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  • Interacting with scene cocos2d

    - by cjroebuck
    I'm attempting to make my first cocos2d (for iphone) multiplayer game and having difficulty understanding how to interact with a scene once it is running. The game is a simple turn-based one and so I have a GameController class which co-ordinates the rounds. I also have a GameScene class which is the actual scene that is displayed during a round of the game. The basic interaction I need is for the GameController to be able to pass messages to the GameScene class.. such as StartRound/StopRound etc. The thing that complicates this is that I am loading the GameScene with a LoadingScene class which simply initialises the scene and replaces the current scene with this one, so there is no reference from GameController to GameScene, so passing messages is quite tricky. Does anyone have any ways to get around this, ideally I would still like to use a Loading class as it smooths out the memory hit when replacing scenes.

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  • Using box2d DrawDebugData with multi layer scene ?

    - by Mr.Gando
    In my Game, a Scene is composed by several layers. Each layer has different camera transformations. This way I can have a layer at z=3 (GUI), z=2 (Monsters), z=1 (scrolling background), and this 3 layers compose my whole Scene. My render loop looks something like: renderLayer() applyTransformations() renderVisibleEntities() renderChildLayers() end If I call DrawDebugData() in the render loop, the whole b2world debug data will be rendered once for each layer in my scene, this generates a mess, because the "debug boxes" get duplicated, some of them get the camera transformations applied and some of them don't, etc. What I would like to do, would be to make DrawDebugData to draw only certain debug boxes. In that way, I could call something like b2world->DrawDebugDataForLayer(int layer_id) and call that on each layer like : renderLayer() applyTransformations() renderVisibleEntities() //Only render my corresponding layer debug data b2world->DrawDebugDataForLayer(layer_id) renderChildLayers() end Is there a way to subclass b2World so I could add this functionality ( specific to my game ) ? If not, what would be the best way to achieve this (Cocos2d uses a similar scene graph approach and box2d, but I'm not sure if debugDraw works in Cocos2d... ) Thanks

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  • Scene or Activity Animation

    - by Siddharth
    My game require an animation when one activity finishes and next started because I have develop game with multiple activity not as multiple scene per game. I have to show animation at the time of activity creation and activity destroy. I have trying to create basic animation that was supported by android. And all that xml file I have to post it into the anim folder but the loading of resource was so much high so any type of animation I provide using android method does not work for me it look weird. If scene class has some functionality for animation that please know me then I try to load different type of animation using scene. I have not create multiple scene because I have no awareness about how to manage multiple scene in andengine though I have a working experience of 8 months in andengine. So this help also provide me a great help. Basically I want to create animation like one activity slide out at the same time the other activity slide in. So at a time user can see the transition of activity. Thanks in advance.

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  • Saving an interface instance into a Bundle

    - by user22241
    All I've have an interface that allows me to switch between different scenes in my Android game. When the home key is pressed, I am saving all of my states (score, sprite positions etc) into a Bundle. When re-launching, I am restoring all my states and all is OK - however, I can't figure out how to save my 'Scene', thus when I return, it always starts at the default screen which is the 'Main Menu'. How would I go about saving my 'Scene' (into a Bundle)? Code import android.view.MotionEvent; public interface Scene{ void render(); void updateLogic(); boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event); } I assume the interface is the relevant piece of code which is why I've posted that snippet. I set my scene like so: ('options' is an object of my Options class which extends MainMenu (Another custom class) which, in turn implements the interface 'Scene') SceneManager.getInstance().setCurrentScene(options); //Current scene is optionscreen

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  • For a 1view/scene to 2view/scene app, what application should I choose in Xcode?

    - by Tony Xu
    The question may be simple to some others, but I have been struggling with this for a while. The app I want would be like this: first scene/view with two big buttons (no toolbar item), click each one to get into two new scenes. So totally three scenes. In Xcode, what application should I choose? And in storyboard how/should I drag/draw? Thanks. Update: thanks for the link, the big-number-user. I actually read that tutorial before I asked. A little update on what I got so far: 1, I selected "single view", so there's view controller 1 (VC1) in the storyboard. 2, dragged a navigation controller (NC), and move the initial view arrow pointing to NC 3, control-drag to link NC and VC1, selected "relationship segue root view controller" when some small dialog popup. IS THIS CORRECT? 4, created two additional VC, VC3 and VC4, control-drag link each to NC. selected "push", IS THIS CORRECT? 5, in VC1, I added two buttons, showVC3 and showVC4. NOW I DON'T KNOW how to add IBAction to button showVC3 and showVC4. I tried to control-drag it to ViewController.m file @interface and @end section, but failed. What should I do next?

