I'm very happy to report that I've found Vista Beta 1 to be so stable and reliable that I'm moving a few projects onto the Vista platform. I'm also thinking of installing it on my Tablet PC over the weekend.

To move work on to Vista, first I had to see if all my work applications worked properly or not. Office 2003 has worked nicely, and so has Corel Graphics Suite 12. Next came VS2005.

Visual Studio 2005 Setup runs in all it's aero-enabled glory.

Somehow, the setup failed when it started to install the only missing prerequisite - MSXML (3 or 6, I can't remember at this moment). I had to go the WCU folder on the DVD and manually run that install. After that, VS2005 installed very quickly - faster than XP - or is that just my imagination? In any case, after the uneventful install, I launched VS2005 and it didn't give a single error or warning. You can see the IDE in the shot below.

The Aero "Express" version Form shown here is the same theme I encountered when installing Longhorn on my VPC. The cool thing (tho maybe it might appear annoying later on) is that the animations run while you're designing the form. The default button's blue tone fades in and out; the progress bar's "filled" are has a shine pass over it (marquee mode makes the bar show up as 100% and the shine keeps passing over it to show somethign is, in fact, happening). The only problem I saw so far in VS2005 on Vista, is that some parts of the UI - mainly the toolstrips - fail to draw, and end up as black blocks. Forcing a redraw (minimize and restore) solves it tho. Dragging / stretching tool windows causes it again. Not much of a problem tho.

I made this quick sample to see how things look. This was a two-fold test. I installed our untested build of NukeBall, the upcoming Rapid User Interface Development tool we are making here at Nukeation Studios, in Visual Studio 2005. I saw that the endless hours of coding paid of. It worked. If you look at the top left corner of the image above, you can see the NukeForms command sitting next to your standard Add Item button. While we don't officially support Vista 1, each and every piece of content in NukeBall does, in fact, work on Vista.

I quickly made this sample below with NukeWads and NukeForms. The lower progressbar is in marquee mode (infinite progress).

I tried over 27 different applications I've made (including some made long ago in VB6) and they all ran nicely on Vista, except for a couple of those VB6 apps that relied on some obsolete code. All in all, I give Vista as many thumbs-ups as can. Very cool. Can't stop saying that. I fear I might scream VISTA in the middle of the nigh- day (I work at night, sleep at day).

Coming up next: Adding Aero to my blog, and more.

Blogging from Windows Vista.

Something is wrong. DasBlog (this blog's engine) just gave me a plain text box to enter HTML code to write this, instead of the rich-text editor. IE 7 looks cool. Installed it on XP too. Love the tabs.

Ok. Am gonna how to find out how to enable the textbox if I want to write larger pieces. I hope its not a IE7 thing. Damn.

More soon.

Update...

Looking at the editor from my XP installation - it IS in fact IE7. Damn. Gonna try to search for a solution, otherwise I will just uninstall it. This is damn annoying.

Now that I have Vista running on dual-boot on the best machine I have, I'll be doing a long series of posts about my experience with Vista.

Being more of a graphics guy, I delved deep into the UI first off - it's hard not to with Vista - it's so slick. It's so slick, that my cursor often slipped.

Contrary to what has been said, the Windows Vista UI - at least in Beta 1 - is not 100% Avalon/Vector based. Parts of the Window Frame certainly seem to be using VisualBrush from Avalon, but the buttons, progress bars, even icons, are all bitmaps. This is expected, since this UI will be replaced (possibly) by a super secret project called "Project M" that most people in Microsoft refuse to speak of. While bitmap handling may very well be done by Avalon, as it is strongly suggested with the smooth scaling, we still have to wait a while before a full Avalon UI comes along. Avalon - even in Beta 1 - is less than half complete. They don't have merge modes which are desperately needed. Avalon doesn't have a visual designer (yet). And so, there still is time.

I think ClearType doesn't blur nicely. Like I said, Avalon still needs a lot of work.

The "AERO" theme is built right on top of the Lune template. If you go to <root>\Windows\resources\themes\ you will see the Aero theme file. The .msstyles file in the subfolder is actually a disguised DLL. I don't know if this violates the EULA, but in theory, if you make a copy of this file and rename it to something.dll, and drag it into Visual Studio or any Resource explorer/extractor, you can see the bitmaps with which windows is built on. But thee theme system is much different from XP. For one thing, it overlays these bitmaps on Windows with Aero - while I don't have solid proof, I feel it when anything is drawn on the screen. Trust me. This is my domain (www.nukeation.net :P). But bad jokes aside, I love the UI - not the eye candy, but the layouts, new widgets, the whole new design paradigm. But more on that in an upcoming post.

UPDATED - August 6 2005: I was actually slightly askew in saying that the Aero theme is built right on top of Luna. While such a thing does exist, it used in the non-dedicated graphics card (or Aero Express) environment. When you have a solid AGP or PCI-E card, it will use Avalon to theme everything - but it will also use parts from the Luna-based theme template. It could also be that it has seperated resources (similar graphics but in different places, or perhaps drawn/rendered in real-time) for AERO. So, I was not wrong in what I said, but I wasn't totally right either.

I tried out some of my .NET 2.0 and .NET 1.1 apps on Vista. They ran perfectly. Non-.NET applications such as Corel PhotoPaint 12 also ran nicely. ACDSee 7 failed miserably. Thankfully, the Add/Remove Programs applet is now much nicer and easier. I intend to install Office 2003 and Visual Studio 2005 on it next.

The first thing that impressed me with Vista (after the UI, of course) is the so obvious speed. I know it's running on a 2gig machine on a 3GHz HT Processor, but still it works faster than my XP installation. It's true I don't have much installed on it (yet). The shutdown is still impressive. 3 seconds flat. Without fail. The startup is just as fast (relative to XP).

I haven't gotten a chance to actually USE the Virtual Folders outside of a small test. I expect them to be quite helpful. The instant search/filter capabilities are GREAT. But the search box in Start Menu is a pure nuisance. I am a super-Power-User. I need my keyboard more than my mouse. I don't CLICK "Run". I hit "START", "R". Now when I do that, I get a bad assed "r" in the search box. Microsoft, REMOVE IT! At least make it OPTIONAL, dammit. This and the extra space after the close button in the titlebar are the two strong negative points I have found in Vista.

More soon in Part 2. I gotta go boot into Vista. And I just realized as I type this - Vista is much easier to type than Longhorn.

At 23:29 on Wednesday night my long running download of Windows Vista Beta 1 (formerly Windows codename "Longhorn") was finally completed.

With a shudder, I tested the ISO image for the possible corrupt data and as I held my breath, I saw the progress bar reach 100% without a single error. There is a God! And he writes managed code!!

I fire up Virtual PC 2004. I start the installation. Very smooth. A bit dull, and took too long even on a 1064MB RAM VPC. The installation takes over an hour but it WORKS. It's installed. It's rebooting. It starts up... in 16 colors.

No problem. Let's install the drivers and VM Additions. There. 32-bit color. Wow. Looks coo- hey, wait a goddamn minute - I thought Aero was TRANSPARENT. Everything on the screen is shiny, but opaque. What the...? I google up some stuff, and find out (should've known) VPC doesn't support direct host hardware utilization. Damn.

I don't have any machine powerful enough that is also available for taking risks. Damn. No. Risking it on my Tablet - which doesn't have a CD or DVD Drive - would be foolish. So, I scour a stand-by PC, and rip out the 72 gig drive (PATA, yuk) and plug it into my main production PC - a big 3GHz HT PC with 2 gigs of RAM, 2 monitors, and a 128MB nVidia GeForce FX series graphics card. Dual boot will be fine. If anything goes wrong, I can just rip out the extra disk and be done with it. But BIOS doesn't detect the damned disk. I check the cables and mess with the jumper settings. Master, slave, primary, secondary. Crap. Okay, so I finally have it running now. I log into Windows XP, and see the 2 new partitions in My Computer. Phew! I run the setup file, enter the long product key, click next, and BOOM - the setup stub crashes. I try again. It crashes. And again. And again. So, I say "<bleep> it". I write the ISO onto a blank DVD. 7 minutes later, the disc is burnt. I say, hey what the heck, let's try it once more from the disc. Setup runs successfully!! It's a Disc-run only thing, I guess.

Setup runs nice and quite (faster than the VPC install, of course) while I watch Cartoon Network at 4:30am. I spent the time between the download's completion and now to mess with drives, old PCs, new PCs, and Virtual PC! 39 minutes later, it's installed. I gingerly touch the mouse as the setup finishes up. A new window pops up...

... I stop squinting long enough to peek out of the corner of my eye and - OH NO, OH MY GOD...

it's TRANSLUCENT.  Longhorn's Aero UI in all it's glory. Blurring the background and casting a drop shadow. I had a little tear in my eye.

Unable to contain the joy, but wary not to cause any damage to the beta installation, I start popping open folders and being amazed by all the eye candy. To quote Michele Leroux Bustamante, "No, please, make it stop, don't make me go back, I don't want to go back...I'll never go back...ok, fine, I'll go back...for now...but I won't like it..." All I could think of was what will I do now? How will I take these eyes back to that old, dry, and boring Legacy OS? XP themes aren't that nice anymore.

Pushing that damning thought to the lower recesses of my so-called mind, I plow on. It's SO cool. The graphics, of course, are. But I'm talking about the organization features. The MUCH needed improvements.

You're probably asking where are the screenshots? well, you will have to wait. I haven't installed Corel Capture on Longhorn, and Paint+PrntScrn is too tiresome. I'll post more tomorro-- uh later today - I see the sun coming out.

Once I was satisfied to experience the glorious interface and the features, I accessed the other hard disk, opened my Visual Studio projects folder, and started running various WinApps built in VS2005/.NET 2.0 - they ran nicely. So did all the 1.1 apps. I tried to hotwire some of them instead of installing them - .NET ROCKS (and that's a show too) - it all worked.

Two negative points which I will elaborate on in my detailed post later, are:

The CLOSE buton on the top-right corner has to be the ALIGNED to the FAR RIGHT - no extra pixels. I have a habit of slamming the cursor into the corner and blindly clicking to close a window. That doesn't work in Vista, as there is some extra space after the red button.

The second point is that the new Common Dialogs (Open/Save) have a new sidebar with common places and common searches for easy navigation. The feature is quite cool, but the layout is all cramped. In some places in Vista, I do feel claustrophobic.

Alright, that ends my experience in Vista-land for the moment. More this evening - with screenshots.

...things that I know, nobody told me...things that I saw - they still controoool mee...

As I listen to The Strangest Thing by George Michael at the maximum volume possible with these headphones, I see the File Transfer Manager's progress bar hit 86% - 336.8MB and dropping at a rate of 10.4KB/sec. After a horrible power failure due to my power supply unit being burnt to a toasty crispy black piece of junk, I fear completing this download only to find out that the file was corrupted midway at around 660MB.

Internet, power, and human failures notwithstanding, I've spent over 75 hours as of now to download Vista Beta 1. If this download is corrupted... I shudder to think of what might happen.

We'll find out the truth in 8 hours and 57 minutes. May the Force be with me.

So I waited a few years, and then some months, and then many days, until Microsoft released Windows Vista Beta 1. So, it's a 2.42GB ISO. I have to start downloading it now (because it will be sent to MSDN Subscibers in DVD form in SEPTEMBER!). So I have to download something that I will get for free (well, not free free).

So what's the problem? The problem is that I'm downloading on a freakin' 115kbps connection via my cell phone which serves as a modem - the fastest connection available in this town-sized replica of tattooine. I started downloading on the 27th, and it this very moment, I still have 1066.5MB left to download at 10.1kbps (which is around ~30 hours worth of downloading).

The only stuff I know about Vista is the couple of videos I've seen on Channel9 and at Paul Thurrott's site, plus the stuff I read at http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

I just hope I can see everything first hand and in proper performance on my 2GIG VPC.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Still waiting... sigh.

UPDATED: 4 hours later

Current status - 969.7MB ~29 hours

While waiting for Longho- er, Vista to download, I...

• read 3 Star Wars novels
• found out that your thumb is more sensitive that your index finger as it is used less often and the nerves are more sensitive as a result
• have over 183 'lines' in my thumbprint
• saw something resembling Joe Pesci near the center of my thumbprint
• found out that eating realy spicy food before going to bed gives you horrible dreams about your 2GB download file being corruped
• made over 17 backups of the temporary download file for Vista, including one "fallback milestone" at 660MB when a power failure occured and my UPS died with it
• started preparing for NukeBall's CD production, booklet printing, manual design, and other such stuff
• updated the frontpage of Nukeation
• re-read the "Q Continuum" trilogy
• am closing in on the secret of life and the universe - I think I might completely solve that mystery when I download Beta 2
• photographed and studied a lizard hanging out outside my window (I'm the only one at 3am who has light on, so the entire state's insects visit me at night)
• discovered 78 ways to kill mosquitos
• started working on my article 'The Human UI'
• listened to Burning Man in a loop for 3 hours
• finished (from start to finish) Republic Commando over 4 times
• finished WORK
• the list is building...

NukeBall - The ultimate RUID Tool

REPUBLIC COMMANDO

Zero Hour - Clone Wars - Geonosis

I order Four-Oh to point and send him to recon the forward area. Clone Advisor 01's voice pipes into my helmet: "Delta, now that you've destroyed the gun placement, we are making a supply drop near your position. This includes an anti-armor attachment for your DC-17."

Scorch lets out a whoop of joy. "Yes! More explosives! Delta Advisor, you just made my day!"

Time to get inside the Seperatist Core Ship. "Alright, Delta's move out." "Aye, sir." Fixer takes point as Sev follows behind with sniper cover. Scorch keeps looking for the anti-armor drop, and I bring up the rear.

"LOOK OUT! BUGS!" A swarm of Geonosians drop from a hidden cave from the mesa behind us. The deep orange sun blinds my vision as I take aim and punch plasma into the onslaught of bugs.

Scorch lobs a grenade into the midst, sending sticky yellow bug juice everywhere.

"Alright, there may be more of them. Let's move out."

"Look, boss, there's the Core Ship." says Delta Four-Oh, looking at the gigantic spherical ship as big as a small mountain.

"You sure, Forty? Maybe there's another one around the corner." quips Scorch.

"Keep this comm clear. Let's go."

We move out, strangling Geos and electrocuting droids. From the corner of my visor I can see Four Oh happily plunging his Katarn Armor Vibro-blade into a Geo's heart - or whatever they have that passes for it.

"Aaaarggh" Someone screams.

SCORCH! Swarming Geonosians are sticking their pikes into Six-Two's armor. His vitals look bad on my HUD. "Sev, sniper cover! NOW!" "Snipe position, ready, boss." Under Oh-Seven's steady stream of plasma covered metallic bolt cover, I crawl my way over to assist Six-Two. I plung into my backpack for the Bacta-Utility. I plug it into Scorch's implant and pump him with bacta. An electric wake up call, and he slowly gets up.

"Thanks, Boss. Six-Two, ready for action."

"Alright, let's move in."

"Oh-Seven: ammo spent."

"Four-Oh covering vector."

We hike through the broken mesas and wreckages of fighter craft - Geonosian and Republic. I see a dead trooper, half burried under a laser cannon mount. What a waste of good genes. Not too far, we see the supply drop being released. But a Clone Commando's life isn't that easy.

Delta-40 opens comm: "Boss, we have SBDs converging on our waypoint." Super Battle Droids. Just what we need with almost no ammo.

"Delta, take sniper position there." "Aye, sir."

"Four Oh, see if that turret is operational." I say pointing to a half broken turret placed by the now dead clone troopers. "Roger."

"Scorch, cover me - I'm going in for the supplies." "You got it, Delta Lead."

With plenty of cover fire - though it would not remain for long - I sprint for the supply drop. Scorch throws in an Electro-static grenade, temporarily inhibiting the large battle droids, but sucking some juice from my personal shields as well. I jump for the attachment. There. I made it. I slap on the anti-armor attachment on the DC-17 and fire off the first roung, taking out all three of the Super Battle Droids.

"WOOOHOO" "Quite. Delta Advisor, we are at the entrance to the Core Ship with moderate resistance, but the entrance is shielded."

Seven yells from his sniping position way behind, "Stupid droids! Let us through!"

"Delta Squad," the Advisor joins in, "make your way West. I'm updating the Objective Tracker. You will be able to go through the aft loading bay. Once you reach the entrance to the loading bay, I'll give you further instructions. Delta Advisor out."

"Boss, we need to demo this rockslide to get through... and I'm not just saying that coz I love to blow things up."

Scorch's pod brother, Seven, replies, "Yes you are."

"Alright, Delta, give me an explosive solution."

Scorch plants a demolition charge as Sev finds a new position to snipe from. Fixer covers Scorch's back, as I ready the AntiArmor for the next onslaught of droids.

"Demo is ready when you are, Three-Eight."

"Stand back, Deltas." BOOM! The rocks turn into dust as a barrage of laser fire cuts through the cloud of smoke and dust.

"SBDs!"

"Delta, sniper - there. You, cover him. Four-Oh, sniper position - there." I cover them with the anti-armor rounds as they take position. A Super Battle Droid takes the chance of grabbing Fixer when my anti-armor rounds are depleted.

