Hi everyone!

I find myself with internet access again, although its not mine (laptop bought 2
years ago + neighbor handing out wireless password = sudden loss of exercise).

My hiatus was nice. Took up knitting, crotchet, topiary... just kidding.
Actually, among other things, I started getting into some 3D programming thanks
to: a previously downloaded version of Fragmentarium (guidance); a C++ compiler
& libs; GLSL documentation; POV docs. You know, raytracing via raymarching is
actually a lot easier to achieve than traditional raytracing due to the fact
that to make objects you pretty much just produce shape functions, and to render
you increment a ray variably from the camera until you reach a function's
threshold (as apposed to developing intersection functions for different shapes
and using octree optimizations). There's more to it of course, but the point is
it's simpler (to me anyway). Unfortunately, rendering on the GPU is much more
limited due to video memory. But hey, real-time isosurfaces! Yeah!

Being connected again is nice but ... along with high-speed internet access
comes trouble. Thanks to malware (was it paint.net? that Minecraft clone?) I had
to reset Windows (wiping the HD in the process), so most of the progress I made
on all digital fronts (POV stuff included) is GONE! Because I had been working
on the laptop the whole time without back anything up. I do still have some
earlier versions of the shader programs I was developing (including a promising
heightfield editor), but the loss isn't huge. Everything important is still in
the old noggin.

Not having internet access has been a relief, for the most part. Plus, I found
out something cool. People used to convey information in the oddest way. They
would put marks on processed, pressed wood pulp, and would then bind them
together forming what they called 'books.' These books contained a great deal of
knowledge, but they had no 'like' buttons. Not only that, but to discover
knowledge, people would travel outside their homes, and... OK, I'm getting a bit
carried away with that.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll be around occasionally, and I might even start
posing images again :)

Sam

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