Ambient occlusion is a lighting technique that is commonly used to create soft shadows on objects. Ambient occlusion isn’t used to create the type of shadows that are cast from objects with a light shining directly on them. Instead, ambient occlusion generates the type of deep shadows that appear in the corners or creases of things, where it is hard for the light to reach.

Technically speaking, ambient occlusion is a global illumination technique. However, in common usage of the term it is often referred to as a cheap alternative to global illumination. To clear up any confusion, what most renderers refer to as “global illumination” is actually an amalgamation of several techniques such as radiosity, metropolis light transport, image-based lighting or photon mapping. The actual techniques used differ slightly from renderer to renderer. Some renderers include an ambient occlusion term as part of their global illumination calculation; others do not.

Like most global illumination techniques, ambient occlusion is dependent on the other geometry in the scene. Ambient occlusion on its own generates less realistic lighting than “full” global illumination. However, ambient occlusion is much faster and less complex to calculate than other methods which is why it is still popular among game developers and in production animation.

(Left) Without Ambient Occlusion. (Right) With Ambient Occlusion
Click for larger image.

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According to Information Week:

In the latest move, Sony Computer Entertainment, the unit responsible for the PlayStation, reduced the price of the SDK, which SCE calls the Reference Tool, to $10,250 in North America, $8,600 in Japan, and $11,250 in Europe. In addition, SCE said it would enhance the development environment by integrating programming tools from SN Systems. SN’s core tool is called ProDG.

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In case you missed it, the annual Game Developer’s Conference is early this year! The conference is usually held in March, but this year it runs from February 18-22 in San Francisco, California. Alumni early-registration deadline is December 5.

Last time we built a Turing machine as a rainy-day project. Today, I’ll show you how to use it to do something useful, like add two numbers together. (more…)

In 1936, Alan Turing conceived of a machine that helped lay the groundwork for modern computing. These extremely simple machines, dubbed Turing machines, are in theory able to simulate the logic of any known computer that can possibly be constructed. While Turing originally conceived of his machine only as a thought exercise and never constructed it, it is possible to build and program a simple version of Turing’s computer for only a few dollars worth of basic office supplies.

This is a fun afternoon project for all ages, and a great way to introduce both kids and adults to the fundamentals of computer programming.

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