Oh for crying out loud - I can't let his crush my brother. I let go of my weapon, stick out the vibroblade from under my gauntlet sheath and ram it into the droid's posterior shell, ripping wires, circuits and - at last - hydraulic command units! The droid goes down as Four-Oh looks for a bacta dispenser. Command had made a drop of hundreds of them across the battle fields on Geonosis as the battle began.

Suddenly, Seven yells "Look out!"

Scorch: "What is that thing?"

Clone Advisor joins the comm: "Delta Squad, pay attention. This is a dwarf spider droid. One of the nastiest anti-infantry units the Trade Federation has. It's armor is rated for starship hulls. The only weak spot is the red control orb on it's abdomen. If you can destroy it you can disable the droid."

Scorch: "So, hit the big red ball on the spider. Right."

But the Spider Droid, as large as a drop ship, hunkers on towards us - and fires. A large plasma round takes both Seven and Fixer down. And then it "sits", closing down the gap between it's hull that exposes the control orb with it's frontal leg plates.

Damn.

"Scorch, take up anti-armor position there. It's up to you and me now..." and I run towards the Spider Droid, DC-17 all charged up... Kote!

So (Oh my God, I'm starting to talk like a Microsoftie!) as you may know, I'm a fan of sci-fi and sci-fantasy. Star Wars rates at #1, and Star Trek somewhere below it.

After reading almost a hundred Star Wars books, I picked up a couple of old Star Trek TNG paperbacks from the local bookstore. And while I do love 'em both, I think Star Wars is certainly more imaginative. Here's an example:

If there was an analogy to be made, in Star Wars the author would write, "The plant resembled an overgrown kowakian monkey-lizard."

In Star Trek (I'm reading ALL GOOD THINGS, at the moment), Worf is thinking, "The eskimos of 20th century North America had 16 words for ice, and Klingon only have 1 word for Honor."

WHY EARTH? WHY ALWAYS EARTH? AND WHY ALWAYS 20th FREAKIN' CENTURY EARTH? At least you can add another similarity to some fictional planet.

Looking back, Star Trek - the original series and the next generation (tho I think ENTERPRISE is better in this regard) seems more like a history trek than a futuristic trek. I love Picard. He's a fantastic, eloquent, elegant character. But his deep, deep nostalgia for 20th century crap is just too much.

Trekkies? Where art thy imagination?

I'm not sure whether it's good or bad. Windows Vista. Microsoft Windows Vista, formerly Windows codename "Longhorn". I expected 2006. I expected XXP. I even humored the notion of Microsofticus Windowsicus VII. But VISTA?

Okay, I'm calm now. Well, calmER.

Okay - VISTA.

Vista.

Vista. Hmmm.

Doesn't sound too bad.

Vista.

Vista.

Okay, now I'm feeling like I'm stoned.

Anyways, so MS told Paul Thurrott it's about "clarity". Longho- I mean VISTA will give you focus on what matters and what YOU want to do.

I don't have anything else to say at the moment. I need to let this sink in a bit first.

...

...

...

...

...

...

VISTA?! THAT'S A $*&#!*% MOUTHFUL!

AFTER 24 HOURS...

Okay, so now it's sinking in. Guess it's not that bad. It's quite good actually. And I also guess it's good they have a non-technical name that non-techs can get attached to.

But the best part is - it's not named after a cat. No, I don't anything against cats, but you know what they say "An Apple® a day, makes you delusional, stupid, technologically inferior, intellectually posterior, and a freakin' MAC LOVER!" You got that, Mac.

Microsoft rocks! VB Rocks. .NET ROCKS! (And that's a show too - in fact, vote for it at www.podcastawards.com) and EVERYTHING MANAGED ROCKS!

ROCK ON, REDMOND!

YEEEXTRA, yeextra. Read all about it. NukeBoy makes breakthrough in his super-secret-world-take-over-software-application!

Finally, this puny little planet will be all mine - ALL ... MINE!!! Mmmmuuuuhahahahahaha.

 

Sorry about this weird post. I'm just very happy that the long standing problem (resolved in 3 lines of VB code, as usual), the upcoming, (hopefully) world changing (no world domination - scout's honor) add-in for Visual Studio 2005 (C#, VB, J#) is now finally on it's way. Of course, we won't be able to ship a full working version (except for the free Express Edition) until the actual RTM of VS2005 in November.

For now, the only thing I can tell you is that it's a RUID (Rapid User Interface Development) tool for Windows Forms application (C#, VB, J#) that is PURE .NET (zero redistributable assemblies, btw), it has some seriously cool features, an express edition (totally free) for personal or commercial usage, a massive visual library (600 or so at last count), and is titled NukeBall. Just wait till you see what the team has packed into this tiny little app that just might change the way you work!!

Hey Dudes! The word is out - they are making a full CGI Ninja Turtles movie!! Althought its supposed to be released in 2007, I don't mind waiting at all.

Turtles (the Ninja and normal kind) have been a fave since I was a kid. Ah, I remember seeing the first movie. Boy was that great! And then the second which was really cool (as far as sequels go). "Go ninja, go ninja, go!" Heh. That brings back memories. Vanilla Ice did bring down the mood a bit.

The official MOVIE site is up but gives very little info. The official TMNT site is the place to go for the time being.

I can't for the new generation to (re)discover words like "shell-shocked". Oh man, I'm so pumped I'm thinking of taking out my dusty old NES and those TMNT catridges.

It has been ages since I wrote my last article. I've written some stuff now and then, but not a whole article - let alone a series. Previously, I had said that I would write a series of 101 articles on Avalon. Well, there are many changes in Avalon in Beta 1 and many more to come in subsequent releases. The biggest will be the addition of a visual designer to the IDE.

