donw.io

Compact C++ Maths APIs without copy-paste

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 16:08:00 +0000

Generating compact, efficient C++ vector maths APIs using friend functions, member-pointer packs and external type registration, without inheritance or repetitive implementations.

The History of a Future Platform, Part 2: Stunt Island

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 19:35:05 +0100

I'm a late 80s to late 90s gamer: some of my most imprinted memories come from that period. I remember vividly two incredible WOW! moments that changed my life.

The History of a Future Platform, Part 1: Why

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 08:18:11 +0100

My attempt to rethink the way games are made. In 2012, after shipping Fable 3 on Xbox 360 and PC, supporting DLCs and helping the team transition to Unreal Engine 3, I was completely worn down and demoralised.

Fast, Constant Time Sphere Indexing, Part 2

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 13:13:00 +0100

To start, let's take the final solution from Part 1. The goal is to reduce this even further so that the technique can be used frequently in shaders.

Fast, Constant Time Sphere Indexing, Part 1

Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:27:21 +0100

Map any 3D point on or above a triangle-subdivided sphere to a triangle index in constant time, without recursion, table lookups or complicated branching logic.

20 Years since Terminal Pacity

Fri, 19 May 2017 15:21:27 +0100

Around the age of 15 I started to code after a family friend gave me a BBC Microcomputer Model B. It was a wonderful machine that showed me where my future lay.

Replacing Disqus with Github Comments

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 20:30:00 +0100

I've been considering removing comments from this blog for a while; mainly because the site doesn't trigger much discussion and I didn't like keeping the overhead of Disqus around. After looking into Disqus load-time behaviour I was pretty shocked what I was forcing on people loading the site (although you really should be using the likes of Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin).

Three Methods to Extract Frustum Points

Sun, 23 Oct 2016 19:14:32 +0100

Getting frustum points in world-space can be useful in a number of scenarios, such as debug visualisation or building a coarse volume around a partition in your frustum. Each method can be used depending what information you have available to you and what you want to avoid recalculating.

A Convenient Expression for Packed Circle Radius

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 21:45:31 +0100

When you develop a solver for the Tammes problem you're usually concerned with distributing points evenly on the sphere, ensuring they are equidistant from each other. The radius of the circles you place at those points is generally not considered:

Mixed Precision GPU Noise with HLSL

Thu, 25 Aug 2016 22:05:56 +0100

I posted an article a while back, entitled Very Fast, High-Precision SIMD/GPU Gradient Noise, where I outlined a technique for achieving double-resolution noise at speeds close to that when using float arithmetic. The key observation was that floor could be used on cell boundaries to mask off the ranges that require double arithmetic, allowing the bulk of the work to use float arithmetic.

A New Host, Server and Site Generator

Sun, 19 Jun 2016 21:48:11 +0100

A return to the site after its old domain went dark, with changes to hosting, domains and the generation workflow.

Distant Spherical Area Light Sources

Wed, 11 Feb 2015 12:58:23 +0100

This is a small test post exercising math notation with MathJax in Hugo.

Very Fast, High-Precision SIMD/GPU Gradient Noise

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:38:22 +0100

A recently published article by Inigo Quilez on Voronoi Edges highlights the technique of shifting the co-ordinate frame of procedural algorithms to improve precision. This is a really important little trick that I felt was worth reviewing, as it provides huge benefits to world generation at a planetary scale.

Skeletal Animation Looping with Autocorrelation

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:07:23 +0100

Using autocorrelation to find convincing loops inside non-exact motion-capture animation, then cross-fading the seams.

Quaternions and Dual Quaternion Skinning

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:52:03 +0100

Quaternions, their geometric intuition, and practical dual-quaternion skinning in a graphics pipeline.

An RPC Debugging Framework with Visual Studio

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:27:21 +0100

A Visual Studio debugging workflow for a client/server game architecture, including process attachment and startup synchronisation.

Reflection in C++, Part2: The Simple Implementation of Splinter Cell

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:21:58 +0100

A detailed look at reflection used to build the Splinter Cell rendering engine, tooling, serialisation and runtime inspection.

Reflection in C++, Part 1: Introduction

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:34:13 +0100

Why reflection matters in C++ game engines, and what becomes possible when type information is available at runtime.