Which 3d package to opt for ??? well thats the question u get run over a hundred times if u are bout to start something related to 3d better get armed n have heart of a warrior

Trying to fetch an answer to the question i hv decided to manually check all packages n come up with the pros n cons of each …

I have a long list to take care of but it sure is the best way to determine our needs. Finding a 3d artist is really a big pain n paying him wat he demands is bigger pain in the ass. Yep when u are planning to release ur own game it really gets hectic to ur work done from ur team. most of all when u dont know what are they upto. To find out i decided to get my hands dirty …

Packages which i have tried til date are

Blender
http://www.blender.org/

Maya
http://www.alias.com/eng/products-s…ple/index.shtml

3d Studio Max
http://www.discreet.com/3dsmax/try.html
Softimage XSI
http://www.softimage.com/products/EXP/HL2/

Lightwave

http://www.fxrsoft.com/default.asp?page=support/download_lightwave.html

n Packages i havent tried yet are..

Rhino 3D
www.rhino3d.com

Cinema 4D
http://www.maxon.net

Milkshape 3d
http://www.milkshape3d.com/

gmax
http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/

Softimage XSI
http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/

Houdini
http://www.sidefx.com/products/apprentice/index.html

Truespace
http://www.caligari.com/store/trueS…ate=STtrueSpace

Wings 3d
http://www.wings3d.com/

Silo
http://nevercenter.com/index.php/Downloads/504

Lately today my friend called up asking help to uninstall Nokia Pc Suite from his pc .. he has no internet facility so it was very difficult for me to explaining every bit of shit over the phone for an hour or so, to no luck at the end .. Out of interest i jus called up a Nokia guy who clamied that the software could be only uninstalled by Nokia guys .. Holy crap .. neways i couldnt look into the problem myself as i had no access to his so called infected pc nor the software. watever it was i suggest the name of the software should be changed from Nokia PC Suite to Knock-ya PC Suite.

So …Guys please follow the procedure to play safe

1. Read the manual before installing any crap on ur pc…

2. Scan for any viruses in the package. n create log file for incremental compare on the whole sytem before and after installing.

3. Keep a back up of system image so that u can restore it if something goes wrong.

Dont mess up or pay for ur mistakes .. Customer care/ technician guys are waiting with their mouths open for baited clients like u.. BEWARE !!!

This just got in … checked my mail n we got one more project we were negotiating past few days. What drives me crazy is the fact that we are already meeting two deadlines. But tis a pleasure to have more work n no time, than no work n free time.

So am ready for the new lot … Whoa … am coming. Lately today also finished modelling my 3d head.Now Texturing remains … I hope i ll finish it off this weekend when am free.So twas a good day altogether.

Were'nt we already fighting the crevice to climb up the cliff n get rid of caste system? Isnt the issue installing a metamorphosized larva of new branded disguised caste system into our educational system. freakin hell … Do these decision making guys ever dream of anything other that public polls n votes. Aren't they dividing us? Is this what they call a Secular Democratic Republic? What actually troubles me is that merit is no criteria to these so called learned decision makers. Can they afford deaths caused by an architecture built by an inefficient guy who was taken in since he was from a backward class? Or are they ready to go to doctors who aren't efficient enough to make decisions n cure? Holy crap … if thats what they want, am sure the fall is nearing …

Fear the Govt that fears its citizen !

CORPORATE LESSON NO.1

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?” The crow answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit… and ate it.

Moral of the story is: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

CORPORATE LESSON NO.2

A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I haven’t got the energy.” “Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?” replied the bull. They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, Who promptly shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story is: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.

CORPORATE LESSON NO.3

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him!

Moral of the story is:-

1) Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy.
2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
3) And when you’re in deep shit, keep your mouth shut!

