Visual Acuity

Sometimes it is handy to sort an edge list. In this case I needed an algorithm to test for concavity of a simple 3D polygon with just one face. You can also apply the procedure on 2D because it just sorts an edge list that could contain either 2D or 3D vertices. The polygons were made in Blender v.2.67 , so the script had to be written in Python and executed via the Run Script button in the text editor. I didn't want to use fancy algorithms to sort edges because we're dealing with simple polygons, so I ended up writing my own. As a side note, the edge-angle checkbox in Blender, which can be used to see if a polygon is convex or concave didn't work for me, so I had no other choice but to first sort edges before I can apply angle calculations on consecutive vertices. Suggestions for improvements are welcome and hopefully it helps someone else who had to deal with the same (or similar) issues in Blender!

Context: Facebook IPO Post Mortem – Killer – but not for the reasons you think ! I won't speculate at the reasons for Facebook's low IPO, I just wanted to add some positivism to reason number 4 stated in the blog post; the fact that more users are going mobile.

Before I start with the technicalities let me give first (for the ones that don’t know) a little background info on Komodo Games and Vogels!

Just a quick update. Recently I have changed the template and subject of my blog to fit more closely within my line of studies. A lot has changed since my last post from June 2009 (really a lot) but the idea of this blog still remains the same, namely to share useful information to others. So, as they popular phrase goes... will keep you posted :)

Hey folks, It has been a while. Recently I have been busy with other stuff besides the usual, but a friend of mine suggested (and I completely agree) to be a good utilitarian and post something that will bring the greatest happiness for the greatest number of users :)

Sometimes when we are searching for something, we tend to look too deep and with wrong keywords. Forget about SQL procedures, the REPEAT() function and setting variables. If you want a result set with two columns, one the ID, and the other a frequency count, then use this: SELECT id, COUNT( someValue ) AS frequency FROM tableName GROUP BY someValue; Your welcome!

Recently I started using a shortcut for my $_GET variables in PHP 5. It seems that instead of doing the following: <?php     $page = $_GET['page'];     $article = $_GET['article']; ?> There is an easier way where all the $_GET variables can be assigned automatically.

Recently I have been messing around a bit with Flex 3.0. In one particular occasion I was wondering what would be the easiest way to let a user change the background of a Flex based website. The project consisted of just a standard color picker component (just to illustrate the point). Basically what you want to do is capture the selected color when a particular event is being fired, and use this information to dynamically change the background color of the Flex application.