I've started experimenting with the awesome Pixel Bender Toolkit (a sort-of shader for 2D images) and since I'm obsessed with HDR-esque imagery, well my first 'hello-world' shader I decided to write would be one that gives pictures an HDR-like highlight effect . The result is far from perfect, there are noticeable artifacts, but it is reasonable. The preview comparison image shows the result as-is, without any post-processing (except the logo and the split, of course).

Chemix 2.0 now has roughly 20 pieces filling the first two categories. All container items allow liquids visualisation with gravity-aware surface alignment (see image). Work on the engine has been mostly completed, so the current focus is to add the remaining 50 or so items to the last 8 categories.

Chemix has undergone lots of improvements and it's version numbering of 2.0 is well deserved. But instead of rambling about and describing all the new features, view the video to see for yourself:

Menu Inventor 1.2 is progressing slowly, but it will take a long time before it is finally released. In the meantime, small patches to Menu Inventor 1.1 will be released, fixing some of the most annoying bugs and implementing most requested small features.

Today comes the first patch, which adds these:

• Minify feature: By default, the Trigger takes 48x48 pixels of your screen. Double click it to reduce it to 16x16.
• Start up position: Select one of the presets, or set your own custom one.
• Always on top: Trigger always floats above all applications, which can annoy in many situations. An option has been added to disable this and force Menu Inventor to appear in the taskbar.
• Retain menus after launching an item: Menus automatically hide when an item has been launched. An option has been added to disable this.This feature has been reported to be broken! Discuss here

Development of Menu Inventor 1.2 is now officially under way! Though it has been referred to as version 2.0 in some of my posts and pages, I decided to revert to a more "modest" number. However, in the same way as 1.1 was a great improvement compared to 1.0, 1.2 will bring the same advancement in technology and feature set.. Most notably, 1.2 is being rewritten completely from scratch, with more robust and flexible code.

For a very looong time, we showed almost no activity and the reason was the big big IB Diploma exams that we had. These exams are an important steps, that determine all our future steps, so they, of course, take precedence over, well, anything really except for drink, eat and sleap , Fortunately, the exam session is almost over, OJ will finish tomorrow, Jakub Kovář and I have two more papers to go over the next week and Ilja's happy day will come next wednesday.

As soon as the biggest storm was over (two exams from Czech and the hardest Maths paper), I decided that the Yearbook should really advance somehow and so we now have 50 pages done, almost a half! Still a big way to go, though...

We also welcome a new designer and helper Amir Novák on board and already he has proven himself as a truly competent and efficient member, assisting with the design and some administration works. We'd also like to say a huge thanks to Mr. Vladimír Gavriněv, whose imaginative and truly professional photos has filled many of the newly created Yearbook pages.

So, check it out now! (And the funk soul brothers...)

As a New Year suprise, I worked towards the release of yet another test package of Menu Inventor 1.1! Regard it as a small tasting of the upcoming features in 1.1. So what's in the spotlight?

• Modifier upgraded. New Modifier now supports autonaming, retrieving of .lnk targets and keywords launching
• Full Icon support. Icons are working again, including icon ripping and all-new user-selected icons.
• Trigger button extension. The trigger button now has been extended with 6 new handy buttons (though not all are currently available)
• ClipAdd. Probably the biggest star of the release. Mad of adding files one by one? BatchAdd not really working? Try ClipAdd, copy files from Explorer and import them directly to Menu Inventor. Cheeky!

For details, just flip through the release notes, or just download the new test release and try it all for yourself (release notes included). And if you were convinced by this small showcase, please do post any bugs you find. We greatly appreciate your help! Enjoy and wish ya'll a Groovy New Year!!

Yes, after a looong break, I've started working on Menu Inventor again! This weeks' newest development additions include:

• The Icon System has been rewritten!
• Headers and Separators working again!
• Multiple fonts solution implemented

Check out the 'Before' and 'After':

This week's work was dedicated to the yearbook and 9 new pages have been introduced, reaching 33% in the design stage. The following sections were enriched:

teachers

front cover doublepage + two pages

students

former year six photos - one page

events

skiing trip doublepage, elections and bbq doublepage

eca & cas

ping pong and cricket - one page

Also, a second preview is planned and will be soon published in mid-October.

Yes, I know. The Preview is released before the start of September, but I had to hurry up, because tomorrow I'll be printing them out, so why not publish it right now? So why wait? Five new pages to be seen, all in 150dpi resolution.

And heeere they come!: