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• Question about mipmaps + anisotropic filtering

  - by Telanor

  I'm a bit confused here and maybe someone can explain this to me. I created a simple test texture for my terrain which is nothing more than a solid green color with a black grid overlayed on top of it. If I look at the terrain in the distance with mipmapping on and linear filtering, the grid lines become blurry fairly quickly and further back the grid is pretty much invisible. With these settings, I don't get any moire patterns at all. If I turn on anisotropic filtering, however, the higher the anisotropic level, the more the terrain looks like it did with without mipmapping. The lines are much crisper nearby but in the distance I start to see terrible moire patterns. My understanding was that mipmapping is supposed to get rid of moire patterns. I've always had anisotropic filtering on in every game I play and I've never noticed any moire patterns as a result, so I don't understand why it's happening in my game. I am using logarithmic depth however, could that be causing any problems? And if it is, how do I resolve it? I've created my sampler state like so (I'm using slimdx): ssa = SamplerState.FromDescription(Engine.Device, new SamplerDescription { AddressU = TextureAddressMode.Clamp, AddressV = TextureAddressMode.Clamp, AddressW = TextureAddressMode.Clamp, Filter = Filter.Anisotropic, MaximumAnisotropy = anisotropicLevel, MinimumLod = 0, MaximumLod = float.MaxValue });

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• Simplest way to use Steam Leaderboards from C# [on hold]

  - by Miau

  We are about to integrate steamworks for leaderboards and achievements into our game. I see there are many open and closed source libraries that can be used to use SteamWorks from C#. Rolling our own wrapper can be done, but if the other libraries are reliable then it would be better to use and perhaps contribute back if we see any obvious gaps. Have you used any and if so what was your experience with the different libraries? Specifically for Leaderboards and achievements The ones I found are: SteamWorks.net Steam4Net Ludosity (can be used outside of Unity apparently)

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• How to I access "Deny" message from a Lidgren client?

  - by TJ Mott

  I'm using the Lidgren v3 network for a UDP client/server networking model. On the server end, I'm initializing a NetServer object with the NetIncomingMessage.ConnectionApproval message type enabled. So the client is able to successfully connect and the first packet it sends is a login packet, containing a username and password supplied by the user. The server is receiving that and doing some black magic to authenticate, and everything works up to that point. If the login fails, the server calling NetIncomingMessage.SenderConnection.Deny("Invalid Login Credentials"). I want to know how to properly receive this deny message on the client. I'm getting the message, it shows up with a message type of NetIncomingMessage.StatusChanged. If I call ReadString on that message, I get a corrupted version of the string I passed to the Deny method on the server. The type of corruption varies, I've seen odd characters in there but in every case it's truncated and is way shorter than the string I entered. Any ideas? The official documentation is sparse on this topic. I could use pointers from anyone who has successfully used the Lidgren library and uses the Accept or Deny methods. Also, if I don't do any authentication and just Approve() the connection every time, stuff actually works just fine and I'm getting reliable two-way UDP traffic. (And lastly, Stack Exchange said I don't have enough reputation to use the "Lidgren" tag....???)

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• Mesh with quads to triangle mesh

  - by scape

  I want to use Blender for making models yet realize some of the polygons are not triangles but contain quads or more (example: cylinder top and bottom). I could export the the mesh as a basic mesh file and import it in to an openGL application and workout rendering the quads as tris, but anything with more than 4 vert indices is beyond me. Is it typical to convert the mesh to a triangle-based mesh inside blender before exporting it? I actually tried this through the quads_convert_to_tris method within a blender py script and the top of the cylinder does not look symmetrical. What is typically done to render a loaded mesh as a tri?

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• Capitalizing on JavaScript's prototypal inheritance

  - by keithjgrant

  JavaScript has a class-free object system in which objects inherit properties directly from other objects. This is really powerful, but it is unfamiliar to classically trained programmers. If you attempt to apply classical design patterns directly to JavaScript, you will be frustrated. But if you learn to work with JavaScript's prototypal nature, your efforts will be rewarded. ... It is Lisp in C's clothing. -Douglas Crockford What does this mean for a game developer working with canvas and HTML5? I've been looking over this question on useful design patterns in gaming, but prototypal inheritance is very different than classical inheritance, and there are surely differences in the best way to apply some of these common patterns. For example, classical inheritance allows us to create a moveableEntity class, and extend that with any classes that move in our game world (player, monster, bullet, etc.). Sure, you can strongarm JavaScript to work that way, but in doing so, you are kind of fighting against its nature. Is there a better approach to this sort of problem when we have prototypal inheritance at our fingertips?

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• Rotate an image in a scaled context

  - by nathan

  Here is my working piece of code to rotate an image toward a point (in my case, the mouse cursor). float dx = newx - ploc.x; float dy = newy - ploc.y; float angle = (float) Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(dy, dx)); Where ploc is the location of the image i'm rotating. And here is the rendering code: g.rotate(loc.x + width / 2, loc.y + height / 2, angle); g.drawImage(frame, loc.x, loc.y); Where loc is the location of the image and "width" and "height" are respectively the width and height of the image. What changes are needed to make it works on a scaled context? e.g make it works with something like g.scale(sx, sy).

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• Platformer Starter Kit - Collision Issues

  - by Cyral

  I'm having trouble with my game that is based off the XNA Platformer starter kit. My game uses smaller tiles (16x16) then the original (32x40) which I'm thinking may be having an effect on collision (Being it needs to be more precise). Standing on the edge of a tile and jumping causes the player to move off the the tile when he lands. And 80% of the time, when the player lands, he goes flying though SOLID tiles in a diagonal fashion. This is very annoying as it is almost impossible to test other features, when spawning and jumping will result in the player landing in another part of the level or falling off the edge completely. The code is as follows: /// <summary> /// Updates the player's velocity and position based on input, gravity, etc. /// </summary> public void ApplyPhysics(GameTime gameTime) { float elapsed = (float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalSeconds; Vector2 previousPosition = Position; // Base velocity is a combination of horizontal movement control and // acceleration downward due to gravity. velocity.X += movement * MoveAcceleration * elapsed; velocity.Y = MathHelper.Clamp(velocity.Y + GravityAcceleration * elapsed, -MaxFallSpeed, MaxFallSpeed); velocity.Y = DoJump(velocity.Y, gameTime); // Apply pseudo-drag horizontally. if (IsOnGround) velocity.X *= GroundDragFactor; else velocity.X *= AirDragFactor; // Prevent the player from running faster than his top speed. velocity.X = MathHelper.Clamp(velocity.X, -MaxMoveSpeed, MaxMoveSpeed); // Apply velocity. Position += velocity * elapsed; Position = new Vector2((float)Math.Round(Position.X), (float)Math.Round(Position.Y)); // If the player is now colliding with the level, separate them. HandleCollisions(); // If the collision stopped us from moving, reset the velocity to zero. if (Position.X == previousPosition.X) velocity.X = 0; if (Position.Y == previousPosition.Y) velocity.Y = 0; } /// <summary> /// Detects and resolves all collisions between the player and his neighboring /// tiles. When a collision is detected, the player is pushed away along one /// axis to prevent overlapping. There is some special logic for the Y axis to /// handle platforms which behave differently depending on direction of movement. /// </summary> private void HandleCollisions() { // Get the player's bounding rectangle and find neighboring tiles. Rectangle bounds = BoundingRectangle; int leftTile = (int)Math.Floor((float)bounds.Left / Tile.Width); int rightTile = (int)Math.Ceiling(((float)bounds.Right / Tile.Width)) - 1; int topTile = (int)Math.Floor((float)bounds.Top / Tile.Height); int bottomTile = (int)Math.Ceiling(((float)bounds.Bottom / Tile.Height)) - 1; // Reset flag to search for ground collision. isOnGround = false; // For each potentially colliding tile, for (int y = topTile; y <= bottomTile; ++y) { for (int x = leftTile; x <= rightTile; ++x) { // If this tile is collidable, ItemCollision collision = Level.GetCollision(x, y); if (collision != ItemCollision.Passable) { // Determine collision depth (with direction) and magnitude. Rectangle tileBounds = Level.GetBounds(x, y); Vector2 depth = RectangleExtensions.GetIntersectionDepth(bounds, tileBounds); if (depth != Vector2.Zero) { float absDepthX = Math.Abs(depth.X); float absDepthY = Math.Abs(depth.Y); // Resolve the collision along the shallow axis. if (absDepthY < absDepthX || collision == ItemCollision.Platform) { // If we crossed the top of a tile, we are on the ground. if (previousBottom <= tileBounds.Top) isOnGround = true; // Ignore platforms, unless we are on the ground. if (collision == ItemCollision.Impassable || IsOnGround) { // Resolve the collision along the Y axis. Position = new Vector2(Position.X, Position.Y + depth.Y); // Perform further collisions with the new bounds. bounds = BoundingRectangle; } } else if (collision == ItemCollision.Impassable) // Ignore platforms. { // Resolve the collision along the X axis. Position = new Vector2(Position.X + depth.X, Position.Y); // Perform further collisions with the new bounds. bounds = BoundingRectangle; } } } } } // Save the new bounds bottom. previousBottom = bounds.Bottom; } It also tends to jitter a little bit sometimes, I'm solved some of this with some fixes I found here on stackexchange, But Ive only seen one other case of the flying though blocks problem. This question seems to have a similar problem in the video, but mine is more crazy. Again this is a very annoying bug! Any help would be greatly appreciated! EDIT: Speed stuff // Constants for controling horizontal movement private const float MoveAcceleration = 13000.0f; private const float MaxMoveSpeed = 1750.0f; private const float GroundDragFactor = 0.48f; private const float AirDragFactor = 0.58f; // Constants for controlling vertical movement private const float MaxJumpTime = 0.35f; private const float JumpLaunchVelocity = -3500.0f; private const float GravityAcceleration = 3400.0f; private const float MaxFallSpeed = 550.0f; private const float JumpControlPower = 0.14f;

