Deferred Lighting: The backdoor, Part 1

Today, I was asked about the theory behind the Deferred Lighting procedure, of which, to be honest, I was starting to forget (too much Functional programming lately); but what is well learned, is never forgotten.

The main idea behind this technique is to delay as much as possible the calculations of light over the objects on the scene, only those that deserve to be rendered will be performed, otherwise will be discarded. This also relies on "several" passes, which also means, the first time an scene is going to be rendered as normal: vertex positions, its normals and the material for each surface and instead of sending it to the screen it is transformed into a "texture" with information of the depth, normals and specular. This last texture becomes the input for the next step, where lighting takes place using the information from the variables from the previous phase. And then one "last" pass calculates all objects in the scene once again but this time it combines the color from the texture with the emissive and ambient light. The image below shows graphically how they are all added:

SSH and Sudoers

After I had set up the server to connect to my internet source, the next step to cover was a way to communicate to it without using the User Interface. As there are many solutions, one of the most common, safe and secure is the SSH protocol (Secure SHell).

In order to archive this in the Ubuntu Server, I followed this tutorial:

 # sudo apt-get install openssh-client openssh-server 

DNSCrypt on Ubuntu

After setting up a shared wireless connection, I started to be worried about the "plainness" of the transmissions, that everything which would go through the air and the router could be simply read by another received and use that information to another purpose. Of course, there is the always reliable TOR network, but due to a quite high latency already increased, then I decided to skip it. Nonetheless, I still wanted something running on every request and that would increase a little the privacy, then I found DNSCryopt. In other words:

DNSCrypt encrypts all DNS traffic between your computer and the OpenDNS servers (so you'll be using OpenDNS) and can protect you from man-in-the-middle attacks, spying, resolver impersonation, can prevent Internet service providers from blocking various websites and more.

Configure an Ubuntu "Gateway"

The original title was going to be:

Configure an Ubuntu "Gateway" using two wireless devices and one server

But it was going to be long and boring. Ok, everything started because I have moved to a new location and I was not going to have internet in a long time nor willing to get a two year contract with a company again. So, connection from my supporting neighbor was provided, the only thing I had to do is to create an extension to his wireless AP. Easily enough I could had bought a WiFi extender, but no fun was going to be out of there and of course, if he would like to sniff what was going trough, well you know the history.

Fortunately I have this hardware ready to be set up:

VIA ARTiGO Pico-ITX Builder Kit A1000
Alfa AWUS036NH
WiDrive DX325

I could explain the network, but better seen graphically:

Scalability and consistency in Server Based Network Gaming

While I was doing the MSc in Newcastle, we needed to create an academic paper for the Game Networking module. So, now I am doing it public so other people, and specially researchers, can see that I have strong academic background and I am able to write papers. Of course, I am open to comments and always learning new ways to do it better ;)

This paper describes the capabilities of a Server based communication between two or many PS3 consoles as a way to efficiently transfer data using the TCP/IP protocols with the hardware embedded (Ethernet Cable and Wireless 802.11G). Also, it coves the common problems arising with the inclusion of more systems in the same network in order to keep communication consistency as well as some performance efficacy under different scenarios where low and high data transfer is required in between systems, whilst just one active server socket is kept open. When low demand applications are running and as highly bandwidth consuming case both are presented, in order to estimate how many consoles could be brought into the same network without a hit on game accomplishment.

Constraint Functional Programming using Heterogenous Architectures

What a fancy name for just do this:

Have a Constraint Satisfaction Problem, then program it using Haskell and exploit multicore capabilities, what I mean with this, that user should not worry if they have 1, 10 or 1000 processing units, he/she would see an automatic performance increase just by running on a platform where more resources are available.

Voxel Render Engine for PS3 SDK

Hello Everyone!!

Long time I have not been here, not even to check if someone is trying to spam comments all around. Well, the good news it is that today I wanted to release my Master Thesis, which was about a way to display voxelized models using the PS3 SDK.

I did not do it before because I was "under NDA", an agreement between Newcastle University and SCE Europe. however I think by this time, they do not care anymore about releasing key points and ideas about what my document is about.

Deferred Lighting on PS3

After almost 4 weeks trying to work out Deferred lighting on the PS3, we did it!! Thanks to the help and knowledge of almighty Richard, we were able to render to multiple phases and output the results on a PS3, something quite similar to what is shown on the initial image.

But less words, more action:

MSc in Computer Game Engineering @ NCL

Hello Everyone!!

I know I've been far away from blogging in a long time, more precisely since September 9 2011, when today it's March 19, 2012. Before you get angrier with me, let me explain why I've been so faraway lately:

In late September I started master degree program in the United Kingdom, at the Newcastle University, then right now I'm studying MSc in Computer Game Engineering, where I've learnt so much about programming in C++, OpenGL, Maths for Graphics, Memory Management, even how to program for the PS3 using the Sony Official SDK, isn't it so exciting??

That's my main reason for being so distant from my blog, another was the overhear that was moving from México City to Newcastle Upon Tyne: baggages, computers, clothes and almost my entire life, however I forgot my tennis shoes back home.

11 Tips for Mobile Software Development

More than 99 million smartphones shipped in just the first quarter of this year, says analyst firm IDC. Many of them are winding up in the hands of business users, including your employees and business partners. That trend means, sooner or later, you’ll have to develop smartphone apps. Here are 11 tips:

1. Track market shares.
It’s critical to keep up with trends in smartphone platforms, where the only constant is change. Sure, BlackBerry has long been synonymous with business, but it now lags both Android and Apple’s iOS in the race for market share, which affects what your company uses. In fact, Android is a case study in how quickly a platform’s fortunes can change: Between late 2009 and late 2010, Android’s market share grew 615 percent -- enough to leapfrog into first place, says analyst firm Canalys.

LG Optimus 3D: Tri-dual

LG Electronics (LG) today officially launched the long-awaited LG Optimus 3D, an innovative new smartphone featuring second generation dual core technology and an advanced "Tri-Dual" architecture. First unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona in February, the LG Optimus 3D offers a full 3D experience -- recording, viewing, sharing -- in a smartphone form factor.

The LG Optimus 3D takes the smartphone experience into new territory with its Tri-Dual configuration -- dual-core, dual-channel and dual-memory -- which allows for improved performance when multi-tasking, enjoying a movie or playing graphicsintensive games. This LG smartphone is also a major step forward in the utilization of full 3D functionality in everyday life - users can record and immediately view content in 3D without the need for special glasses.

iPad + Kinnect = Augmented Reality

According to Apple this is the year of the iPhone 2, for many of us there is no doubt about it. However, the tablet is not the only technological character of our time, because it must share the stage with other products that are making a breakthrough regarding interactions with electronic devices. Augmented reality, the three dimensions and Kinect are other geek device working to be kings of the universe today. What if they all join in a single experiment?