So, I have decided to create an open ended series of articles that revolve around UI design. I'll start with Windows Forms based UI, then move on to skinning, and later on to Avalon. So far, I have about 4 articles planned, with more to be added as more Avalon's fate is released. As with AVALONfiltered, I hope to have these articles published by MSDN. But if they don't want it (their loss), I'll be posting them here.

I also intend to cover the general theories of 'attractive design', the effectiveness of a good UI, and other design philosophies through out the series. I will be releasing the first article by the end of this month (unless MSDN really wants it, then it is totally up to them).

In my last post, I mentioned Blend Modes and their need in Avalon. To follow up that with an actual sample/simulation, I made this mock-app.

"XRavalon", the hypothetical Avalon application, let's you view X-Rays and CAT scans in 3D and annotate them. This is possible ONLY WITH BLEND MODES.

Here are a few screenshots of XRavalon and movies:

Flash SWF (LoFi) - direct link to 136kb SWF file

QuickTime MOV (HiFi) - 4.09MB ZIP

This was created in 3D Studio MAX with a bunch of simple 'Plane' objects and alpha-channel'd images. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a larger image array of a CAT scan - this has only 9 - while in a real world app, doctors could feed many more images to create a virtually 3D model of the brain.

To implement this in Avalon is child's play. Again, normal transparency channels WOULD NOT DO - as important artifacts in the scans (or any image) would be hidden or diffused, while ADDITIVE transparency/mixing would preserve the contrast/intensity - so the color may not be true, but the artifact can still be seen. A reverse (SUBTRACTIVE or DIVIDE) blend mode would be used to annotate the layer with text or graphics.

NOTE: I know nothing about CAT scans and X-Rays and how doctors use/annotate them right now in the real world. This is just a simple simulation of a real-world possibility.

I've been saying for a long time that Avalon needs blend modes (or Merge-Modes for Corel users like me). I need to back my request with solid evidence. So, here it is.

These are examples of the 2 blend modes used the most (at least by me and a few hundred game developers) - Add (lightens), and Subtract (darkens).

Example 1

Image 1a - a vector based sphere and the Pwop logo with Add (aka Additive) mode applied.

Image 2a - the same graphic without blend modes.

Example 2 & 3

2a/3a: A lightning bolt and a sparkle/lensflare/shine thingy (32-bit transparent raster image) without blend mode on a simple white background.

2b/3b: Same objects on a multicolored/textured background - better but still not that cool.

2c/3c: Additive mode applied to both object - the color values of the underlying pixels is added to the overlaying pixels and the result is a more natural looking glow.

Example 4

Colors often clash - making some parts totally ugly. One such combination is a blurred/transparent-gradient black over a yellow backdrop. (see 4a)

Now, we add a Subtractive blend more to the shadow layer - and voila - subtracts it's own value from the underlying pixel giving you a more natural tone.

Example 5

Okay, so we've seen the visual part of blend modes - now let's see the functional part of it.

We have a hypothetical software called X-Rayvalon. This app can be used by doctors to teach students or show vital info to their patients. A doctor wants to highlight a whole region where a certain ailment is shown in an x-ray. He or she draws a square, as if selecting files in Explorer, on the x-ray. (3 such rectangles shown in 5a)

Under the hood a rectangle object (5b) is created with a fill of R:51/G:51/B:51 and a solid border of R:102/G:102/B:102. The underlying image is not hindered by this rectangular overlay because unlike normal transparency the colors of the image (at least in terms of pixel intensity) is preserved.

In this image below, you can see colored versions of the same - say a visual discussion by a group of doctors - each assigned a color.

It doesn't take much imagination to see the possibilities in a million different applications.

Windows does support blend modes in GDI/GDI+ - that blue selection box in XP/Explorer is a subtract or some other blend mode.

With Avalon, the possibilties are greatly increasing. Blend modes would be a VERY valuable asset to this.

Related post on Channel9 >>

Follow up blog entry >>

It's been a while since I blogged. So here's a roundup of the main events that probably 2 and a half people care about!

DigitalExile.net is live!

My long planned personal site (after the demise of after-images.net) is now finally live. www.digitalexile.net

There are lots of new photographs available (for licensing, too), and my art collection and written works will be added soon. There's also a download section with small apps, wallpapers, and some random stuff available for download. Or will be soon.

My Blog rates #1 in searches

A pleasent surprise - I saw a referer tag in my server log for this blog (hey, that rhymes!) - for someone searching for "Pandhi" (my last name, you dumbass!). I decided to follow that search link on Yahoo and voila - the #1 (and many subsequent links) are for this very blog as well as my corporate site www.nukeation.com! The same is on Google. But there, my corporate site is first, and the blog after that. Needless to say I like Yahoo! better than Google. The blog is at #1 even if you search for Dr. JJ Rawal

Republic Commando still the best!

I play an hour of Republic Commando every night before I go to bed with Gratu'acuun ringing in my ears. This is better than Half-Life (1 or 2) and Doom combined. They're great games, but this just ROCKS MY WORLD!

Radio Acting Debut

A few weeks ago, I made my recording debut as the "Human Resources Executive of IBM" on the comedy online radio show MONDAYS (Episode 25) - download it! No, no. No autographs. You get a free autograph when you sign up for the Dax Pandhi Official Fanclub.

A GIG goes a long way

I finally added a gig of RAM to my 1GB system. Needless to say it works better. Though it generates more heat, I love the tradeoff.

Jungle Coast, Costa Rica

I'm helping out with the branding and e-solutions for a dear, dear friend Cynthia Najim's new real estate business. This is one of those fun projects I rarely get anymore (if you're a client of mine, no I didn't mean it like that - your projects are just important - this is just different coz there's unreal amounts of creative energy tingling it up). If you're looking for nice, affordable, and beautiful villas, cottages, or even farms - these are the people to call. Will post their website URL as soon as I finish it.

Am planning on going to Costa Rica next year, maybe.