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• Z Order in 2D with orthographic projection and texture atlas

  - by Carbon Crystal

  I am working with a 2D game in OpenGL ES and have a question about z-order together with a texture atlas. I am using an orthographic projection because I want pixel-perfect rendering of 2D sprites, however from what I can determine the draw order is really the only thing that will determine which textures (sprites) appear above or below their neighbors. That is, the "z-index" is a function of the order in which the textures are drawn as opposed to the z coordinate on the vertex array being drawn. So.. I have a texture atlas to save binding multiple textures for each draw call but this immediately creates a problem if there is more than one atlas in play. If I need to draw textures from more than one atlas (typically the case if I have too many sprites to fit in a single atlas of a reasonable size), then I can't maintain a "draw order" across atlases unless I want to bind/unbind the atlas textures more than once.. which kinda defeats the purpose. Does anyone have any clues as to what the best approach is here? Currently I'm running under an assumption that I will have to declare different fixed "depths" (e.g foreground, background etc) in my 2D scene and assume that the z-order for sprites at a given depth is the same. Then I can have as many atlases as I need at each depth and simply draw the depths in order (along with their associated atlases) I'd love to hear what other people are doing.

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• How to load with "simplegame" mode after cooking?

  - by Emran Bayati

  i got a problem after i cook my game in Frontend (udk) ! Every thing is ok during the Cook operation i mean i compiled my scripts,it's ok there's no problem in this step,and i cooked my packages it's ok too ! no problem just like last step. so before i package the whole game;i'll lunch it and see if every thing is ok ! but when i load the game it'll load whit the Unreal tournament default game type ! i mean i don't want it to load with this type ! i want it to load with the "simplegame" game type ! i need to say that i set game type to "simplegame" in the Editor from View world Properties Game Type! but still it's loading with Ut game mode when i cook the game ! I just want load my game in "Simplegame" mode after cooked. if any one can help ! plz help ! Tnx Alot Emran Bayati

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• How to draw a global day night curve

  - by Lumis

  I see many applications which have world-clock map, and I would like to make my own to enhance some of my mobile apps. I wonder if anybody has any knowledge where to start, how to draw a curved shadow representing the dawn and the sunset on the globe. See the example: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/imagery/earth/map?year=2012&month=6&day=19&hour=14&minute=47 I think that this curve goes up and down and creates an artic day/night etc Perhaps there is some acceptable approximation formula without a need to load data for each our and each global parallel and meridian...

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• Actually utilizing relational databases for entity systems

  - by Marc Müller

  Recently I was researching several entity systems and obviously I came across T=Machine's fantastic articles on the subject. In Part 5 of the series the author uses a relational schema to explain how an entity system is built and works. Since reading this, I have been wondering whether or not actually using a compact SQL library would be fast enough for real-time usage in video games. Performance seems to be the main issue with a full blown SQL database for management of all entities and components. However, as mentioned in T=Machine's post, basically all access to data inside the SQLDB is done sequentlially by each system over each component. Additionally, using a library like SQLite, one could easily improve performance by storing the entity data exclusively in RAM to increase access speeds. Disregarding possible performance issues, using a SQL database, in my opinion, would allow for a very intuitive implementation of entity systems and bring a long certain other benefits like easy de/serialization of game states and consistency checks like the uniqueness of entity IDs. Edit for clarification: The main question was whether using a SQL database for the actual entity management (not just storing the game state on the disk) in a real-time game would still yield a framerate appropriate for a game or even if someone is aware of projects that demonstrate SQL in a video game.

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• GLSL Shader Texture Performance

