tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:04:27 +0000http://www.renanse.com/blog/noreply@blogger.com (Renanse)Blogger168125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-2613740695946227181Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:32:00 +00002008-08-20T22:37:53.390-05:00jMonkeyEngineLifeJust a heads up. I'll be speaking at the Austin GDC this year in the Open Source Track, September 15th. The topic will be regarding the value and effectiveness of some of the major open source 3d engines out there (and of course I'm there to explain the virtues of that certain Java engine we all know and love.) If you are planning to attend the track, or Tuesday evening's party at the Alamo http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/08/agdc-08.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-5583439673542645368Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:40:00 +00002008-08-16T12:56:01.930-05:00LifeworkI'm sure many of you have seen the recent news about NCsoft's Austin layoffs. Unfortunately, that included many of the guys I used to work with as well as others that I had also come to admire and respect. With the even larger layoff from Midway's Austin studio, I'm guessing the current prospects of hunting for a job here in Austin in the game industry are not stellar. Fortunately these are http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/08/good-luck-guys.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-9168457432830299988Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:56:00 +00002008-08-16T12:54:59.674-05:00LifeworkBack in June when I left NCsoft, I started Ardor Labs, a company dedicated to building and supporting projects and companies using 3d Java technology. I've kept things simple and plan to keep it that way in the future, using extra talent as projects demand and so forth. So far, we've managed to contribute to some pretty big projects involving large oil companies, hardware giants and more. (Andhttp://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/08/more-about-ardor-labs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-5756873080430072214Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:43:00 +00002008-08-15T21:09:56.299-05:00jMonkeyEngineLife... when the road disappears... - TMBG As you probably know, I've been developing the open source 3d Java engine, jMonkeyEngine for many years now. It has been a very good experience in most regards, though lots of work (just have a look at the commit logs or my forum message history.) I've worked hard on it because I really have believed in the dream of jME. I've represented it at several http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/08/at-end-of-tour.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-36591336659886144Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:34:00 +00002008-07-26T17:55:05.437-05:00jMonkeyEngineRecently I changed up the way jMonkeyEngine handles embedding in a Canvas. Where previously it was tied hard and fast to an AWT canvas, it is now generic, using registered constructors to allow building other types of canvases. This has been pretty great, allowing us to break up some package dependencies and open things up for new and interesting ways of using jME. Along with that change, I http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/07/swt-support-and-mac-pains.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-5022659341511991368Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:58:00 +00002008-08-16T12:55:40.970-05:00jMonkeyEngineLifeworkIt's been pretty slow on my blog lately, and mostly that's because life has been very busy here. I've started a new corporation called Ardor Labs (site not up yet), which will be mainly focusing on 3d Java technology. I've already got a good amount of work coming in and have started learning new areas of technology in the process; namely, the Eclipse Rich Client Platform and for another projecthttp://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/07/latest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-4244631113046394694Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:56:00 +00002008-08-16T12:55:22.883-05:00LifeOther Java Evidently enough attendees thought we did a good job at our JavaOne '08 tech session to push Rikard and I to Rock Star status. Don't worry, we won't let it go to our heads... Now where did I put my cape?http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/07/like-rock-star.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-503992219822695405Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:05:00 +00002008-06-22T15:32:03.003-05:00jMonkeyEngineLifeworkRecently our small group at NCsoft went through a few changes, spreading us all out to other projects and teams. I think, knowing as much of the back story as I do, that this is a really good thing for the company and even the technology we are working on as well. I believe this will help pollinate many new and interesting game concepts and possibilities, especially in a company so well known http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/06/changes-and-reflections.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-239305412118134812Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:50:00 +00002008-06-09T18:55:56.951-05:00LifeI find it depressing how cyclical life can be. You're up trying your best, enjoying the view... Then you do something stupid and crash back to the earth. It takes time to pick yourself up again, but I suppose eventually you do and you get to face hope again (only to know that the wheel will turn and you'll be back down again later.) Is it fate that turns the wheel? Human nature? Karma? http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/06/life-limps-along-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-6184625955680301492Wed, 21 May 2008 02:17:00 +00002008-05-20T21:20:28.234-05:00jMonkeyEngineGamesOther JavaSaw this post about our tech session on massively.com this morning. I certainly don't recall hinting about anything NCsoft was doing aside from saying I wish I could tell more about what the team I was on was doing, (but then joked that I couldn't for fear of the lawyers.) Ah well!http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/05/article-in-massively.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-5428687154552543867Thu, 15 May 2008 15:25:00 +00002008-05-15T10:35:45.598-05:00jMonkeyEngineGamesworkOther JavaDuring our technical session at JavaOne, Rikard and I showed off two videos and two live demos. You've seen the first video already. The second video was a timelapse demonstration of the kind of tool you can build in Java using the jMonkeyEngine, using the NCsoft world-building tool as an example. We received permission to upload that video to YouTube yesterday, which is exciting because it's http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/05/more-from-javaone.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-1952560051633928407Sat, 10 May 2008 22:57:00 +00002008-05-10T18:09:16.480-05:00jMonkeyEngineLifeOther JavaDuring the rehearsal for Friday's keynote I was fortunate enough to sit at lunch during the break with James Gosling and Chris Melissinos. We all talked entertainment, games, kids, and yes some jMonkeyEngine. It was certainly fun times and a neat peak into the brain of someone I respect a lot. http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/05/lunch-with-james.