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--- newsletters:2024-07 [2024/07/31 21:01] – Add Jessie OSC demo video + link admin
+++ newsletters:2024-07 [2024/08/01 02:56] (current) – [Friends and outreach] osnr
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== July 2024 newsletter (WIP) ======
+====== July 2024 newsletter ======
 ===== What we've been up to =====
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 ==== Demos ====
-  * [[https://jessie.grosen.systems|Jessie Grosen]] made a [[https://supercollider.github.io|SuperCollider]]-based audio system using Folk over at Recurse Center
+  * [[https://jessie.grosen.systems|Jessie Grosen]] made a [[https://supercollider.github.io|SuperCollider]]-based audio system using Folk, over at [[https://www.recurse.com|Recurse Center]] in Downtown Brooklyn:
     * {{newsletters:initial_demo.mp4}}
     * (Jessie has been [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/commit/91306dde05d98ea6e114812f23afb3f03560d674|building]] on [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/blob/main/virtual-programs/music.folk|some]] of the work that [[https://ijc8.me|Ian Clester]] did on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jik_CfcaGA|music in Folk]] last year)
     * (also building on [[https://x.com/tobyshooters/status/1818017799626793456|Cristóbal Sciutto's]] [[notes:tableshots|hands]]!)
-  * Andrés made a "container" demo. The pink and blue programs below search for ''neighbors'' to be immediately next to them or within their bounds and give those programs ''thick (pink||blue)'' outlines. This is a simple example but you could imagine putting photos into Twitter or Instagram ''containers'' and then uploading them from the table, or sorting through files on your computer by placing them into various Folk ''containers'' that correspond to your filesystem. These kinds of physical → digital interactions are something we're really excited about Folk powering.
+  * Andrés made a "container" demo. The pink and blue programs below search for ''neighbors'' that are immediately next to them or within their bounds and give those programs ''thick (pink||blue)'' outlines.
     * {{newsletters:img_0767.gif}}
-    * Andrés worked with [[http://charstiles.com|Char Stiles]] to [[https://folk.computer/guides/gpu|update the GPU guide]], making it easier to get started with uniforms, functions, etc.
+    * This is a simple example, but you could imagine putting photos into Twitter or Instagram ''containers'' and then uploading them from the table, or sorting through files on your computer by placing them into various Folk ''containers'' that correspond to your filesystem. These kinds of physical → digital interactions are something we're really excited about Folk powering.
+  * Andrés worked with [[http://charstiles.com|Char Stiles]] to [[https://folk.computer/guides/gpu|update the GPU guide]], making it easier to get started with uniforms, functions, etc.
   * Omar made some Switch Brancher tools: 3D calibration (discussed later in this newsletter) has gotten advanced enough that we want to swap systems in and out of the 3D calibration branch without needing a laptop to ssh & git (we still want to go back to main sometimes since compatibility isn't 100% yet)
     *  {{newsletters:img_0600.jpg?250}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240731-194334.jpeg?250}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240731-194420.jpeg?250}}
-  * TODO: 3d distance demo
+  * Omar got the 3D distance demo [[newsletters:2024-06#real-world3d-calibration|from his apartment last month]] to run on folk0 and made it more plug-and-play:
-  * TODO: Andrés shaders?
+    * {{newsletters:img_0609.jpeg?400}}
+    * The printed program at the top in the middle shows the distance (in centimeters) between the program on the left and the one on the right. The target programs are specified by the program being written in the editor at the bottom. Watch the distance change as I move the program:
+      * {{:newsletters:pasted:20240801-023436.mp4?400}}
+  * Andrés has been working on more complicated shader examples:
+    * A [[https://x.com/cwervo/status/1817341598788636800/video/1|scavenger hunt in screen space]] for a red oval on ''folk0'':
+      * {{newsletters:folk_shader_oval_window_to_fullscreen.gif}}
+    * A black shader programming moving over a full-table shader -- feels like there's a ghost or something in the room:
+      * {{newsletters:folk_shader_sliding_black_shader.gif}}
+    * Playing with opacity in shaders and shapes in Folk:
+      * {{newsletters:folk_red_circle_opacity_test.gif}}
   * [[https://mmm.s-ol.nu|s-ol bekic]] did an "augmented brainstorming" session in Milan on folk-opendot -- this might be the largest-scale use of Folk so far!
