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State of visual effects

State of visual effects

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If the 90’s and 2000’s belonged to the geek – the world now, and will, belong to the designer and creator.

Even 10 years ago, convincing visual effects were relegated to super expensive, high end development houses, programmers with Phd’s, and blockbuster movie budgets. Now, you can achieve things impossible 10 years ago – using a lot of creativity and free tools like Blender. Check out this somewhat frantic talk by Ian Hubert on the crazy and almost free ways he creates effects using free software that were impossible just a few years ago.

DirectX 12 learning videos

DirectX 12 learning videos

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Traveling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that’d end your trip real quick, wouldn’t it?

Han Solo – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Moving to Vulcan and DirectX 12 isn’t like going from DX9 to DX11, or Opengl 3.0 to OpenGL 4.0. These new API’s add quite a bit of work that used to be done by the graphics driver. This gives devs more control, but it also makes things a lot more tricky.

Microsoft has generated a good set of videos to teach some of the unique and tricky parts of DirectX12 to those with some graphics background. These videos help teach a number of tricky topics and usages that aren’t immediately apparent by reading the docs.

Conservative rasterization:

Presentation modes in Windows 10

This video has terrible audio quality, but it does a great job covering the various flip modes and delays that they introduce:

Resource Barriers:

This is one of the big concepts that trips you up and causes a lot of confusion.

Software that lands you on the moon

Software that lands you on the moon

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I had the rare treat to see an Apollo DSKY control pad used to control the lunar landing computer a few years back. I always wanted to know how it worked.

I can wonder no more, because Robert Wills introduces the amazing hardware and software that made up the Apollo Guidance Computer, walks you through the actual landing procedure step-by-step, and talks about the pioneering design principles that were used to make the landing software robust against any failure. He also explains the problems that occurred during the Apollo 11 landing, and shows you how the Apollo Guidance Computer played its part in saving the mission.

If you feel that isn’t cool enough – why not go download the software and look at the original printouts yourself?https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/Luminary.html#Source_Code_and_Binary

If you want more information about the computer programming language, algorithms, and entire trip tour, watch this:

Finally, a early NASA technician managed to come across a pile of salvage that he recognized as old Apollo equipment. He bought the 2 tons of materials and in the following years, realized he had an actual Apollo guidance computer (likely used in the lab for testing/etc) and then got it working again!

Update:

He just recently did another talk on the topic with updated details

Update 2:

Another great program that shows off the Apollo computers operating and being manufactured.

1965 MIT Science Reporter television program featured the Apollo guidance computer and navigation equipment. Scientists and engineers Eldon Hall, Ramon Alonzo and Albert Hopkins (of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory) and Jack Poundstone (Raytheon Space Division in Waltham MA) explain and demonstrate key features of the instruments, and detail project challenges such as controlling the trajectory of the spacecraft, the operation of the onboard telescope, and the computer construction and its memory.

Ramanujan Machine and AI-enhanced automated research

Ramanujan Machine and AI-enhanced automated research

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Mathematicians are a fascinating breed. They look at problems and new fields of study for discoveries and then plug away on a single problem or set of problems for amazing amounts of time. They do this by attacking the problems from every direction using every mathematical tool they have. They use intuition and experience to find patterns, similarities to other problems, and even brute force methods. The goal is to seek out patterns, make sense of those patterns by stating conjectures, and then prove those conjectures into theorems. This often takes mathematicians years or decades – if they ever solve it at all. If nothing else, mathematicians are a persistently curious lot.

The Ramanujan Machine

With all this potential tedium, is there a way to speed some of this up? Could one automate some of the work? AI algorithms are amazing at pattern matching, so what if we use machine learning to start the ball rolling? Enter the Ramanujan Machine – after the famous Indian mathematician that saw patterns where others did not (and had no less than 2 movies made about him). This kind of software may be transformative to how mathematics is done – and some are raising questions about what it means for the field.

The concern is that the Ramanujan Machine does much more than just pattern match. The machine consists of a set of algorithms that seek out conjectures, or mathematical conclusions that are likely true but have not been proved. Researchers have already used machine learning to turn conjectures into theorems on a limited basis — a process called automated theorem proving. The goal of the Ramanujan Machine is more ambitious. It tries to identify promising conjectures in the first place.

The algorithms in the Ramanujan Machine scan large numbers of potential equations in search of patterns that might indicate the existence of formulas to express them. The programs first scan a limited number of digits, perhaps five or 10, and then record any matches and expand upon those to see if the patterns repeat further. When a promising pattern appears, the conjecture is then available for an attempt at a proof.

So far, the Ramanujan Machine has generated more than 100 intriguing conjectures so far – and several dozen have been proved. 

Epistemological questions

The question for the field is now: what does this tool mean for us.

I have already written about the problem of scientific discovery and Epistomology. Machines can now pattern match and come up with equations and descriptions that can describe physical realities, but at what point can we say that we ‘know’ something?

If a machine observes a system and spits out an answer/mathematical description, we often do not know how it arrived at that answer. Can we really say we ‘know’ a thing and are accurately describing it? Without understanding the interplay of the underlying principles that got us to that answer, it might only hold for that set of inputs.

Some would argue, that’s how we’ve always done science. Despite our best efforts, science pushes ever forward and sometimes refutes past theories. We have seen this most dramatically in medical discoveries and regularly in the fields of cosmology and quantum mechanics. However, in mathematics, this is not so. Proven theorems have held for millennium.

So where does this leave us

Honestly, I think software like the Ramanujan machine is the next logical step in mathematics and pure sciences. Just like the calculator became a tool that helped transform math 100 years ago, AI enhanced pattern matching is a next logical tool in the toolbox. Instead of relying on intuition and years of grunt work, it’s unbiased and methodical approach could help us see patterns we have missed, and do it massively faster. After all, correctly formulated mathematical proofs are proofs no matter what the source was.

While it likely cannot replace a well-trained expert, it certainly could help augment their efforts. Speeding up our rate of discoveries by orders of magnitude sounds like a very solid contribution to me.

Try out the machine here: https://www.ramanujanmachine.com/

Read more here: https://www.livescience.com/ramanujan-machine-created.html

See more here: https://www.livescience.com/ramanujan-machine-created.html?jwsource=cl

Or even download the code here: https://github.com/ShaharGottlieb/MasseyRamanujan/

Particles, Fields, and the Future of Physics

Particles, Fields, and the Future of Physics

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With all the negativity and outrage peddling, I have been continually and unabashedly curating my media intake to truly educational, growing, and inspirational sources that remind us of the far greater amount of discoveries and good going on in the world.

As someone that went to Fermilab during a high school trip, this video was an awesome update. It is an absolutely fantastic and approachable talk given by Sean Carroll at Fermilab in 2013. He does a great job explaining the development and current state of particle physics (given shortly after the discovery of the Higgs boson).

Most interesting to me is the description of how physics today use statistical methods to generate a very steady march of discovery, and why the CERN collider in Europe is just one of the many new avenues of discovery along this path. Even newer and even more fascinating experiments are being designed that don’t involve ever larger circular colliders but conducting experiments through the planet surface hundreds of miles away and the new return back to linear accelerators.

Automated Sand drawings

Automated Sand drawings

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I’ve seen these kinds of art devices before – but they are big corporate looking things and run thousands of dollars. “The principles behind them can’t be that complex”, I thought. But there are some tricky bits I didn’t think of before – and this guy does a great walkthrough.

Personally, I would likely have shaved off the bottom part of the marble to create a flat spot and put felt there, so you don’t disturb the lower pattern as much. Also, I wonder if a specialized plexiglass would have worked better instead of glass to help hide the noise.

Synthetic Aperture Radar

Synthetic Aperture Radar

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Ever wonder how we get amazing, nearly constantly updated satellite maps that can see through clouds and are now even finding hidden cities in heavily forested, unexplored jungles and lost cities under desert sands?

Scott Manley does an absolutely EXCELLENT job describing exactly how synthetic aperture radar (SAR) was developed over time and the principles behind it. By using polarized radar detection, you can even detect how much oil might be stored in tanks. By using subsurface scattering, you can detect features below tree cover and sand.

The part that was most amazing to me is they actually did the original image reconstruction using analog LENS technology.

Absolutely worth a listen.

Snapdragon – How to Play the Old Christmas Parlor Game

Snapdragon – How to Play the Old Christmas Parlor Game

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History

Romancing The Past: Christmas Snap-dragon

Snapdragon was a holiday parlor game popular in England from about the 16th century. It’s typically played at gatherings on Christmas Eve by placing heated brandy in a wide, shallow dish with raisins. The lights are turned off and the brandy is set alight. The participants then try to snatch raisins from the fire and eat the lit fruit.