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  • Image with FadeIn effect blinks when added to scene

    - by Ef Es
    I am trying to add an image to the scene, but it should just be added to the scene invisible, FadeIn and then be deleted when the effect finishes. My problem is that the images blink once when they are added to the scene, then they do the intended effect. My best guess is that when they are added they show on the scene for a split second before starting the animation. I though of making them invisible for a split second before activating them, but I am not sure how to code it. const bool Sunbeams::add() { const CCSize kSceenSize = CCDirector::sharedDirector()->getWinSize(); const int nRayType = random( m_kRays.size()); const CCPoint kPosition( random( static_cast < int >( kSceenSize.width)), 0.0f); const float fDuration = random( m_fDurationVariance) + m_fDurationMin; CCSprite* pkLightBeam = CCSprite::spriteWithTexture( m_kRays[nRayType]); if ( !pkLightBeam) { msg::debug( "Sunbeams::add", "Failed to create sprite from ray '%d'!\n", m_kRays[nRayType]); return false; } pkLightBeam->setAnchorPoint( CCPointZero); pkLightBeam->setPosition( kPosition); m_kActiveBeams.push_back( pkLightBeam); CCDirector::sharedDirector()->getRunningScene()->addChild( pkLightBeam); CCActionInterval* pkAction = CCFadeIn::actionWithDuration( fDuration); CCActionInterval* pkActionBack = pkAction->reverse(); pkLightBeam->runAction( CCSequence::actions( pkAction, pkActionBack, 0)); return true; }

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  • Central renderer for a given scene

    - by Loggie
    When creating a central rendering system for all game objects in a given scene I am trying to work out the best way to go about passing the scene to the render system to be rendered. If I have a scene managed by an arbitrary structure, i.e., an octree, bsp trees, quad-tree, kd tree, etc. What is the best way to pass this to the render system? The obvious problem is that if simply given the root node of the structure, the render system would require an intrinsic knowledge of the structure in order to traverse the structure. My solution to this is to clip all objects outside the frustum in the scene manager and then create a list of the objects which are left and pass this simple list to the render system, be it an array, a vector, a linked list, etc. (This would be a structure required by the render system as a means to know which objects should be rendered). The list would of course attempt to minimise OpenGL state changes by grouping objects that require the same rendering operations to be performed on them. I have been thinking a lot about this and started searching various terms on here and followed any additional information/links but I have not really found a definitive answer. The case may be that there is no definitive answer but I would appreciate some advice and tips. My question is, is this a reasonable solution to the problem? Are there any improvements that I could make? Are there any caveats I should know about? Side question: Am I right in assuming that octrees, bsp trees, etc are all forms of BVH?

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  • XNA - Obtaining depth from the scene's render target?

    - by user1423893
    I'm currently rendering my scene to a render target so it can be used for rendering methods such as post processing and order independent transparency. rtScene = new RenderTarget2D( GraphicsDevice, GraphicsDevice.PresentationParameters.BackBufferWidth, GraphicsDevice.PresentationParameters.BackBufferHeight, false, SurfaceFormat.Rgba64, DepthFormat.Depth24Stencil8, // Requires a depth format for objects to be drawn correctly (e.g. wireframe model surrounding model) 0, RenderTargetUsage.PreserveContents ); I am required to use RenderTargetUsage.PreserveContents so that the same render target can be rendered to multiple times, once for each of the draw methods below. DrawBackground DrawDeferred DrawForward DrawTransparent The problem is that DrawTransparent requires a copy of the scene's depth as a texture. Is there any way to obtain this from the scene render target above (rtScene)? I can't have more than one render target with RenderTargetUsage.PreserveContents as this causes problems on hardware such as the XBOX 360, so rendering the depth to a separate render target at the same time as I render the scene isn't possible as far as I can tell. Would I be able to get around this problem by "Ping-Ponging" two render targets (using the more compatible RenderTargetUsage.DiscardContents) and using the result for the depth texture?

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  • Render a 3D scene in multiple windows - extended panoramic view

    - by teodron
    Is there any resource location on how to view a 3D scene from an application or a game on multiple windows or monitors? Each window should continue drawing from where the neighbouring one left off (in the end, the result should be a mosaic of the scene). My idea is to use a camera for each window and have a reference position and orientation for a meta-camera object that is used to correctly offset the other camera. Since there are quite some elements to consider (window specs, viewport properties, position-orientation of each render camera), what is the correct way to update the individual cameras considering the position and orientation of the central, meta-camera? I currently cannot make the cameras present the scene contiguously (and I am reluctant in working out the transformations without checking whether this is the actual way of doing things).

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  • File format for animated scene

    - by stephelton
    I've got a custom OpenGL based rendering engine and I'd like to add support for cinema-type scene animation. The artist that is helping me uses primarily 3DSMax. I'd like a file format for exporting and importing this data. I'm also in need of a file format for skeletal animation data, which may have an impact here. I've been looking at MAXScript to manually export this stuff, which would buy me the most flexibility, but I have virtually no experience with 3DSMax itself, so I get a little lost when it comes to terminology. So I'd like to know what file formats exist for animated scene data, and whether they are appropriate for my use (my fear is that they will be way too broad for my fairly simple needs.) The way I view animated scene data is basically a bunch of references to [animated] models with keyframe-based matrices describing their orientation over time. And probably some special camera stuff to handle perspective. I might also want some event type stuff for adding/removing objects. Is this a sane concept?

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  • Java Spotlight Episode 78: Jasper Potts on the JavaFX Scene Builder

    - by Roger Brinkley
    Tweet An interview with Jasper Potts about the new JavaFX Scene Builder. Joining us this week on the Java All Star Developer Panel are Dalibor Topic, Java Free and Open Source Software Ambassador and Arun Gupta, Java EE Guy. Right-click or Control-click to download this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Spotlight Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link:  Java Spotlight Podcast in iTunes. Show Notes News JavaFX Scene Builder Developer Preview available for testing. Java EE Unlock the Java EE 6 Platform using NetBeans 7.1 Tuning GlassFish for Production JSF 2.2 Update from Ed Burns John Rose at Microsoft's Lang.NEXT summit Recording of John's Java 8 presentation Jeroen Frijters' presentation on IKVM.NET Martin Odersky's keynote JVM Language Summit 2012 July 30 – August 1; Oracle Santa Clara (same as last year) CFP coming in a few days JVM Language Summit 2011 Presentations & Recordings Proposed development schedule for JDK 8 Say hello to Mathias Axelsson Events April 11, Cleveland JUG, Cleveland, OH April 12, GreenJUG, Greenville, SC April 17-18, JavaOne Russia, Moscow Russia April 18–20, Devoxx France, Paris, France April 17-20, GIDS, Bangalore April 21, Java Summit, Chennai April 26, Mix-IT, Lyon, France, May 3-4, JavaOne India, Hyderabad, India May 5, Bangalore, Pune, ?? - JUG outreach May 7, OTN Developer Day, Mumbai May 8, OTN Developer Day, Delhi Feature InterviewJasper Potts is the Developer Experience Architect for the Java Client Group at Oracle. Responsible for technical design for everything thats sis on the core platform including Controls, Tools, Samples and Blueprints. Formally a lead engineer on the JavaFX & Swing teams working on the new JavaFX UI Controls and Graphics frameworks. Also responsible for designing, developing and presenting demos during the keynotes at JavaOne and Devoxx. A JavaOne Rockstar presenter having presented many sessions on JavaFX and Swing at many conferences. Prior to Sun he founded Xerto a desktop applications company developing Imagery a Java professional photo management application. In this interview Jasper talks about the recently release JavaFX Scene Builder. Mail Bag What’s Cool Contribute to GlassFish in Five Different Ways Stephen Chin and James Weaver join Oracle Adam Bien - Building Java FX 2 Libraries From Source With Maven 3 Paul Sandoz - Java Boomerang Building Jigsaw on Mac OS X using VirtualBox Mandy Chung: Jigsaw for Mac OS X

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  • JMonkey Engine (JME) load Blender scene with textures?

    - by leigero
    I am having the hardest time trying to accomplish the simplest task. I have created a floor and 4 walls (not that complicated) in Blender. I added a basic material and cloud texture so they have something to look at other than gray. When I import them into JMonkey they show up as solid white objects with no shading or depth. White silhouettes. I thought this may be a lighting issue, but I have ambient light added to the scene. I can remove that light or adjust its intensity and it has no affect on the scene. I exported all Blender files into OgreXML format, then converted them to .j3o format in JMonkey. I renamed the textures to match their corresponding mesh and this didn't do anything. Does anybody know how to create a flat object and put it into JMonkey with a texture? This sounds simple and there is absolutely no information on this. This should be step 1!

