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Most people know that Autodesk Maya will run on multiple platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux), but most people don’t know how to get a single Backburner install rendering across multiple platforms simultaneously.  In a new video over at Maya Station he covers how to get Mac & Windows going together.

In this video I explain two key components to get this up and running. The first is setting the correct path to Maya’s render command so both Windows and Mac OS can use the same command when submitting the job. The second task here is to mount a samba drive on Mac OS. In the video I show a simple method of gettng this done but you will loose the mount at reboot. To keep the mount through reboot I suggest you lookingto launchctl command and how to use it.

It’s not a perfect tutorial, a bit fast in places and he trips over a few typos here and there.  The steps he takes tho could probably work for getting a Linux machine in the loop as well.

via Maya Station: Getting BackBurner rendering on Windows and Mac OS X simultaneously.

Graphics mac, maya, windows

One enterprising programmer came into possession of some classic windows games, the original 4-part Wing Commander saga, but found himself unable to play them as they were all based on the (now deprecated) DirectDraw API. While many would whine about the dangers of proprietary API’s (I would be one of them), he took it upon himself to resolve the problem.

It all started about a month ago, when one friend of mine had decided to follow his dreams and was moving to the states, and he had to get rid of a lot of stuff. Among his discard pile was a bunch of Wing Commander games, which I bought off him, figuring they might be interesting research material, as I’m planning on a game with similar game play structure (as in story combined with game play, not a 3d space shooter).

So, I found myself in the possession of Wing Commanders 1, 2, 3 and 4, all Windows versions – the Kilrathi Saga and WC4CD to be specific. I installed the first and tried it out. My Win7 switched to 256 colors at a 640×480 resolution, but the game ran.. with completely wrong palette.

His solution was to completely re-implement the DirectDraw DLL (ddraw.dll) with OpenGL calls, turning it into a simple translation layer, with remarkable results.  His source code and binaries are available for download (and extension), along with a list of features to add next:

Next up would have been WC4DVD version, but that adds MCI, DirectShow, mpeg2, DirectDraw7, and all sorts of headaches to the mix, so I figured it’s time for this project to end. I’m releasing the sources, so anyone who wants to pick them up and continue hacking can feel free to do so; with Wing Commanders or other old DirectDraw games.

I love how he’s managed to “fix” some of the ugliness of DirectDraw and adding in improved antialiasing and sync technologies to his implementation.  The fact that on Windows7, OpenGL is actually a translation layer to DirectX, isn’t lost on him either.

Yes, I know, I’m using OpenGL to fix a DirectX problem. Some find this rather ironic. To make things even more fun, vista and Win7 solve OpenGL problems by rendering OpenGL with DirectX. That is, if you’re not using ATI or Nvidia drivers..

via www.iki.fi/sol – Code – DirectDraw Hack.

Science directx, video game, windows

For you Twitter users running Windows, you can check out this fun screensaver-style application “Flyar” which visualizes your incoming twitter stream and allows you to interact with it augmented-reality style with an integrated webcam.

Flyar uses your webcam to create an augmented reality image where birds fly or hang around tree branches and fly towards you to deliver tweets. The birds represent incoming tweets, and their color represents different types of messages: blue for normal messages, green for replies and red for direct messages.

When a bird is standing on a branch it means you have a new message. With just a tap you can “call” him and he’ll fly to your side to deliver the tweet (only one bird at a time). You can also interact with the birds by disrupting their flight patterns, or affect the falling leaves. The flock of birds flying around tells you how many messages you have waiting to be read.

Requires Windows, .NET framework and DirectX.

via Flyar by YDreams.

Science augmented reality, flyar, twitter, windows

Worried about Windows7 graphics problems akin to the disastrous NVidia Vista debacle?  Well Guru3d has your back with a great 10-page writeup comparing the performance of Windows 7 vs Windows Vista across a good selection of games including Far Cry 2, Anno 1404, and Hawx.

So if you are a little afraid of picking up Windows 7 due to driver issues… don’t be. It’s stable and working really really nicely. Two big thumbs up to both ATI, NVIDIA and sure .. Microsoft. And as a testament to that, let me assure you, we’ll be switching all our test systems towards a Windows 7 based platform… real soon.

Windows 7 vs Vista VGA game performance.

Graphics, Hardware benchmark, microsoft, windows

AMD has updated their website with a list of 11 reasons why you should run out and buy a DirectX11 card today.  The list has some of the obviously marketing hype, but also a nice basic list of some of the new features in DX11.  The cliff notes version:

• Shader Model 5.0
• Faster Frame Rates
• Tessellation
• DirectCompute11
• DirectCompute11 (again, yeah it’s in there twice)
• MultiThreading
• Texture Compression
• Render Post Processing
• Unified Driver Support (NVidia has had this for a while, right? This isn’t really a DX11 thing, so much as an AMD thing)
• DirectX11 Games (with a list)
• “Only DirectX 11 unleashes the full potential of Windows 7!”

Read the full details on their site.

Top 11 Reasons for DirectX 11 | AMD Underground Blog.

Hardware amd, ati, directx11, list, microsoft, windows

Not wanting to fall behind NVidia, AMD has just released WHQL Certified drivers for Windows 7.   Unlike NVidia’s offerings, these are not a release candidate but rather an official release, with another unified Windows7/WindowsVista driver expected later this month.

AMD Releases WHQL Certified Driver For Windows 7 – Expreview.com.

Hardware amd, driver, windows