  - by Austin

  I currently have a project that renders OpenGL video using a vertex and fragment shader. The shaders work fine as-is, but in trying to add in texturing, I am running into performance issues and can't figure out why. Before adding texturing, my program ran just fine and loaded my CPU between 0%-4%. When adding texturing (specifically textures AND color -- noted by comment below), my CPU is 100% loaded. The only code I have added is the relevant texturing code to the shader, and the "glBindTexture()" calls to the rendering code. Here are my shaders and relevant rending code. Vertex Shader: #version 150 uniform mat4 mvMatrix; uniform mat4 mvpMatrix; uniform mat3 normalMatrix; uniform vec4 lightPosition; uniform float diffuseValue; layout(location = 0) in vec3 vertex; layout(location = 1) in vec3 color; layout(location = 2) in vec3 normal; layout(location = 3) in vec2 texCoord; smooth out VertData { vec3 color; vec3 normal; vec3 toLight; float diffuseValue; vec2 texCoord; } VertOut; void main(void) { gl_Position = mvpMatrix * vec4(vertex, 1.0); VertOut.normal = normalize(normalMatrix * normal); VertOut.toLight = normalize(vec3(mvMatrix * lightPosition - gl_Position)); VertOut.color = color; VertOut.diffuseValue = diffuseValue; VertOut.texCoord = texCoord; } Fragment Shader: #version 150 smooth in VertData { vec3 color; vec3 normal; vec3 toLight; float diffuseValue; vec2 texCoord; } VertIn; uniform sampler2D tex; layout(location = 0) out vec3 colorOut; void main(void) { float diffuseComp = max( dot(normalize(VertIn.normal), normalize(VertIn.toLight)) ), 0.0); vec4 color = texture2D(tex, VertIn.texCoord); colorOut = color.rgb * diffuseComp * VertIn.diffuseValue + color.rgb * (1 - VertIn.diffuseValue); // FOLLOWING LINE CAUSES PERFORMANCE ISSUES colorOut *= VertIn.color; } Relevant Rendering Code: // 3 textures have been successfully pre-loaded, and can be used // texture[0] is a 1x1 white texture to effectively turn off texturing glUseProgram(program); // Draw squares glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture[1]); // Set attributes, uniforms, etc glDrawArrays(GL_QUADS, 0, 6*4); // Draw triangles glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture[0]); // Set attributes, uniforms, etc glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 3*4); // Draw reference planes glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture[0]); // Set attributes, uniforms, etc glDrawArrays(GL_LINES, 0, 4*81*2); // Draw terrain glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture[2]); // Set attributes, uniforms, etc glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 501*501*6); // Release glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0); glUseProgram(0); Any help is greatly appreciated!

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• Retrieving model position after applying modeltransforms in XNA

  - by Glen Dekker

  For this method that the goingBeyond XNA tutorial provides, it would be really convenient if I could retrieve the new position of the model after I apply all the transforms to the mesh. I have edited the method a little for what I need. Does anyone know a way I can do this? public void DrawModel( Camera camera ) { Matrix scaleY = Matrix.CreateScale(new Vector3(1, 2, 1)); Matrix temp = Matrix.CreateScale(100f) * scaleY * rotationMatrix * translationMatrix * Matrix.CreateRotationY(MathHelper.Pi / 6) * translationMatrix2; Matrix[] modelTransforms = new Matrix[model.Bones.Count]; model.CopyAbsoluteBoneTransformsTo(modelTransforms); if (camera.getDistanceFromPlayer(position+position1) > 3000) return; foreach (ModelMesh mesh in model.Meshes) { foreach (BasicEffect effect in mesh.Effects) { effect.EnableDefaultLighting(); effect.World = modelTransforms[mesh.ParentBone.Index] * temp * worldMatrix; effect.View = camera.viewMatrix; effect.Projection = camera.projectionMatrix; } mesh.Draw(); } }

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• How to play many sounds at once in OpenAL

  - by Krom

  Hello, I'm developing an RTS game and I would like to add sounds to it. My choice has landed on OpenAL. I have plenty of units which from time to time make sounds: fSound.Play(sfx_shoot, location). Sounds often repeat, e.g. when squad of archers shoots arrows, but they are not synced with each other. My questions are: What is the common design pattern to play multiple sounds in OpenAL, when some of them are duplicate? What are the hardware limitations on sounds count and tricks to overcome them?