There is even a poem recorded in Robert Chambers’ Book of days (1879) you are supposed to recite while playing:

Take care you don’t take too much,
Be not greedy in your clutch,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

But Old Christmas makes him come,
Though he looks so fee! fa! fum!
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

Don’t ‘ee fear him but be bold –
Out he goes his flames are cold,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

You can hear the children playing and reciting this poem in the Halloween Party episode (S12 E2) of Poirot: (If that video is broken, you can see it on Internet Archive then skip along to about 7:30)

Doing it yourself

Atlas Obscura attempted to re-create the experience. I used this as my own guide to try this myself. I found it mostly spot-on. Here was my setup:

Ingredients:

  • Raisins: Buy good quality ones that aren’t squished. The bigger/beefier they are, the easier they are to grab. The sweeter they are gives them a great taste when mixed with brandy.
  • Brandy (or rum): 50% (100 proof) smooth, sweet brandy/rum. I found Domaine Tariquet 8 year Bas-Armagnac (cask strength) worked really well. It tasted delicious and burned really well. You’ll probably want to buy a 750ml bottle as you’ll use about half of it per play.
  • Salt – throwing in pinches of salt adds sparking effects that really look cool
  • [Advanced gameplay] Almonds: While they do work, I found they did conduct heat more and upped the difficulty because some items were squishy and others hard when grabbing them from the flames.

Instructions:

  1. Get a large, flat, shallow dish – The dish needs to handle being set on fire and getting very hot. Corelle plates seemed to work well. The dish is going to get very hot so you might also want to put a hot pad under the dish so that it doesn’t ruin the table surface you place it on.
  2. Cookie sheet and CLEAR play area – I found that flaming brandy does indeed splash or drip onto the table as you snatched raisins out. Having the dish in a tray keeps from damaging your play surface.
    You are literally playing with fire – so take all precautions. Make sure your table top and whole area is 100% clear of flammables. Someone might freak and fling a flaming raisin across the table/room. It might be worthwhile to have a damp blanket around to smother flames and baking soda. Remember that water will spread an alcohol fire.
  3. Pour the raisins (and almonds) on the plate – Make sure the raisins are mostly unstuck and can be grabbed individually or in a bunch of no more than 2-3.
  4. Pour ½ to ¾ cup of brandy onto the dish with the raisins. The liquid should not cover the raisins completely.
  5. Warm ¼ cup of brandy in a pan until it’s good and hot – but not boiling. Pour it on top the raisins. Heating part of the brandy supposedly volatilizes the alcohol, increases the amount of vapor, and makes it easier to set alight).
  6. Take a nice long lighter and light it up!
  7. Toss in pinches of salt to add sparks and light!

Try number one

In hindsight, I probably used too much brandy. The raisins were almost all completely below the surface of the brandy. The flames were, to be honest, way too high and too hot to do anything with. I tried grabbing a few fruits, but ended up splashing lots of flaming blue liquid around and getting lots of heat since I had to really dive into the flaming liquid.

I was also getting LOTS of yellow flame. Yellow flame is the hottest kind of flame and will burn you.

Try, try again

For the second try, I used a lot less brandy. I re-stocked the raisins/almonds and then poured enough brandy to only submerge up to about ½ to ¾ of a raisin. The tops were in the open air. It still created a decent initial flame, but then the magic started.

According to the Atlas Obscura article, you’re shooting for blue flames which are the result of chemiluminescence, not thermal radiation of yellow flames. As the initial yellow flames burned down, the raisins started poking through the surface of the brandy – making them easier to grab. The flame also started dancing back and forth around the dish – making it EXTREMELY fun to try and time a grab when no flames were in a particular area. It also meant the raisins were warm and brandy filled. Delicious!

When the flame is lapping and mostly blue was the absolute fun time to play. However, it was also towards the last few minutes before the flames died out. Over all, from first lighting to end was only a few minutes – so when you light it up – make sure everyone is ready to play right away!

Here’s what it looked like at the right flame level and me grabbing a few raisins.

Conclusion

I agreed with the other articles – this was absolutely a fun game and definitely worth a shot among adults that don’t mind a little danger and adventure. We’re probably too far along in protective parenting to make this a kids game, but teens might give it a go.

The Atlas Obscura article was really good. However, I would add some tips:

  1. Don’t add almonds your first go. Adding almonds makes things harder for two reasons: there are some hard and some squishy items in the dish and makes judging your snatch from the flames harder. Secondly, the almonds do conduct more heat and can be a hotter grab than raisins towards the end of the game. Finally, they can get a burned coating which makes them not as tasty as boozy raisins.
  2. Ensure the tops of the raisins are above the surface of the brandy. Makes them easy to spot and grab because you’re not dipping so deeply into the flaming liquid
  3. 40-50% alcohol Brandy. 50%/100 proof liquid really burned hot at first, but produced a really nice, long game. I wouldn’t go higher than that.
  4. Sweet brandy – Sweeter/smoother brandy made the soaked raisins taste fantastic. Splurging for a sweeter, high quality smooth brandy really paid off.
  5. Keep a wet towel in arms reach and some baking soda to smother or cover any spills or flaming/burning accidents.

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