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  • What are some good realistic programming related movies (docu-dramas, documentaries, accurate fiction, etc)?

    - by EpsilonVector
    A while ago I asked this question and the result was this. Following the response I got in the meta question I'm re-asking the question with new guidelines to focus it on the direction I wanted it to have originally. ================================================================== The guidelines are as follows: by "programming related" I mean movies from which we can learn about stuff like the development process, or history of software/computers, or programming culture. In other words, they must be grounded in the industry. No tangential stuff. Good entries answer as many of the following criteria as possible: Teach you about the history of the industry, or the development process, or teach you about important industry related topics (software patents for example) Are based on real life events, companies, people, practices, and they are the main focus of the movie After watching them, you feel like you understand or know something about the programmers' world that you didn't before (or you can see how someone could have such a response). You can point to it and say "this faithfully represents the industry/programmer culture at some point in time". This might be something you would show laymen to explain to them what "your people" are like and what is it that you do. Examples for good entries include: Pirates of Silicon Valley- the story of how Microsoft and Apple started the industry. Revolution OS- The story of Linux's rise to fame, and a pretty good cover of the Free Software/Open Source world. Aardvark'd: 12 Weeks with Geeks- development process. Examples for bad entries: Movies who's sole relevance is that they can be appreciated by programmers. The point of this question is not to be "what are some good movies" with "for a programmer" appended to it. Just because the writers got a few computer jokes right in itself doesn't make it about the industry. Movies where there's a computer related element, but are not about the industry. For example, 24 (the TV series). It's a product of the information age but it isn't actually about it. Another example is movies where there's a really cool programmer character, but are overall about something completely different. Likewise, The Big Bang Theory is not about physics, even though they have a cool physicist as a character. Science fiction, even if it draws ideas from computers. For example, the Matrix trilogy. Movies that you can't point to them and say: this is a faithful representation of our world (at some point in time). If you can't do that then it doesn't mirror the industry. Keep it one entry per answer so that the voting could sort the entries out.

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  • Physics System ignores collision in some rare cases

