To give developers more time to write killer code, the folks at NVIDIA have extended the Pixel Bender contest deadline to Feb. 28. For more info (links to dev tools, etc.), see previous.
By the way a couple of developers have pointed out that contest entry is restricted to US residents. I don’t know why that is, and hopefully it’s something that can get changed. (The same limitation has popped up in various Adobe contests. I don’t know why it does, but everyone agrees that it sucks & would like to change it.)
Elsewhere, Paul Burnett shared some more PB coolness: a spinnable globe (complete with source) featuring a spherize filter + throw physics, as well as the bizarre Dancing Dudes demo (see screenshot). (Me, I would’ve gone with some vintage Rockwell for the soundtrack.)
And one more thing: Adobe announced today that Flash Player 10–needed to run Pixel Bender in a browser–is now installed on more than half the Net-connected PCs & Mac in the world, and that’s after just two months of availability. If you think browser-based image editors like Photoshop.com are powerful now, wait til they really start embracing PB.
…very interesting contest. well, wait and see who else participates. 😉
while developing a few shaders to send in, I released this little Pixel Bender warp shader.
Cheers
-frank
[Cool stuff, Frank. –J.]
New versions of Flash inevitably lead to problems with old web sites. If only I had a nickel for each time I’ve come across a web site that tellms me I have an obsolete version of Flash – Click here to install Flash 8.2.
[You’re describing a different problem, which is that newer sites often require newer viewing software. By and large newer versions of the Flash Player handle older content amazingly well, at least in my experience. The one snag I’ve seen is that older Flash detection scripts (e.g. those in the PS Web Photo Galleries) sometimes break. Speaking of those latter ones, we’ll post an update soon. –J.]
Obviously the problem is programmers who do not realize their web site will quickly become a heritage item. Perhaps Adobe Flash should come in a ‘perpetual’ version, that does what it can to display things which have components it doesn’t understand, and if necessary offers the upgrade link. That way, Flash inserts that only use the standard core components will never be affected.
It ties in with web sites that want to force me to upgrade / switch. I only wish my baseball bat were long enough to knock some sense into those people’s heads. My Mac at home runs the latest version of Firefox; my work machine is locked in, to IE, which I’m not allowed to replace. I don’t want to see an error message telling me I should switch to a different program, I just want the html.
Tax deductability for the company offering the prizes? Customs regulations? IP legalities (you know, here in Germany you never can surrender you original rights to your creation and NVidia couldn’t do with it what they want)? Other corporate finance stuff? The fact, that those companies are presented through third-party resellers in otehr countries which then would have to take up the legal stuff in their own name? Could think of a number of things. Apart from that, I don’t wonder. These contests being US-centric is on some level just the same to me like Adobe doing its road shows here in Germany in towns that are all 300km and more away from where I live – lack of consideration. 😐
restricted to US residents only? GEE! Just read it in their terms of use, so I guess I´ve to stop all my developments right now. What a mess!
John, now that the contest is over, where can we see the new Pixel Bender filters (and hopefully use them as well)?