About me
First of all, I will introduce myself. I am Roman Lut, born in Ukraine, 1975. At present time I am working as Graphics engine and tools programmer at Deep Shadows. Working at the game development company lefts little free time, novertheless I still dedicate several hours per week for my hobbies. My interests include: 3D Graphics engine programming (DirectX), all aspects of computer game design, virtual reality, reading (technical papers, science fiction), computer games (FPSs and RPGs). Most recent interests include: Modern C++ design, Dessign patterns, J2ME, GPGPU, concurrent programming, distributed computing. Former interests: demo design, electronics.
Overviewing my hobby projects, I found out that I lost a lot of my source codes. So I decided to make this archive to prevent this from happening in future.
I hope you will find something usefull for you here :)
21/04/2008 - KRI conference papers placed on page.
20/01/2008 - ReadManiac closed; source code released.
10/11/2007 - hxGrid 1.09c has been released
22/10/2007 - 3D Ripper DX 1.5 has been released
28/08/2007 - hxGrid 1.09a has been released
16/07/2007 - hxGrid 1.09beta has been released
16/07/2007 - hxGrid 1.09 has been released
04/06/2007 - hxGrid page opened
24/05/2007 - "Distributed computing in small office" article is published at http://www.dtf.ru/articles/read.php?id=46196
10/05/2007 - Forum opened
08/05/2007 - 3D Ripper DX v1.4c has been released
26/04/2007 - 3D Ripper DX v1.4b has been released
20/04/2007 - 3D Ripper DX v1.4a has been released
16/04/2007 - ReadManiac won 2nd place at Sun Java competition 2006! www.javakonkurs.ru
28/03/2007 - hxmap v1.0 released
14/03/2007 - "Plugin system based on COM interfaces" article is published at http://www.dtf.ru/articles/read.php?id=44995
05/02/2007 - 3D Ripper DX v1.4 released
29/06/2006 - An article about thread execution monitoring in Windows is published at www.dtf.ru
17/05/2006 - An article about backlight control from midlets is published at dev.juga.ru
17/05/2006 - An article about multithreading in Windows is published at www.dtf.ru
01/05/2006 - Two articles about 3DS MAX export plugins development are published at www.gamedev.ru
30/03/2006 - 3D Ripper DX 1.0 released http://www.deep-shadows.com/hax/3DRipperDX.htm
05/03/2006 - ReadManiac version 2.5.2
25/01/2006 - ReadManiac version 2.5.1
20/10/2005 - An article about virtual tablet is published on Hardware Portal http://www.hardwareportal.ru/Handmade/Vtablet/index.html
10/01/2006 - ReadManiac version 2.5
01/09/2005 - ReadManiac version 2.4
23/07/2005 - ReadManiac version 2.3
25/05/2005 - ReadManiac version 2.2
17/04/2005 - ReadManiac quickfix for Siemens CX70
14/02/2005 - ReadManiac version 2.1a
09/02/2005 - ReadManiac version 2.1
09/01/2005 - ReadManiac version 2.0 26/12/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.9a 16/12/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.9
14/11/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.8c
05/11/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.8b 27/10/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.8a 25/10/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.8
29/09/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.7b 23/09/2004 - ReadManiac version 1.7a 19/09/2004 - New ReadManiac version 1.7 - full featured browser and more. SceneMainTool plugin added. 15/08/2004 - New ReadManiac version 1.6a - russian version of midlet. Also TCriticalSection class template added to old hobby projects. 02/08/2004 - New ReadManiac version 1.6 - with CX65, C60, MC60 and CF62 support. 20/07/2004 - SendToPDA updated. 27/06/2004 - TileGameCreator added, Virtual Tablet is closed. Source code available. 05/06/2004 - SendToPDA updated
Site map
Current hobby projects:
3D Ripper DX allows to capture frame geometry, textures and shaders from any DirectX 9.0 application, and analize each individual draw call in 3D Studio MAX.
Date: 2006
Platform: Windows Language: C++ Status: Open
hxGrid and Distibuted ATI Normalmapper
hxGrid is library for distributed computing in small office. It allows to use idle time of Windows XP worstations transparently for user.
Currently, ATI Normalmapper has been modified for hxGrid, achieving x20 speed boost.Date: 2007
Platform: Windows Language: Delphi, C++ Status: Open
Old hobby projects:
A lot of mobile phones today are capable to run small JAVA programs. This actually makes them a very, very tiny computers with processing power comparable to IBM 8086 PCs. For sure, I could not pass an opportunity to make a program for mobile phone.
Date: 2003-2006
Platform: JAVA-enabled phones Language: Java Status: Open
WM2005 smartphone application for viewing large map images.
The only available map is Kiev, Ukraine.
App supports GPS position requests from GlabalSat TR-101 personal GPS tracker.Date: 2007
Platform: WM2005 Language: C++, Delphi 2.0 Status: Closed
I was very surprised when I first saw this cute toy in a store. Being a toy, at the same time it is an intergal of lastest advanced technologies. The most good news was that it appeared to be low cost, and very talented peson ICybiePet already reverce-engeneered this robot and made SDK.
Date: 2004 Platform: I-Cybie :) Language: C, asm Status: Closed
SceneMainTool plugin for 3DS MAX
This tool creates scene root dummy in single click.
If you need to move or rotate whole scene in 3ds max, you can't just select all objects and move or rotate them. There are hierarchy, physique linked meshes and link constraint controller which make this impossible. Usually animator creates root node for all objects in scene, except for physique meshes and link controller assigned nodes, and moves scene by moving this root node. This plugin can make root node for a scene in a second.
Date: 2004 Platform: Windows, 3ds MAX 4.x, 5.x, 6.x Language: C++ Status: Closed SceneMainTool.zip
Inspired by Sony's EyeToy, I was thinking about unusual input methods. At that moment an idea about virtual tablet has come. Given a piece of paper, pen and web camera, it is possible to translate pen movement into cursor movement on screen.
Date: 2004 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 6.0 Status: Closed
A GUI to ISiloX converter. Will add "Send to PDA" item to right-click context menu of HTM, HTML, TXT, RTF and DOC files. Will press all buttons in dialogs automatically. Send files to PALM with just a two clicks !
Date: 2003 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 6.0 Status: Closed V1.2a - fixel bug: last character missing from document title if filename is used. V1.3 - new option - use only english letters in .pdb filename - some letters cause problems when .pdb is copied to memory card. SendToPDA - installer + sources
Simple 3DS Max plugin for navigating with cursor keys in 3DS MAX viewport.
Date: 2003 Platform: Windows Language: 3DS MAX script Status: Closed FlyCamera script - archive (zip)
DebugUtil is very usefull component designed to simplify crash location resolving on user computers. After placing on the main form, file and line number will be shown in messagebox along with crash address. Given this information, programmer can find crash cause much faster, especially when bug can not be reproduced on programmer's computer.
Version: 1.0 Date: 2004 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 6.0 Status: Finished
Example:
Exception caught ! Access violation at address 004511F2 in module '_crash.exe'. Write of address 00000000 In module crash(crash.pas), line 32 +0 bytes
ASC file format import/export plugins for 3DS MAX 4.x-7.x.
Date: 2002 Platform: Windows Language: VC 6.0 Status: Closed ASCImpExp - archive (zip)
Source code of *.STM files player (Turbo pascal unit). STM is Scream tracker music file format. I have used this player in some of my demos.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.0, ASM Status: Closed STMPlay source code (zip)
This program makes possible to use russian characters and insert pictures(!) into Mathcad 2.01 documents.
Date: 1995 Platform: DOS Language: Pure asm Status: Closed MCADRUS - archive with source code (zip)
Highly optimized *.STM player. Can play STM files on VERY slow PCs like POISK-1.
Date: 1994 Platform: DOS Language: Pure asm Status: Closed Slowplay with source code (zip)
Template for testing speed of assembler code fragments. Was used frequently for demo coding.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Assembler Status: Closed SpeedTst - archive (zip)
Worms-like game for IBM XT computers with CGA card.
Date: 1997 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo pascal 5.5, asm Status: Closed Comments: Current CPUs are to fast for this game to work normally Battle - archive (zip) Battle - source code (zip)
Library for unpacking *.lzh archives. Actually dissasembled and turned to library a stub of self-extracting archive.
Date: 1995 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.5, asm Status: Closed Notes: Documentation is on russian. Based on this library, I also made a tricky program which could launch a program directly from archive (all file-access functions were emulated and redirected to unpacking code. Unfortunately, sources and program itself have been lost :( LHATPU - source code (zip)
Speech syntesis on PC Speaker. In 1995, sound blaster compartible card was a high-tech product and was not affordable. I developed a dedeicated hardware for sampling 1-bit sounds from microphone. This program uses library of pre-recorded phonemes to read text files on PC Speaker.
Hear a sound sample: "All brand names and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. Читать я расчитывал файлы на русском, поэтому учить английское произношение с помощью этой программы я не советую - чтение английских слов я ввёл только чтобы читать отдельные встречающиеся в тексте слова (имена файлов, термины и т.д.). TalkerSample.wmvDate: 1995 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX- ok) Language: Turbo pascal 5.5, asm Status: Closed Comments: pure DOS required Talker - archive (zip) Talker - source code (zip)
Graphics libraries for Turbo pascal 3.0 and 5.5 - CGA video modes. Introduces double-buffered drawing (standart BGI library in Turbo-pascal do not have this feature).
Date: 1995 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 3.0 and 5.5, asm Status: Closed Comments: Does anyone have CGA card now ? CGAKit (for 3.0) - source code (zip) PManager (for 5.5) - source code (zip)
There was a time when Sound blaster was so high-tech and cost so much, that rare people own it. Using my knowledge of digital electronics, I developed and built Sound blaster 1.0 compatible card. It has about 30 chips (just a logical elements, no microcontroller) and emulated digital part of Sound Blaster 1.0.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Status: Closed Comments: Unfortunatelly, schematics and firmware have been lost. Also check Software Sound blaster emulator
Actually, emulating Sound Blater 1.0 is easy. There are only two output modes: immediate byte-to-DAC output and DMA output. Also care must be taken to emulate SB responce behaviour so games could detect that SB is present. Since all games used standart library from Creative, SB detection pattern was known and was hard-wired into emulator. By using simple trigger-switching, it was possible to emulate SB without microcontroller. I also seen microcontroller-based SB emulator from other author somewhere in the net.
Tandy Sound is a rare sound card, available on PCjr and Tandy computers. It has 3 sound channes + one noise channel. Many old games support Tandy sound. Thanks to it's simplicity, Tandy sound can be emulated with simple hardware part, based on i8053 chip, and simple software.
Date: 1994 Platform: DOS Language: Pure asm Status: Closed Comments: Pure DOS required Tandy - program, source code, wiring diagrams (zip) Also check Software Tandy sound emulator
Low cost IBM-compatible PC named "POISK-1", developed by ukrainian company "ElectronMash" in 1992, became well-remembered epoch in life of many people. It's significance is comparable to appearance of ZX Spectrum series.
This was my first home computer. Experimenting with it a lot, I wrote resident program which replaces original BIOS and:
- makes screen output 2-3 times faster; - solves lot of compatibility issues; - remaps keyboard layout and makes it more comfortable; - supports low-cost joystick interface, developed by me.Many people said that this was the most usefull program
for that PC :)Date: 1993 Platform: POISK1, DOS Language: Pure asm Status: Closed Comments: Wiring diagram of joystick interface and source code was lost :( HBIOS and HBIOS2 - archive (zip)
POISK-1 actually has only two screen modes: 320x200x4 and 640x200x2. All standart text modes have been emulated by BIOS by drawing characters in one of these graphics modes. Direct video-memory writes have been intercepted by BIOS (INT1 was generated), thus making possible for this PC to stay compatible with programs which write to videomemory directly. HyperBIOS replaces both INT10 and INT1 handlers with highly-optimized assembly code, making screen output 2-3 times faster. It could be even fater if HyperBIOS reside in ROM, which is 2-3 times fater than RAM on this PC.
"POISK-1" has modularized architecture. Base module has been limited to CPU, RAM and integrated Video Card. All software were loaded from tape recorder. During a year I ported about 30 games to cassette. When loaded from cassette, there is no operating system - only pure BIOS. INT21 and other interrupts should be emulated by a small stub - DOSEMU. DOSEMU did the good job with a lot of games, and even made possible making savegame to cassette - f.e. with ELITE.
Date: 1992-1993 Platform: POISK1, NO OS ! Language: Pure asm Status: Closed Comments: Cassetes and source code was lost :(
Unfinished hobby projects and examples:
I started this projects to make RPG game for mobile phone. Unfortunatelly, black and white models are obsolete now, and I just unable to draw good graphics in color. Another reason is bogus J2ME implementation, so writing something for this platform is frustrating.
