Mironix Dev Blog

My friend Piotrek Czerwiński had an alternative to snippet no.2

2013-10-21T07:32:00.001-07:00

template struct WRITE {
	static void write()
	{
		cout<::write();
		cout< struct WRITE<100> {
   static void write()
	{
	}
};


int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	WRITE<0>::write();
	return 0;
}

This is made by partial template specialization :)

Interesting code snippet no.2

2013-10-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

I was presented with a very interesting problem by someone - print out numbers from 0-100 and from 100-0 not using conditional statements and while loops. This is what i came up with:

#include 

using namespace std;


void endRecurence(unsigned int currVal, unsigned int endVal);
void countUpDown(unsigned int currVal, unsigned int endVal);

static void (*functionArray[2])(unsigned int, unsigned int) = {countUpDown, endRecurence};

void endRecurence(unsigned int currVal, unsigned int endVal)
{

}

void countUpDown(unsigned int currVal, unsigned int endVal)
{
   int isEqual =  static_cast(currVal) / static_cast(endVal);//will round up down.

   cout << currVal << endl;
   // You should check if isEqual is bigger then the dimensions of the array but we don't own if's :)
   ::functionArray[isEqual](currVal + 1, endVal);

   cout << currVal << endl;
}

int main()
{

    countUpDown(0, 100);

    return 0;
}

Basically we abuse two things - function pointers, and rounding up down by division and int conversion principles in c++, you can even do an elimination of + operator :)

Stack Overflow as a source

Addition algorithm in asm

i will provide a snippet for that in a later date :)

The king's spin patch 0.2

2013-10-09T10:18:00.001-07:00

I forgot to post this here:

Interesting code snippet

2013-10-09T10:13:00.002-07:00

void wierdWhile(int count)
{
    int n = (count-1)/8 + 1;

    switch(count %8)
    {
        case 0: do{
        case 1: foo();
        case 2: foo();
        case 3: foo();
        case 4: foo();
        case 5: foo();
        case 6: foo();
        case 7: foo();
        }while(--n > 0);
    }
}

void foo()
{
    printf("Foo here, i'm giving you the bar.\n");
}

Yes. It compiles (ANSI C).
Yes. It works(if my memory is not screwing up).

What does it do? A very simple thing that in embedded coding might be very useful. The jump from while is not such a low cost operation, so to save while rolls this little helper is used. It was presented to me while applying to one company. The recrutation process didn't go as planned since this code blew my mind a bit.

Hope It'll help you in some way!

My current thoughts on 3d vision use

2013-10-05T11:00:00.002-07:00

Here's the teaser of sigraph 2013, fist think in the teaser - 3d model creation from depth map.

Hideo Kojima in his new game Metal Gear Solid V is using 3d vision to get the best data about the materials and for model scanning.

Why do i call it 3d vision? I think the term stereo vision is too small, since when we have more cameras we can achieve more detail :)

It's clear to me that 3d vision brings new quality to the game industry, i need to push my schedule to get in touch again with this technology, 700 series of GTX brings a cheaper TITAN to our houses - that's a huge step for CUDA and OpenCL also the open documentation for linuxes for both NVidia and AMD brings alot of good thoughts. Flash encoders are starting to take advantage in it - mostly Open Broadcaster Software.

Recent developments in matter of affordable 3d vision is extreme! It starts with John Carmack beeing a CTO of the oculus ritf. This technology really emerges the player into the gameplay. But it lacks a manner of augmentation You say? Well there's Haptix - a brand new stereo camera that is designed to be used as a 3d mouse with pressure recognition on any surface with multitouch. With it's high FOV and fps on both eyes - makes a great tool to extend and improve any 3d vision laboratory. For any

But you don't want to count all those dense disparity maps - that is possible - with leap motion you can determine 3d position of fingers above the reader (i know it's not 3d vision but it's extremely cool and speeds up work immensively with gestures, 10 point multitouch and drawing in the air)

If you don't want to count disparity maps, and you want augmented reality search no more. Recently there was a development made that in my honest opinion outgrows google glass by far. It's called Space Glasses Yes it's expensive, Yes there's not alot of Meta.01 models left - but it's the first heads on transparent display - the transparent surface on the glasses is a display - not a 1080p but enoughly good ones( two 960×540) to make work of 3d artists more interesting

, and augmented reality researchers work much more enjoyable.