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• Arrive steering behavior

  - by dbostream

  I bought a book called Programming game AI by example and I am trying to implement the arrive steering behavior. The problem I am having is that my objects oscillate around the target position; after oscillating less and less for awhile they finally come to a stop at the target position. Does anyone have any idea why this oscillating behavior occur? Since the examples accompanying the book are written in C++ I had to rewrite the code into C#. Below is the relevant parts of the steering behavior: private enum Deceleration { Fast = 1, Normal = 2, Slow = 3 } public MovingEntity Entity { get; private set; } public Vector2 SteeringForce { get; private set; } public Vector2 Target { get; set; } public Vector2 Calculate() { SteeringForce.Zero(); SteeringForce = SumForces(); SteeringForce.Truncate(Entity.MaxForce); return SteeringForce; } private Vector2 SumForces() { Vector2 force = new Vector2(); if (Activated(BehaviorTypes.Arrive)) { force += Arrive(Target, Deceleration.Slow); if (!AccumulateForce(force)) return SteeringForce; } return SteeringForce; } private Vector2 Arrive(Vector2 target, Deceleration deceleration) { Vector2 toTarget = target - Entity.Position; double distance = toTarget.Length(); if (distance > 0) { //because Deceleration is enumerated as an int, this value is required //to provide fine tweaking of the deceleration.. double decelerationTweaker = 0.3; double speed = distance / ((double)deceleration * decelerationTweaker); speed = Math.Min(speed, Entity.MaxSpeed); Vector2 desiredVelocity = toTarget * speed / distance; return desiredVelocity - Entity.Velocity; } return new Vector2(); } private bool AccumulateForce(Vector2 forceToAdd) { double magnitudeRemaining = Entity.MaxForce - SteeringForce.Length(); if (magnitudeRemaining <= 0) return false; double magnitudeToAdd = forceToAdd.Length(); if (magnitudeToAdd > magnitudeRemaining) magnitudeToAdd = magnitudeRemaining; SteeringForce += Vector2.NormalizeRet(forceToAdd) * magnitudeToAdd; return true; } This is the update method of my objects: public void Update(double deltaTime) { Vector2 steeringForce = Steering.Calculate(); Vector2 acceleration = steeringForce / Mass; Velocity = Velocity + acceleration * deltaTime; Velocity.Truncate(MaxSpeed); Position = Position + Velocity * deltaTime; } If you want to see the problem with your own eyes you can download a minimal example here. Thanks in advance.

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• Html 5 ping pong game side collision problem

  - by Gurjit

  I am making a simple ping pong game where I am facing a side collision problem means when the ball collides with the either side of the paddle . Although I have written code for making it works but something is failing....I want plz someone to give suggestions and tell how to avoid it. Means while trying to hit the ball with side face of the paddle poses a problem.!! Here is the main part of the code causing problem function checkCollision(){ ///// This is collision detection for the upper part ///// if( cy + radius >= paddleTop && cx + radius > paddleLeft && cy + radius >= paddleTop + 5 && cx - radius <= paddleLeft + paddleWidth ) { dy = -dy; ++hits; /// On collision we are increasing the Score playSound(); } else if( cy + radius >= paddleTop && cy + radius <= paddleTop + paddleHeight && cx + radius >= paddleLeft && cy - radius <= paddleLeft - (radius + 1) ) { dx = -dx; } } here is working fiddle for it :- http://jsfiddle.net/gurjitmehta/orzpzf69/

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• Efficient mapping layout in 2D side-scroller, and collisions between character and the world

  - by Jack

  I haven't touched Visual Studio for a couple months now, but I was playing a game from the '90s toady and had an epiphany: I was looking for something what i didn't need, and I wasn't using what I knew correctly. One of those realizations was collision, so let me tell you a bit about my project that I was working on. The project's graphics looks like Mario or Dangerous Dave, etc., you get the idea - old-school pixels. So anyway I remember trying to think of something else than AABB for character form, but I couldn't think of anything. Perhaps I could get a suggestion for this? Another thing is the world - I don't want it to be just linear world, I want mountains, etc.. My idea is to use triangles, and no idea yet what to do if I want just part of the cube, say 3/4 or 2/4 or whatever. Hard-coding such things seems inefficient. P.S. I am not looking at the precision level offered by Box2D. Actually I remember trying to implement it at first, but I failed as my understanding of C++ wasn't advanced enough, as it'll be mentioned below. P.P.S. I am programming in C++, and I haven't done it for a couple months now. I have no means of testing it either, as my PC is broken down, and this one can barely run games from late '90s, not to speak about a compiler or a program with inefficient resource management... I am also not an expert (obviously), I don't even know if I can consider myself an average programmer. In short, I am simply curious about my thoughts and my past experience when programming the game. I may come back to it when my PC is fixed, I'm already filling a note about these things.

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• Skanska Builds Global Workforce Insight with Cloud-Based HCM System

