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| newsletters:2026-06 [2026/07/16 20:35] – [Contours] osnr | newsletters:2026-06 [2026/07/18 13:30] (current) – [SVA system fixes] osnr |
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| ====== June 2026 newsletter ====== | ====== June 2026 newsletter ====== |
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| {{htmlmetatags>metatag-og:title=(Folk Computer June 2026 newsletter) | {{htmlmetatags>metatag-og:title=(Folk Computer June 2026 newsletter) |
| metatag-media-og:image=(newsletters:20260705-214508.jpg) | metatag-media-og:image=(newsletters:img_5748.jpg) |
| metatag-og:description=(Contour object tracking; ShaderToy demos; fields demo; performance analysis; color spinner) | metatag-og:description=(Contour object tracking; new drawing API; ShaderToy demos; fields in code printout; performance analysis; color spinner) |
| }} | }} |
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| Our next Folk open house will be in the evening on **[[https://luma.com/vk6nnzl5|Wednesday, July 29]]**, at our studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. | Our next Folk open house will be in the evening on **[[https://luma.com/vk6nnzl5|Wednesday, July 29]]**, at our studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. |
| | |
| | Also: [[https://danielpipk.in/|Daniel Pipkin]] and [[https://github.com/smj-edison|Mason Jones]] will be exhibiting Folk at [[ |
| | https://craftlakecity.com/diy-festival/|Craft Lake City's DIY Festival]] August 7-9 in Salt Lake City. |
| ===== What we've been up to ===== | ===== What we've been up to ===== |
| ==== General system improvements ==== | ==== General system improvements ==== |
| === New drawing API === | === New drawing API === |
| |
| Andrés: TODO | Andrés: I finally merged the [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/261 |Revive drawing capabilities (new and improved!)]] PR! So now you can do: |
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| Units on everything. | |
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| Error reporting requires you to look at the shapes.folk log right now: | * Wish $this draws a circle |
| | * Wish $this draws a circle with color gold radius 20mm |
| | * Wish $this draws a circle with color magenta radius 20cm position [list x 20% 50%] |
| | * and you get this: |
| | * {{.:pasted:20260718-114822.mp4}} |
| |
| {{newsletters:screenshot-2026-06-17-at-10.51.21-am.png?400px}} | We enforce units (mm, cm, m, %) on everything in the new drawing system which is nice as it makes it easy to tell, using your real-world brain, where the shapes you’re drawing are going to land. |
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| | * Error reporting requires you to look at the shapes.folk log on the web dashboard right now: |
| | * {{newsletters:screenshot-2026-06-17-at-10.51.21-am.png?400px}} |
| |
| Causality TODO | * By the end of July we should have [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/272 |a fix that bubbles up errors to the top level reporting mechanism]] on the table, which should make this annoying reliance on the web dashboard for shapes.folk errors disappear. |
| === ShaderToy compatibility === | === ShaderToy compatibility === |
| |
| {{.:pasted:20260705-212644.jpeg?0x300px}} {{newsletters:img_5975.jpeg?0x300px}} | {{.:pasted:20260705-212644.jpeg?0x300px}} {{newsletters:img_5975.jpeg?0x300px}} |
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| We've had an [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/issues/106|issue about this]] for a while, since the internal shader/pipeline API is mostly just meant for use by the drawing primitives, not for creative coding, but this new feature was immediately motivated by talking to [[https://ktrosenberg.github.io/|Karl]] [[https://discord.com/channels/956758212152025098/956765077883744266/1512876563669057726|on Discord]] about richer drawing APIs -- [[https://danielpipk.in/Daniel Pipkin]] did an [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/270|initial attempt]], and then Omar built on the approach and figured we might as well go all the way to ShaderToy compatibility if we're going to have a user-facing API for toy shaders. | We've had an [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/issues/106|issue about this]] for