Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Thanks to everyone who came out to my two VSLive sessions today. You can find the slide decks and full source code posted in my download section. Please note that in order to save some bandwidth, I didn’t include the 125MB video file I used in my examples, but you can download that separately here. Just unzip and copy to the Media and GPUAcceleration sample directories and build the project.
I welcome any and all questions, and especially comments/critiques. As a speaker, I rarely, if ever, receive any formalized feedback from the session organizers, so I’d love to hear what those in attendance thought of my sessions. Good or bad, please send it along! Thanks!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Anyone out there heading to VSLive! Orlando this week? I will be giving two introductory sessions on Silverlight as listed below:
Getting Started with Silverlight
Tuesday, October 6, 10:30am
Microsoft Silverlight allows developers and designers to build rich cross-browser and cross-platform applications for the Web using the same tools and technologies that are familiar to .NET developers. This session will cover the basics of Silverlight, including basic XAML, the tools that can be used to create Silverlight applications, the controls available in the Silverlight framework, and pros and cons of Silverlight vs. other web technologies, all while building a few very simple applications demonstrating the power of the framework.
Silverlight Controls and Animations
Tuesday, October 6, 12:00pm
The Microsoft Silverlight framework contains an assortment of pre-built controls that can be used directly by your applications. Developers can also create their own custom controls to fit their requirements. In addition, Silverlight can be used to create animations that are simple or extremely complex, from pulsing buttons to 3D movement. This session will demonstrate how to use the most common and important controls, as well as how to create custom user controls, along with demonstrating how XAML, Visual Studio and Expression Blend can be used to create animations that will spice up any application.
If anyone will be attending the conference, let me know so I can say hello!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The third episode of my Coding4Fun Show, live from Las Vegas, is now up on Channel 9. In this episode I interview Rick Barraza of Cynergy Systems, who has put together several very unique applications and accompanying tutorials demonstrating advanced rendering techniques using Silverlight 3. During the show, we discuss Silverlight 3, UX design, and the three demos he has created showing off advanced rendering techniques. For more on how these amazing demos were made, check out his (currently) three part series at his blog:
You should see the video below if you have Silverlight installed, otherwise head over to the episode on Channel 9 to watch and download in a variety of formats for offline viewing.
The Coding4Fun Show: Advanced Rendering with Silverlight, Rick Barraza
A big thanks to Rick for taking a few minutes out of his vacation to chat with me. Enjoy!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Is there anyone in or around the Las Vegas area between September 7th and September 12th that would like to be my guest for an episode of the Coding4Fun Show? I’ll be in the area for the week and would love to do an in-person show with anyone doing a cool project with Microsoft technologies. If you’re interested, please contact me so we can set something up. Maybe you’ll even get a free lunch out of it. :) Thanks!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The second episode of my Coding4Fun Show is now up on Channel 9. In this episode of the Coding4Fun Show, I interview Arian Kulp, creator of the MEF Utility Runner, a unified host for system tray utility applications. Learn a bit about MEF and how it can be leveraged to create a plugin architecture for any application, as well as how it was used to create the MEF Utility runner, and how you can write your own plugins for this application.
You should see the video below if you have Silverlight installed, otherwise head over to the episode on Channel 9 to watch and download in a variety of formats for offline viewing.
The Coding4Fun Show: MEF Utility Runner with Arian Kulp Enjoy!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Monday, July 20, 2009
I have posted a new version of WiimoteLib as a beta for people to play around with the Wii MotionPlus accessory. Please note that this is not a stable release and should only be used if you wish to mess around with the MotionPlus. Also note that only C# source code is included in this release as it is not a final build. Here’s the change log:
v1.8.0.0
- Taiko Drum Master's TaTaCon drum controller supported (Dean Herbert)
- Bare-bones Wii MotionPlus support (wiibrew.org, testing by Tyler Tolley)
- WiimoteTest UI changed to add MotionPlus data
- Please note that the current version is VERY flakey and may not work at all for you.