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  • Creating an Underwater Scene in Blender- Part 3

    <b>Packt:</b> "From the point we started our scene, we haven't tried any test renders yet to see how our underwater environment looks and I know you're all so eager to try and press that RENDER button (so am I), but let's make sure that we don't waste a second of our time by rendering something that's not worth the button press at all."

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  • Rotate Rigged and Animated Scene?

    - by Nick
    I have a rigged and animated mesh that I need to import into Unity. We several characters that all use the same script, and access their bones to do procedural animations as well. The problem is that the new model I was given is facing the wrong way. Instead of facing forward, the model is facing the right.. Is there any way to rotate the model with it's animations without screwing it up, so that it will import properly in unity facing forward? Because of the way it was done, selecting everything in the scene and just rotating it by 90 degrees ruins some of the animations, so I need a program that can fix this.

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  • Repainting a window with a new scene with winapi (beginner question)

    - by user90760
    I'm following theForger's win32 API tutorial in order to create a GUI for a project. I've successfully made simple, one window applications, but I can't figure out how to repaint an entire window with new information. As an example: I have five buttons corresponding to five colors on the main application window. When a user clicks a color button, the entire window is repainted such that: 1. all five buttons are removed and a new "back" button is replaced, 2. the background is colored the color that was picked. I'm able to change the background color by trapping the button pressed message in my wndproc, but I can't figure out how to change the entire window with a new "scene" (removing the color buttons and adding a back button). This seems like a trivial task, but I can't find a solution in tutorials. Do I need to declare a new windows class with the back button and then have my button trap create a window of this class?

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  • Strange and erratic transformations when using OpenGL VBOs to render scene

    - by janoside
    I have an existing iOS game with fairly simple scenes (all textured quads) and I'm using Apple's "Texture2D" class. I'm trying to convert this class to use VBOs since the vertices of my objects basically never change so I may as well not re-create them for every object every frame. I have the scene rendering using VBOs but the sizes and orientations of all rendered objects are strange and erratic - though locations seem generally correct. I've been toying with this code for a few days now, and I've found something odd: if I re-create all of my VBOs each frame, everything looks correct, even though I'm almost certain my vertices are not changing. Other notes I'm basing my work on this tutorial, and therefore am also using "IBOs" I create my buffers before rendering begins My buffers include vertex and texture data I'm using OpenGL ES 1.1 Fearing some strange effect of the current matrix GL state at the time of buffer creation I've also tried wrapping my buffer-setup code in a "pushMatrix-loadIdentity-popMatrix" block which (as expected) had no effect I'm aware that various articles have been published demonstrating that VBOs may not help performance, but I want to understand this problem and at least have the option to use them. I realize this is a shot in the dark, but has anyone else experienced this type of strange behavior? What might I be doing to result in this behavior? It's rather difficult for me to isolate the problem since I'm working in an existing, moderately complex project, so suggestions about how to approach the problem are also quite welcome.

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  • Need help with a complex 3d scene (using Ogre and bullet)

    - by Matthias
    In my setup there is a box with a hole on one side, and a freely movable "stick" (or bar, tube). This stick can be inserted/moved through the hole into the box. This hole is exactly as wide as the diameter of the stick. In reality, when you would now hold the end of the stick in your hand and move the hand left/right or up/down, the other end of the stick, which is inside the box, would move into the opposite direction of your hand movement (because the stick is affixed at the pivot point where it is entering the box through the hole). (I hope you understand what I mean so far.) Now I need to simulate such a setup in a 3d program. I have already successfully developed an Ogre3d framework for this application, including bullet. But what I don't know is how I can implement in my program what I have described above. This application must include two more features: The scene camera is attached to the end of the stick that is inserted into the box. So when the user would move the mouse (to control "his" end of the stick outside the box), then the camera attached to the stick would move in the opposite direction, as described above. The stick has some length, and the user can push it further into the box, or pull it closer to him again. That means of course that the max. radius on which the end of the stick inside the box can move depends on how far the stick is pushed into the box. Thus, the more the stick is pushed into the box, the larger the max. radius of this end of the stick with the camera will be. I understand this is maybe quite a complex thing, so I don't expect any real source code here. I already have the Ogre and bullet part as said up and running, as well as a camera attached to the stick. This works fine. What I don't know though is how I can simulate the setup described above. Especially the requirement that the stick is affixed at the position of the hole on the box, where it is inserted into the box. Any ideas how I could approach to implement the described setup?

