iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 29/09/2026

Above, Below are the best modern metal band bar none

Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 26/08/2026

Watching the OSMF drama on /r/dotnet makes it clear to me that .NET needs a mini-revolution. People defending their labour-theft of using OSS without contributing back because their enterprise firm can't be bothered to do the admin paying for licenses. #dotnet #csharp

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 29/07/2026

Finished adding scene primitives to TinyFFR! In v0.9 (coming soonish) adding a line, sphere, cuboid, mesh wireframe, grid, point, or text will be as simple as `scene.AddPrimitiveXyz()`! tinyffr.dev #csharp #gamedev #dotnet #enginedev #3d #rendering

A picture of a 3D scene demonstrating primitive shape renders in TinyFFR.

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 14/07/2026

I renamed some files in my unit test proj and updated to the latest .NET SDK. When I tried to run my tests, the CLR segfaulted. The crazy part? It wasn't the SDK update, the renaming of files changed the reflective type load order via NUnit, exposing a CLR bug. github.com/dotnet/runti... #dotnet

github.com

SIGSEGV in type loader when a struct wrapping a CRTP-constrained struct is loaded before its field type · Issue #130661 · dotnet/runtime

Description Loading Res before Wrapper avoids the crash entirely, so the failure is load-order dependent. Reproduces on Linux x64 on .NET 9.0.0 through 10.0.9. Real-world trigger: NUnit test discov...

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 12/07/2026

Huge progress adding text rendering to tinyffr.dev! Configurable background colour and outlining; built-in support for a decently large default char set; kerning, configurable font size or bounded width/height/both, horizontal + vertical justify, and (soon) camera-facing billboarding too! #dotnet

A screenshot of text being rendered in a 3D scene

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 19/06/2026

It's been a hot minute since I posted, but here's a working mutable vertex grid in TinyFFR -- fully CPU-controlled, dynamically updated every frame with texture colour and normalized heightmap writes! This will be enabled in v0.9 of tinyffr.dev :) #csharp #gamedev #rendering #dotnet #enginedev

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 03/06/2026

Claude tried to tell me I could rotate away inverted chirality in my mesh (opus 4.7 xhigh). I think senior/tech lead engineering roles are going to be safe for the foreseeable future at least :) #claude #llm #ai #programming

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 11/05/2026

Just published to my blog for the first time in years: "Inspecting 3D objects (incl. gltf) with a 28-line C# script" benbowen.blog/post/inspect... #csharp #dotnet #enginedev #gamedev

benbowen.blog

Inspecting 3D objects (incl. gltf) with a 28-line C# script • Ben Bowen's Blog

Ben Bowen's Software Blog

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 17/04/2026

Next version of tinyffr.dev will have camera controllers; and for those I needed interpolation algorithms. Thus... Here's a C# cubic bezier implementation I just finished up! Proud of this one 🙂 #gamedev #enginedev #csharp #dotnet

A screenshot of some C# code implementing cubic bezier interpolation

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 10/04/2026

My Husky says "Dad, why are you still trying to make those stupid cubes render in different ways? Don't you know it's walkies time???"

A picture of a husky. Very floof. Much wow.

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Reposted by Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen)

.NET @dot.net · 31/03/2026

Ever wish you could skip the engine bloat and just render the thing? TinyFFR gives .NET devs a fast path from blank project to real‑time 3D — with documentation that’s genuinely delightful. Ben Bowen tells the story behind it: buff.ly/3tBFlwa

A developer wearing headphones while listening to a podcast and coding.
text reads: From Zero to 3D: Ben Bowen on TinyFFR's Rapid .NET Rendering

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Reposted by Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen)

Jamie Taylor @gaprogman.com · 24/03/2026

𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝟭 New episode: Ben Bowen on TinyFFR—from zero to 3D rendering in .NET 🎯 TinyFFR is a cross-platform library for .NET allowing developers to render 3D models. It fills a gap in the games development tools market: between 3D modelling and full game engines🧵

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 23/03/2026

Finally released v0.7 of TinyFFR (my 3D realtime rendering library for C#/.NET). This version adds in support for Vulkan, better Linux integration w/ Wayland, skeletal animation node transform tracking, gltf/glb support, and more! Check it out at tinyffr.dev #csharp #dotnet #gamedev #enginedev

tinyffr.dev

Homepage - TinyFFR Manual

This is the homepage/manual for Tiny FFR (C# Tiny Fixed Function Rendering Library).

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 10/02/2026

Despite being fairly skeptical regarding AI, I tried today to use Claude Code to implement a fairly simple feature in my .NET rendering library. The results were... Better than I expected, but much worse than I'd need it to be for this to be the main way I author code. #csharp #dotnet #claude

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 06/02/2026

Been a while since I posted; here's my realtime rendering library loading an entire glTF file and creating a live scene with it in ~20 lines of C# In this example I'm using KDE/Plasma on Wayland tinyffr.dev (upcoming v0.7 will support this) #csharp #gamedev #graphicsprogramming

image showing the Vulkan "beautiful game" sample glTF file being rendered

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 10/01/2026

I don't often self-aggrandize but I'm so proud of myself for getting tinyffr.dev (my C# realtime 3D renderer) working on Wayland just 2 weeks after moving from Windows 🥳 Still bugs need ironing out but the upshot is I can render a spinny cube in ~20 lines of C# in linux #csharp #linux #gamedev

tinyffr.dev

Homepage - TinyFFR Manual

This is the homepage/manual for Tiny FFR (C# Tiny Fixed Function Rendering Library).