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-6581365690009863071Sat, 10 May 2008 16:21:00 +00002008-05-10T11:43:23.135-05:00jMonkeyEngineGamesLifeworkOther JavaYeah, it's over now (but I can breath somehow. :) JavaOne 2008 is over and done with and I'm still standing - despite doing a technical session, a BoF (basically an experts panel,) a broadcast interview and getting onstage for the Friday keynote. I definitely have to thank the guys at Sun who helped make all that possible and really enabled jMonkeyEngine to get into the public eye more than http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/05/over-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-2663505099789749822Sun, 04 May 2008 00:34:00 +00002008-05-03T19:39:23.024-05:00jMonkeyEngineLifeOther JavaWell, JavaOne is fast approaching and it looks like I've got a full plate ahead of me. Rikard and I finished off the last of our demonstration pieces for our technical session this morning, so we're pretty much all ready to go. Yet, somehow my stomach and nerves feel like they are being dipped into alternating pots of ice cold and boiling hot water. Why am I speaking again? I'm a programmer, http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/05/nervousness-ensues.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-4970137422718814121Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:16:00 +00002008-04-27T22:18:08.317-05:00jMonkeyEngineFrom the posting I made over at the forums: Here's what has made it in so far: (this list may not be all encompassing.) * The batch classes and SceneElement have been rolled back out. * We now use Enumerations pretty much everywhere in the API, making it a lot easier to figure out what values you have available. I've tried to comment all the tricky ones. We'll of course have more http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/04/jme-20-alpha-source-code-released.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-3095260663933762939Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:56:00 +00002008-04-26T09:10:42.163-05:00jMonkeyEngineGamesLifeworkOther JavaAfter spending the better part of three days total gathering, editing and splicing together footage from about a dozen different jME projects, the video portion of movie for our JavaOne presentation is finally done and just waiting for its soundtrack. The quality of some portions is better than others and I'm guessing Rikard and I should stick to our day jobs as a programmer, because we're no http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/04/movie-locked-and-loaded.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-6041819963181143229Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:24:00 +00002008-04-20T22:49:55.430-05:00jMonkeyEngineSo some of you may remember an old comparison test I did a while back where I ran Java3D, Xith3D and jMonkeyEngine all against the same benchmark fly through of a Quake 3 level and recorded memory and frame rate. No? That's ok, it's been awhile and was already a bit hazy to me too. :) The short version is that jME came out ahead by a good margin. Today however I was pointed over to a thread http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/04/competition-is-good.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-8638807000877053216Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:08:00 +00002008-03-08T09:29:44.888-06:00jMonkeyEngineOther JavaMan, how nice would it be to run jMonkeyEngine apps on your iPhone or iPod? Just Java by itself would be a nice start... something Sun has publicly expressed interest in. Well, as many of you probably know already, Apple announced their iPhone SDK on Thursday. Seeing as how the iPhone has an ARM based CPU that already has Java acceleration support floating around out there, I hoped it would http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/03/jmonkeyengine-iphone-anyone.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-7592442843048678234Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:41:00 +00002008-03-08T09:30:08.282-06:00jMonkeyEngineworkThe other day I rediscovered how much multi-sampling improved your average scene for very little cost**. First the pic - look especially around the edges, or click for a magnified view: Multi-sampling is basically rendering the scene at a higher resolution and then downsampling to your screen resolution. It helps reduce "jaggies" on the edges of polygons which gives your scene a much more http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/03/multisample.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-5476526650305919095Sat, 09 Feb 2008 14:25:00 +00002008-02-09T08:27:02.789-06:00jMonkeyEngineOther JavaSessions are now searchable, see our entry here under session TS-5711. Make sure you add us to your JavaOne schedule. :)http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/02/more-on-javaone.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-7929372689789456230Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:32:00 +00002008-02-09T08:27:18.852-06:00jMonkeyEngineOther JavaSun recently sent an approval notice for the jMonkeyEngine technical session I submitted late last year. Rikard Herlitz (known to many on the forums as "MrCoder") has graciously agreed to join me in presenting that session. Together, we'll be talking about the process of building a game using the engine technology and Java in general. We'll also have some kind of sample game to use as a http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/02/see-you-at-javaone.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-5450958515859655422Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:36:00 +00002008-01-29T10:40:25.030-06:00jMonkeyEngineOther JavaMany of you are no doubt familiar with Sun's "Project Wonderland", the "toolkit for creating collaborative 3D virtual worlds" built on Java 3D technology and Sun's Darkstar server platform. Paul Byrne, of Java3D and Project Looking Glass fame recently announced that Project Wonderland will be making a switch from using Java3D to using jMonkeyEngine. Paul cites the support for features such as http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/01/suns-project-wonderland-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-7087954205573979983Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:21:00 +00002008-01-22T09:24:11.828-06:00GamesLifeGordon Freeman calls into a radio program... really! Hear it for yourself.http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/01/too-funny.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-4041120412345532093Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:07:00 +00002008-01-16T09:39:41.494-06:00jMonkeyEngineGamesAn interesting open source game was announced on the jME forums recently. It looks a lot like the old Prince of Persia games from long ago, which is great because I really loved those. Also included is a nice looking editor which looks like an easy way to make custom levels. You can get more information and download the source here.http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/01/prince-of-blades.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8790183.post-8314880270548709214Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:32:00 +00002008-01-11T10:50:19.768-06:00LifeI was having one of those introspective, self-examining moments the other day when I realized something fundamental about why I love computer programming. It is actually something that's been true since I started programming as an eight year old (over twenty years ago now... wow.) I think it is also a trait that has made me a valuable teammate me to some but irritated or turned off others. I http://www.renanse.com/blog/2008/01/programming-and-joy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Renanse)