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  • Why when I render a scene with a revolving camera objects that you'd expect to appear behind others

    - by seaworthy
    Hello, I am rendering a scene in which I have two spheres. I am revolving a camera around one of them. What happens is counter-intuitive. When the camera goes around the sphere the other gets in front of it when you'd expect it to be behind. So it appears as though the spheres aren't revolving around each other and the one the should go around is always upfront. Please help. Here is the code that renders the scene: glLoadIdentity(); [self positionCamera]; glutSolidSphere(2, 12,12); glPushMatrix(); glTranslatef(5, 0, 0); glutSolidSphere(0.5, 12,12); glPopMatrix(); glFlush(); This block is part of a class that gets called on using. [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:DEFAULT_ANIMATION_INTERVAL target:self selector:@selector(drawRect) userInfo:nil repeats:YES]; And -(void)positionCamera{} Contains math do camera revolution and gluLookAt()

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  • Good News for Women in Technology - Barbie Has Joined the IT Scene

    - by KKline
    Notice the bluetooth ear piece fashion faux pas? Yes, she's truly a geek. I'm happy to report that Barbie is now a cognizeti, a digerati, ... yes even an IT Professional! This year's new Barbie is Computer Engineer Barbie . Several months back, I encouraged all my friends and followers on Twitter to vote for the IT job for Barbie in Mattel's recent public job selection for the eponymous doll. That encouragement was founded in an experience I'd had years earlier - becoming a dad to a very beautiful...(read more)

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  • Multiple Audio listeners in Scene

    - by Kevin Jensen Petersen
    THIS IS UNITY Im trying to make a FPS game over networking, it works fine. But now, when im trying to implement sound, it won't work. My guess would be, to add a Audio listener to the prefab, that gets instansiated whenever a player connects to the server, however the problem about this is that each player's audiolistener have been switched out which the other player(s), so the AudioSource won't play at the player, but at someone else in the game. Any suggestions ?

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  • How do I draw a scene with 2 nested frames

    - by Guido Granobles
    I have been trying for long time to figure out this: I have loaded a model from a directx file (I am using opengl and Java) the model have a hierarchical system of nested reference frames (there are not bones). There are just 2 frames, one of them is called x3ds_Torso and it has a child frame called x3ds_Arm_01. Each one of them has a mesh. The thing is that I can't draw the arm connected to the body. Sometimes the body is in the center of the screen and the arm is at the top. Sometimes they are both in the center. I know that I have to multiply the matrix transformation of every frame by its parent frame starting from the top to the bottom and after that I have to multiply every vertex of every mesh by its final transformation matrix. So I have this: public void calculeFinalMatrixPosition(Bone boneParent, Bone bone) { System.out.println("-->" + bone.name); if (boneParent != null) { bone.matrixCombined = bone.matrixTransform.multiply(boneParent.matrixCombined); } else { bone.matrixCombined = bone.matrixTransform; } bone.matrixFinal = bone.matrixCombined; for (Bone childBone : bone.boneChilds) { calculeFinalMatrixPosition(bone, childBone); } } Then I have to multiply every vertex of the mesh: public void transformVertex(Bone bone) { for (Iterator<Mesh> iterator = meshes.iterator(); iterator.hasNext();) { Mesh mesh = iterator.next(); if (mesh.boneName.equals(bone.name)) { float[] vertex = new float[4]; double[] newVertex = new double[3]; if (mesh.skinnedVertexBuffer == null) { mesh.skinnedVertexBuffer = new FloatDataBuffer( mesh.numVertices, 3); } mesh.vertexBuffer.buffer.rewind(); while (mesh.vertexBuffer.buffer.hasRemaining()) { vertex[0] = mesh.vertexBuffer.buffer.get(); vertex[1] = mesh.vertexBuffer.buffer.get(); vertex[2] = mesh.vertexBuffer.buffer.get(); vertex[3] = 1; newVertex = bone.matrixFinal.transpose().multiply(vertex); mesh.skinnedVertexBuffer.buffer.put(((float) newVertex[0])); mesh.skinnedVertexBuffer.buffer.put(((float) newVertex[1])); mesh.skinnedVertexBuffer.buffer.put(((float) newVertex[2])); } mesh.vertexBuffer = new FloatDataBuffer( mesh.numVertices, 3); mesh.skinnedVertexBuffer.buffer.rewind(); mesh.vertexBuffer.buffer.put(mesh.skinnedVertexBuffer.buffer); } } for (Bone childBone : bone.boneChilds) { transformVertex(childBone); } } I know this is not the more efficient code but by now I just want to understand exactly how a hierarchical model is organized and how I can draw it on the screen. Thanks in advance for your help.