- Pair your Wiimote, plug in your MotionPlus, call InitializeMotionPlus()
- Extensions plugged into the MotionPlus will give wacky results...not supported...yet!
- Internal changes to perhaps fix some threading issues
So remember, it’s a beta, it may not work for you, and the data you’ll get back from the accessory is just the raw data it provides. You won’t get real orientation values.
That said, head over to CodePlex and give it a try!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The recordings for the session I gave on XNA Game Studio 3.0 and the XNA Framework to the Facebook .NET Programmers Group have now been posted. In this session, I give an overview of XNA Game Studio 3.0 and the XNA Framework while building a simple Space Invaders clone named Alien Attack. This game is gone into even greater detail with more features in chapter 1 of our Coding4Fun book.
You can find a quick, low-res, streaming version below, or you can download and play the recording at a higher resolution in Microsoft Office Live Meeting. I had a great time presenting the topic and hope to speak to the group again in the future!
Meeting #13 - Coding4Fun: Designing a Video Game using XNA Game Studio 3.0 from Muneeb on Vimeo.
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Update: See this post for a beta release
Ok, I get about 10 emails a day on this, so I figure a status update is in order.
The Wii MotionPlus extension for the Wiimote was released last week. Since then, I and others have been working to figure out how the device works. Unfortunately, it does NOT work as every other extension controller has worked up until this point, mostly due to the fact that the Wii MotionPlus accessory has an expansion port of its own so all of the other extension controllers can plug into it.
In the past few days, some progress has been made thanks to the folks over at wiibrew.org, although functionality is nowhere near complete. For example, it’s currently impossible to have the Wiimote notify you when the Wii MotionPlus is inserted into the bottom of the Wiimote, like all of the other extension controllers do.
I have been working with the information at wiibrew.org and am trying to get things working reliably with my library so that developers can actually get some degree of functionality out of it.
So, all that said, expect to see a new (likely beta) version of WiimoteLib “soon” that has some bare-bones Wii MotionPlus functionality included. It won’t be perfect, complete, or bug free, but it will allow you to tinker with the device a bit. I will update my blog when the new version is available. Thanks!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Monday, June 08, 2009
The very first episode of my new Coding4Fun Show is now up on Channel 9. This is a show I plan on doing monthly, interviewing developers creating fun and interesting projects, and showcasing what they’re doing.
In this first episode, I interview Andy Beaulieu and we discuss his Physics Helper for Silverlight, Blend, and Farseer. You’ll learn a bit about how he made the library, and how you can use it in your own applications for some pretty cool effects. You should see the video below if you have Silverlight installed, otherwise head over to the episode on Channel 9 to watch and download in a variety of formats for offline viewing.
The Coding4Fun Show: Physics Helper for Silverlight by Andy Beaulieu Have a look and let me know what you think. It’s my first time trying this out, so I’d love to hear your feedback. Thanks!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.
Friday, May 29, 2009
I will be giving a session on Tuesday, June 2nd at 6pm EST to the Facebook .NET Programmers group on XNA 3.0. This is an online session and everyone is welcome to attend.
Topic: Building a Video Game with XNA Game Studio 3.0
Abstract: This session will demonstrate how to build a very simple 2D game (a Space Invaders clone) using XNA Game Studio 3.0. Attendees will learn how to effectively use the content pipeline, import 2D sprites into XNA, manage input from the keyboard, mouse, Xbox 360 controller and Zune, manage game state, and debug the resulting game. The sample code will be built on a PC and run on the PC, Xbox 360, and Zune platforms when complete.
Date: June 2nd, 2009
Time: 6PM Eastern | 10PM GMT/UTC - Get local event time in your city: http://tinyurl.com/l9hq65
Add to Outlook: http://tinyurl.com/mpp5of
RSVP and Event Details: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=49178981206
Live Meeting Link to join meeting: http://tinyurl.com/ago484
I’ll also be giving away a copy or two of our Coding4Fun book. Hope to “see” you all there!
Cross Posted from
www.brianpeek.com.