    - by Gajoo
    I've been developing a simple physics engine for my game. since the game physics is very simple I've decided to increase accuracy a little bit. Instead of formal integration methods like fourier or RK4, I'm directly computing the results after delta time "dt". based on the very first laws of physics : dx = 0.5 * a * dt^2 + v0 * dt dv = a * dt where a is acceleration and v0 is object's previous velocity. Also to handle collisions I've used a method which is somehow different from those I've seen so far. I'm detecting all the collision in the given time frame, stepping the world forward to the nearest collision, resolving it and again check for possible collisions. As I said the world consist of very simple objects, so I'm not loosing any performance due to multiple collision checking. First I'm checking if the ball collides with any walls around it (which is working perfectly) and then I'm checking if it collides with the edges of the walls (yellow points in the picture). the algorithm seems to work without any problem except some rare cases, in which the collision with points are ignored. I've tested everything and all the variables seem to be what they should but after leaving the system work for a minute or two the system the ball passes through one of those points. Here is collision portion of my code, hopefully one of you guys can give me a hint where to look for a potential bug! void PhysicalWorld::checkForPointCollision(Vec2 acceleration, PhysicsComponent& ball, Vec2& collisionNormal, float& collisionTime, Vec2 target) { // this function checks if there will be any collision between a circle and a point // ball contains informations about the circle (it's current velocity, position and radius) // collisionNormal is an output variable // collisionTime is also an output varialbe // target is the point I want to check for collisions Vec2 V = ball.mVelocity; Vec2 A = acceleration; Vec2 P = ball.mPosition - target; float wallWidth = mMap->getWallWidth() / (mMap->getWallWidth() + mMap->getHallWidth()) / 2; float r = ball.mRadius / (mMap->getWallWidth() + mMap->getHallWidth()); // r is ball radius scaled to match actual rendered object. if (A.any()) // todo : I need to first correctly solve the collisions in case there is no acceleration return; if (V.any()) // if object is not moving there will be no collisions! { float D = P.x * V.y - P.y * V.x; float Delta = r*r*V.length2() - D*D; if(Delta < eps) return; Delta = sqrt(Delta); float sgnvy = V.y > 0 ? 1: (V.y < 0?-1:0); Vec2 c1(( D*V.y+sgnvy*V.x*Delta) / V.length2(), (-D*V.x+fabs(V.y)*Delta) / V.length2()); Vec2 c2(( D*V.y-sgnvy*V.x*Delta) / V.length2(), (-D*V.x-fabs(V.y)*Delta) / V.length2()); float t1 = (c1.x - P.x) / V.x; float t2 = (c2.x - P.x) / V.x; if(t1 > eps && t1 <= collisionTime) { collisionTime = t1; collisionNormal = c1; } if(t2 > eps && t2 <= collisionTime) { collisionTime = t2; collisionNormal = c2; } } } // this function should step the world forward by dt. it doesn't check for collision of any two balls (components) // it just checks if there is a collision between the current component and 4 points forming a rectangle around it. void PhysicalWorld::step(float dt) { for (unsigned i=0;i<mObjects.size();i++) { PhysicsComponent &current = *mObjects[i]; Vec2 acceleration = current.mForces * current.mInvMass; float rt=dt; // stores how much more the world should advance while(rt > eps) { float collisionTime = rt; Vec2 collisionNormal = Vec2(0,0); float halfWallWidth = mMap->getWallWidth() / (mMap->getWallWidth() + mMap->getHallWidth()) / 2; // we check if there is any collision with any of those 4 points around the ball // if there is a collision both collisionNormal and collisionTime variables will change // after these functions collisionTime will be exactly the value of nearest collision (if any) // and if there was, collisionNormal will report in which direction the ball should return. checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2(floor(current.mPosition.x) + halfWallWidth,floor(current.mPosition.y) + halfWallWidth)); checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2(floor(current.mPosition.x) + halfWallWidth, ceil(current.mPosition.y) - halfWallWidth)); checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2( ceil(current.mPosition.x) - halfWallWidth,floor(current.mPosition.y) + halfWallWidth)); checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2( ceil(current.mPosition.x) - halfWallWidth, ceil(current.mPosition.y) - halfWallWidth)); // either if there is a collision or if there is not we step the forward since we are sure there will be no collision before collisionTime current.mPosition += collisionTime * (collisionTime * acceleration * 0.5 + current.mVelocity); current.mVelocity += collisionTime * acceleration; // if the ball collided with anything collisionNormal should be at least none zero in one of it's axis if (collisionNormal.any()) { collisionNormal *= Dot(collisionNormal, current.mVelocity) / collisionNormal.length2(); current.mVelocity -= 2 * collisionNormal; // simply reverse velocity along collision normal direction } rt -= collisionTime; } // reset all forces for current object so it'll be ready for later game event current.mForces.zero(); } }

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  • creating a pre-menu level select screen

