Layers of information

So I was setting up this scene, again, in unity3d and having already done it before, I had materials I wished to reuse. However, unity editor is missing some features. Namely "Select Objects by Material" and "Apply Material to all Selected Objects". Well at least it is possible to create a script to do this and reuse the script. Even share it. So for anyone else out there that needs these features, here they are. I suspect this "package" of editor scripts will grow as new missing features are discovered.

read more »

I came across an issue the other day while doodling on a 3D model of a car wheel. The nuts, or bolts if you will, were too small and I found it strange that there was no tool inside LightWave to scale them individually as separate entities as they were inside the same layer (mesh) in Modeler. This would mean I had to manually select each island and scale them one by one. Not a giant task by any means as it was only a few items, but still annoying.

read more »

<rant mode="on">

What is the value of creative efforts, often described as intellectual property? And by value I don't talk about monetary measures alone.

Envision this: You have an idea with a small technical scope and you share it with others. Later on, the exact same idea is presented and implemented as somebody else's new and brilliant idea, just before your own implementation of it is completed... Would you consider this to be ok, as it's just your own fault you didn't implement it fast enough after revealing it?

read more »

We have just upgraded our sitemap from a boring XML only version that was only really useful for search engines to a beautiful new version using SlickMap CSS, that is useful for living, loving people like you and I.

read more »

So the world is back to normal, sleep has been had, and now we are all (those present as well as those not), wondering what happened at #CakeFest 3.

read more »

Earlier this year, Robert Kosara over at Eager Eyes, asked "where are the Visualization Tools?" Increasingly the answer is becoming; right here on the web!
read more »

Helpers. They are really helpful. After Behaviors, they are probably my favourite CakePHP asset to make. As we work with both CakePHP and Unity3d, we expect them to meet a lot. Embedding rich media in an HTML page is not always as easy as it sounds, therefore it's great that people take the time to build such assets as SWFObject and UnityObject. Included below is a Helper that takes advantage of the UnityObject javascript class and easily allows you to embed Unity files in your CakePHP views. read more »

CakeFest 2009 will be held in Berlin, and this year I am attending. In fact I also got accepted to hold a talk, which of course makes me a little nervous, but I am looking forward to it. read more »

One of the unfortunate  aspects of how young and focused on the cutting edge the field of programming is, is that we all too easily forget about the classics and spend all our time on the latest and greatest. Michael Feathers has put together a list of 10 Papers Every Programmer Should Read (At Least Twice), withsome real classic gems on programming.

I'd like to add the paper Compositing Digital Images by T.Porter & T.Duff, that completely revitalized X.Org and graphics on *NIX through XRender (indirectly via Plan 9) and Cairo some 20+ years after it was published, to the list of essential reading.

Back in 2007 I was tasked with evaluating php frameworks and making a recommendation for which framework to become the new standard for building web apps at a previous employer.

The major contenders at the time were: CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Symfony, Zend, and (re-)writing our own in house framework.

Before looking closer at any of the possible solutions, I wrote a set of requirements based on what I thought was most important for a growing company with programmers of very different skill levels and experience.
read more »