     * {{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-185341.jpeg?300}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-185353.jpeg?300}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-185347.jpeg?300}}
@@ Line 21: / Line 31: @@
       * "Performance went down to like 2fps and some things stopped working as I expected (in ways that I don't understand yet)"
       * Omar: more motivation for performance work, haha
-  * TODO: opacity
 ==== System improvements ====
-  * Andrés has been working on Commit -> Hold. TODO: Need backward compatibility (?)
+  * Andrés has been working on [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/161|changing ''Commit'' → ''Hold'']]
+    * This change is mostly done, need to do another test on more complicated programs that use ''Commit'' in Folk (n.b. if you're a Folk user, please test this branch out for bugs). Andrés is going to do some more testing August 1st and hopefully will merge the branch August 2nd.
   * Andrés and s-ol worked on [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/159|removing the need for passwordless sudo to use keyboards]]
   * Various [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/160|small fixes from s-ol]] (prep for opening GitHub repo to public):
@@ Line 65: / Line 75: @@
 [[http://www.ok.sc.e.titech.ac.jp/res/PCS/research/procamcalib/|Audet's]] original [[https://github.com/bytedeco/procamcalib|ProCamCalib]] was the only one I could actually get to work.
-{{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-213641.mp4?450}}
+{{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-213641.mp4?0x350}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240801-021925.jpeg?0x350}}
 I made a table of data from different Folk and Audet calibrations on folk0:
@@ Line 79: / Line 89: @@
 === Small accuracy improvements ===
-Buoyed by the fact that at least Audet gets better results with more or less the same scheme (and with a similarly small calibration board), I was able to make multiple small accuracy improvements:
+Buoyed by the fact that at least Audet can get better results with a similar scheme to us (and with a similarly small calibration board), I was able to make multiple small accuracy improvements:
   * Gate pose recording based on pose homography RMSE: we now require the printed and projected tags to be well-aligned to a proper linear grid (RMSE should be less than 5 pixels), or else we won't record a pose. we previously relied only on consistency over the last few frames ('fixed point') as a proxy for this, but I feel more comfortable now having the direct test
@@ Line 158: / Line 168: @@
 Ported the keyboard driver from the old evaluator. Now that keyboards seem to work, I want to work on porting the editor, which is a good test of language capability (maybe we want mutable variables? maybe we want event statements?) and of reliability (the editor has to maintain a lot of transient state) and performance (it slows down old Folk a //lot// when you have a big source file and/or multiple editors at once, and we want to fix problems like that). I'm excited to have a really smooth editor that is as comfortable to work in as a laptop editor, where you're not scared to edit a long shader or have multiple people coding on the table at the same time.
 ==== Friends and outreach ====
@@ Line 168: / Line 179: @@
   * [[https://floating.pt/|Cheng Xu]] visited us -- we talked a bunch about installation art, the advantages of embodied interaction, and using computers for fun over productivity.
     * {{newsletters:andre-s_demoing_opencv_whatsapp-image-2024-07-06-at-00.14.52-medium.jpeg?250}} {{newsletters:cheng_pressing_button_whatsapp-video-2024-07-06-at-00.14.35.gif}}
-  * TODO: Anna & Oliver
+  * [[https://annaylin.com|anna y lin]] & [[https://www.yuanzichen.com|Zichen Yuan]] visited -- some excitement about the portable gadget and the new mode of interaction
+    * {{:newsletters:pasted:20240801-022827.jpeg?200}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240801-022840.jpeg?200}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240801-022858.jpeg?200}}
   * Omar and Andrés visited Jessie at Recurse Center and checked out the setup there; tried to run 3D calibration; put up some signs in the hope that future Recursers will be able to use and maintain the system
     * [[https://x.com/FolkComputer/status/1818003340631961661|{{:newsletters:pasted:20240731-164323.png?400}}]]
@@ Line 174: / Line 186: @@
     * {{newsletters:gtrvenfwoaanh0y.jpeg?0x250}} {{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-201840.jpeg?0x250}} {{newsletters:img_0544.jpeg?0x250}}
   * Our old colleague [[https://weiwei.place|Weiwei Xu]] stopped in while she was visiting the city last week -- it's been a couple of years, so it was nice to show all the changes:
-    * {{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-202458.jpeg?250}}
+    * {{:newsletters:pasted:20240730-202458.jpeg?200}}
+  * today, we met some of our very close neighbors at [[https://www.instagram.com/boshisplace|boshi's place]] and gave them a tour of Hex House and Folk!
+    * {{newsletters:453879836_17924697227925430_5273187919321543829_n.jpg?250}}
 ===== What we'll be up to in August =====