a while, since the internal shader/pipeline API is mostly just meant for use by the drawing primitives, not for creative coding, but this new feature was immediately motivated by talking to [[https://ktrosenberg.github.io/|Karl]] [[https://discord.com/channels/956758212152025098/956765077883744266/1512876563669057726|on Discord]] about richer drawing APIs -- [[https://danielpipk.in/|Daniel Pipkin]] did an [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/270|initial attempt]], and then Omar built on the approach and figured we might as well go all the way to ShaderToy compatibility if we're going to have a user-facing API for toy shaders. |
| ==== Fields + local feedback calibration / nudging experiment ==== | ==== Fields + local feedback calibration / nudging experiment ==== |
| |
| {{.:pasted:20260714-173451.jpeg?200px}} {{.:pasted:20260714-173522.jpeg?200px}} | {{.:pasted:20260714-173451.jpeg?200px}} {{.:pasted:20260714-173522.jpeg?200px}} |
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| I think this is still viable, but the physical setup is annoying to switch to/from, and it pushes the USB bus hard, and there's this giant shadow. So shelving for now. | I think this is still viable, but the physical setup is annoying to switch to/from, and it pushes the USB bus hard (the Brio 4K wrecks whatever hub it's connected to), and there's this giant shadow. And the Brio 4K can't do 60fps at 4K! So shelving for now. I want to try some simpler schemes. |
| |
| === SAM2 experiments on laptop === | === SAM2 experiments on laptop === |
| {{newsletters:screenshot-2026-06-18-at-4.26.26-pm.png?500px}} | {{newsletters:screenshot-2026-06-18-at-4.26.26-pm.png?500px}} |
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| | Disadvantages of magic-trace: it needs an explicit trigger + it only runs on literal Intel CPUs (no AMD, no ARM / Raspberry Pi / Orange Pi / Apple Silicon) |
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| === Mason's cross-thread branch from last year === | === Mason's cross-thread branch from last year === |
| === SVA system fixes === | === SVA system fixes === |
| |
| TODO Omar, Andrés, and Brian | Omar, Andrés, and Brian went in and fixed up the system at SVA in Manhattan. |
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| {{newsletters:img_5858.jpeg?250px}} | {{newsletters:img_5858.jpeg?250px}} |
| * Daniel will be exhibiting Folk at [[ | * Daniel will be exhibiting Folk at [[ |
| https://craftlakecity.com/diy-festival/|Craft Lake City's DIY Festival]] August 7-9 in Salt Lake City. Reach out to him on Discord if you have any questions! | https://craftlakecity.com/diy-festival/|Craft Lake City's DIY Festival]] August 7-9 in Salt Lake City. Reach out to him on Discord if you have any questions! |
| * Omar: further push on performance to make the in-system editor really usable | * Omar: further push on performance using trace to make the in-system editor really usable |
| * Omar: new gadget design; our current one is falling apart, so it might finally be time | * Omar: new gadget design; our current one is falling apart, so it might finally be time |
| * Omar: SAM2 object-tracking system, distortion correction | * Omar: SAM2 object-tracking system: distortion correction, make some interactions around it |
| * Omar: rfid | * Omar: Pick RFID project back up |
| | * Andrés: Fixing [[https://github.com/FolkComputer/folk/pull/272|silent shapes.folk errors]] |
| ===== Links we've enjoyed ===== | ===== Links we've enjoyed ===== |
| |
| ==== Andrés ==== | ==== Andrés ==== |
| * TODO | * [[https://danielsmith.com/color-map/| Interactive Color |
| | Map (CIE-Lab)]] |
| | * [[https://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/93/HPL-93-61.pdf|Mark Weiser - Some Computer Science Issues in Ubiquitous Computing (1993)]] |
| | * [[https://www.filfre.net/|The Digital Antiquarian - Deep Histories of Analytical & Text-Based Games]] |
| | * [[https://cie.co.at/|CIE Color Spaces & Uniformity Guidelines for Vision/UI Ergonomics]] |
| | * [[https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-hall-effect-sensors/|Understanding Hall Effect Switches & Magnetic Prototyping Mechanics]] |
| ==== Omar ==== | ==== Omar ==== |
| * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_fusion | * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_fusion |