  - by HCM-Oracle

  By David Baum - Originally posted on Profit Peter Bjork grew up building things. He started his work life learning all sorts of trades at his father’s construction company in the northern part of Sweden. So in college, it was natural for him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering—but he broke new ground when he added a master’s degree in finance to his curriculum vitae. Written on a traditional résumé, Bjork’s current title (vice president of information systems strategies) doesn’t reveal the diversity of his experience—that he’s adept with hammer and nails as well as rows and columns. But a big part of his current job is to work with his counterparts in human resources (HR) designing, building, and deploying the systems needed to get a complete view of the skills and potential of Skanska’s 22,000-strong white-collar workforce. And Bjork believes that complete view is essential to Skanska’s success. “Our business is really all about people,” says Bjork, who has worked with Skanska for 16 years. “You can have equipment and financial resources, but to truly succeed in a business like ours you need to have the right people in the right places. That’s what this system is helping us accomplish.” In a global HR environment that suffers from a paradox of high unemployment and a scarcity of skilled labor, managers need to have a complete understanding of workforce capabilities to develop management skills, recruit for open positions, ensure that staff is getting the training they need, and reduce attrition. Skanska’s human capital management (HCM) systems, based on Oracle Talent Management Cloud, play a critical role delivering that understanding. “Skanska’s philosophy of having great people, encouraging their development, and giving them the chance to move across business units has nurtured a culture of collaboration, but managing a diverse workforce spread across the globe is a monumental challenge,” says Annika Lindholm, global human resources system owner in the HR department at Skanska’s headquarters just outside of Stockholm, Sweden. “We depend heavily on Oracle’s cloud technology to support our HCM function.” Construction, Workers For Skanska’s more than 60,000 employees and contractors, managing huge construction projects is an everyday job. Beyond erecting signature buildings, management’s goal is to build a corporate culture where valuable talent can be sought out and developed, bringing in the right mix of people to support and grow the business. “Of all the companies in our space, Skanska is probably one of the strongest ones, with a laser focus on people and people development,” notes Tom Crane, chief HR and communications officer for Skanska in the United States. “Our business looks like equipment and material, but all we really have at the end of the day are people and their intellectual capital. Without them, second only to clients, of course, you really can’t achieve great things in the high-profile environment in which we work.” During the 1990s, Skanska entered an expansive growth phase. A string of successful acquisitions paved the way for the company’s transformation into a global enterprise. “Today the company’s focus is on profitable growth,” continues Crane. “But you can’t really achieve growth unless you are doing a very good job of developing your people and having the right people in the right places and driving a culture of growth.” In the United States alone, Skanska has more than 8,000 employees in four distinct business units: Skanska USA Building, also known as the Construction Manager, builds everything at ground level and above—hospitals, educational facilities, stadiums, airport terminals, and other massive projects. Skanska USA Civil does everything at ground level and below, such as light rail, water treatment facilities, power plants or power industry facilities, highways, and bridges. Skanska Infrastructure Development develops public-private partnerships—projects in which Skanska adds equity and also arranges for outside financing. Skanska Commercial Development acts like a commercial real estate developer, acquiring land and building offices on spec or build-to-suit for its clients. Skanska's international portfolio includes construction of the new Meadowlands Stadium. Getting the various units to operate collaboratatively helps Skanska deliver high value to clients and shareholders. “When we have this collaboration among units, it allows us to enrich each of the business units and, at the same time, develop our future leaders to be more facile in operating across business units—more accepting of a ‘one Skanska’ approach,” explains Crane. Workforce Worldwide But HR needs processes and tools to support managers who face such business dynamics. Oracle Talent Management Cloud is helping Skanska implement world-class recruiting strategies and generate the insights needed to drive quality hiring practices, internal mobility, and a proactive approach to building talent pipelines. With their new cloud system in place, Skanska HR leaders can manage everything from recruiting, compensation, and goal and performance management to employee learning and talent review—all as part of a single, cohesive software-as-a-service (SaaS) environment. Skanska has successfully implemented two modules from Oracle Talent Management Cloud—the recruiting and performance management modules—and is in the process of implementing the learn module. Internally, they call the systems Skanska Recruit, Skanska Talent, and Skanska Learn. The timing is apropos. With high rates of unemployment in recent years, there have been many job candidates on the market. However, talent scarcity continues to frustrate recruiters. Oracle Taleo Recruiting Cloud Service, one of the applications in the Oracle Talent Management cloud portfolio, enables Skanska managers to create more-intelligent recruiting strategies, pulling high-performer profile statistics to create new candidate profiles and using multitiered screening and assessments to ensure that only the best-suited candidate applications make it to the recruiter’s desk. Tools such as applicant tracking, interview management, and requisition management help recruiters and hiring managers streamline the hiring process. Oracle’s cloud-based software system automates and streamlines many other HR processes for Skanska’s multinational organization and delivers insight into the success of recruiting and talent-management efforts. “The Oracle system is definitely helping us to construct global HR processes,” adds Bjork. “It is really important that we have a business model that is decentralized, so we can effectively serve our local markets, and interact with our global ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems as well. We would not be able to do this without a really good, well-integrated HCM system that could support these efforts.” A key piece of this effort is something Skanska has developed internally called the Skanska Leadership Profile. Core competencies, on which all employees are measured, are used in performance reviews to determine weak areas but also to discover talent, such as those who will be promoted or need succession plans. This global profiling system brings consistency to the way HR professionals evaluate and review talent across the company, with a consistent set of ratings and a consistent definition of competencies. All salaried employees in Skanska are tied to a talent management process that gives opportunity for midyear and year-end reviews. Using the performance management module, managers can align individual goals with corporate goals; provide clear visibility into how each employee contributes to the success of the organization; and drive a strategic, end-to-end talent management strategy with a single, integrated system for all talent-related activities. This is critical to a company that is highly focused on ensuring that every employee has a development plan linked to his or her succession potential. “Our approach all along has been to deploy software applications that are seamless to end users,” says Crane. “The beauty of a cloud-based system is that much of the functionality takes place behind the scenes so we can focus on making sure users can access the data when they need it. This model greatly improves their efficiency.” The employee profile not only sets a competency baseline for new employees but is also integrated with Skanska’s other back-office Oracle systems to ensure consistency in the way information is used to support other business functions. “Since we have about a dozen different HR systems that are providing us with information, we built a master database that collects all the information,” explains Lindholm. “That data is sent not only to Oracle Talent Management Cloud, but also to other systems that are dependent on this information.” Collaboration to Scale Skanska is poised to launch a new Oracle module to link employee learning plans to the review process and recruitment assessments. According to Crane, connecting these processes allows Skanska managers to see employees’ progress and produce an updated learning program. For example, as employees take classes, supervisors can consult the Oracle Talent Management Cloud portal to monitor progress and align it to each individual’s training and development plan. “That’s a pretty compelling solution for an organization that wants to manage its talent on a real-time basis and see how the training is working,” Crane says. Rolling out Oracle Talent Management Cloud was a joint effort among HR, IT, and a global group that oversaw the worldwide implementation. Skanska deployed the solution quickly across all markets at once. In the United States, for example, more than 35 offices quickly got up to speed on the new system via webinars for employees and face-to-face training for the HR group. “With any migration, there are moments when you hold your breath, but in this case, we had very few problems getting the system up and running,” says Crane. Lindholm adds, “There has been very little resistance to the system as users recognize its potential. Customizations are easy, and a lasting partnership has developed between Skanska and Oracle when help is needed. They listen to us.” Bjork elaborates on the implementation process from an IT perspective. “Deploying a SaaS system removes a lot of the complexity,” he says. “You can downsize the IT part and focus on the business part, which increases the probability of a successful implementation. If you want to scale the system, you make a quick phone call. That’s all it took recently when we added 4,000 users. We didn’t have to think about resizing the servers or hiring more IT people. Oracle does that for us, and they have provided very good support.” As a result, Skanska has been able to implement a single, cost-effective talent management solution across the organization to support its strategy to recruit and develop a world-class staff. Stakeholders are confident that they are providing the most efficient recruitment system possible for competent personnel at all levels within the company—from skilled workers at construction sites to top management at headquarters. And Skanska can retain skilled employees and ensure that they receive the development opportunities they need to grow and advance.

