Oculon
I’ve been spending a lot of time writing code, which hasn’t left a lot of time for writing blog posts, so now it’s time for a sweeping update to cover all the work I’ve done in the past few months. 
I continue to develop my visualization engine, Oculon, using cinder. The focus has shifted from generating video content to creating a live performance system. In collaboration with Diagraf, we’ve created a hybrid setup that combines the output of Oculon with Resolume, allowing us to mix real-time generative content with video. We’ve used this setup to perform at several shows, most recently at Metropolis for MUTEK. I also used it solo for the first time to provide visuals for an RTS.FM podcast featuring Orbital Mechanics. This is a continual work in progress, with efforts divided between creating new visuals, improving the tech under the hood, and streamlining the user interface for live performance. Following is a summary of some of the work in these areas. Continue Reading →
Satosphere
The Satosphere is a 360 degree dome display located at the top of the Société des Arts Technoloqiue (SAT) building in Montréal.
This March for Montréal’s annual Nuit Blanche festival, Diagraf performed inside the dome and I had the opportunity to generate some pre-rendered clips for him using the visualization engine I am building.
Essential Free OS X Apps
Since I recently setup a new computer, I had the chance to take inventory of all the software I use. I try a lot of different applications to find the best for each task, and I prefer free and open-source software whenever possible. Here’s my current list of must-have free applications for Mac OS X, in no particular order. Continue Reading →
Creative Coding Frameworks
When I started working on the visualizer project, before I even had the idea for Orbiter in my head, I only had a vague notion of what I wanted to do and no idea how to do it. I hadn’t done any hobby programming for a while, so I started by looking into what tools I could use. Continue Reading →
MacBook Pro Upgrades
I just got a new MacBook Pro today, turned it on once to make a Lion Recovery Disk thumb drive, then proceeded to unscrew the bottom to perform some organ transplants.
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Orbiter
Last weekend Orbital Mechanics played at Deepfield, and used a simulator/visualizer I developed for them as part of the visuals for the show. I call it the Orbiter. Here it is in action for the first time:
DJ Mixes
There are many ways for a DJ to post their mixes online, the most popular at the moment being Soundcloud and Mixcloud. But I wanted to host them myself and not pay for premium subscriptions or deal with restrictions. Continue Reading →
Now I git it!
I’ve been using Perforce daily for 6 years now, and I’ve also used Subversion, Rational ClearCase and Visual SourceSafe. I’m quite proficient and comfortable with Perforce, even though it still drives me mad sometimes; but after two days of using git properly, I never want to go back to anything else. Continue Reading →
Passwords
Like me, you probably have login accounts all over the place. You can bet there are always hackers out there trying to get into those accounts. Yes, it happens, and anybody with a Playstation Network account has learned this the hard way.
Here are some techniques I use to keep my accounts secure while saving my brain from password overload.
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Android and iTunes
When I switched from iPhone to Android, one of the major issues was integration with iTunes. Obviously the iPhone works seamlessly with iTunes, but Apple decided to be jerks and went out of their way to make it difficult to sync other devices with iTunes. Here are the solutions I have discovered.
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