My phone (HTC Touch Pro 2) or something with my service provider (Telus) has had an issue making all incoming text messages appear as though they are coming from the year 2016. It's not a huge groundbreaking deal that stops me from using my phone, but any text messages I send appear to have been sent before my post new years recieved texts, making it hard to sort through and read conversations.
Yeah, she was tested, but she's not going to tell you the results.
Re:Good animators know that motion blur matters
on
Framerates Matter
·
· Score: 1
With accurate motion blur
This is where the problem arises, that motion blurring shouldn't be something the renderer has to account for - motion blurring isn't the physical object bluring itself out, its the way our brain reacts to the fast change in light.
When this is attempted through post rendering processes it can often times look too overdone, I am put off by racing games because they always attempt this blur effect when you go fast, and in my mind I can remember times when I reached 150 Clicks and it didn't blur that badly.
So until we derive an algorithm that -accurately- handles motion blurring, framerate matters.
Well yes, its become an art to program things so that they appear no different than reality, at least to the user, no matter what is actually happening behind the scenes. I personally would prefer it if computers were stong enough to calculate a photon hitting a material, reflecting its non-absorbed light into a "camera" object in game and taking the rendered picture and sending it to the monitor, thus creating a more realistic lighting effect, but we just aren't there yet.
Re:Apparently web servers also matter
on
Framerates Matter
·
· Score: 1
I have a dream of one day hosting a webserver that gets slashdotted.
Just to go through the logs, and see that the referer is some site called slashdot... Just thinking about it gives em shivers.
Which is what the parent was getting at, alot of fighting games go by frames, not by seconds. Sounds ridiculous but it makes for easier programming and its alot less resource intensive.
Agreed. Most players would notice a difference in a few miliseconds of network Latency more than a dozen frames per second, but its undeniable that extra Frames per second give you a distinct advantage.
If I see you and you see me, and you're running at twice my frames per second, You will have a smoother "turn and shoot" motion than me, which means you'll either notice your reticule over my head a slight bit faster than me, or you won't make the mistake of over or under compensating your aim since your motion was that much more sensative/responsive.
You don't understand the games he's talking about.
For something like Street Fighter at EFO, they take extra steps to make sure that the framerate is consistant across all play-times, times when the players are just standing there, and times when players are attempting to break blocks for their Hypercombofinishes.
Like many flash games - there is code that is actually executed ON THE FRAME. It is done as the frame is being rendered. When you get intensive moments that have people putting alot of input, lots of stuff to draw on screen, and whatever else, there is always that chance that latency will show up, slowing the frame-rates, which ultimately changes the rest of play - because now you would usually let go of your block at a precise moment, but because the game is slightly slower, your opponents initial attack is still flinging at you, forcing you to hold your block a bit longer.
Consistancy is what they are getting at. It needs to remain at the same FPS at all times for games where code is executed on rendering.
Essentially people want these effects to be done by their eyes though, not the game. Why can't the game/computer/monitor produce fast enough frame-rates that its my eyes that are creating the blur, not the Post Rendering effects?
Don't get me wrong, I like the realism that these effects give, but some people see them as kind of fake and it draws away from their experience. Perhaps some people's eyes can percieve frame-rates slightly faster than others and thus don't actually see as much blur when moving fast as other people do.
120 Frames* I mean. Sheesh. Not proof reading even though theres a preview button.
Any animator knows...
on
Framerates Matter
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
You can tell the difference between 30 FPS and 60 FPS.
The way I tested this was I made a 2 second video in flash, a circle moving from the left side of the screen to the right side. 60 frames. Run it at 30 FPS.
Then I made a second 2 second video, same exact positions. 12 Frames. Ran it at 60 FPS. Asked me, and all of my surrounding classmates, which was about 24 students IIRC.
100% of us noticed a visible difference in the smoothness. Whether our eyes were making out each individual frame perfectly or blurring some together to create a smoother effect, it was irrelevant since there WAS a noticable difference. I was going to slowly bump the 30 and 60 FPS up higher and higher to see at what point the difference is not distinguishable, but I got lazy (High school student at the time.)
The point I think most gamers would agree on is that more frames per second are nice - but that 30 frames per second are Necessary. You can occaisonally dip down to 24 and be alright (24 is supposedly the speed that most Movie theatres play at) - but when you get around 20 or so its really does take away from the experience.
