Note: Everything on this page is really old.
Really, really old.
Most of it was written between 1998 and 2003!
(plus a few from 2008)


Write your own Winamp music visualizer with the Visualization Mega SDK (VMS)!

VMS is a simple, feature-rich, and well-documented code framework on which you can build your own music visualization plug-in. Uses DirectX 8 and Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.


Graphics / Programming Articles and Resources:

Unicode Made Easy [Visual Studio .NET 2003]
Try loading a filename into your program with funky foreign characters in it - it will probably break. Believe it or not, it's pretty easy to fix! Here's your guide.

Source Code for Smooth Image Resampling [Visual C/C++]
Some fairly-well-optimized code to do a high-quality resample (smooth resize) of 32bpp RGB images.

Timing in Win32
Getting accurate timing information in Windows can be a pain. timeGetTime only has a resolution of 1 millisecond, at best. This article explains how to get reliable, microsecond-resolution time readings, as well as get super-accurate framerate throttling.

Metaballs
Otherwise known as 'blobs'. Learn how to render these strange shapes.


( Note: some of the stuff below this point is a bit old by now... )


Raytracing Fractals
An attempt to partially demystify the way fractals work, and to illustrate how to use them to create cool 3D shapes.

Using the Pentium MMX Unit (Geiss used as example program)
Unbelievable optimization power is here, when it's applicable.

Video and other misc. routines for in-line x86 Assembly in (cringe) DOS Real Mode.
Not for use in a Windows environment (unless in a DOS box)!
-putpixel, getpixel, getsubpixel (highly unoptimized! beware!)
-waitkey, set13, settext, wait_refresh (waits for video retrace)
-setRGB, getRGB (palette functions)
-buffer_paste, buffer_clear, buffer_copy (using virtual screens)


Some of my older old raytraced images:

    Images       generated in C
    Animations generated in C
    Images       generated with Imagine
    Animations generated with Imagine



Useful utilities

FirstChoiceToHtml [download]. Back in 94-95, I used a DOS word processing program called "pfs First Choice" or something like that. I wrote this little utility to (nicely) convert all of my old First Choice text documents (extension .doc) to the modern HTML format, and shared it here for others who might want it. The utility preserves some basic foreign characters & math symbols; all box-drawing characters; and all spacing, bold, italics, and underlining. It also copies your original file time/datestamp to the new .HTML file. Also included is the C source code (built with Visual Studio 2003). It's not perfect, but I whipped it together in 5 hours, and I think it works pretty well, considering! :)




Ancient stuff

Javascript Julia Fractal Generator. Runs in your web browser; set the constants and watch your browser render a julia fractal... ANSI/ASCII enthusiasts will enjoy this one. (1997)



[ back ]