It comes with a set of quite accurate i must say algorithms it has accurate accelerometers and brings an extremely good stereo camera (23-degree field of view, a 720p camera, a 320×240 infra-red depth camera)

All this 3d goodness was brought to us by Kickstarter - if you don't know what's kickstarter - you will be a happy camper searching for things you thought are impossible to get at a consumer level.

And now from the creators from kinect itself comes probably something that nobody would expect, a 3d scanner that you can mount to your.... IPad.

Structure sensor is in my opinion the project of the year. As of time while i write this article you can get Your own sensor as fast as possible. I still need money to get all those things + some other peripherals. For now leap motion it's on it's way and i'm very happy from that. It will start my 3d investigations once again. I had a good feel that 3d vision will be a huge point of interest in the near future when I've started my little experiments with it. I just cannot wait to get evil scientist fingers on all of this technology and create something outstanding in my slippers and robe, drinking Yerba Mate and listening to Jimmy Hendrix all the way up on the speakers.

Post Ludum Dare

2013-08-27T17:31:00.003-07:00

I want to share with you my ludum dare game, the kings spin:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9938325/WindowsLD.rar

It's not a finished product. More here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/08/27/polishrad-post-ludum-dare-statement-by-mironix/
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/08/27/polishrad-post-dare-gallery/

Ludum Dare #27

2013-08-19T06:55:00.002-07:00

PolishRAD team

no.27

This year I've made a prommise to myself that I'll take a part in Ludum dare. An oportunity arised when I've started looking for coders. Initially it was suppose to be 4 coders 3 3d artists. The 3d artist count stayed unchanged, but the squad changed, unfortunetley there are only 3 coders now.

But to the point. With my frien Michax from animuj.com we've tried to warmup with unity3d - the expirience was very pleasant. The engine is everything you need to experiment with rapid development and write prototypes, unfortunate I don't see it beeing my end engine due to lack of access to low level c++ code.

The warmup concept: Google Document.

The warmup from my side looks like this: http://www.twitch.tv/mironixdevelop/c/2777926

The warmup part from michax looks like this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25801721/wm_preview_hq.mp4

In the end we didn't merged - i had to end my ludum dare at 11:59pm saturday and made a one sitting 25h of coding a 3-rd person controller with colisions, physics, changing animations according to the vector of movement, jumping and running wit free camera and a crosshair. I've didn't manage to do croaching, item drop system and inventory system with item system, The expirience was extremely fun - especially with a bunch of ppl watching on twitch and asking questions. It allows to check Your brain database and makes You feel less stagnated and relaxed.

Not sleeping for 25h last day didn't allow my dear friend to fight the nature of sleeping. We didn't merge on his map in the end - but who knows what will be the theme of ludum dare - maybe magically we'll fit :)

I have a bunch of ideas waiting - but since the number of coders is lower then expected - we need to limit the scope. Maybe next LD? See you at the start!

Super Hexagon image processing gamer plan

2013-02-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

Since this game was finally released on PC and it's a perfect field for real time image processing experiments, due to distinctive patterns and never ending gameplay i will try to do an auto player (certain words are missed due to google positioning system). Initially I want to programacaly go for 10s in hexagonest mode, we will see how that will go.

Targets

1. Feed the game feed to OpenCV

I will use dxtory to get a feed from the game, it will be delayed but while experimenting we will se if it will be a huge issue, since in this mode you have quite alot of time to react programically speaking. If the delay will be too huge i have a capture card that will feed me image with 1 frame lag. capture cards are visible as additional cameras in the system

2. find the center and find it's x,y,z rotations x,y,z differentials

This is the essential step, due to unique pattern in the middle we can track the middle and the offsets, they will affect the entire alforithm, we will try to normalize the image to normal view

3. find the player triangle.

We need to draw an elipse arround the middle, scale it up untill we hit a pixel from the triangle.

4. find the tracks, derermine count of tracks

Here i'm still thinking. I have several ideas that I don't want to share now, I need to see if they will be optimal.

