OK... so another long wait!

I'm beginning to wonder whether it was actually a good idea at all to put up this blog!? I mean, its useful when I want to write some stuff or I'm bored, but right now, my life is not that empty and I'm finding it hard to keep updating it! I also decided that I want to become a guitarist, so I shouldn't actually be on my computer at all, but should be practicing in my spare time! This is the main reason why I'm posting this now! (I've only recently decided, so I thought I'd post on my blog and get practicing for a while! chances are that I'll get bored and come online sometime so I should still be able to update as frequently as I do now!)

Well, anyway, I said "shouldn't" - that doesn't mean haven't! ;) I've been fiddling around with some code to allow python controlled particles in the 3D (modelling, animating, etc) application, blender. Yes, this is back to where I started learning python, but this time I'm back, it's in C!! So far, all I have to show for it is a little button next to the 'Particle Physics' panel that allows you to choose a text file! It scans all the text files for the text '#BPYBOIDBRAIN' or similar as the first line so unless it has this, it won't show up in the menu. Oh yeah, but I forgot to mention, blender has a new particles system! It's been rewritten completely for the next release (it's in SVN at the moment) so that's the reason for the 'BOIDBRAIN' bit. The new system supports running particles in parallel, which means, amongst a whole LOT of other AMAZING things, (check out the -unfinished atm- docs at: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BlenderDev/Particles_Rewrite_Doc ;) it also supports boids! Only, the boids it supports are controlled by a simple set of 'rules' which can be given different priorities. This is where my idea comes in! What if boids are allowed to store the rules and priorities per particle? What if they can be modified by a 'brain' as the simulation progresses, making different behaviours per particle and circumstances possible? What if this is all accomplished within a VERY SIMPLE python script? What if the scripting interface and capabilities are also available to other physics types such as 'None', making true scriptable particles possible? What if?

Well, so far, the capabilities are confined to the 'boids' physics type only, although once it is complete, the only thing lacking from the other types will be a UI button (cause I couldn't find the space for it in the panel! ;) - easy enough to add in about 5 minutes! Actually, at the moment, all it will do is load a script and run certain functions within the script at (supposedly) the right times. (though I haven't tested this properly yet and it has some problems) The Blender module can be imported however so some basic functionality is available! TODO is to get the properties stored per particle (ID properties maybe?) and devise an API that's suitable for the job! The rest should be simple!

OK, going back to the problem with me using the computer too much, I'm probably gonna have a hard time finishing this little project anytime soon! (wish I had an extra week off from college but hey, I don't, and that's life!) SO I might have to leave it in its current state for a while! No problem though really!

The only other thing plaguing me with problems at the moment is that it's January exam time, so that means computer's off-limits for sure! Anyhow, once I get them over with, and I get my twenty minute piano recital and Music Tech coursework out the way with (gulp), I should be able to spend slightly more time on it! (although I've still got the guitar thing to worry about! - and that's assuming I'm still single lol or the time will just be filled... ;)

Anyhow, I'm gonna have a hard time persuading my music teachers at college that I want to be a guitarist rather than a pianist! (at the moment, I'm all set to go to music school or somewhere, although I took a gap year for that very reason...) It's back into term time on Monday and as much as I enjoy the company of the people at college, it's also a real pain because I thought I had another week, so my room's in a tip, my piano playing sounds like a very bad cough, my Music Tech coursework is about two months behind, and I haven't done a scrap of revision for my maths exams! (gulp - again!) Most of the revision will have to be done over the weekend, add to this the fact that I haven't had a bath in ages and that I wanna dye my hair blue (actually blue-black) before I go back, and the fact that I'm supposed to be hosting an event todo with the youth at my church at my house on Friday night that will also mean I'm out during the day, (although I might have gotten away with this one as I haven't heard that anybody's gonna arrive yet anyway!) and the fact that I'm up at some stupid time (3:40 am) right now, writing on my blog, (I'll probably publish it tomorrow morning!) and I think I've got my work cut out!!

With that in mind, and as I haven't had a decent nights sleep in days, I think I'm gonna finish here! I'll leave you with a screeny of my project as usual, just to water your taste buds, as it doesn't do anything else right now: