If anyone remembers the last issue of cfxweb news, you'll recall we were looking for
someone to continue working on our java section. Although the response was disappointingly
low, we did manage to find someone who was up the task! Thats if you hadn't noticed!
Marvin is working hard at keeping upto-date with whats happening in the java world and is
soon to be organising a new java contest! So stay tuned for that in the forth-coming
weeks. In the meantime, check out www.waterlogic.com.sg
for some cool applets!
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DemoGL v1.31 build 0528 was released last week with some funky new features: New in
this version:
- Cube map support for cubic environment mapping (static and dynamic)
- Compressed textures support (DXT1, DXT3 and DXT5)
- Exportation of mainwindow handles
- Support for all new OpenGL extensions by nVidia and ATi
- Hardware generated mipmaps
- Code enhancements
- Bugfixes
- DLL is now compressed with UPX
- Revisited documentation
- 2 new example projects (dynamic cubic environmapping and compressed textures)
As always, its available from the central DemoGL site.
The full sourcecode for v1.31 is also available."According to the author,
"DemoGL is an execution platform for multi-media based graphical effects and
graphical effects related code."
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Another release of the defacto win32 executable packer, a must for all 64K intro
coders out there, you may download it at the relocated site, http://upx.sourceforge.net. For a list of changes, visit
here. Don't forget, this
fine program is also open-source!
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Charles Bloom updated his 3D tech page with a new document on Advanced Shadow Mapping.
Charles first mentions that the descriptions of the technology were used in Munch's
Oddyssey and details on basic shadows will not be covered!
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Dean Macri from Intel has recently been writing about performance in his new column
entitled, "Maximum FPS". I understand that this is going to be a monthly
thing so looks like theres going to be some interesting stuff to come! In the meantime,
there's already 2 articles worth a read. The first one Fast
AGP Writes for Dynamic Data. This article examines some peculiarities of AGP memory
and show how you can reduce bus transactions in your 3D games to achieve speedups of 20%
or more in some cases.The other is entitled Three
Tips for Faster code. This article discusses cache alignment and something called "Store
Forwarding" and "Fast String Moves". Sounds interesting to say
the least. Check them out!
Note: You will need to register to view these articles, simply visit cedar.intel.com for details.. certainly worth the effort
considering the wealth of information available for viewing.
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Two new articles from the guys over at MSDN are
available, the first, Part
3 of the Driving DirectX series, "Optimizing the Tweening Vertex Shader".
This article takes a look at the tweening vertex shader from Part 2 and shows off some
basic shader optimisations.The other article, entitled "DirectPlay 8
Overview" provides an overview of Microsoft DirectPlay 8, which represents a
complete rewrite of the entire DirectPlay API. Check that out here.
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Romka Graphics can't stop updating their site!
There are lots of new OpenGL programs available every week, and the best part about it..
all with complete source. Well worth checking out, especially for his links/docs section.
You'll even find a zip of the book "OpenGL SuperBible 1st Edition" which
was free for viewing on the now deceased itknowledge.com website. Note: This book
only covers OpenGL 1.1, and the 2nd edition is available to buy.. A great book if the
Redbook doesn't do it for you.
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Johnnie Rose sent us a link to his Winsock Tutorial, so if you're interested in learning
about that, seems worthwhile checking out. Even if its just for the links. View it here.
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| SUB-SONiC Project
looking for people |
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What is it?
SUB-SONIC is a multi-platform multi-format music playback system, it provides playback for
common and advanced music formats. SUB-SONIC is an OpenSource project under the business
friendly BSD license. This allows anyone in the free or commericial software world to use
SUB-SONIC for anything they want, free and with no strings attached. What do we
need?
We need programmers to help program more plugins, improve existing plugins, port the core
to other platforms and help improve the audio system. Programmers don't have to have prior
experience in audio programming but need to be able to code in C++.
Other positions would be useful, we could greatly benefit from a web master who is
capable of PHP programming and somebody with experience in using and administrating CVS
trees. Document writers would also be a valuable addition to the team.
Anyone interested in joining the project should mail Doug, doug@aspen.uk.com, further questions are welcome. They
also have a website with details which you'll find at sub-sonic.sf.net.
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| Weekly roundup of
GameDev.Net |
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Here is the weekly round up of some fine articles from www.gamedev.net,
definately worth checking out.Tree's - Part 1
Presents an introduction to the tree data structure, and provides an implementation of a
general purpose tree.
Fast Scripting -
a pre-compiled approach
Explains a method of creating high performance scripting using assembly-like instructions.
Frame Rate
Independent Movement
Sweet Snippets is an ongoing series of to-the-point programming articles, covering very
specific topics with source code included. This article explains how to keep game objects
moving at the same rate independently of the frame rate.
Java Game
Programming Part III: The Power of Arrays
This installment covers Java arrays, including specific examples of how they can be used
in games.
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