5. track the obstacles on the track

We will track the obstacles, they may be nonrectangular that's why we will use a line scanning algorithm on the track, we will have 6 binary array that will determine if the track is closed, we wil feed that information with position of the player to the neural network.

6. create and learn CUDA neural network or an genetic algorithm that will determine the direction of spin

In this part we have 3 choices - stay, move left, move right we need determine it depending on which path we are, how many dimensions there are, distance to change path and

Also this shows how hard our eyes and brain needs to work to actually play this game :) but this algorithm don't care about color changing due to binarization of images and rotations of the entire map, which our brain must compensate.

That's all for now, i will see you around.

Ludum dare challange of my dear friend

2012-12-18T02:42:00.002-08:00

My friend was in the ludum dare challange, he's project called Alien Cow Kidnapper 2 is located here:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=14308

Please support him if you can!

My target for the next year is to do at least 3 ludum dares. I've tried to get prepared on this years december ludum dare but i have 2 projects on my head (and i'm proud of the way they've developped!) in VoipSwitch, that's why i really need to focus on professional life. My gaming experiments must wait, but i'm patient and i feel the fun that i will bring in the deepest depths of my bones :)

Google fiber and my thoughts

2012-07-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

Why google want's to deliver you better internet and television for a lower price than others? Is it because they are good and they are expanding? I think there's something deeper in that, google is known for it's agility in delivering accurate ads, imagine if they knew everything that you watch on the internet, what types of files you are downloading and what are the contents of those files, in addition they want to track your netflix and tv programms that you watch. You think it's too much to store for google, you are probably wrong, google has almost unlimited storage. They will say you that this data is safe with them and no 3-rd party will get it, it may be true, it may be not. I know that for many people it will be a good service, cheap, from a very powerful provider with almost instant fix for any problem that you encounter. Maybe google will work with police to help prevent crime on their ISP service, maybe hackers will never get the data collected by google, maybe they will never use data collected there, but i think this will be a little punch for the free internet. I know that it's a harsh statement, but i will speak loud about that what i don't like, i won't even guarantee you that i'm 100% correct, those are just my loose thoughts that i wanted to share with you dear readers. The best thing is - i'm writing that on a service delivered by google - blogger is owned by them :) .

Windows is a drug addict: Windows dll injections and hooking directx part 1

2012-04-22T04:10:00.000-07:00

It seems there is a way to create a workaround for memory protection and work in another program's context with your injected dll, i was looking for a DirectX overlay method, there are several methods to do that but for me an dll injection seems the best way to do that.

We just need to create remote thread that will load our dll, we need to keep everything in propper memory spaces (kernel32.dll and user32.dll must be loaded, we must track the DllLoad function true memory location, create memory on the remote process heap and so on) our dll then executes dll main in the other processes memory space, then add a bit of shared memory communications and you have yourself an interactive directx overlay.

For futher reference i redirect you to an exelent book: Windows via C/C++ by Jeffrey M. Richter
The best internet resource i found on DirectX hooking is located here: DirectX dll injection for DirectX overlay

Please be aware that this post uses a commercial library that was free for some time: Microsoft Detours, i don't encourage you to download from any links located on this page. I will update you on my progress with overlays soon.

Let's talk serious: Dynamic Programming - CUDA pt3

2012-01-07T11:25:00.000-08:00

I've finally managed to get some time for learning CUDA. When it comes to a constant tutorial it's hard to find. I'm in a middle of Addisons Wesley's "CUDA by example". I must say it's a really good book, recommended by people that take their chances with CUDA. As it comes CUDA is a simple addition to C language with several rules. Everyrhing comes to a blocks of threads architecture. We can have X by Y blocks and X' by Y' threads. We can simply synchronize each blocks threads by shared arrays and __syncthreads() call. For now I don't have the knowledge and time to describe it more widely but I'm looking very forward to it. I'll try to do it in a form that anybody can review the document. I will concentrate on describing simple dynamic programming problem soled with CUDA. For now I'm going back to my master degree project. I'm trying to create a CUDA dll with a C call usage. Till next time!

Another level in Qt certification - the wierd classes of Qt developer part 4

2011-12-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

It was another success for me and BLStream. Thank you for an opportunity, I'm a little hard working now so that's all for now folks :) I'll try to pass the next level on the beginning of march.