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 09/01/2026

I'd been using KDiff3 in Windows for decades without knowing it was a KDE app. Now I'm running @kde.org Plasma as my main desktop it feels like there was something always calling to me over the years 😅

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 03/01/2026

Been switching to #linux for #csharp / #dotnet dev over xmas. KDE/Plasma is so much better than Windows. Only bad point unfortunately is @jetbrains-rider.bsky.social -- it's so laggy compared to VS. I don't even think it's rendering at my monitor's refresh rate (240hz). Anyone got any tips?

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 29/12/2025

Just released v0.6 of TinyFFR (my .NET realtime 3D lib), now featuring support for much more material types! Support for Linux, MacOS, Windows; and integrated with WPF, Avalonia, and WinForms. tinyffr.dev | github.com/Egodystonic/... #csharp #dotnet #gamedev #enginedev #graphicsdev

Screenshot of anisotropic metal material example

Screenshot of absorption-transmission material example

Screenshot of mirror-reflective material example

Screenshot of alpha-masked material example

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 16/12/2025

Stress testing my rendering library with lots of highly-subdivided polygons and way too many shadow-casting lights. They kind of look like hot air balloons! #csharp #dotnet #gamedev #enginedev #rendering

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 03/12/2025

While testing the texture UV scaling for my icosphere mesh generator, I accidentally somehow created a sierpinski fractal error 😄 #gamedev #csharp #dotnet #enginedev

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 02/12/2025

I got anisotropic metal working in my 3D rendering lib! Quite tricky as the PBR impl I'm using expects tangent-space vectors but the maps tend to be polar angles. Will be officially added to v0.6 of tinyffr.dev (+transmissive, emissive, clearcoat). #csharp #dotnet #gamedev #enginedev

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 22/11/2025

Just encountered a StackOverflowException when using a C# record that has a property of its own type. The exception comes from the compiler-generated ToString() that blindly tries to call ToString() on the cyclical property reference. Seems an oversight that it's that easy to do. #csharp #dotnet

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 15/11/2025

My #visualstudio 2026 #dotnet / #csharp experience... Things I really like: UI, stability, perf, upgrade experience, new tab manager. Things I couldn't care less about: AI agents, Copilot, "Inline Completions", AI-powered search. All disabled. Can't wait for the AI bubble 🫧 to burst!

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 13/11/2025

For me the most exciting thing about @valvesoftware.com re-doing steam machines is the prospect of a revamped Steam Controller. I was one of the few weirdos apparently that really liked that thing.

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 06/11/2025

#dotnet #csharp Why does NuGet/dotnet make it SO opaque to understand where my packages are being restored from? It makes testing packages so hard-- you don't know if your package is actually being restored from a configured source, or one of the many caches strewn around your HDD...

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 04/11/2025

User reported that my mixed C#/C++ nuget pkg was busted on Linux. I was expecting some dependency hell or nasty native runtime resolution issue... Turns out I flipped the MacOS and Linux libs in the last step of my CI build. Ubuntu was basically saying "bro what's a .dylib!?" 😅 #gamedev #dotnet

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 04/11/2025

C# 3D rendering lib update: Trying to get the function ptr to toggle vsync on an X11 OpenGL system running in a VM, but it's null. Not sure if I'm looking for the wrong func, generally just Doing It Wrong™️, or if the VM's OGL abstraction simply doesn't supply that extension... #gamedev #csharp

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 01/11/2025

I'm currently trying to add vsync support to my C# rendering lib. Windows: Done. Linux: WIP. But MacOS? Not sure it's worth renting a mac again for another month just for this. Apple refusing to enable development on MacOS without buyin just hurts indie devs like me. #csharp #macos #gamedev #dev

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 22/10/2025

Today I changed the normal-map pattern generators in my 3D rendering library "TinyFFR" from using Vector3s to unit spherical coordinates. I think it's much more intuitive to create normal patterns with azimuthal/polar offset pairs than creating unit vects. #devblog #csharp #dotnet #gamedev

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 22/10/2025

iPlayer app just sent me a push notif "reminding" me to watch more QI ✨ Insta-blocked ✨ No streaming app ever needs to send notifications. Get fucked

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 22/10/2025

I like this app/site. Came here because #reddit is getting so unusuable... Over the last yearish they've broken my fave app (API costs), banned my account with no reason, stopped RES from working, keep adding visual barf (badges), redesigns/phasing out the "Old" design... #Enshittification

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 15/10/2025

I'm new to Bluesky; I just learned that posts are called "Skeets"... Man, "Bleats" was right there... 🐏

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Xenoprimate (Ben Bowen) @tinyffr.dev · 14/10/2025

It took a while, but I finally finished adding cross platform (Win/Mac/Linux) and UI integration support (WPF, Avalonia, WinForms) to my C# .NET 9 rendering library 🥳 tinyffr.dev

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