it turns out that using neural networks to create images is a ton of fun. recently researchers at google have been training their nets to hallucinate. just last week a team has used a similar technique to replicate artistic style. and now i’m using those same ideas to mash images together. poor Mona will never […]
joy!
when I was bored as a kid, i would turn on PBS to watch their painting shows. and their cooking shows. and their carpentry shows. I loved watching people making things. starting from nothing and ending with something. pure creation. today i’m trying to recreate that magic. my skill is computer programming. computers make beautiful […]
an open letter to Ebbe Altberg
hi Ebbe. welcome to our crazy virtual world. i hope it’s treating you well. i have to say – i am very encouraged by your changes to the lab. the transparency. the return of lindens. and especially your recent words regarding the terms of service. i understand that crafting a legal document is a difficult […]
ghosts
like the ghosts of yesteryear, our home was again visited by the supernatural on halloween night. while we handed out candies, specters haunted our window scaring the hapless trick-or-treaters. many thanks to Brad Larson for making the implementation a breeze.
goodbye, second life
i just deleted my sim. i’ve had it for what, eight years now? i am forced to. i have no choice. because the second life terms of service, as it is currently written, lets LL steal all of my intellectual property. shame on you LL. shame on you. shame on you. shame on you. i […]
things are getting hairy
my friends forwarded me an interesting article. in it, Palmer Luckey from the rift project was making some dubious claims about rendering hair. when i found out he’s the founder of the occulus rift, and that he was advocating obscene pixel resolution for realistic imaging, i felt i had to reach out and see what […]
speedy delivery
the team over at inworldz recently asked if i could help them integrate the clothing deformer into their new mesh viewer. which is nice, i think, because people really want to fit their clothing. and so far they can’t. but the inworldz guys took it a step further – they asked if there was anything […]
are my shirts pressed, yet?
quick announcement – i’m releasing version 0.3 of the deformer code. primary changes: 1) should now apply cleanly to recent linden viewer code, 2) deformation tables are computed in the background on another thread, so no frame stalls. enjoy. EDIT: version 0.3.2 fixes several issues detailed in the comments.
003
yet more nutty topics in my ongoing series on computational art. this time we switch to virtual “skin” and look at rendering. files available here. previous sessions 001 and 002.
blending into the background
i had a pretty positive response to my node last week – so here’s another. qChameleon lets you steal the coloring of your neighbors. PS: take my class to learn how to make your own nodes.
feeling displaced
as a part of the class i teach – i wrote a maya node which is fairly useful to the unwashed masses. so here you go: qDisplacement.
crimes against humanity: tailoring
a lot of people have asked me what i think of the new TPV policy. honestly – it’s hard to know what to think – because it’s hard to know what the heck the policy is. the only thing that is certain is that the rule as written doesn’t begin to describe what the rule […]
may i get these clothes pressed?
i’m headed out on vacation next week but i want to get another release of the deformer code out for testing. it has a fix for the problem of “crumpling.” (thanks to Elie Spot for helping me debug the problem.) it turns out that looking at the closest vertex isn’t enough – we need to […]
god?
Charlar – i’d like to explain to you why your statements were out of line. one, of course, is your needlessly abrasive and combative tone. Â (my name is Qarl, by the way.) Â and two is the whole “looking a gift horse in the mouth.” but perhaps the most disturbing thing is the fact that you […]
thank you, back
recently – a very kind soul sent me a chunk of money to say thank you for my deformer work. it means a lot to me – to know my work is so valued, and respected. to say thank you back – i’m releasing my alignment tool under LL’s contributor agreement, so they may include […]
the weather outside is frightful
this year for christmas i gave my wife a special present: a snowglobe with a tiny copy of our home inside. she loves it. i love it. everyone loves it. so here’s how you can make one for yourself: 1) order a custom snowglobe kit. ebay has a bunch to choose from. try to find […]
virtual tailoring
happy new year! code
ghost
one projector, one sheet, one window, one halloween; mix well and serve fresh.
how to make a million dollars
if you compare the feature-set of linden lab’s second life grid and the various open source grids – only one serious difference emerges: the economy. linden lab provides a robust, secure, easily accessible means for transferring small amounts of money between its users – and the effects of this fabulous tool are evident EVERYWHERE in […]
002
our second session has come and gone, somewhat successfully i think – things always go better when your audience is armed. we covered implicit surfaces, renderman/pixie, displacement shaders, and more of my wacky cellular simulation. the turnout was pretty good too. if you’d like to attend the next one, or just receive updates, drop me […]
001
once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, i taught a class called “computational art”. today, thanks to the miracle of the interwebs, i am able to teach once again. (be warned, the words “class” and “teach” here are used in the loosest possible sense.) here is my first attempt – an exploration […]
sigh…
i heard through the grapevine that the lab won’t consider bringing me back because of my blog post last year detailing the unethical and inept decision making behind my termination – specifically the audio recording. look guys – you dicked me over, plain and simple. i’m sure the recording was embarrassing for you – but […]
memories…
after 15 years it STILL holds up. damn i’m proud of this work. riven for the iphone.
magic ink
not too long ago i made an ipad app for my daughter, Lily. i just posted an update to it, and tomorrow will be raising the price from free to something-not-so-free. so you want to go get it today. enjoy.
cleaning up
and they said i don’t know how to fix bugs. feh.
setting things straight
it makes me completely crazy that there’s no alignment tool in the second life viewer. so i made one. third party viewers (imprudence, Kirsten’s, etc, etc, etc) please feel free to include this code into yours. linden lab? well… my rates are very reasonable.
thank you
all your kind words have meant a lot to me, and my family. THANK YOU. truly. K.
and a linden is slain
well, linden lab cut me loose today. they’ve been hinting at it ever since the layoffs last month. try as i might i wasn’t able to change their minds. honestly, i’m completely baffled at the decision, as are all my coworkers (and my boss, and…) i mean, it wasn’t because i do a bad job. […]