Work work work .. day n night .. nonstop .. we have to survive .. the ask is wat is killing us with a big dose of cynicism n madness.its kinda jungle. all drowning in quicksand. Its through the small crevices in the solid lives that there is a ray of hope. After a hectic arduos boring day, meeting deadlines with unspoken cacophony of long drawn silences, all one needs is a bit of entertainment, this was the time when i found a room in Yahoo's chat which had a wonderful environment where gems from diffrent part of india expose their singing talent. the lot includes aarzuu20, cobra101010, avi, nirad, abhishek, rashboy, n lot more …twas really good time .. one gal with id aarzuu20 really impressed me by her great selection of songs n the way she sung them … Great voice .. immaculate … superb. keep it up … infact, aarzuu.. i would suggest u to get some professional training. u are really god gifted .. all the best.

Our dreams finally kicked off… dunno where it ll all go but these days it keeps me occupied day n night. we plan to shoot off primarily three areas of software industry.
1. 3d Computer Graphics – 3d Graphics / Video special effects Rendering / Opengl Game Programming
2. Application Development – Artificial Intelligence supported applications(mostly)
3. E – Learning in India – Promoting e-learning solutions

One of these which drives our vehicle is the first one ofcourse, but that needs a lot of patience, time, energy and commitment. According to our recent projections, we will need atleast one year to accomplish ourselves as well prepared team and undertake a big project. Right now we are focussing on building a First person shooter pushing the taste of patriotism which drives indian soldiers like from the film ‘Lakshya’ by Farhan Akhtar starring Hrithik Roshan. Though India has been in the frame of software fraternity, n is known for being an important contributor to the software comminity all over the world, hasnt been able to focus on the Game industry, when it comes to records. We also plan to use our software skills in producing good special effects for videos n movies, n all this demands lil time and capital.
E-learning, well this is something which i wasnt too much into… until Vikram pulled n pushed me into it. Vikram has a good bunch of around 1500 members on his site www.vidyaweb.com devoted to DOEACC course in India. He is a great fellow n wants to do something fruitful for the society. Now.. how I met him, is an interesting story which today I wont get into. We oughta give evolve to a better species than we are .. n that can be only done if ppl are more connected, attentive n ready to take responsibilities. E-Learning is someting that he feels, is our duty to promote to build a better awareness in the society.

How it all started :

I was in my first year of graduation when i got access to a pc, playing games … all sort of games was my favourite passtime, sometimes i wasnt able to finish all levels, this is when i started training them, n eventually got interested in creating loaders, n runtime patchers which involved a lot of reading n experimenting with Softice.My favourite set of chisel and hammer were IDA and Softice.
I was suggested to try my hands on programming by my brother-in-law. Since i had tasted the blood of software security, i was pulled into it completely. This was the time when I started programming Assembly. Yahoo’s Hacker’s lounge was a hangout where i met fellow ppl with same taste.However, rarely would u find something worthy discussed over there ..nothing much technical, except a few.
Neverthess, it wasnt a bad experience, after all it was a lounge .. a place where we rested n killed our time also killed some bugs, crashed some computers … My daily schedule started n ended sitting right infront of the computer, posting at boards, taking challenges, reading articles, writing software n surfing internet.It was at one of such forums where a challenge involved artificial intelligence attracted me a lot towards it… i spent most of my time getting the heck of it .. but i must say .. the time was worth spending. things really paid off – since the feeling of creating somthing like that was an achivement … that spl feeling cant be put into words.
So this is how i was pulled into something which now drives me the whole day – better than any fuel around.The punch line is Stay hungry, Stay foolish.

Barcamp is a new kind of technology ‘unconference’- organized by attendees, for attendees. It’s an open, welcoming, once-a-year event for geeks to hang out with wifi and smash their brains together. It’s about love and geekery and having a focal point for great ideas.

Two things I liked bout barcamp

1. Its a great platform where every individual, whether he is a technokrat, enterpreneur, developer, researcher or a coder is invited to join in with open views, ideas and his/her experience in relevant field. So its good social networking where u can relate and address issues in interest of the community.

2. Excellent way of putting your point, which involves participation to a much defined structure than it usually is … when you blog, setup a website or write in a forum. Its something which should be promoted and appreciated. It has been a great experience for me, and I wish to join in and organise such un-conferences in near future.