As a brief aside, it's entirely possible you simply were never exposed to fun math or been exposed to a really influential teacher.
While the entire post is very insightful, and every word as true as 1, this one had a special reflection on me. Honestly, a fun Stats teacher and a silly Linear Algebra in my Polytechnic courses made the difference between snore and cries for more.
Also, learning about Vectors, Matrixes, and their transformations was single handedly the most useful math I've ever learned in my life, in regards to programming. It has endless applications. Like you said, Rendering, Cryptography, I even use it in complex organization schemes and game theory.
should you decide to procreate.
I know thats probably the best way you could have said it, but it still sounds funny, no matter what way you say it.
Now, to what degree Steam / IW are involved in matchmaking I don't know.
Alot. Essentially the game will put the request in to a Steam / IW Router, which will then direct that request to a sort of DNS/Router which will find incoming join requests and incoming host broadcasts and link the two together. Steam rather sends you back a list, based on your criteria.
And this is essentially how its always worked, even in games that never used Steam or an XboxLive Matchmaking system. And for the most part a company could let -these- servers run for years and not even notice.
But then games got bigger and the teams get larger, and before you know it people want 16/32/64 player matches. Well the average user doesn't have the hardware to handle all the network traffic and thus the dedicated servers were born. Now they stick another server in between the matchmaking process so that it goes "You all can join and play on THIS server". This is what happens during Halo 3, as well. But you'll notice they also include the host-your-own-game functionality - and so long as you have the person on you friends or recent played list, then you don't need that linking server.
Essentially, what its boiling down to, is that when a game doesn't allow you to host a server (dedicated or not), you are fully dependant on the company's whims. Which is to make profits, which is not in your best interest.
Maybe this is EAs plan to stop their endless sports cycle and get back to great games. Madden 10 will be the last Madden till it is deemed necessary for an update?
As I understand it, the bnetd developers contacted Blizzard to ask how to verify CD keys, and when Blizzard refused to cooperate
If I asked you for the algorithm to crack your product you probably wouldn't hand it out either, but yes - bnetd wanted to be legit, but Blizzard couldn't allow it for obvious reasons, so bnetd had to go illegit.
Of course they would admit they aren't spying on sea lions. They are in fact spying on Penguins! I saw the Documentaries titled "Madagascar" and I know for a fact that Penguins are very elusive and deceptive creatures. We need to keep an eye on them at all costs, lest we fall into their trap for world domination.
I'm glad they are keeping it undercover as a climate operation. The less we really know, the less the penguins know.
I am not an astrophysicist, but why not? What WOULD be a a "normal" length of time for a galaxy to develop? And on what grounds do you base that reference point?
If the big bang is anything like -I- imagine it, it might only take a single year to form a galaxy
FTFA: "$640 A month for an upper bunk... But with no upfront deposit or extra utility charges, and basic amenities like fresh linens and free use of a communal bath and sauna, the cost is far less than renting an apartment in Tokyo"
That's 600 a month + the cost of food for everything you need to maintain your health till you find another job.
Some people don't have parents to go home to. Others have been kicked out. Believe me, the people -living- there aren't exactly there because they enjoy it.
The problem with IT is that you don't get to sell items, you don't have a profit margin. IT is an expense. They will only ever show up as a negative number on the books.
How, exactly, does an IT Pro prove they are doing an excellent job? No one else understands the concepts behind it.
I could be doing the job of 4 people - but they wouldn't know it. They have trouble even SEEING the difference.
Just 'doing your job' is not justification for a bonus.
Did you work massive amounts of extra hours? Did you come up with something new that saved or made the company lots of money?
Yes I have worked many extra hours. The definition of IT basically IS Extra hours. Server needs a reboot, called in over weekends, long trips out of town to set up the new locations. All these done outside of company paid hours. No over-time. Salary based.
I've also set up a web app to track our IT inventory, when we order new printer toners/inks, new desktops, monitors, keyboards, mice. A nice logging system to keep track of everything we have that comes in and goes out so that we know who got what recently.
None of this stuff is in the job description, that of a "Help Desk" Technician. I get IT requests, I do them. Thats what earns my salary.
Everything else is the stuff thats meant to earn perks - which IT is getting fewer and fewer of.
