Inigo Quilez   ::     ::  
1402 blog posts, written between 2008 and 2016. These are mostly short observations, funny thoughts and word playing. Some are embarrasingly corny, some more deep. I keep it here mostly a little time capsule for myself, organized by month:



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October 2011
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los deberes de la mañana
2011-10-31
llevo así desde el 2003, pero los últimos años la cosa se ha disparado, claro. desde 2007 llevo unos 2500 emails de fans contestados (algo más de 1000 conversaciones). eso sale como a 10 mails a la semana, o más de un mail por día, sin incluir sesiones de irc, chat o facebook que nunca quedaron registradas. aún así siempre contesto. a veces pronto, a veces tarde. pero siempre contesto, por lo general con paciencia y dedicación, con explicaciones, dirigiendo, opinando, aprendiendo, aconsejando, involucrándome. es una hora a la semana, y a veces se me hace bastante muy mega chapa, pero bueno, de momento sigo. después de todo es una buena manera de hacer algo productivo del viaje en b.a.r.t. de las mañanas. ea.
killing the last loose end
2011-10-29
intuitively, when close enough to the (zero iso-)surface of a scalar field defined though implicit function, the distance to that surface can be approximated by the value of the function divided by the length of its gradient.

this makes sense as the difference between the value of the function at the current point and the isosurface, when normalized to that distance, is sort of the derivative of the function if we are close enough (and a gradient is a derivative operator).

this has been very useful when raymarching distance fields (3d julia sets and mandelbulbs among them, procedural distance fields, terrains, metaballs), drawing functions, etc. i learn't the trick at some point and i've used it very successfully for years since, relying only on that sort of above and my intuitive understanding of the construction. and that was enough for my philosophical happiness. until now. i suddenly felt the urge to kill this last loose end.

so, of course this intuition is right-ish. indeed, the standard demonstration uses a linear approximation of the function. then, the missing link was the triangle inequality, which shows that in fact the function divided by the length of the gradient is an lower bound to the distance.


calidad de vida es...
2011-10-27
... por la mañana mirarse al espejo y afeitarse o analizar las espinillas o incluso sacarse un moco, pero en cualquier caso, y sobre todo a pesar del trabajo y la oficina, hacerlo sin estrés, relajadamente, sosegadamente, mirando al infinito, pensando en cosas absurdas, ajeno a toda prisa, despreocupadamente. sip, estoy de acuerdo, eso es calidad de vida.
things that make me feel good
2011-10-25
a life of fulfillment, accomplishment, gratification and satisfaction. you know, like when you save the 100% of the lemmings.
satisfacción y lemmings
2011-10-24
que sensación tan agradable acostarme con esta satisfacción de haber tenido un día completo, me siento realizado. como cuando salvas el 100% de los lemmings
i don't like it
2011-10-22
having grown in a place where debit cards is the way people use their own money, the concept of credit card still makes no sense to me, feels artificial, complex, and totally unnecessary.

i don't like to be forced to borrow money (with all the carefully designed the problems that it brings to me) to buy things i can buy with my own money in the first place. this twisted game was developed for good reasons of course, none of which benefit anybody but the money lenders.

the main problem i have, i guess, is the lack of alternative. basically, assuming i want to have "credit" as they call it here in the future, i am not allowed to use my own money freely. instead, i am forced to play the game and introduce third party people and money into what should only be my very own personal business.
no me gusta
2011-10-21
existiendo tarjetas de débito, el concepto de targeta de crédito me sigue pareciendo artificial, complejo y totalmente innecesario.

no me gusta que me obliguen por principio a tener que tomar dinero prestado de terceros (con todas las trampas e implicaciones que tiene) para hacer las cosas que yo ya puedo hacer por mi mismo con mi propio tengo dinero. lo peor es que no hay elección, no te está permitido tener una vida normal ni futuro si no te ganas (construyes, como lo llaman aquí) "crédito" ante el banco. qué listos que son.
tres - reiterando
2011-10-19
Con curro, concurro con Curro

Mi amigo Curro dice que en verdad no nos podemos quejar de nada. Salvo por un importante detalle, creo que estoy de acuerdo con él
ya estuvimos aquí, y lo superamos... ¿por qué de nuevo?
2011-10-17
me preocupa bastante cuando las compañías hablan de éxito en términos de crecimiento...

gran error, así vamos a la ruina, y nos llevaremos el planeta con nosotros. me pregunto cuán contagido está el viejo continente con esta infección, la crecimientitis.

el crecimiento no puede darse sin límites.

el crecimiento debería ocurrir con moderación, de forma sostenible, y ser consecuencia de la demanda, de las necesidades creativas, de la promoción de la investigación y de la mejora de la calidad de vida, y en general servir a todas las cualidades superiores que nos hace personas a los humanos.

el crecimiento por el crecimiento, como objetivo en sí mismo, con el solo propósito de la competición y la supervivencia, me recuerda al más primitivo de los comportamientos animales, y es completamente innecesario. un sistema sano no necesita basarse en la necesidad ficticia, y autodestructiva, de producir riqueza continuamente. así que, ¿por qué hemos entrado en ese juego mortal y círculo vicioso? la respuesta es sencilla, y ya la sabemos todos.

por eso no puedo evitar preocuparme, y bastante, cuando las compañías en sus reportes anuales miden y celebran y se congratulan de su éxito sólo através de sus cifras de crecimiento...

los hombres ya superon la fase de luchar por su supervivencia, en cambio deberían darse a sí mismos una vida mejor y más elevada
we already went through this, and got over it. so, why again?
2011-10-16
i'm always seriously concerned when companies speak of success in terms of growth...

big mistake, that's killing us all (planet included). i wonder how much of the old continent has been infected by growth-itis already.

growth can go only that far.

growth should happen moderately, be sustainable, and happen as a reponse to real demand, to the need to be creative, promote further research, improve our life quality and in general serve all the high level qualities that makes us human.

growth for the sake of competition, to fuel any sort of violent race, to fight for survival, that reminds me of the primitive behaviour of most animals. but humans are more than that. we have the privilege of not having to fight for survival, we already got through that. so why this self-destruction again?

so, yep, i'm always seriously concerned when companies congratualte themselves for their success measured in terms of growth...
topándome
2011-10-14
no estoy bromeando, ni exhagero, cuando digo que cada día me encuentro alguien que conozo por la calle. he estado contando, y de los últimos 13 días, 12 me he topado con alguien conocido mientras caminaba por la calle. hoy, de hecho, me ha pasado dos veces. a ver a quién me toca mañana. esto es en verdad un pueblo

i'm not kidding when i say i every day bump into somebody i know - i've been counting, really, and in 12 out of the past 13 days i've randomly found somebody i know while walking along the city. today it happened twice; let's see who is it tomorrow?!
california street
2011-10-11
between Montgomery and Mason, is a perfect smoothstep : x²(3-2x), and when climbing it by bike you'll realize the importance of second derivatives. promise.
pointe I
2011-10-09
i listen a lot to ballet music - i get nostalgic very easily. well, today i realized how much i love this one song, Pointe I, played by Steven V. Mitchell as track number 15 in the ballet class album Hits! From the Stage & Screen, which was apparently composed by Frank Wildhorn for the Jekyll and Hyde musical. i can't wait for the winter to stay home, calm, warm, and listen to this endlessly.

[wpaudio url="myContent/pia00.mp3" text="pointe I" dl="0"]

escucho bastante música de clases de ballet; me pongo nostálgico con demasiada facilidad. bueno, el caso es que hoy me he dado cuenta de lo mucho que me gusta la canción Pointe I que toca Steven V. Mitchel en la pista número 15 del álbum Hits! From the Stage & Screen, que por lo que veo fue compuesta por Frank Wildhorn para el musical Jekyll and Hyde. tengo ganas de que llegue el invierno para estar en casita, tranquilo, calentito (goxua) y escucharla contínuamente.
clover
2011-10-07
i spent 4 minutes recording some live coding. it's another extremely basic example of procedural content creation, which is also a classic in my presentations - a clover shape.

730 days
2011-10-05
today it's exactly 2 years (no one day more, no one day less) that i landed in this fantastic place. so much has happened in 730 days, so much learning, so much developing, and more than everything else, so many stories. too many, some very interesting, some too weird.

everything has happened so quickly thought, everything is still new, and i still feel the sense of adventure. i've been relatively confused too. for example, i can barely admit that from those twelve boxes in which i packed the whole of my life, there are couple that i didn't open cause i was too scared to do so. there is one box in particular which i did open but have not touched really, as if it never felt it as the right time anymore for its content. boxes are just boxes though, and are just there to protect memories and nothing more. i'll keep them around for now, with my other very few boxes and possessions.

i've always been a man of little possessions, in fact. i like being able to carry with me everything i am. luckily two years in the country of the materialism hasn't changed me a bit, so most of me is still just that, me (as opposed to what i have). that's good. other things have changed though, but i read them all as positive changes. too many to list, too many to be relevant. suffices to say that i look forward the future in this place. in fact, i just bought two new boxes, not for objects of course, but for whatever is coming around the corner.

and in the meanwhile, if there is one word with which i was to summarize these 730 days, that would be happiness.
more interaction in the traffic light
2011-10-04
translating the post bellow

it's a warm sunny morning of autumn, and my iñcleta (my bike) and i go down Powell Street. the cabs in front of me stop to the red traffic light, and so do i. i have some deep breath, and i look the hotel to my right. in that moment the receptionist of the Westin St Francis at Union Square, who is there helping the visitors grab a cab, says "i love your hat!" to me. i answer "hey, thanks!" right before the iñcleta and I resume our way towards the bart station.
más interacciones de semáforo
2011-10-03
es una mañana soleada de otoño, y la iñcleta y yo bajamos Powell Street, al sol. el semáforo está rojo, así que los taxis que llevo delante paran, y con ellos yo. me incorporo un poco, respiro, y miro el hotel. en ese momento el recepcionista del Westin St Francis de Union Square que se encarga de buscar taxi para los visitantes del hotel me mira y me dice "me encanta tu sombrero!". contesto, "eh, gracias!", y a los dos segundos la iñcleta y yo nos dejamos caer de nuevo cuesta abajo.

al loro, una frase con tres eñes, y sobre todo, 70 palabras seguidas sun una sola tilde)
as a kid
2011-10-01
i've never been that good at analyzing or solving, but i always enjoyed constructing, creating and inventing. as a kid, i always dreamed of being and inventor. now, i want to think that i sometimes invent and, for sure, most of my time create. hah, take that, you people-who-gave-up-on-my-dreams!