The wierd classes of Qt Developer part3 the advanced c++ stories

2011-10-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

I've been given an opportunity from BLStream to write Qt Advanced c++ certificate exam. So i'm preparing an document that may come in handy for You all. I'll be having that exam at the beginning of december. Like always i will share the result with You even if it's something embaresing. Till then dear readers. I think i will also do the advanced GUI part

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PQfnSbXnhtB90ryvXZUvejX_23dz4IImrSXtcoprxYQ/edit

There's also a new version of ShutterPro on ovi with my gradient effect. Have fun while using it! It gave me tons of laughs while implementing :) .

I'm going on google developer days!

2011-10-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

I've been accepted by organizators of google developer days to join them in berlin at the google technology conference. I will be tracking the android part of the party becouse i plan to develop some android apps. I also will create a presentation from what I've learned and collect the presentations of the lectors . If possible i will share all that i will learn there (if i have proper rights from the lector).

Building Qt for visual studio use

2011-10-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

If You want to use Qt with visual studio You need to rebuild it. I'm warning You that on a i5 on all cores it takes about an hour, but it's worth it because You can debug entire Qt code in a visual c++ manner.

Here's how to do it: http://www.holoborodko.com/pavel/2011/02/01/how-to-compile-qt-4-7-with-visual-studio-2010/

Now I'm doing some initial project work in my masters main algorithm. I will connect CUDA OpenCV and Qt into one solution, it's not that hard as it may look.

Let's talk serious: Dynamic Programming - CUDA pt2

2011-10-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

To proceed with my master project i need to learn some more about dynamic programming, because it's a tree structured aproach we can paraele it as we wish. Dynamic programming problems partition a big problem into smaller problems. The fenomenal tutorial on this toppic can be found here:

http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/classes/dynamic/dynamic.html

also there's many publicly avalible documents on DP approaches to the dense disparity map problems.

one of more interesting:

http://ftp.eafit.edu.co/cadcamcae/documents/09_09_2009_Congote_etal_TV_stereo_depthmap_CUDA.pdf

I will count some disparities with the best window cost for the disparity. I will keep You updated ;) .

As we speak about trees, theres a preatty neet program for finding too large ocupators of Your disc space: WinDirStat ( thank's Peter for sharing :) )

Each rect represents a single file, the color represents the type of file and the rect size is an equivalent of the space occupied by the file. If You mark a folder it will draw a rect arround the set of rects that occupy that folder. It's great to find out what's killing Your hard drive space. It's a pretty complicated algorithm tho. I will dig deeper into it when i have some spare time.

Download at: http://windirstat.info/

Yes! It's free :)

BLStream succeses, mine honor to work here.

2011-08-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

One of the project under the brand of BLStream won an enormous prize (Shutter Pro). I'm involved in that project, but the prize is meant for those who begun it. It's a huge success for BLStream and people that create this project. I have to say: huge congratulations guys! I wish them many luck and I'm grateful for an opportunity to work with them.

http://www.callingallinnovators.com/10M/winners.aspx
http://store.ovi.com/content/109884

Let's talk serious - CUDA pt1

2011-08-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

I've found myself some time to start working with CUDA for this weekend i've set-up my visual studio for work with CUDA and finally used cuda cores on my GPU. It took so long because i was playing games to look up what's new in the industry (mass effect, crysis, batman arkham asylium, amnesia etc etc ale the stuff with cool and unlimited effects :) ) I must say that the unreal engine is amazing.

Back to the topic. There's no tutorial given by nvidia for setup. I had to search the nvidia forum to find out how to setup the cuda toolkit 4.0. Here's a 100% accurate help with setting-up visual studio 2010:

http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2011/05/visual-studio-2010-and-cuda-easier-with-rc2/

Thank You Ade!

I've got a new PC

2011-06-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

From july i can finally learn CUDA and Dense disparity maps algorithms. I'm an owner of a preatty cool PC now (NO! i won't share the details :D ) it enables me to work with OpenCL and CUDA + it compiles on several cores so i can code quicker, new monitor allows me to find bugs more precisley, and let's don't lie i can relax better while playing games after work in BLStream. Till next algorithm!