Slashdot Mirror
Here
My phone (HTC Touch Pro 2) or something with my service provider (Telus) has had an issue making all incoming text messages appear as though they are coming from the year 2016.
It's not a huge groundbreaking deal that stops me from using my phone, but any text messages I send appear to have been sent before my post new years recieved texts, making it hard to sort through and read conversations.
Yeah, she was tested, but she's not going to tell you the results.
With accurate motion blur
This is where the problem arises, that motion blurring shouldn't be something the renderer has to account for - motion blurring isn't the physical object bluring itself out, its the way our brain reacts to the fast change in light.
When this is attempted through post rendering processes it can often times look too overdone, I am put off by racing games because they always attempt this blur effect when you go fast, and in my mind I can remember times when I reached 150 Clicks and it didn't blur that badly.
So until we derive an algorithm that -accurately- handles motion blurring, framerate matters.
Well yes, its become an art to program things so that they appear no different than reality, at least to the user, no matter what is actually happening behind the scenes. I personally would prefer it if computers were stong enough to calculate a photon hitting a material, reflecting its non-absorbed light into a "camera" object in game and taking the rendered picture and sending it to the monitor, thus creating a more realistic lighting effect, but we just aren't there yet.
I have a dream of one day hosting a webserver that gets slashdotted.
Just to go through the logs, and see that the referer is some site called slashdot... Just thinking about it gives em shivers.
Which is what the parent was getting at, alot of fighting games go by frames, not by seconds. Sounds ridiculous but it makes for easier programming and its alot less resource intensive.
Agreed. Most players would notice a difference in a few miliseconds of network Latency more than a dozen frames per second, but its undeniable that extra Frames per second give you a distinct advantage.
If I see you and you see me, and you're running at twice my frames per second, You will have a smoother "turn and shoot" motion than me, which means you'll either notice your reticule over my head a slight bit faster than me, or you won't make the mistake of over or under compensating your aim since your motion was that much more sensative/responsive.
You don't understand the games he's talking about.
For something like Street Fighter at EFO, they take extra steps to make sure that the framerate is consistant across all play-times, times when the players are just standing there, and times when players are attempting to break blocks for their Hypercombofinishes.
Like many flash games - there is code that is actually executed ON THE FRAME. It is done as the frame is being rendered. When you get intensive moments that have people putting alot of input, lots of stuff to draw on screen, and whatever else, there is always that chance that latency will show up, slowing the frame-rates, which ultimately changes the rest of play - because now you would usually let go of your block at a precise moment, but because the game is slightly slower, your opponents initial attack is still flinging at you, forcing you to hold your block a bit longer.
Consistancy is what they are getting at. It needs to remain at the same FPS at all times for games where code is executed on rendering.
Essentially people want these effects to be done by their eyes though, not the game. Why can't the game/computer/monitor produce fast enough frame-rates that its my eyes that are creating the blur, not the Post Rendering effects?
Don't get me wrong, I like the realism that these effects give, but some people see them as kind of fake and it draws away from their experience. Perhaps some people's eyes can percieve frame-rates slightly faster than others and thus don't actually see as much blur when moving fast as other people do.
120 Frames* I mean. Sheesh. Not proof reading even though theres a preview button.
You can tell the difference between 30 FPS and 60 FPS.
The way I tested this was I made a 2 second video in flash, a circle moving from the left side of the screen to the right side. 60 frames. Run it at 30 FPS.
Then I made a second 2 second video, same exact positions. 12 Frames. Ran it at 60 FPS. Asked me, and all of my surrounding classmates, which was about 24 students IIRC.
100% of us noticed a visible difference in the smoothness. Whether our eyes were making out each individual frame perfectly or blurring some together to create a smoother effect, it was irrelevant since there WAS a noticable difference. I was going to slowly bump the 30 and 60 FPS up higher and higher to see at what point the difference is not distinguishable, but I got lazy (High school student at the time.)
The point I think most gamers would agree on is that more frames per second are nice - but that 30 frames per second are Necessary. You can occaisonally dip down to 24 and be alright (24 is supposedly the speed that most Movie theatres play at) - but when you get around 20 or so its really does take away from the experience.
As a brief aside, it's entirely possible you simply were never exposed to fun math or been exposed to a really influential teacher.