    - by Ephiras
    Hi I am working on creating a tower Defence java applet game and have come to a road block about implementing a title screen that i can select the level and difficulty of the rest of the game. my title screen class is called Menu. from this menu class i need to pass in many different variables into my Main class. i have used different classes before and know how to run them and such. but if both classes extend applet and each has its individual graphics method how can i run things from Main even though it was created in Menu. what i essentially want to do is run the Menu class withits action listeners and graphics until a Difficulty button has been selected, run the main class (which 100% works without having to have the Menu class) and pretty much terminate Menu so that i cannot go back to it, do not see its buttons or graphics menus. can i run one applet annd when i choose a button close that one and launch the other one? IF you would like to download the full project you can find it here, i had to comment out all the code that wasn't working my Menu class import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.*; import java.applet.*; public class Menu extends Applet implements ActionListener{ Button bEasy,bMed,bHard; Main m; public void init(){ bEasy= new Button("Easy"); bEasy.setBounds(140,200,100,50); add(bEasy); bMed = new Button("Medium");bMed.setBounds(280,200,100,50); add(bMed); bHard= new Button("Hard");bHard.setBounds(420,200,100,50); add(bHard); setLayout(null); } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){ Main m = new Main(20,10,3000,mapMed);//break; switch (e.getSource()){ case bEasy: Main m = new Main(6000,20,"levels/levelEasy.png");break;//enimies tower money world case bMed: Main m = new Main(4000,15,"levels/levelMed.png");break; case bHard: Main m = new Main(2000,10,"levels/levelEasy.png");break; default: break; } } public void paint(){ //m.draw(g) } } and here is my main class initialising code. import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.*; import java.applet.*; import java.io.IOException; public class Main extends Applet implements Runnable, MouseListener, MouseMotionListener, ActionListener{ Button startButton, UpgRange, UpgDamage; //set up the buttons Color roadCol,startCol,finCol,selGrass,selRoad; //set up the colors Enemy e[][]; Tower t[]; Image towerpic,backpic,roadpic,levelPic; private Image i; private Graphics doubleG; //here is the world 0=grass 1=road 2=start 3=end int world[][],eStartX,eStartY; boolean drawMouse,gameEnd; static boolean start=false; static int gridLength=15; static int round=0; int Mx,My,timer=1500; static int sqrSize=31; int towers=0,towerSelected=-10; static int castleHealth=2000; String levelPath; //choose the level Easy Med or Hard int maxEnemy[] = {5,7,12,20,30,15,50,30,40,60};//number of enimies per round int maxTowers=15;//maximum number of towers allowed static int money =2000,damPrice=600,ranPrice=350,towerPrice=700; //money = the intial ammount of money you start of with //damPrice is the price to increase the damage of a tower //ranPrice is the price to increase the range of a tower public void main(int cH,int mT,int mo,int dP,int rP,int tP,String path,int[] mE)//constructor 1 castleHealth=cH; maxTowers=mT; money=mo; damPrice=dP; ranPrice=rP; towerPrice=tP; String levelPath=path; maxEnemy = mE; buildLevel(); } public void main(int cH,int mT,String path)//basic constructor castleHealth=cH; maxTowers=mT; String levelPath=path; maxEnemy = mE; buildLevel(); } public void init(){ setSize(sqrSize*15+200,sqrSize*15);//set the size of the screen roadCol = new Color(255,216,0);//set the colors for the different objects startCol = new Color(0,38,255); finCol = new Color(255,0,0); selRoad = new Color(242,204,155);//selColor is the color of something when your mouse hovers over it selGrass = new Color(0,190,0); roadpic = getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/road.jpg"); towerpic = getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/tower.png"); backpic = getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/grass.jpg"); levelPic = getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/level.jpg"); e= new Enemy[maxEnemy.length][];//activates all of the enimies for (int r=0;r<e.length;r++) e[r] = new Enemy[maxEnemy[r]]; t= new Tower[maxTowers]; for (int i=0;i<t.length;i++) t[i]= new Tower();//activates all the towers for (int i=0;i<e.length; i++)//sets all of the enimies starting co ordinates for (int j=0;j<e[i].length;j++) e[i][j] = new Enemy(eStartX,eStartY,world); initButtons();//initialise all the buttons addMouseMotionListener(this); addMouseListener(this); }

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  • Digital Due Process

    Coalition urges updates to Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to reflect web 2.0 world Electronic Communications Privacy Act - Privacy - Security - Google - ECPA

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  • Insider Insights

    Insider rumours and gossip from the murky world of the Database Industry, and from the colourful characters that inhabit it.

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  • WebCenter Customer Spotlight: Marvel

    - by me
    Author: Peter Reiser - Social Business Evangelist, Oracle WebCenter  Solution SummaryMarvel Entertainment, LLC (Marvel) is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. The customer wanted to optimize their brand licensing process, so Marvel worked with Oracle WebCenter partner Fishbowl Solutions and implemented a centralized Content Hub based on Oracle WebCenter Content. The 100% web based secure Intranet/Partner Extranet solution is now managing the entire life cycle of the brand licensing process. Marvel and their brand licensees have  now complete visibility of brand license operations including the history of approval request and related content.  Company OverviewMarvel Entertainment, LLC (Marvel) a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years.  Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing.   Sample  characters:    - Spider-Man    - Iron Man    - Captain America    - X-MEN    - Thor    - Avengers    - And a host of others  Business ChallengesMarvel wanted to optimize their brand licensing process for their characters and had following business requirements : Facilitating content worldwide Scalable and flexible infrastructure to manage multiple content types and huge file sizes Optimize the licensing process workflow trough automatic notifications, tracking reviews, issuing approvals, etc. Solution DeployedMarvel worked with Oracle WebCenter partner Fishbowl Solutions and implemented a centralized Content Hub based on Oracle WebCenter Content. The 100% web based secure Intranet/Partner Extranet solution is now managing the entire life cycle of the brand licensing process. The internal users can now manage all digital assets related to a character trough proper categorization of all items, workflow based review and approval of branding styles and a powerful search and retrieval service. The licensees of Marvel brands can now online develop and submit  concepts and prototypes which are reviewed and approved using a collaborative process. Business ResultMarvel and their brand licensees have now complete visibility of brand license operations including the history of approval request and related content. The character brand related content is now in the right place, at the right time at the user's fingertips with highly improved quality. Additional Information Marvel Open World Presentation Oracle WebCenter Content