Date: 2003 Platform: Windows Language: C++ Builder 6.0 Status: Closed - luck of interest Editor already can be used to draw maps, but some features are unfinished, and there is no documentation.
Tiled heigh map generator for voxel landscapes. Will make random grayscale image. Was planned to be used in game with automatically created levels. Turned out to be a bad idea - hard to make good quality levels, comparable to artist-drawn.
Date: 2000 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 5.0 Status: Closed - luck of interest
This was supposed to be a simple ToDo list manager with remainder. Unfinished because I found Exel sheet with custom macros do the job well.
Date: 2000 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 5.0 Status: Unfinished, Closed
Distort the image by draging. A good example of image distortion technique.
Date: 1999 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 5.0 Status: Closed
A simple peer-to-peer chat over LAN with file sending (example of TCP/IP usage in Delphi).
Date: 1999 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 5.0 Status: Closed
A simple program to glue together video and audio stream from different AVI files into single AVI file.
Date: 1998 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 5.0 Status: Closed
Demo design:
In 1996-1997 I, Roman Lut (AKA Hax), and Eugene Babich (AKA Dem) acted as demo group named "The Nephilims".
During that period we have produced various demos and took place in demoscene events.
Today you need a stone age computer to run these demos, because most of them need pure DOS and have famous
Borland's "Run time error 200" issue. I suggest you use DOSBOX.
This was the last demo released by our group. After that I lost interest to demo making and moved to game design.
This demo should have take place at Enlight`97 demo party. Unfortunately, due to technical reasons second day of the party has been canceled, and demo was not shown.
Date: 1997 Platform: DOS, can't be run under Windows (DOSBOX - without sound) Language: Borland pascal 7.0, Asm Status: Closed Comments: Source code was lost :(
This demo won 1st place at Enlight`96 demo party.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS, can't be run on current computers (DOSBOX- ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed
This demo has nothing new and basicly repeated vaious effects from other demos. Due to this fact it was not presented at any demo party.Date: 1996 Platform: DOS, can't be run on current computers (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed Source code was lost :(
This Intro came out right after Enlight'96 demo party. We wanted to thank all people who voted for "Nosferatu" at the party.
Rotating bottle of beer, music.
Date: 1995 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed Comments: Source code was lost :(
Morphing geometrical shapes, morphing colors, motion blur, music.
Date: 1995 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed
Images in hand-drawn style morphing in cycle, music.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed
Blinking images, techno music.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS, can't be run on current computers (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed
Zooming into Mundelbrot fractal in realtime, music.
Several tricks have been used to make it possible on old CPUs.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed Mbrot - intro (zip)
Intro dedicated to birthday of my FIDO boss, Eugene Krashtan. Text, 3D mesh, music. Done in 2 days.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed Source code was lost :( Eugene - intro (zip)
New year intro. Falling snow, music.
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS (DOSBOX - ok) Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, Asm Status: Closed Source code was lost :( Snow - intro (zip) Snow - source code (zip)
Papers:
Streaming and effective DVD reading
KRI-2008 game developers conference lecture (russian)
KRI-2007 game developers conference lecture (russian)
Distributed computing in small office
An article is published on www.dtf.ru (russian)
Plugin system based on COM interfaces
An article is published on www.dtf.ru (russian)
Threads execution monitoring in Windows XP/2000 applications
An article is published on www.dtf.ru (russian)
Backlight control from midlets (J2ME)
An article is published on dev.juga.ru (russian)
Top things you never been told about multithreading in Windows
An article is published on www.dtf.ru (russian)
Tips and tricks: 3DS MAX export plugin developent
An article is published on www.gamedev.ru (russian)
Nuances with 3DS MAX export plugin developent
An article is published on www.gamedev.ru (russian)
Article about virtual tablet is published on Hardware portal (russian)
In 1998 I got bachelor's deegree in electrical engeneering. Diploma subject was "Computer-controlled system for monitoring power consumption and quality analisys of electrical energy ".
Date: 1998 Platform: Windows 9x or ME - required Language: Borland Delphi 4.0, asm Status: Closed Notes: Ukrainian language Diploma - paper, wiring diagrams of hardware part (zip) Energy - software with source code (zip)
Article about image morphing for "Kompyutery+programy" magazine (on russian).