Two things that I didn’t like bout barcamp

1. Some presentations lost focus in between and jumped in to something irrelevant to the scenario. Ideas, technology, experience are always welcome but capitalising on those areas, getting technical, n researching, inventing something creative is what we should focus on. I expected it to be more technical than it was(i have been attending some camps where undocumented stuffs come in, some 0day developments in technology, and some code to push on the de-facto of what is actually going on behind the picture which was not really happening in most of the presentations.

2. Most presenters showed us some new technology, new products but in the process didnt evolve as to why should we change over to a completely new language in terms of architecture, api, or syntax when the same can be done with older stuff. They were not able to present the advantages / diasdavantages, limits of present technology. Basic questions were not answered as to stating why what and how.

Two sessions I liked the most

1. I like the session put up by Gaurav Bhatnagar bout “bootstrapping in seven difficult steps”. Excellently put up. Was worth watching, more interactive, relating to all happening events in industry when u decide to set up a new firm.

Superb Gaurav. I liked it most.

2. Second presentation that liked the most was from Jonathan Boutelle. Very good way on conveying the idea, as to why, what and lil of how. I ll personally however talk to him through blogs n emails.

Barcamp Snaps …

Long time we had an outing, so my Brother-in-Law came in with a sudden plan to visit Nainital last weekend, a popular tourist destination in Uttranchal(lndia). We all set up for Nainital at four in the morning, reached the place around four in the evening. The lake of Kumaon nestling Himalayan region of North India left me spell bound. I was messmerized by the scenic natural splendor and varied natural resources. The fun we had, cant be conveyed in words. Have a look at my niece’s you u can imagine how good an experience it was …

Nickdigital’s Project Archive

Here are some cool projects already done or in ongoing process. The demo files are not attached now coz i didnt upload it ,but if u are interested you can come in near future and get it. However i dont plan to give away source for another 2 or 3 months for some projects, but i would like to hear from you all that which projects excite you the most. To know more bout me visit my blogspace at http://www.nickdigitial.blogspot.com

Projects include following categories.

• Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic (Artificial Intelligence)
• Video Streaming / Game Development in Flash.
• Networking Related
• General Applications

_______________________________________________________________________________

AI projects which are in process or which I wish to start in near future

Motion Detection

Objectives : A complete solution to the web-cam surveillance, monitoring and recording or alarming when some relative motion is detected in subsequent frames

1. Motion Detection in Static background : Used MS DirectShow Api to calculate the difference between two images from successive frames and determine whether or not to trigger the alarm comparing it to a specified Threshold value.

Status : Completed.

1. Motion Detection in relative dynamic background. : I haven’t worked on it yet, since I don’t have appropriate gadgets to compliment my project. I would probably look into it when I get some proper funding and support.

Status : Not Attempted yet.

Face Detection

Objectives : I aim to use this project in implementing computer vision for spotting criminals to from the live scene comparing an already generated database showing all his past records of crime.

1. Basic face detection : I used Eigen faces method in recognizing a specific user by training through a database of faces. I captured images from web-cam and resized it to 80×80 pixels.

Status : Completed.

1. Stereo Face detection : Stereo face matching using Birchfield’s method by matching areas of continuous intensity flow using DirectShow Api from a video stream.

Status : In process. Hope it will be completed by end of March 2006.

Speech Processing

Objectives : I aim to use Speech Processing Interface using Hindi language in areas like browsing, playing media files and commanding situations in Speech User Interface.

1. Text2speech : Implemented text to speech using MS Agent from MS SAPI 5.1 Used British English as interface. However I plan to build my own library for Hindi language.

Status: Text2Speech for British English Completed. Text2Speech for Hindi Language is ongoing. Probably will be completed by end of April 2006.

1. Speech2text : Still working on this one, I ll be using MS Agent from MS SAPI 5.1. However I would like to build my own Application from scratch and using Hidden Markov’s model.

Status : In process. Probably will be completed in mid of May 2006.

