Claymod

Here's an example of importing a low polygon model and adding detail to it.

Zero Vector Mini Review

Hmm, looks like I missed this one - there's a mini review of my synth Zero Vector up at remixmag. It's from a while ago, but it's still cool.

Nintendo Wii.

Yes, the name of Nintendo's new system is going to be Wii, not Revolution which was the original code name. They really know how to make it hard to be a Nintendo fan. First they decide to pursue a new controller design instead of focusing on making the system a graphical powerhouse like Sony and X-Box. Wii is rumored to be 2x faster than GameCube wheras X-Box 360 and PS3 are probably on the order of 4x faster than the previous generation. I can understand the strategy - maybe they feel like they can't compete in terms of graphics so they'll go after something else which can give them an advantage and reach a broader market. I'm all for alternative interfaces as long as they aren't a hindrance. However, it's a big risk considering how much video game hype depends simply on how a game looks. It's very easy to dismiss games that don't look cutting edge.

The whole 'codename' thing is a bad idea - people get attached to whatever name is used first for a product unless the name is really obviously a weird code name and is later replaced with a more generic name. For instance, if they had named the new system like Nintendo 128 or Nintendo SuperFX or something along the lines of their past offerings, no one would have a problem with it. But Wii? It's too weird for a system which is supposedly aimed at a more general audience. All I can say is that this new controller better work as well as advertised and not be a gimmick or it will be VirtualBoy all over again and I don't think Nintendo will survive.

If it does work well, I would be interested in writing some software for it. How cool would it be to use the Revo-, er Wii controller as a music controller. It would probably make a neat theremin.

Here's an idea. if Nintentdo or another big console company made their dev kits open source, I think it could be a huge success. If Nintendo finds themselves falling behind in terms of games like what happened with GameCube, they might want to think about doing that. Much of a console's success depends on what games are available. Small time developers could pick up the slack and fill out the library with unique titles.

More 3d modeller news

I have some new progress to report on the 3d modeller (I'm calling it ClayMod for now). After about 3 days of solid work I got the normal mapping and color texture generation completely working and I am very pleased. The normal mapping works perfectly and uses the surface of the high polygon mesh as a basis. The first image is the original high polygon model which I've been using for testing (>120,000 polygons). On the right is the lowpolygon model I made from it ( < 100 polygons). The lowpolygon model is using the normal map and irrlicht's per pixel lighting. Note that all the shading is a product of the normal map and the per pixel lighting (the color map only has the colors, no baked lighting). You'll also have the option to bake the lighting into the color texture if you don't want to use the per-pixel lighting. I will add support for loading your own low polygon model (right now you make it by hand). This will be useful if you want to do all your modelling in another program and just use claymod for doing the textures and uv map. Since Claymod allows you to paint right on the model, this might be a nice thing to do. Speaking of UV mapping, Claymod automatically generates the UV map for you which is another nice feature. There's still a bunch of things to fix up before I release a public beta. Next step is letting the user manaully edit the UV coordinates.

Irrlicht hits 1.0

Irrlicht has been updated to 1.0 - a stable release. I'm glad to see this engine is still being worked on. Niko says he plans on extending the functionality of the engine (hopefully for HDR, more advanced shaders, etc) which is good to hear. Irrlicht is great because of it's simplicity and good design. It was very easy for me to pick up and start using, unlike some other 3d engines out there. Feature wise it about up to Quake2 or Quake3 which is a few years behind the curve, but with some per-pixel lighting and better shadows it could look a lot better. Good art makes a big difference which is one reason I'm working on this 3d modeller.

On that front, things are progressing well. I am working on the code to generate the heightmap/normalmap and color texture for the Low Polygon mesh from the High Polygon mesh. I will also add the option to 'bake' the lighting into the color texture, which will make it look better if you are not using the bump map. I have the basics working now, but there are still a bunch of things to do.

I also finally got around to checking how deep Irrlicht's support for bump/parallax mapping goes and was a little disappointed. It doesn't look like most of the animated mesh formats will work with parallax mapping since it requires a different vertex format than they use. I'm wondering if there are some changes that can be made to irrlicht's mesh formats to allow all meshes to be used with parallax mapping but this will require some changes to a bunch of classes. I'll look into it once I get some more things finished on the modeller.

Progress!

Got a couple more milestones completed on the 3d modeller. You can now add vertices and connect them up to create the low-polygon model. The next step: figuring out how seams will work and then on to the UV and texturing phase.

3d Modeller update

I made some more progress on my 3d modeller - I got loading of all of irrlicht's built in model types working (it supports 3ds, OBJ, and some others). I also made it so you can hide parts of the model so you can keep the framerate high when the model gets detailed. The next step is more difficult, but it's the last thing I have to do to be able to generate some models for games. I want to be able to generate a low-polygon model from the high polygon model. Instead of using an algorithm I'll let the user decide where the points should be - they'll just click on the surface of the high polygon model to place the vertices. Then they'll connect up the points and it will automatically generate both the UV mappings and also the texture and bumpmap (displacement map, whatever) from the high polygon model. Then you'll be able to export the final low polygon model + texture so you can start animating it. I recently came across this bones-based animation program called CharacterFX. It's extremely cheap (15$) and seems to suit my needs. I will probably pick it up. It also exports to 3ds and md2, both of which Irrlicht (the 3d engine I've been using) reads.

Cute Overdose

Here's the first of what will no doubt be a weekly installment of cute pictures of our dog. Enjoy! In case you were wondering she is some kind of Corgi mix (possibly spaniel, though Janet thinks she's part beagle).

Engaged

I've decided to ask my longtime sweetheart Janet to marry me. No date yet for the wedding. Oh and in case you were wondering, here's the ring.



Janet seems to like it.

Online music link submission thing

My goal was to make fark.com for music. It probably will never be so popular but here's the link to my online music link submission thingy. It's not finished and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before some joker spams the hell out of it, but take a look. Right now I'm using it to keep track of free music to download whenever I find a nice site. Submissions welcome.

You'll also find a link to some of my old music from my darker, gothier days.

Weirder Worlds

I made a mod for Weird Worlds (a great little space game). The mod basically adds a few more races, ships and weapons to the game. I think it's great that the indy games scene seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance. Now that online credit card transactions and broadband are ubiquitous it's pretty easy to sell software online. Download the mod here.