Date: 1995 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo Pascal 5.0, asm Status: Closed Morph - article and sources (zip)
Fast non-perspective correct texture mapping (on russian).
Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Assembler Status: Closed Texmaps - article and sources (zip)
Work projects:
Nevertheless these are work projects, they too take a lot of my free time, sometimes all :) So I would like to list them here too.
Sci-fi 3D Action-RPG with elements of space sim.
Date: 2006... Platform: Windows, DirectX 9.0 Language: Microsoft Visual C++ 2003, Borland Delphi 7.0, C++ Builder 6.0 Status: In progress
3D Action-RPG, featuring next-gen graphics and emergent gameplay in seamless world.
Date: 2006... Platform: Windows, DirectX 9.0 Language: Microsoft Visual C++ 2003, Borland Delphi 7.0, C++ Builder 6.0 Status: In progress
Boiling Point: Road To Hell (Xenus)
After finishing Venom, we begun to work on 3D action/RPG Xenus in our own company. Xenus has been released worldwide
30 of may, 2005 by Atari and Russobit-M.Date: 2002-2005 Platform: Windows, DirectX 9.0 Language: Microsoft Visual C++ 2003, Borland Delphi 6.0, C++ Builder 6.0 Status: World wide release ! Xenus international funsite
With our engine and demo level we came to GSC Game World company. There with a small team of tallented people we successfully made first person shooter "Venom".
Date: 1997-2001 Platform: Windows, DirectX 5.0 Language: Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, Borland Delphi 5.0, Assembler Status: Closed Venom page at deep-shadows.com
When engine was ready for game development, we decided to make 3D quest. Unfortunately, soon we realized that this genre is too hard for two-men team. This project has never been finished.
Date: 1997 Platform: Windows, DirectX Language: Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, Borland Delphi 4.0, Assembler Status: Closed
Since 1996 I and Sergey Sabaryansky have been working on the Vital Engine ZL - an engine for 3D games. Vital Engine includes all required components: Renderer, Collision, AI, Sound, Physics. Currently one game is out, and two are developed on this engine.
To the right is one of the first screenshots from Vital Engine running on 5x86-133 and S3 Virge DX board ( very rare :) ).
Date: 1996-... Platform: Windows, DirectX Language: Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0, Borland Delphi 1.0, Assembler Status: Open Vital Engine ZL Official Page
These are the programs I wrote for National Agrarian University:
Exam v4.0 executables with source code (zip) Program for exams. Requests 12 numerical unswers from student and estimates them. Date: 2004 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 6.0 Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed Exam v2.0 executables with source code (zip) Program for exams. Will print 3 questions choosen by random from a provided list. Date: 1998 Platform: Windows Language: Delphi 5.0 Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed NAU - executables (zip) Looped presentation of National Agrarian University Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.0, asm Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed Source code was lost :( BAZA_DEC - executables with source code (zip) Document database Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.0, asm Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed BAZA_EXP - executables with source code (zip) Document database Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.0, asm Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed KADRI - executables with source code (zip) Personel database Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.0, asm Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed STUDENT2 - executables with source code (zip) Students database Date: 1996 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.0, asm Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed Exam3 - executables (zip) Program for exams. Will print 3 questions choosen by random from a provided list. Date: 1994 Platform: DOS Language: Turbo pascal 5.0, asm Note: Ukrainian language Status: Closed Source code was lost :(
Forum for discussion of projects
Deep Shadows companyDOSBOX - a wonderfull DOS emulator. Can be used to run old programs.
Personal pages
AND's homepage - Dmitry Andreev homepage
Ken Perlin - Ken Perlin's home page
Aibohack.com - Aibopet's home page
Jon Seagull - Jon Seagull, 3D Artist, home page
Andrew Zabolotny Page - author of software Sound Blaster and Tandy sound emulators.
http://www.garret.ru/~knizhnik/ - Konstantin Knizhnik personal page
http://denull.ucoz.ru/ - deNULL's home page
For discussion of projects, please use Forum.
Please do not e-mail me for help directly. These emails will not be answered. Some of my projects received a lot of interest from community. It is no longer possible for me to answer such questions on a one-to-one basis.For other questions, please contact Roman Lut
Copyright (C) 2004 by Roman Lut
