene, thinking it was possible, but it turned out I'd totally got my sums wrong and there as now way a 128M GPU could cope with the numbers I was sending...oops.

Sound is also proving quite hard, but mostly due to needing to take small steps and follow a lot of tutorials...and only with wavs at the moment

And lastly I am having some real problems with procedural texturing....even though I have copious notes on it, I'm struggling to explain it in the simple way the book demands.


I mustn't think too much about all the things that are still needed to be finished, I know there's still a lot of project work, but like all computer projects it boils down to doing 1 task at a time until they are done...thats all I can do.. I have a month left. I think I can certainly get all the content I want in. Whethere the demos will be as good as I want is another story!





Ahthankyew

Well thats not workiing

Damn, the diet is not going well, though I do confess to a few cheats, I did think I had cut back a lot on my food.. Lots of walking, lots of increased mobility, still a reliuctance to go to the gym.
I have been sick since Frieday with a cold, and did a bit of feeding it...but not to excess.

But nope, the weight is not going down, and still hovering around 92/93KG depending on how desperate I am for a pee.

Going to have to try harder, and most certainly need to stop cheating, and do more excersise.




Ahthankyew

New band, new singer...wow...

This isn't all the band, and we've decided on a name, Whetstone...we're still messing about with song styles and set lits but we have a gig in December so we need a few videos, we decided to have one acoustic number for promo purposes, we didn't expect much from this..

but what we got.....is amazing

I honestly get goosebumps listening to this Rosemary is going to be a great addition, this is a raw audio upload from the camera mics....the mixed version where we add a touch of warmth, tone the guitar and beef the bass, is amazing.

Ahthankyew

oh but of course...

I am now on holiday, basically the equivilent of half term, a whole week off, I of course plan to do lots of book work, ideally get 100 pages or more done...and 2 projects done.... If can can crack 700 pages by Thursday I am going to get ratarsed drunk on Friday as I spend a final week editing and adding code to bring the book up to its final form

But what happens at 5pm on Friday as my holiday officially starts..

my nose starts running.


Yup,...a cold, soon to be man flu, soon to be the bubonic plague....
Its saturnday, I'm sat on my couch, bleary red eyes, 2 bits ot tissue stuck up my nose and unable to focus even on this screen...no work has been done.

fml


Ahthankyew

592 pages...but still so much to do

I really wanted to crack 600 pages tonight, but I just ran out of steam. I have written and frankly learned more about 3D maths in the last few weeks than I have ever known in 20 years. Its not a subject I enjoy, but writing it out and explaining it in ways a fat 52yo Scotsman would understand has made a lot of things clearer to me. I knew a lot of this stuff, but I didn't "know" it, however researching it has made it more clear to me. I suspect writing this book has filled in a lot of dark spots in my understanding of maths.....not all of them, its still mostly magic to me, but quite a lot of things now seem clearer/

I've still got to clean up a lot of the projects and go back into the book to make sure I've not edited the code listings too much. Beginners hate when the code in the book does not match the code on the website. But certainly for most of the 2D projects and the 3D base projects it should be fine adding code listings that users are expected to type in is a clear 50 pages.

The 2 final 3D projects, an enviroment explorer and a 1st person shooter, are not yet started but the foundation projects for them are done and looking so cool. I have never actually written anything so low level before, I've always had an engine provide me with access to graphics and entity classes, but here its all been my code, and fuck me it works :D

I might need to sit down with some colleagues though, to get a few more simple graphics and models/textures out of them to make the games a bit more interesting graphically.

Next week we have a week off, and am confident that I can spend that time to smash the 600 and maybe the 700 page barrier.

I am guessing that I probably need to write 800 pages by the middle of November, since I am quite sure I will need to edit it down to 700-750, before I hand it over to the publisher for their edits at the end of November.

I sense a home straight, I'm not quite there but its just around the corner.





Ahthankyew

Ah like art me, I don't know much about it but I know what I like

We had a field trip to Den 'Haag today, a city I've been through many times but never acutally visited. Its was very nice. We went to a couple of art museums. The Gemeente Museum being a "proper" art museum where the curators were at great pains to tell me to looke after my "children". I refused and argued with the classification. They are university students, adults, not children.

And also we were told to keep quiet, even to the point of not talking about the exhibits...really don't like that kind of snobbishness. The students were discussing and in one case of an interactive maze, were laughing and enjoying the interaction, only to have a snobbish old bag, insist they be quiet and leave the exhibit....really missing the point I  thought. Art is ment to excite...not be subduede

Their big catch is a 35 million Euro, abstract piece by Piet Mondrain, the guy who did all the blocks and line paintings,...apparently it cost over 35million.................yup you can walk up and probablly touch it....though I am sure the curators will die of a heart attack..

Sorry.....I like art, I even like some abstract art...but.........not geting it, pretentious nonsense in my mind.

After the Gemeente  we went to the MC Escher, now that was talent, skill and staggering beauty. really wonderful and strange things I will go there again one day

Ahthankyew

Ahh matrices...

Bloody hate them, I screwed up a simple thing and it took me ages to locate it... OpenGL uses Row Major ordering...must remember must remember.

Ahthankyew

Still 92kg

Not entierly surprised, I did cheat and eat a takeaway this week and nibbled before bedtime, more than once...but its ok, I am getting used to being hungry and can resist 1 in 10 times ;)

nah its ok I've done a lot more excercise and have cut out a lot of fat and carbs. I've actually even broken my bike, need to take it to the repair shop, spokes broke, think its fixable without a new wheel but it needs new brakes as well so time for a service.. All this extra effort is way more than I am used to so the weight will drop down over the weeks. Just have to keep up the long dog walks and keep eating the rabbit food at lunch  time.,


only thing I really find frustrating is the feeling of hunger after I eat...small portions suck

Ahthankyew

Week 1...92kg

Not a bad start, though mostly its due to flushing out pizza and kebabs but its still a net loss so I am pleased

Been restrictring myself to 3 small meals,  usually a small bowl of musli, or a boiled egg to start. I usually don't eat breakfast, so am surprised that doing this makes me very hungry about 30mins earlier than usual, so I've been grabbing lunch in the canteen a bit earlier.

However instead of my usual full baguette, I have been having the half baguette or the lowest calorie options,  and recently some dipping veg, carrots/celery etc with humas dups....horrible rabbit food, but its doing the job

Evening meals have been udon and seared tuna broths, , quality burgers in pita, with lettuce, and small steaks in pitta. Usually 2 times on the bounce, part of my efforts to not eat for 2 but instead to have 1 portion 1 day and the other the next. So I can't avoid buying for 2, but don't have to eat for 2.

I've succumbed to evening hunger a few times, but have had a bit of cheese and pickle or boiled egg or a small bowl of musli to avoid goiing to bed hungry. I will get some carrot sticks and dips and try to fill up on celery and carrots

Also of course been upping my excercise with brisk walks with Harvey and cardio visits to the gym,

Harvey's pleased at least

Ahthankyew