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• Illumination and Shading for computer graphics class

  - by Sam I Am

  I am preparing for my test tomorrow and this is one of the practice questions. I solved it partially but I am confused with the rest. Here is the problem: Consider a gray world with no ambient and specular lighting ( only diffuse lighting). The screen coordinates of a triangle P1,P2,P3, are P1=(100,100), P2= (300,150), P3 = (200, 200). The gray values at P!,P2,P3 are 1/2, 3/4, and 1/4 respectively. The light is at infinity and its direction and gray color are (1,1,1) and 1.0 respectively. The coefficients of diffused reflection is 1/2. The normals of P1,P2,P3 are N1= (0,0,1), N2 = (1,0,0), and N3 = (0,1,0) respectively. Consider the coordinates of three points P1,P2,P3 to be 0. Do not normalize the normals. I have computed that the illumination at the 3 vertices P1,P2,P3 is (1/4,3/8,1/8). Also I computed that interpolation coefficients of a point P inside the triangle whose coordinates are (220, 160) are given by (1/5,2/5,2/5). Now I have 4 more questions regarding this problem. 1) The illumination at P using Gouraud Shading is: i) 1/2 The answer is 1/2, but I have no idea how to compute it.. 2) The interpolated normal at P is given by i) (2/5, 2/5,1/5) ii) (1/2, 1/4, 1/4) iii) (3/5, 1/5, 1/5) 3) The interpolated color at P is given by: i) 1/2 Again, I know the correct answer but no idea how to solve it 4) The illumination at P using Phong Shading is i) 1/4 ii) 9/40 iii) 1/2

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• How to move Objects smoothly like swimming arround

  - by philipp

  I have a Box2D project that is about to create a view where the user looks from the Sky onto Water. Or perhaps on a bathtub filled with water or something like this. The Object which holds the fluid actually does not matter, what matters is the movement of the bodies, because they should move like drops of grease on a soup, or wood on water, I can even imagine the the fluid is mercurial, extreme heavy and "lazy". How can I manipulate the bodies (every frame or time by time) to make them move like this? I started with randomly manipulation their linear velocity, but I turned out that this not very smooth and looks quite hard. Is it a better idea to check their velocity and apply impulses? Is there any example? Greetings philipp

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• How is this lighting effect done?

  - by Mike

  This is the most beautiful 2d lighting I have ever seen. Does anyone know how he went about doing it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIQRhOFkvQY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnTYXPuecMs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhC_jVM8IYU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Aw5BdjWqqU Or download it here: http://grantkot.com/PollutedPlanet/publish.htm edit: I am not asking how the particles are simulated; I don't care about the physics.