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  • Matrix multiplication - Scene Graphs

    - by bgarate
    I wrote a MatrixStack class in C# to use in a SceneGraph. So, to get the world matrix for an object I am suposed to use: WorldMatrix = ParentWorld * LocalTransform But, in fact, it only works as expected when I do the other way: WorldMatrix = LocalTransform * ParentWorld Mi code is: public class MatrixStack { Stack<Matrix> stack = new Stack<Matrix>(); Matrix result = Matrix.Identity; public void PushMatrix(Matrix matrix) { stack.Push(matrix); result = matrix * result; } public Matrix PopMatrix() { result = Matrix.Invert(stack.Peek()) * result; return stack.Pop(); } public Matrix Result { get { return result; } } public void Clear() { stack.Clear(); result = Matrix.Identity; } } Why it works this way and not the other? Thanks!

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  • Making entire scene fade to grayscale

    - by Fibericon
    When the player loses all of their lives, I want the entire game screen to go grayscale, but not stop updating immediately. I'd also prefer it fade to grayscale instead of suddenly lose all color. Everything I've found so far is either about taking a screenshot and making it grayscale, or making a specific texture grayscale. Is there a way to change the entire playing field and all objects within to grayscale without iterating through everything?

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  • Crime Scene Investigation: SQL Server

    - by Rodney Landrum
    “The packages are running slower in Prod than they are in Dev” My week began with this simple declaration from one of our lead BI developers, quickly followed by an emailed spreadsheet demonstrating that, over 5 executions, an extensive ETL process was running average 630 seconds faster on Dev than on Prod. The situation needed some scientific investigation to determine why the same code, the same data, the same schema would yield consistently slower results on a more powerful server. Prod had yet to be officially christened with a “Go Live” date so I had the time, and having recently been binge watching CSI: New York, I also had the inclination. An inspection of the two systems, Prod and Dev, revealed the first surprise: although Prod was indeed a “bigger” system, with double the amount of RAM of Dev, the latter actually had twice as many processor cores. On neither system did I see much sign of resources being heavily taxed, while the ETL process was running. Without any real supporting evidence, I jumped to a conclusion that my years of performance tuning should have helped me avoid, and that was that the hardware differences explained the better performance on Dev. We spent time setting up a Test system, similarly scoped to Prod except with 4 times the cores, and ported everything across. The results of our careful benchmarks left us truly bemused; the ETL process on the new server was slower than on both other systems. We burned more time tweaking server configurations, monitoring IO and network latency, several times believing we’d uncovered the smoking gun, until the results of subsequent test runs pitched us back into confusion. Finally, I decided, enough was enough. Hadn’t I learned very early in my DBA career that almost all bottlenecks were caused by code and database design, not hardware? It was time to get back to basics. With over 100 SSIS packages and hundreds of queries, each handling specific tasks such as file loads, bulk inserts, transforms, logging, and so on, the task seemed formidable. And yet, after barely an hour spent with Profiler, Extended Events, and wait statistics DMVs, I had a lead in the shape of a query that joined three tables, containing millions of rows, returned 3279 results, but performed 239K logical reads. As soon as I looked at the execution plans for the query in Dev and Test I saw the culprit, an implicit conversion warning on a join predicate field that was numeric in one table and a varchar(50) in another! I turned this information over to the BI developers who quickly resolved the data type mismatches and found and fixed “several” others as well. After the schema changes the same query with the same databases ran in under 1 second on all systems and reduced the logical reads down to fewer than 300. The analysis also revealed that on Dev, the ETL task was pulling data across a LAN, whereas Prod and Test were connected across slower WAN, in large part explaining why the same process ran slower on the latter two systems. Loading the data locally on Prod delivered a further 20% gain in performance. As we progress through our DBA careers we learn valuable lessons. Sometimes, with a project deadline looming and pressure mounting, we choose to forget them. I was close to giving into the temptation to throw more hardware at the problem. I’m pleased at least that I resisted, though I still kick myself for not looking at the code on day one. It can seem a daunting prospect to return to the fundamentals of the code so close to roll out, but with the right tools, and surprisingly little time, you can collect the evidence that reveals the true problem. It is a lesson I trust I will remember for my next 20 years as a DBA, if I’m ever again tempted to bypass the evidence.

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