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  • Speed up lighting in deferred shading

    - by kochol
    I implemented a simple deferred shading renderer. I use 3 G-Buffer for storing position (R32F), normal (G16R16F) and albedo (ARGB8). I use sphere map algorithm to store normals in world space. Currently I use inverse of view * projection matrix to calculate the position of each pixel from stored depth value. First I want to avoid per pixel matrix multiplication for calculating the position. Is there another way to store and calculate position in G-Buffer without the need of matrix multiplication Store the normal in view space Every lighting in my engine is in world space and I want do the lighting in view space to speed up my lighting pass. I want an optimized lighting pass for my deferred engine.

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  • Can Simple & Modern UX Be Sexy? Fusion Apps in 100% #Oracle #ADF Shows How #usableapps #UX #futureofwork

    - by ultan o'broin
    YES! I love the sheer cut-to-the-chase instant beauty and usefulness of my Clear app on iOS. Dropbox really does simplify my ICT world, if not my life. I use those apps every day: on mobile, desktop or web. Clear app Dropbox web UI In the enterprise apps world, you'll love what Oracle Applications User Experience team is doing with our roadmap to simple and modern user experience with Oracle Fusion Applications built with 100% Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF). Simple and modern. A compelling and easily personalized UX for Fusion Apps on your device of choice. Beautiful. Simplicity, it's all part of the BYOD and COIT phenomenon that enterprises need to embrace rather than tolerate or ignore. So, introduce yourself to the new face of Oracle Fusion Applications. More on the Voice of User Experience for Oracle Applications blog.

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  • What does mathematics have to do with programming?

    - by Rory
    I just started a diploma in software development. Right now we're starting out with basic Java and such (so right from the bottom you might say) - which is fine, I have no programming experience apart from knowing how to do "Hello World" in Java. I keep hearing that mathematics is pertinent to coding, but how is it so? What general examples would show how mathematics and programming go together, or are reliant on one another? I apologize of my question is vague, I'm barely starting to get a rough idea of the kind of world I'm stepping into as a code monkey student...

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  • Basics of ERP for dummies

    - by DarenW
    A situation has arisen where (if I don't scream and run away) I will be involved in an ERP system. This project will be using OpenERP specifically. My background is entirely science/engineering/music/games/art/whatever. I've never set foot in the realm of business systems or anything describable with the word "enterprise". What is a good introduction to the whole ERP concept, OpenERP and business systems in general suitable for those with flat zero experience in that world? The ideal intro would explain, from no assumptions, what the main ideas are, terminology, they style of work and thinking of people in that world, and maybe some concrete suggestions how one can tinker around with a copy of OpenERP to gain basic familiarity.

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  • Do you know about the Visual Studio 2010 Database Projects Guidance?