Wiping the blood and grime off my helmet, I look towards the bridge. Kachirho's lights shine in the distance. As the smoke clears, and the deafening explosions stop, I can see the blurred forms of my brothers holding off the enemy, giving me cover fire so I can help our fallen brother. I hear Four-Oh's heavy breathing and soft groans under me. I realize I am standing on top of Delta-40, his white and green armor dented and splattered with blood - not his own. I get him up and send him to heal up at the near by bacta dispenser.

Delta-07 - Sev - snipes the onslaught of SBD's - their grey headless bodies seemingly immune to the plasma shots. Scorch - Delta-62, makes a joke, easing the pain as always. Advisor's voice echoes in my helmet - "Delta 38, we need to destroy that bridge now!"

The battle for the Wookies' freedom rests upon us - four lone commandos against an endless supply of Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, and Trandoshan slavers. I remember a trooper's remarks - "Look! Commandos! If they're as good as I hear they are, they can win the war all by themselves." I hope that's true.

With Four-Oh - Fixer - at 100%, I move to take Six-Two's position. "Scorch, I need some radical restructuring." I can feel his eyes light up even behind his plasteel faceplate. "Roger that, Boss."

I lob a EM grenade hoping to slow down the SBDs. Damn. They're too tough. "Four-Oh, man that turret." Maybe he can take out a few more of them with some heavy fire power. "Turret. Got it, Delta Lead."

Delta-62 fixes a large explosive to the ammo crates lying on the bridge the Seperatists require for their occupation of Kashyyyk. "Boss, we better get off this bridge before we blow it up." But we're surrounded. There is no time to waste. The only way out is to destroy the Droid dispensers.

I relenquish my cover and order some cover fire. Dodging the twig-legged droids, knocking some out with my vibro-blade, I move in. I hear Sev taking some shrapnel. I set up an explosive on the dispenser, and start to set the timer. The large bay door opens. A spider droid. Fifteen tons of pure armor and firepower.

The bridge and dispensers primed for an explosive finish, we prepare for what we've been trained to do: die for the Republic.

"We'll make 'em remember the day they tried to blow up Delta Squad."

---

Never before have I seen such a perfect fusion of action, military tactics, breathtaking graphics, superb AI, and war chants that makes you want to die for your cause. STAR WARS: REPUBLIC COMMANDO is one of the BEST GAMES ever! It certainly knocked DOOM3 from first place on my list. Instead of the "lofty perspective of the Jedi", this games takes you into the trenches as you command 3 elite Clone Commandos - DELTA SQUAD - in 3 dangerous missions - Clone Wars: Zero Hour on Geonosis, repelling an invasion on the Republic Assault Ship PROSECUTOR in space, and a special mission on Kashyyyk that would end the Clone Wars. And while you play, whenever the going gets tough, the music keeps your spirits high. This is THE best game to come out from LucasArts (yes, they made this in-house - no outsourcing) EVER!

Baritone voices sing old Mandalorian war songs: (all songs are available for download at the site. I recommend VODE AN, RAGE OF THE SHADOW WARRIORS, and GRAT'UA CUUN, as well as the ambient tunes THE JUNGLE FLOOR, COMM INTERFERENCE, and KACHIRHO BY NIGHTVISION)

Kandosii sa ka'rta, Vode an.

(One indomitable heart, Brothers all.)

Coruscanta a'den mhi, Vode an.

(We, the wrath of Coruscant, Brothers all.)

Bal kote, darasuum kote, Jorso'ran kando a tome.

(And glory, eternal glory, We shall bear its weight together.)

Sa kyr'am Nau tracyn kad, Vode An.

(Forged like the saber in the fires of death, Brothers all.)

This music can literally set your blood on fire as you play the game and immerses you into the world of the Commando. It's the BEST soundtrack a game ever had. PERIOD!

You fight hand-to-hand as well as with your DC-17 modified blaster. Every close hit is rewarded with a generous splatter of sickly yellow geonosian blood on your face, which your helmet visor wipes with a laser wiper.

 Delta-38 "Boss" - Delta Leader

 Delta-07 "Sev" - Sniper / Weapons

 Delta-62 "Scorch" - Demolitions

 Delta-40 "Fixer" - Slicer (Hacker) / Tech

You issue commands to your 3 brothers - Delta 07, Delta 40, and Delta 62. Each has a distinct personality and voice (just coz you're clones don't mean you can't have a different accent - which are picked up from their respective instructors). You have the voice of Jango Fett - which was marvelously voiced by Temeura Morrison himself.

The missions are fast paced, dangerous, and set in breathtaking environments. And when you set NIGHT VISION on, it feels more real than a movie. The visuals look as if it is REAL. Just plain real. Mind boggling.

The game is based on the Unreal II engine (modified, of course). It shames the graphics of Unreal II. Then again, Unreal II was shameful in many ways. But the engine is, in fact, quite cool. Republic Commando shows its power very nicely.

The whole game often doesn't feel like a Star Wars game. The credits music is high-pitched rock music. The soundtrack is Mandalorian war chants. And the only time you see a lightsaber is when you see a deadbody of a Clone trooper who tried to use it. That's when your character says "An elegant weapon for a more civilized time. Well, guess what ... times have changed!"

I wish they would've added a mission from Episode III, where they escort Obi-Wan to Utapal. 3 missions seem a bit "small" once you've played it 6 times in 4 days. But it still rocks. Especially the one-liners. "Baby wookies? Nah, too cute." or "Boss, we gotta place a charge here, and I'm not saying this 'cause I like to blow stuff up."

The end is cool too. Very military-movie like. And you get a special appearance by General Greivous and Master Yoda. George Lucas took interest in the game too. It was his idea to give colored, personalized armor to each Commando - something he was thinking of doing in Episode III.

I recommend you go see the trailer on www.swcommando.com and then listen to the music and download the demo, and then order the game!!

It runs FANTASTIC on a GeForce FX / 128MB. Though a gig of RAM didn't hurt. :) And don't be afraid of this game if you're not so good with games like Rainbow-Six and all - this is more suitable for the Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 players. Just go download the damn, demo! NOW, soldier!

Delta Squad, move out!

KACHIRHO BY NIGHTVISION

There is also a book based on this game by Karen Traviss, called STAR WARS: Republic Commando - HARD CONTACT. Cool book. Worth reading.

In the last .NET ROCKS show on the PDC, the people from Microsoft hinted (and confirmed) my previous hunch that Acrylic will be used (in part or whole) as a designer for Avalon! You heard it here first!

See previous posts in the Avalon category for details.

Sigh. Another year - gone. At the height of my depression, I wanted to write something like Rory Blyth but I've plagerized more than my share of things over the last year.

Someone told me that I had reached "quarter-life", but I insisted that it's mid-life for me. How? Well, aside from the mid-life crisis, I'm turning into a nihilistic, machinistic, pessimist. So, they say pessimistic people die young, so I'm at mid-life now.

But then again I'm too optimistic to be pessimistic. But even my most optimistic thoughts have pessimistic points. While I can also find the silver lining in the darkest of clouds. Any doubt I'm a Gemini? Sigh. This damned polarity can be annoying at times.

But right now, as I write this depressing note, I'm feeling quite happy. Why? Well, first it's my birthday and I'll be spending it with my family. Second, tomorrow morning I get The Sith Lords (KotoR2) and Republic Commando and will probably waste half the weekend on it. Third, no matter how old I get, I'll probably be the youngest out of everyone I know (excluding my niece).

At the end of the day, I guess I don't feel old. Just wiser.

Ghost in the Shell 1 spoiler warning. No GitS 2 spoilers tho.

Ghost in the Shell 2, titled "INNOCENCE" has got to be one of my most favorite films EVER. This stands side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder with Star Wars - and being the super Star Wars maniac that I am, that means a lot!

Ghost in the Shell is a manga (japanese comic) by Masamune Shirow, a mysterious writer who has never been seen or photographed. Shirow is a pseudonym and nobody knowns his real name. This man is a genius - in many aspects far greater than Lucas or Roddenberry.

I won't go into details about the GitS universe. Go see the first film and come back.

The audio was more than half the experience. The sounds and music were amazing. Kenji Kawai hits another home run with this soundtrack - the opening haunting vocals stay with you long after the movie is over. The reuse of this music throughout the film, especially in the third act / main combat sequence with the Japanese War drums was fantastic!! And it's no coincidence the music and audio was so cool - it was all done at Skywalker Sound.

Batou's darkness has increased since the Major merged with the Puppetmaster. And this time, Mamoru Oshii goes really deep into philosophy. Humanism, machinist theories, and nihilism. Quite a powerful blend!! GitS2 is also one of the inspirations behind "Sentience" - a small something I wrote a while back - BEFORE I saw Innocence. I'll post the full essay here in a few days.

The finalé is very much action packed like in GitS, and Oshii uses that trademark Japenese music-volume-louder-than-sound-effects-when-super-action-starts technique very nicely.

The end may seem a bit anti-climactic but it's not - not if you really understand the philosophy.

I recommend getting a original Japanese version DVD with subtitles rather than an English dub.

It's worth owning the DVD. Go order it.

Oh, and did I mention that Ghost in the Shell (The first one) was the main inspiration behind THE MATRIX trilogy? They even ripped off some of the Major's moves to give to Trinity and Neo. Even some of the settings are similar to GitS.

We just had a power failure at 1:30am. It was damn hot, and I was sitting on the roof in my underwear (the neighbors didn't complain because of the darkness, and probably coz they were doing the same). As usual, I had my camera with me. I love star gazing. I was looking at the Milky Way - going from South to North in a straight arc. And I could swear I saw PINK in the milky clouds. Most photos of nebulae and galaxies are colored. Most are artifically colors - but in natural colors.

Anyways, so I push my S7000 to it's limits by setting the ISO/Sensitivity to max, and quality to 12 mega pixel. I put it on manual/B/Bulb setting and take hundreds of shots at a shutter speed of 15 seconds - open diaphragm. Here's the original - unenhanced photo.

As soon as the power came back, I switched on the PC, and transferred the pics. Using good ol' PhotoPaint I started enhancing the pictures. Here's a basic intensity-enhancment shot (2.8x intensity). You can see the pink colors in the clouds. I was psyched. I couldn't wait to blog it. But the proper enhancements would take time, so I just put this here at a 600 x something resolution. Hi-res later.

To show the average'd intensity of this area of the sky, here's a color-levels edited version.

This is the edge/other side of the frickin' place we *LIVE* in. OMG! The actual view was breathtaking.

More on this as I try to enhance the images properly.

All images are © 2005 Dax Pandhi. All rights reserved. Permission for usage in personal or commerical projects can be requested by e-mail.

Okay, so I got to try out Acrylic. Not really tempting to switch from Corel for this. But I guess that if my theory of Avalon-Designer is correct, then Microsoft is more after the actual vector-drawing technology core of Acrylic. Maybe it will kill two birds with one stone and put out Acrylic as a medium-level graphics design app to push their "Start something creative" tagline.

The Acrylic interface is a bit annoying. I've always loved the docking windows of Visual Studio and CorelDRAW Suite. And you appreciate these a LOT more when you're working on a Tablet PC. The UI is somewhat creative - I'll give you that - but it STILL is annoying.

I guess there's nothing left to do but uninstall Acrylic (why waste a hundred megs on this?) and wait until my theory is confirmed or denied.