Gesture Recognition

Objectives : Limits to use gesture recognition are endless, but prior to do anything creating such apps is limited, taking into account general computer user configurations. It can be used as an add-on to browse fast by using a mouse/web-cam. It can be used as a complimentary interface where speech processing fails.

1. Mouse Gesture Recognition : Can be used to create a utility for fast browsing where it tracks the point of displacement, direction and angle of mouse movement to measure what the user actually wants to do from a set of trained commands.

Status : In Process. Will be completed by end of March 2006.

1. Motion Gesture Recognition (Using web-cam) : Can be used to give easy commands from a distance where speech recognition fails.

Status : In process. Will be completed by end of May 2006.

1. Gaze Detection (Using Fixed Web-cam) : A fixed web-cam monitors the eye gaze of the user and detects the position where the user is looking at the moment and then the user can guide the cursor or pointer that particular point. It can be very realistic and exciting when playing a 3d computer game. Can also be implemented in piloting a remote vehicle in a scenario whereby the engineer can use his hands to do other work in interest of the mission.

Status : Not attempted yet.

Neuro Linguistic Processing

Speech Processing + Natural Language Processing : An interactive voice answering machine application which will take all your calls, answers queries, and records caller’s voice and number. I was thrilled from this idea when I went on using Eliza and IQATS.

Status : Not attempted yet

_______________________________________________________________________

Projects involving Flash 8 and Flash Communication Server MX / Flash Media Server 2.

Video Conferencing Application : A simple video conferencing application developed in Flash 8 supported by Flash Media Server 2 where users can Login, text Chat and use their web-cams and microphones.

Status : Completed.

Virtual Classroom : A virtual classroom where a teacher can show a presentation, use whiteboard to solve problems and confront a student’s problem when asked. A teacher can punish the student throwing him out of the class and disallowing him to enter again. A teacher can force the student to show his web-cam.

Status : Will be completed by first week March 2006.

Cricket Game : A small flash game of cricket which I developed, in order to learn flash from basics.

Status : Completed.

_________________________________________________________________

Networking related Projects.

Remote Administration Tool : This is a complete surveillance kit for your pc. Install this on any pc and u can connect to it from another pc and monitor what all is going on the server pc.

Some of its features include

Key logging

Screen shotting

Disable mouse / keyboard

Shut down / restart remote pc

Lock / unlock remote pc (when the pc is locked it can’t be accessed even if it’s restarted.)

Switch to power mode (makes the monitor go on / off)

View files on remote pc

Download / upload files

Adds web server support to pc

View the web cam of server pc

Works in complete invisible mode if specified.

Smart web cam monitoring

When it detects any motion it

1. starts recording to a file

2. Sends an email to the administrator.

System compatibility : Win9x.

Status : Completed.

Mini Web-server : A tiny web-server to share your files on the LAN or internet where all directories can be listed using Winsock api, where you can allow directory viewing enabled or not.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, Xp (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Mac Id spoofer : A tiny app to spoof Mac id on your computer.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, Xp (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Port Scanner : A simple port scanner to scan all open ports on a computer.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, Xp (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Video Chat Application : This a small chat client which supports video conferencing and 8bit mono audio on LAN. A simple video / voice chat application which can be used on LAN to chat with friends. It had the functionality to upload and download Files.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, XP (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed

____________________________________________________________________

General Utilities which I designed out of interest.

Pe Loader : This small tool recognizes the file as valid pe file and gets information about sections in it which can be modified manually. The disassembler recognizes all import functions from libraries and shows the RVA for the same. Simple PE file loader to tweak around with executables.

System compatibility : Win 9x, Nt, XP (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Hex Editor : Edit any exe files using this simple hex editor.

System compatibility : Win 9x, Nt, XP (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed

Panic Button : A utility to save you from prying eyes of your boss when he suddenly enters your room and starts looking at your computer. It was completely invisible and didn’t show up in Task Manager.

System compatibility : Win 9x.

Status : Completed.