    - by Martin Hinshelwood
    Early on in the Team System (now Visual Studio ALM) cycle a new product surfaced within Team System that was affectionately called “Data Dude”, but had the more formal name of “Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals”. The purpose of this product was to try and make the database a “first class citizen” in the development world. Those that started using Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals (Data Dude) loved it, but everyone else did not get it. The capabilities were a little patchy, but the one thing it did bring to the party was the ability to put your database schema under source control. This was revolutionary as previously your DBA sat as far away from the team as possible, and usually in a dark cupboard, now they could partake of all the goodness of Version Control, Work Item Tracking and automated builds. The problem was that the understanding required to manage these projects was very different to that needed previously. Then the Visual Studio ALM Rangers got a hold of it…and produced some of the best guidance available. Figure: Download the guidance from http://vsdatabaseguide.codeplex.com/ This guidance discusses scenarios and approaches of using the Database Projects in Visual Studio 2010 to help you use the tools more effectively and maximize their value to your organization This guidance is focused on these five areas: Solution and Project Management Source Code Control and Configuration Management Integrating External Changes with the Project System Build and Deployment Automation with Visual Studio Database Projects Database Testing and Deployment Verification Each of these areas has common guidance, usage scenarios, hands on labs, and lessons learned from real world engagements and the community discussions.   The guidance is broken down into three packages: Guidance documentation Hands-on-lab (HOL) documentation note: The documentation is available in XPS-only format packages or complete XPS,PDF,DOCX format packages HOL Package If you need assistance and no one else can help, then you may need to call the Visual Studio ALM Rangers. The Visual Studio ALM Rangers have the mission to provide out of band solutions for missing features or guidance. They are supported by Microsoft Product Group, Microsoft Consulting Services, Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVPs) and technical specialists from technology communities around the globe, giving you a real-world view from the field, where the technology has been tested and used. For more information on the Rangers please visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/ee358786.aspx and for more a list of other Rangers projects please see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/ee358787.aspx.

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  • Send SMS text messages for FREE using Java ME

    - by hinkmond
    Here's a way to get around those nasty SMS text messages charges (and maybe a way to get around the Pakistan SMS text censors too!). Use this Java ME SMS text app for your Java ME mobile phone, called JaxtrSMS: See: JaxtrSMS free Java ME SMS Here's a quote: JaxtrSMS lets you send FREE SMS and txt messages to any mobile phone in the world. Best of all, the receiver does not have to have the JaxtrSMS app. International and local SMS/texting can be expensive but with JaxtrSMS you can text anyone in the world for FREE! Great! Now, you can send 2,000 text messages from your phone every month and not worry about a huge bill. You don't send 2,000 text message in a month? Well, get it for your teenage kids then. They certainly send 2,000 text messages in a month... Hinkmond

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  • Rotate 3D Model from a custom position

    - by Nipuna Silva
    I have a 3D Model like above in which i want to rotate it from a given location(pointed in red) but I can only rotate it from the middle. How can I rotate it from a custom point. Edit: I successfully able to rotate the model from the below position by getting the radius of the model and applying it to the world matrix Vector3 point = new Vector3(-radius, 0, 0); world = Matrix.CreateTranslation(-radius, 0, 0); But now I cannot change the position of the object and it always centered in middle of the screen. I think that's because i applied the above code. How can I place it anywhere I want?

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  • I cannot login into any TTYs

    - by Lucio
    My system is Ubuntu 11.10. When I enter into any tty (1, 2, 3..) it ask me my login name and password but I can not move forward. It say that the info isn't correct. I have a user without password called world, so I enter world but it show me this Module invalid (or similar) The problems is that I must enter a command and I can't. There isn't any way to fix or an alternative way to enter the command?

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  • 2010 SQLPeople Person of the Year

    - by andyleonard
    Introduction Back in 2010, I started recognizing the SQLPeople Person of the Year. It's been a tradition ever since. "But Andy, you're writing this in 2010." Yep. Good eye, Pep. The Award Goes To: Steve Jones ( Blog | @way0utwest ). I am not a DBA - I'm a database developer. I joke and say I look like the world's greatest DBA when there's no contention, the jobs are finishing successfully, queries return data quickly and accurately, and the backups succeed. But anyone looks like the world's greatest...(read more)

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  • Is there a difference between "self-plagiarizing" in programming vs doing so as a writer?

    - by makerofthings7
    I read this Gawker article about how a writer reused some of his older material for new assignments for different magazines. Is there any similar ethical (societal?) dilemma when doing the same thing in the realm of Programming? Does reusing a shared library you've accumulated over the years amount to self-plagarizm? What I'm getting at is that it seems that the creative world of software development isn't as stringent regarding self-plagarism as say journalism or blogging. In fact on one of my interviews at GS I was asked what kind of libraries I've developed over the years, implying that me getting the job would entail co-licensing helpful portions of code to that company. Are there any cases where although it's legal to self-plagarize, it would be frowned upon in the software world?