Last night, I read in Paul Thurrott's WinInfoUpdate Daily that Microsoft acquired a vector-based drawing tool (like CorelDRAW or Illustrator or Freehand) from Creature House called ACRYLIC. The first public beta is now available at: http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression

I think it's a bit too coincidental that Microsoft purchases a Vector-Design tool just around the time when a visual designer for Avalon is to be added in the WinFX SDK. The Avalon people have often said that the final release (or even Beta 1 or 2) will have a visual designer and that vector-import capabilities (like importing EMF, WMF, DXF, AI, or other such vector formats into XAML code) will be added either via plugins for popular apps like Illustrator, or by some other means.

I'm guessing either Acrylic will have a Developer Edition for creating XAML stuff, or portions of Acrylic will be ported into a Visual Studio 2005 designer. As I write this, I have about 20 minutes left in the download of Acrylic Beta. Let's see what it holds.

I downloaded Beta 1 (RC1) of Avalon/Indigo/WinFX SDK a few days ago and have been playing with it.

I did not get the time to dive too deep into the March CTP, but with the Beta 1 RC1, things are smoother and more stable. And, of course, the VS2005 Beta 2 support is very helpful.

I started playing around with Nathan Dunlap's code samples and have been trying to create a sample application in XAML/VB. There is no functioality, just a slick UI. I'm trying to merge my game designer and web designer abilities to create this UI. Let's see what I can come up with. Will post it here.

Perhaps this app will be the base for the AVALONfiltered series. Part 1 is almost finished.

I finally passed the 3000 line on my FujiFilm S7000 Camera. Of course, I might have deleted about 500 pics from the bunch, but still - I took 3000 pictures!! And this was in a matter of about 3 months. I'm averaging a thousand pics a month, and dual layer DVDs are not enough!!!

Well, I'll finally be able to post a big update on Pixelated Focus when I do a major revamp - new site opens on June 17th (my birthday, thank you).

Well, this week was emotional. Jessica Pletcher, who I worked SO hard to get back into the Nukeation team has left us - again - to pursue higher goals (and a more stable income, not to mention a more stable [mentally] boss). As we recover from this tragic, tragic, loss (see Jess, we did appreciate you even if we didn't show it) we need new cannon fodder.

Seriously speaking, we are hiring people with the following skills/qualities:

• Sharp, Creative, Graphics Designers - must be able to create unorthodox ideas and visualize them properly in either Corel PhotoPaint or Adobe PhotoShop
• Visual C# and Visual Basic (.NET 1.1 - .NET 2.0 not required, but is a plus) programmers - must have 2 years+ experience with .NET and should be able to solve problems on their own without relying on the lazy architects. Must be proficient in both Windows and/or Web (ASP.net) development. PHP'ers need not apply. This is a Microsoft-tech-centric company.
• Flash animators - must have EXCELLENT animation skills
• Avalon artists and programmers - contact for details

A good sense of humor is required.

We pay industry standard rates, provide a LOT of freedom and space to work in. You can work from your own home or office. All you need is MSN messenger to talk to the rest of the team. Lots of perks available as well.

Please note: We are looking for freelancers only, for the moment. Freelancers will get opportunities for employment in our network in the future.

Paid and unpaid internships available. Contact us for details.

Send us a resume with a sample of your work. Programmers can point to a website with samples of their work. Artists should include a link (no attachments please) of their graphics work or mail us a CD (e-mail us for our mailing address).

Send your resumes to hr [ no spam at ] nukeation [dot] com.

To find out more about our company, please visit http://www.nukeation.com

DO NOT POST REPLIES HERE

After 10 days of unbearable pain of not being able to witness the end of the Saga as almost everyone else I knew already had, I finally saw Revenge of the Sith. I can now die without regret.

At the end of it all, it somehow felt "good". Even though the entire galaxy plummets towards total darkness, with every being fearing the shadow of the white armor, it still felt GOOD!

Here's a list of my fave things from RotS:

I just loved the intense 'Vapaad' style fight between Windu and Palpatine. You can see Windu edging into his natural anger caused of Vapaad.

The nostalgic command from the Wing Leader, "Lock S-Foils in attack position", and the wookie howl.

The drop Yoda makes near the end after his failure - so reminiscent of Luke's exit on the Cloud City on Bespin.

Palpatine's Force Lightning.

Both Jedi Heroes did good acting this time. I just LOVED Obi-Wan's more natural personality. Ewan McGregor did a heck of a job. Even Hayden Christensen's Vader-mode was cool. The anger in his voice was scary. Natalie Portman's acting abilities were also nicely explored. But the best acting had to be a tie with Yoda (animators/Frank Oz) and Palpy (Ian McDiarmid).

The whole film was like a full mirror of Return of the Jedi. The Apprentice vs Jedi fight with the Emperor watching in a grand seat. The immense space battle. The appendage chopping. Vader's creation as opposed to Vader's redemption.

Some things that were in the novelization were not included in the film, but SHOULD'VE BEEN:

Commander Cody (the clone commander who goes with Obi-Wan on the Greivous mission on Utupal) gives Obi-Wan his lightsaber back, and as Obi-Wan goes away he gets Order 66 from Palpy, and then after Palpy's holo vanishes, he says "you could've given the order BEFORE I gave him his lightsaber back!". And when Obi-Wan loses his lightsaber when chasing the droid general, he says "Anakin will never let live in peace if he finds out" - or something to that effect.

But the thing they REALLY should've added was Yoda talking with the ghostly image of Qui-Gon Jinn before Bail Organa interrupts his meditiation near the end. And this is the REAL conversation Yoda and Obi-Wan have in the end:

Yoda: In your solitude on Tatooine, training I have for you. I and my new Master."

Obi-Wan: Your new Master?

Yoda: Yes. (Smiles) And your old one...

 

The Swamp troops (the clones in green/silver on Kash'yyk) had the best armor.

Sigh ... I gotta go now ... I will keep writing my comments about RotS and its comparison to RotJ later (like you can stop me!).