On Sat, 18 Dec 2010 21:25:24 -0500, stbenge <myu### [at] hotmailcom>  
wrote:

> On 12/17/2010 3:18 PM, [GDS|Entropy] wrote:
>> On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:36:22 -0500, stbenge <myu### [at] hotmailcom>
>> wrote:
>>> Thanks Ian!
>>
>> No problem. ;)
>> You really produce some very cool stuff, and at quite an impressive  
>> rate.
>
> Well, maybe it's not so impressive considering how much free time I have  
> :/

I wouldn't say that...the fact you are willing to devote so much time to  
the pursuit of art, as well as the effort and many mediums involved in its  
production merely accentuates my point. Think of how much knowledge you  
have acquired in its name. Modesty is a good quality. ;)

>>> I don't know how anyone can find a solution for a poorly defined
>>> problem, let alone a simple and elegant one. Defining a problem is
>>> half the battle. Every time I've been faced with a difficult
>>> challenge, progress was only made when I could see exactly what needed
>>> to be done. Even then I've come up with some very inelegant solutions  
>>> ;)
>>
>> It is a challenge, that is for sure...but then thats half the fun. ;)
>> So many of my contracts have been the programming equivalent of
>> replacing the entire support structure of the empire state building
>> without moving a single paper-clip from the desks of its employees or
>> impacting running business processes.. :(
>
> Wow, you must have a lot of tolerance! I don't know how you do it :S I  
> imagine a big part of that is knowing how to mesh with people in a  
> productive fashion.

I quickly found that it is very important to be able to separate work and  
home life with an infinite gulf. Additionally one must be able to let go  
of how you know a thing *should* be done in favor of fulfilling the  
requirements of the business unit, especially when dealing with legacy  
code. Don't get me wrong, I push when I need to, and make my objections  
known when appropriate, but at the end of the day if you refuse to perform  
a given task for idealogical or philosophical reasons the only thing you  
will have accomplished is self-termination.

There are some contracts which I outright refuse. I have had offers...very  
well paying ones...that were not more than malware authorship positions. I  
will have nothing to do with that, period. I will never take or keep a  
contract where I contribute in any way to something I consider immoral or  
unethical. Money is *not* my god.

>>> What are you working on? If you need any insight, I can try to help,
>>> but I'm only self-taught...
>>
>> I am self taught as well. I started with FractINT at 14, found Mand2POV
>> (which got me into pov-ray), Pov-Ray then accustomed me to C based
>> languages (add in some TRON influence from early childhood here [gfx and
>> programming]), and then surfing for pov stuff got me interested in HTML
>> and JavaScript, which led to C#/VB.NET/ASP/ASP.NET when I needed more
>> power. The same year I earned my first paid programming gig. Now I
>> program for a living, and the rest is history. Thanks Pov Team!
>
> You've definitely progressed faster than I have...

I had an excess of free time. ;D

>> I am getting OT here now, I know, but how did you start?
>
> My recounting was taking too long, so here is the summarized  
> progression: <1984 - today>: Art; <1995 - 2000>: QBasic; <1999 - today>:  
> POV-Ray; <2001 - 2003>: Euphoria (an interpretive language); <2005 -  
> today>: C/C++; <2008 - today>: GLSL. Today: POV-Ray, C/C++; GLSL,  
> Processing, HTML/CSS (rudimentary, but functional). Pretty much anything  
> I can use to make graphics :)

Very cool! It seems we followed a similar motivational path. I paint in  
oils, acrylics and water colors as well...my wife found me in art  
appreciation class in college. :)
I did a mid-term project on Gilles Tran...he was very helpful too. Very  
nice guy, too bad he doesn't come around here anymore. :(

> Recently I've been more interested in complex behavior arising from  
> basic conditions. Fractals, cellular automata, cognitive processes,  
> these are all very interesting to me (and very important).

Ah..yes! These things I love! Have you seen Fractal Explorer? It has a  
very nice formula compiler. You can obtain the source for merely hundreds.  
I have been considering doing so.
I have some c# programs I have written which implement CA in various  
forms. I am working on totalistic cellular automata now. If you would be  
willing to download microsoft visual c# express edition (free) I can send  
you a *lot* of source (I use Ultimate, but the solution/project files  
should work with both). I have been working with diffusion limited  
aggregation, CA, machine vision, GDI+ etc...I think you will like a lot of  
my projects, and I will be happy to send the code to you. Better yet, I  
will post it on my server. Just don't judge me by some of what I will  
post, because it is in many cases the product of less than a few hours of  
work, and is really rough and just recently fleshed out stuff. :p

http://www.gds-entropy.com/CellularAutomata.rar

This is based on "A new kind of science" (Wolfram) and (largely) some code  
by Paul Bourke as well as the interface provided by  
http://kidojo.com/cellauto/
It took me maybe an hour and it isn't quite right yet. I haven't worked on  
it since 11/7/2010. Try selecting "Specify rule" and use rule 126 for a  
Sierpinski gasket sort of automaton.
I wrote this as its capabilities are required by a far larger personal  
project I am working on (a predictive model).

>> If you don't mind, I'll send you an e-mail with some things which may
>> interest you. Let me know if you wish that I do so.
>
> Sure, go ahead, but keep in mind my interests (and abilities) only lie  
> in the graphics realm.

No problem; all of the algorithms I am currently working on have a visual  
representation, and *many* cross-domain applications. :)

>> Otherwise I have a few macros for POV which have been pretty fun so far,
>> and are almost done.
>
> Good work on the icicles/snow setup, not to mention presenting it during  
> the perfect time of year for it ;) I'm always thinking of weird  
> things... what if some stuff (not just air bubbles) got caught up in the  
> icicles? That's all I'm going to say about that :)

Thank you. :) It was a project started last year during my annual winter  
poving. I hope to finish it (or release a usable alpha) this cycle.
I think I get what you are saying with other objects being trapped. The  
way this macro is currently used, one can call it on the whole scene; it  
is not limited to only a single object at a time, and can be called  
recursively with different parameters (allowing a pass of just ice and  
then snow on top of that, with further icicling if it is so desired). So,  
for instance, if you have snow/ice coming from a roof, they will drip and  
blob onto a nearby tree, and its sticks/leaves will be evaluated,  
encapsulated by ice and iced/snowed as well. Perhaps this is close to what  
you mean?

>> Or, if you have some things you might want some help on, I'd be happy to
>> be a part of it.
>
> Well, there is the problem of getting the Menger Sponge to work with  
> KIFS... That's pretty much the only problem I have right now, other than  
> trying to come up with the next best Metroidvania...

I do not know KIFS, but if you send me some code I should be able to wrap  
my head around it fairly quickly.

> Sam

Ian

-- 
Using Opera's revolutionary email client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

Post a reply to this message