I've done it! -The wierd classes of Qt Developer part2

2011-06-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

Today i have finally passed the Qt Essentials exam. I cannot share the questions with You but i have an copy of document that have been composed by my co-worker that covers the Qt Essentials material. It's not composed by me so i claim no wrights to the document. It's just for those that want to learn Qt.

Tiny google doc

Thank You BLStream for giving me a chance to take that exam! Thank You to all those that helped me learning!

Create a full book from wikipedia!

2011-06-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

I've found a way to create books from wikipedia pages :). It's a lot easier to learn that way for exams!

step one: enter the book mode

step two: add pages

step three: download as pdf

Have a lot of fun learning that way, it's even less costly to print that way :)

with help of http://pediapress.com/

The wierd classes of Qt Developer part1

2011-05-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

For my work i have to learn Qt, have is a strong word but don't get it wrong. Qt is really neet :). BLStream want's me to be a certified Qt developer, so at 15 of June I'm going to write an exam. I'm very afraid because the requirements list is very long. Heres a lists of them:

The goal is already a part of my wallpaper:

Example certificate

I will publish here a google doc when i decide that it is done with the solved requirements. It's worth 149€ so it's really a big thing in my carrier. Till then!

My Internet Service Provider story

2011-05-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Internet service providers are from a different planet. They're from a world called bureaucracy.

You have feed them with many documents and phone calls. Their favoritebeverage is Your time and money. My story include 3 isp providers.

Telekomunikacja Polska S.A., Dialog S.A. and Netia.

The last one is the best one ever no cable network company but still there's a lot to do.

I've decided that I have to move. With that i had to break up the last internet deal.

It went smooth UPC is the best ISP in Poland so far. All paperwork is painless

and quick. I have never had problems with their services,

and they were the cheapest.

Unfortunately i couldn't stay with their offer because on the street that i was moving

to they had no UPC weiring.

And the battle for cheap internet begun. I saw a Telekomunikacja polska box on

the hallway. I've went to check what's their offer. It was 2x more expensive for me

with 2x less bandwidth.

So i went to the university wifi hotspot, I've found a dialnet global offer. It was still

much more expensive than UPC, but let's face it i had no other choice.

Dialog was supposed to give me some internet on Telekomunikacja Polska's line.

They did it, i could code again :) .

That's when the biuracracy cought me.

After 2 years of using dialnet Netia have bought rights to the line. So i went to

dialog when my internet deal went off. Everything went ok. I've signed the

papers they made some changes in the system. Unfortunately they forgot about

one tiny detail. Dialog didn't inform Telecomunikacja Polska that the line is free.

I've signed a deal with Netia 3 months before ending the deal with Dialog.

Netia assured me that I will be out internet only for several hours.

My internet was back after 3 months of fighting with bureaucracy.

Why?

Because of that little detail. I weren't able to free the line, I've even

cought the number of Dialog's business process for breaking the

deal. It didn't help. Still Dialog thought that he did everything allright.

Telekomunikacja Polska claimed that i still have internet on the line.

They don't communicate with each other! I've begged them to call

eachother. After 2 months of infinite number of calls, signing several

deals with Netia and sending a ton of written requests for the line

I've decided to write an e-mail to the office of consumer protection.

They were investigating for a month and dialog paid me 200 zł.

(after several mails and one letter with my signature and account number..).

So the government did it's job well! Unbelievable but true :) .

Remember to call or write them if You have similar problems.

Why?. Because they don't communicate with Telekomunikacja Polska,

They didn't inform them that the line is free.

The line was set free after a month. Fortunately Netia have tested on me a

new type of technology, line on the fiber designated for that technology was free.

It went with several mistakes from them but they were learning so i don't mind it.

I haven't to pay for their mistakes.

Remember! Always ask what is done while signing, breaking and re-signing deals.

Don't do the same mistake as me. I was too patient :) .

I've got a job!

2011-05-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

I've been hired by BLStream as a younger qt c++ developer! The company is very coder-friendly and i will finally be able to afford a PC that will count my dense disparity maps and artificial horizon. Thank You BLStream for a chance to improve my skills and go after my dreams.