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• Importing a windows project into android using cocos2d-x

  - by Ef Es

  What I am trying to do today is to import a full project to Android, but no tutorials are available for that that I have seen. My approach was to create a new android project, copy all the classes and resources in the folders and calling ./build_native.sh but I get an error because most of the files are not being included in the project. I tried opening the Android.mk and I can see why "LOCAL_SRC_FILES := AppDelegate.cpp \ HelloWorldScene.cpp" are the only files linked. Should I manually modify the make file or can it be automated by some way I don't know? Thank you. UPDATE: I manually added all files and headers to the make file and I get errors linking Box2D or cocosdenshion libraries.

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• Rendering Unity across multiple monitors

  - by N0xus

  At the moment I am trying to get unity to run across 2 monitors. I've done some research and know that this is, strictly, possible. There is a workaround where you basically have to fluff your window size in order to get unity to render across both monitors. What I've done is create a new custom screen resolution that takes in the width of both of my monitors, as seen in the following image, its the 3840 x 1080: How ever, when I go to run my unity game exe that size isn't available. All I get is the following: My custom size should be at the very bottom, but isn't. Is there something I haven't done, or missed, that will get unity to take in my custom screen size when it comes to running my game through its exe? Oddly enough, inside the unity editor, my custom screen size is picked up and I can have it set to that in my game window: Is there something that I have forgotten to do when I build and run the game from the file menu? Has someone ever beaten this issue before?

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• How AlphaBlend Blendstate works in XNA when accumulighting light into a RenderTarget?

  - by cubrman

  I am using a Deferred Rendering engine from Catalin Zima's tutorial: His lighting shader returns the color of the light in the rgb channels and the specular component in the alpha channel. Here is how light gets accumulated: Game.GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(LightRT); Game.GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Transparent); Game.GraphicsDevice.BlendState = BlendState.AlphaBlend; // Continuously draw 3d spheres with lighting pixel shader. ... Game.GraphicsDevice.BlendState = BlendState.Opaque; MSDN states that AlphaBlend field of the BlendState class uses the next formula for alphablending: (source × Blend.SourceAlpha) + (destination × Blend.InvSourceAlpha), where "source" is the color of the pixel returned by the shader and "destination" is the color of the pixel in the rendertarget. My question is why do my colors are accumulated correctly in the Light rendertarget even when the new pixels' alphas equal zero? As a quick sanity check I ran the following code in the light's pixel shader: float specularLight = 0; float4 light4 = attenuation * lightIntensity * float4(diffuseLight.rgb,specularLight); if (light4.a == 0) light4 = 0; return light4; This prevents lighting from getting accumulated and, subsequently, drawn on the screen. But when I do the following: float specularLight = 0; float4 light4 = attenuation * lightIntensity * float4(diffuseLight.rgb,specularLight); return light4; The light is accumulated and drawn exactly where it needs to be. What am I missing? According to the formula above: (source x 0) + (destination x 1) should equal destination, so the "LightRT" rendertarget must not change when I draw light spheres into it! It feels like the GPU is using the Additive blend instead: (source × Blend.One) + (destination × Blend.One)

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• Deserialize inherited classes into the same list in XNA

  - by M0rgenstern

  I am writing a Gui for a game (for what else ...). Therefor I wrote a class GuiElement which has some serializeable fields. From this class I deflect a Class "Button" which has one serializeable field more. Furthermore, I have a Class GuiWindow, which is as well deflected from "GuiElement". An Object of this Class has a Field "HandledElements" of the type "List". To know the layout of the Menues, I use XML-Files, which look like that (for example): <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <XnaContent xmlns:Generic="System.Collections.Generic"> <Asset Type="System.Collections.Generic.List[GUI.GuiWindow]"> <Item> <Position>0 0</Position> <AlternativeImagePath></AlternativeImagePath> <IsActive>true</IsActive> <Name>MainMenu</Name> <HandledElements> <Item> <Position>100 100</Position> <AlternativeImagePath></AlternativeImagePath> <IsActive>true</IsActive> <Name>Optionen</Name> <Caption>Optionen</Caption> </Item> </HandledElements> </Item> <Item> <Position>0 0</Position> <AlternativeImagePath></AlternativeImagePath> <IsActive>false</IsActive> <Name>Options</Name> <HandledElements> </HandledElements> </Item> </Asset> </XnaContent> As you can see, the first window has in its "HandledElements" List an Item with the Field . This is a field which only a Button has. The Problem is now: I can't deserialize this XML file, because GuiElement does not have this Field, it only has the few fields above. I thought it would know automatically which Class to use,but it doesn't. Do I really have to give my windows a list for each child class of GuiElement? Or can I do another workaround?

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