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  • Load Texture From Image Content In Runtime

    - by Austin Brunkhorst
    Basically I wrote a world editor for a game I'm working on. Looking ahead, I was brainstorming ways to save the created world including the tile-sets (this game will rely on a tile engine). I was hoping to save the image data of each tile-set in the same file containing the tile positions, etc. and load the image data into a Texture with XNA. Is it possible? Something like this is what I'm going for. Texture2D tileset = Content.LoadFromString<Texture2D>("png tileset data");

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  • Why does a computer science degree matter to a professional programmer?

    - by P.Brian.Mackey
    I have a degree in computer science. It has been great for opening doors, getting a job. As far as helping me in the professional field of C# .NET programming (the most popular platform and language in the area I work if not the entire united states on hands down the most popular OS in the world) its hardly useful. Why do you think it helps you as a programmer in your professional career (outside spouting off to prims algorithm to impress some interviewer)? In today's world adaptation, a quick mind, strong communication, OO and fundamental design skills enable a developer to write software that a customer will accept. These skills are only skimmed over in the cs program. In my mind, reading a 500 page C# book by Wrox offers far more useable a skillset than 4 years of the comp sci math blaster courses. Many disagree. So, why does a computer science degree matter?

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  • XNA clip plane effect makes models black

    - by user1990950
    When using this effect file: float4x4 World; float4x4 View; float4x4 Projection; float4 ClipPlane0; void vs(inout float4 position : POSITION0, out float4 clipDistances : TEXCOORD0) { clipDistances.x = dot(position, ClipPlane0); clipDistances.y = 0; clipDistances.z = 0; clipDistances.w = 0; position = mul(mul(mul(position, World), View), Projection); } float4 ps(float4 clipDistances : TEXCOORD0) : COLOR0 { clip(clipDistances); return float4(0, 0, 0, 0); } technique { pass { VertexShader = compile vs_2_0 vs(); PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 ps(); } } all models using this are rendered black. Is it possible to render them correctly?

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  • What's New & Cool in NetBeans IDE 7.x

    - by Geertjan
    Loads of new features have been added to NetBeans IDE during the NetBeans IDE 7.x release cycle, i.e., 7.0 together with all the minor releases that have come after that, up to 7.4, which was released during the last few days. Hard to keep track of everything added over all those releases, so instead of making a "What's New in NetBeans IDE 7.4" slide deck (which would only cover the highlights of the NetBeans IDE 7.4 Release Notes), as we would normally do, we've instead produced "What's New in NetBeans IDE 7.x", which is around 50 slides presenting all the key features of the IDE, together with all the key newest features. Here it is: If you want to present the wonderful world that is the NetBeans ecosystem to your JUG or school or university or colleagues in your company, just download the above slide deck (either PDF or the PowerPoint sources) here: https://netbeans.org/community/teams/evangelism And happy NetBeans IDE 7.4 to everyone using NetBeans IDE everywhere in the world!

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  • Games at Work Part 1: Introduction to Gamification and Applications

    - by ultan o'broin
    Games Are Everywhere How many of you (will admit to) remember playing Pong? OK then, do you play Angry Birds on your phone during work hours? Thought about why we keep playing online, video, and mobile games and what this "gamification" business we're hearing about means for the enterprise applications user experience? In Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Jane McGonigal says that playing computer and online games now provides more rewards for people than their real lives do. Games offer intrinsic rewards and happiness to the players as they pursue more satisfying work and the success, social connection, and meaning that goes with it. Yep, Gran Turismo, Dungeons & Dragons, Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, Wii Boxing, and the rest are all forms of work it seems. Games are, in fact, work taken so seriously that governments now move to limit the impact of virtual gaming currencies on the real financial system. Anyone who spends hours harvesting crops on FarmVille realizes it’s hard work too. Yet games evoke a positive emotion in players who voluntarily stay engaged with games for hours, day after day. Some 183 million active gamers in the United States play on average 13 hours per week. Weekly, 5 million of those gamers play for longer than a working week (45 hours). So why not harness the work put into games to solve real-world problems? Or, in the case of our applications users, real-world work problems? What’s a Game? Jane explains that all games have four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation. We need to look at what motivational ideas behind the dynamics of the game—what we call gamification—are appropriate for our users. Typically, these motivators are achievement, altruism, competition, reward, self-expression, and status). Common game techniques for leveraging these motivations include: Badging and avatars Points and awards Leader boards Progress charts Virtual currencies or goods Gifting and giving Challenges and quests Some technology commentators argue for a game layer on top of everything, but this layer is already part of our daily lives in many instances. We see gamification working around us already: the badging and kudos offered on My Oracle Support or other Oracle community forums, becoming a Dragon Slayer implementor of Atlassian applications, being made duke of your favorite coffee shop on Yelp, sharing your workout details with Nike+, or donating to Japanese earthquake relief through FarmVille, for example. And what does all this mean for the applications that you use in your work? Read on in part two...