While the entire post is very insightful, and every word as true as 1, this one had a special reflection on me. Honestly, a fun Stats teacher and a silly Linear Algebra in my Polytechnic courses made the difference between snore and cries for more.
Also, learning about Vectors, Matrixes, and their transformations was single handedly the most useful math I've ever learned in my life, in regards to programming. It has endless applications. Like you said, Rendering, Cryptography, I even use it in complex organization schemes and game theory.
should you decide to procreate.
I know thats probably the best way you could have said it, but it still sounds funny, no matter what way you say it.
Now, to what degree Steam / IW are involved in matchmaking I don't know.
Alot. Essentially the game will put the request in to a Steam / IW Router, which will then direct that request to a sort of DNS/Router which will find incoming join requests and incoming host broadcasts and link the two together. Steam rather sends you back a list, based on your criteria.
And this is essentially how its always worked, even in games that never used Steam or an XboxLive Matchmaking system. And for the most part a company could let -these- servers run for years and not even notice.
But then games got bigger and the teams get larger, and before you know it people want 16/32/64 player matches. Well the average user doesn't have the hardware to handle all the network traffic and thus the dedicated servers were born. Now they stick another server in between the matchmaking process so that it goes "You all can join and play on THIS server". This is what happens during Halo 3, as well. But you'll notice they also include the host-your-own-game functionality - and so long as you have the person on you friends or recent played list, then you don't need that linking server.
Essentially, what its boiling down to, is that when a game doesn't allow you to host a server (dedicated or not), you are fully dependant on the company's whims. Which is to make profits, which is not in your best interest.
Maybe this is EAs plan to stop their endless sports cycle and get back to great games. Madden 10 will be the last Madden till it is deemed necessary for an update?
Heres hoping?
As I understand it, the bnetd developers contacted Blizzard to ask how to verify CD keys, and when Blizzard refused to cooperate
If I asked you for the algorithm to crack your product you probably wouldn't hand it out either, but yes - bnetd wanted to be legit, but Blizzard couldn't allow it for obvious reasons, so bnetd had to go illegit.
Harvard and MIT announced at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society
Does this mean there is a President of Astrophysics?
There's a loophole:
I skimmed.
Of course they would admit they aren't spying on sea lions. They are in fact spying on Penguins! I saw the Documentaries titled "Madagascar" and I know for a fact that Penguins are very elusive and deceptive creatures. We need to keep an eye on them at all costs, lest we fall into their trap for world domination.
I'm glad they are keeping it undercover as a climate operation. The less we really know, the less the penguins know.
Yes. Which is why Faster Than Light travel is also considered (in some respects) Time Travel.
I am not an astrophysicist, but why not? What WOULD be a a "normal" length of time for a galaxy to develop? And on what grounds do you base that reference point?
If the big bang is anything like -I- imagine it, it might only take a single year to form a galaxy
As long as the neighbours get to enjoy the audio
FTFA: "$640 A month for an upper bunk... But with no upfront deposit or extra utility charges, and basic amenities like fresh linens and free use of a communal bath and sauna, the cost is far less than renting an apartment in Tokyo"
That's 600 a month + the cost of food for everything you need to maintain your health till you find another job.
Some people don't have parents to go home to. Others have been kicked out. Believe me, the people -living- there aren't exactly there because they enjoy it.
The problem with IT is that you don't get to sell items, you don't have a profit margin. IT is an expense. They will only ever show up as a negative number on the books.
How, exactly, does an IT Pro prove they are doing an excellent job? No one else understands the concepts behind it.
I could be doing the job of 4 people - but they wouldn't know it. They have trouble even SEEING the difference.
Just 'doing your job' is not justification for a bonus.
Did you work massive amounts of extra hours? Did you come up with something new that saved or made the company lots of money?
Yes I have worked many extra hours. The definition of IT basically IS Extra hours. Server needs a reboot, called in over weekends, long trips out of town to set up the new locations. All these done outside of company paid hours. No over-time. Salary based.
I've also set up a web app to track our IT inventory, when we order new printer toners/inks, new desktops, monitors, keyboards, mice. A nice logging system to keep track of everything we have that comes in and goes out so that we know who got what recently.
None of this stuff is in the job description, that of a "Help Desk" Technician. I get IT requests, I do them. Thats what earns my salary.
Everything else is the stuff thats meant to earn perks - which IT is getting fewer and fewer of.