Plan for Brian Ramage
by Brian Ramage · 08/09/2004 (11:12 am) · 15 comments
My first print article came out in this month's Game Developer Magazine! It's pretty exciting for me although it took over a year for the process to come to fruition. The article is about using 2.0 pixel shaders to speed up the time consuming radiosity lighting process. I developed the technology in early 2003 for use in my own game project and it worked out well enough that I thought it would make an interesting article.
I think I approached GameDev last spring, but it might have been in the summer. They thought it was interesting and ran the outline by their advisors and got the go-ahead. Then I wrote the article and waited to hear back from the editor. After a few months of back and forth emails, I pretty much gave up in frustration. I was unhappy especially because of the effort I put into it and the wasted time away from my game development. Months later, GameDev got a new editor (who had no clue about the article) so I sent it to him. I heard nothing back for a few months, again. I pretty much forgot about it until I got a call from the new editor who said it was pretty much ready to go and would I mind sending some higher resolution pictures?
I was shocked and psyched! I'm very happy that it has finally made it to print and now I just hope that it makes sense and people get something out of it. It should be up on the web in the next month or so over at www.gdmag.com.
I think I approached GameDev last spring, but it might have been in the summer. They thought it was interesting and ran the outline by their advisors and got the go-ahead. Then I wrote the article and waited to hear back from the editor. After a few months of back and forth emails, I pretty much gave up in frustration. I was unhappy especially because of the effort I put into it and the wasted time away from my game development. Months later, GameDev got a new editor (who had no clue about the article) so I sent it to him. I heard nothing back for a few months, again. I pretty much forgot about it until I got a call from the new editor who said it was pretty much ready to go and would I mind sending some higher resolution pictures?
I was shocked and psyched! I'm very happy that it has finally made it to print and now I just hope that it makes sense and people get something out of it. It should be up on the web in the next month or so over at www.gdmag.com.
About the author
#3
Microsoft were pushing a sort of hacky lighting solution for the D3DX pipeline at the GDC, seems like lighting models are getting some interest.
Any plans for this to go into a product anytime soon? :)
08/09/2004 (11:56 am)
Way to go Brian! getting yourself in print is pretty funky :) PS2 radiosity sounds kinda interesting. Is that pre-calcing a radiosity solution for lightmap generation? or some kind of real-time trick?Microsoft were pushing a sort of hacky lighting solution for the D3DX pipeline at the GDC, seems like lighting models are getting some interest.
Any plans for this to go into a product anytime soon? :)
#4
It is really nice stuff. And can be used outside of D3DX, though D3DX makes it really easy.
08/09/2004 (12:08 pm)
I don't know if I'd call PRT/Spherical Harmonics hacky. Not anymore than any other realtime lighting solution, in any case. And the results are pretty amazing looking.It is really nice stuff. And can be used outside of D3DX, though D3DX makes it really easy.
#6
08/09/2004 (1:26 pm)
Congrats! Have a beer, my friend.
#7
08/09/2004 (1:39 pm)
Hey thats awesome man! I'm sure going to read it :)
#8
I had an article published in a karate magazine and I just about fell off my chair when it arrived at my door. I had completely forgot about it because it was about a year later.
I will have to have a look.
Ben
08/09/2004 (4:51 pm)
Hey, congrats. I had an article published in a karate magazine and I just about fell off my chair when it arrived at my door. I had completely forgot about it because it was about a year later.
I will have to have a look.
Ben
#9
08/09/2004 (4:54 pm)
Badass Brian, I was glad to see it finally :) 
#10
08/09/2004 (9:39 pm)
Way cool, Brian. Good job
#11
Sorry to hijack your plan Brian! :) Great stuff!
08/10/2004 (3:00 am)
George: well, its not that the technique is hacky, but I find that including it in D3DX a bit misplaced. Pre-computed lighting doesnt seem to be something that needs to be in D3DX as much as a toolset, I kind of wish MS would create some sort of really bad-ass toolchain. I guess the PRT stuff was more someone's private RnD that somehow got assimilated (which I think is a bit of a mistake, having seen RnD guys going bezerk adding thier own favourite thing into game engines while neglecting useful featureS).Sorry to hijack your plan Brian! :) Great stuff!
#12
@Phil - yes, it's about rendering out to lightmaps, definitely not real-time.
PRT stuff is pretty cool, I wish MS (or someone!) would create a set of tools that were open source and free to use. It would help MS more than hurt them to make game development easier for us PC devs. Not too many PC developers are thinking about porting to Mac though, so D3DX probably suits most people's needs.
08/10/2004 (9:22 am)
Thanks for the good words guys. @Phil - yes, it's about rendering out to lightmaps, definitely not real-time.
PRT stuff is pretty cool, I wish MS (or someone!) would create a set of tools that were open source and free to use. It would help MS more than hurt them to make game development easier for us PC devs. Not too many PC developers are thinking about porting to Mac though, so D3DX probably suits most people's needs.
#13
08/10/2004 (10:29 pm)
Great job Brian! I think I need to renew my subscription...
#14
08/10/2004 (11:27 pm)
I just read it the other day and was wondering why there was no anouncement on the site or forums. Congrats! 
#15
08/15/2004 (5:40 am)
Picked up a copy yesterday. I'm hoping to read the article today.
Torque Owner Brian Richardson