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  • Bullet Physics - Casting a ray straight down from a rigid body (first person camera)

    - by Hydrocity
    I've implemented a first person camera using Bullet--it's a rigid body with a capsule shape. I've only been using Bullet for a few days and physics engines are new to me. I use btRigidBody::setLinearVelocity() to move it and it collides perfectly with the world. The only problem is the Y-value moves freely, which I temporarily solved by setting the Y-value of the translation vector to zero before the body is moved. This works for all cases except when falling from a height. When the body drops off a tall object, you can still glide around since the translate vector's Y-value is being set to zero, until you stop moving and fall to the ground (the velocity is only set when moving). So to solve this I would like to try casting a ray down from the body to determine the Y-value of the world, and checking the difference between that value and the Y-value of the camera body, and disable or slow down movement if the difference is large enough. I'm a bit stuck on simply casting a ray and determining the Y-value of the world where it struck. I've implemented this callback: struct AllRayResultCallback : public btCollisionWorld::RayResultCallback{ AllRayResultCallback(const btVector3& rayFromWorld, const btVector3& rayToWorld) : m_rayFromWorld(rayFromWorld), m_rayToWorld(rayToWorld), m_closestHitFraction(1.0){} btVector3 m_rayFromWorld; btVector3 m_rayToWorld; btVector3 m_hitNormalWorld; btVector3 m_hitPointWorld; float m_closestHitFraction; virtual btScalar addSingleResult(btCollisionWorld::LocalRayResult& rayResult, bool normalInWorldSpace) { if(rayResult.m_hitFraction < m_closestHitFraction) m_closestHitFraction = rayResult.m_hitFraction; m_collisionObject = rayResult.m_collisionObject; if(normalInWorldSpace){ m_hitNormalWorld = rayResult.m_hitNormalLocal; } else{ m_hitNormalWorld = m_collisionObject->getWorldTransform().getBasis() * rayResult.m_hitNormalLocal; } m_hitPointWorld.setInterpolate3(m_rayFromWorld, m_rayToWorld, m_closestHitFraction); return 1.0f; } }; And in the movement function, I have this code: btVector3 from(pos.x, pos.y + 1000, pos.z); // pos is the camera's rigid body position btVector3 to(pos.x, 0, pos.z); // not sure if 0 is correct for Y AllRayResultCallback callback(from, to); Base::getSingletonPtr()->m_btWorld->rayTest(from, to, callback); So I have the callback.m_hitPointWorld vector, which seems to just show the position of the camera each frame. I've searched Google for examples of casting rays, as well as the Bullet documentation, and it's been hard to just find an example. An example is really all I need. Or perhaps there is some method in Bullet to keep the rigid body on the ground? I'm using Ogre3D as a rendering engine, and casting a ray down is quite straightforward with that, however I want to keep all the ray casting within Bullet for simplicity. Could anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

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  • Orthographic Projection with variable FOV

    - by cubrman
    We are building agame with orthographic view. The problem we face is the fact that with different resolution you can see different area of the game world. E.g. if you have higher resolution you can see more around you. To solve this we currently use a common scale factor that every model is scaled by, depending on resolution. But this has drawbacks when drawing shadows - I cannot set a higher view angle for the orthographic shadow camera, while when using the perspective shadow camera I get significantly worse shadow quality. So the question is is there any way to controll FOV when using orthographic projection, or, more specifically, what is the easiest way to scale the world uniformly up or down with orthographic projection matrix? I saw that in 3ds MAX you can control FOV for an orthographic camera I wonder how they implemented it.

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