This is the personal blog of Ben Houston (bio here), a long-time computer graphics software developer. I've worked on projects like Three.js, Deadline, Krakaota, Exocortex VFX plugins, and Web3DSurvey. I'm also an entrepreneur, having co-founded Frantic Films Software, Exocortex, Clara.io, and Threekit.
Ben Houston • 7 Minutes Read • November 28, 2025
The story of how I coined the term "exocortex" in 1999 to describe a synthetic cognitive regulator - a technological layer that participates in the brain's regulatory hierarchy rather than merely extending its output.
Tags: exocortex, cognitive-science
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • November 19, 2025
When writing tests with Vitest, you often need to perform setup tasks before all tests run and cleanup tasks after all tests complete. This is where Vitest's globalSetup feature comes in handy.
Tags: software-engineering, testing
Ben Houston • 10 Minutes Read • July 26, 2025
This is the story of how I went from building Hollywood VFX tools to raising $65M for enterprise SaaS, and the three crucial lessons I learned along the way.
Tags: enterpreneurship, the-indus-enterpreneur, talks, software-development
Ben Houston • 8 Minutes Read • May 22, 2025
After twenty years building computer graphics software used in Hollywood blockbusters and enterprise product visualization, here are the crucial lessons that can help entrepreneurs build more successful companies.
Tags: enterpreneurship, the-ottawa-network, talks, software-development
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • April 27, 2025
Code coverage tells you what code has been touched. Spec coverage tells you what intent has been verified. In the era of intent-based programming, it's time to stop measuring tests by lines of code and start measuring them by meaning.
Tags: software-engineering, testing
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • April 7, 2025
A detailed exploration of how TanStack Router handles data loading through beforeLoad and loader functions, with insights on execution order, data merging, and performance implications.
Tags: software-development, tan-stack
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • March 28, 2025
Optimize your README.md files to empower both human developers and AI coding assistants alike.
Tags: mycoder, agents, software-development
Ben Houston • 8 Minutes Read • March 27, 2025
After building a high-performance home network with 3Gbps fiber, 10G switching, and NVMe storage, I've learned valuable lessons about infrastructure planning, connection types, and future-proofing that could save you time and money.
Tags: hobbies, networking
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • March 25, 2025
AI coding assistants are excellent at generating tests with high coverage. But there is often a critical problem: they are testing that code behaves as written, not as intended. This "Test Theater" creates a dangerous illusion of quality while providing almost no real protection against bugs.
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • March 24, 2025
Learn how to develop 3D web applications that work reliably across all devices using real-world browser capability data from Web3DSurvey.com with a practical two-tier development strategy.
Ben Houston • 3 Minutes Read • March 21, 2025
Exploring the simplest possible implementation of an agentic coder using just 200 lines of TypeScript, demonstrating foundational concepts clearly and concisely.
Tags: mycoder, agents, software-development
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • March 20, 2025
How to build an autonomous agentic coder that leverages advanced LLMs to transform software development. A talk given at the Ottawa Forward JS meet-up.
Tags: mycoder, agents, software-development, forward-js, talks
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • March 17, 2025
As AI dramatically reduces software development costs, we need to rethink our approach to code. Software is becoming ephemeral - easily replaced rather than maintained. This paradigm shift means optimizing for current needs instead of hypothetical futures.
Tags: agents, software-development
Ben Houston • 3 Minutes Read • March 13, 2025
AI agents are moving beyond IDEs into full automation of coding workflows. Discover how integrating agentic coding into GitHub Actions can streamline software development -- turning issues into PRs and automating documentation, tests, and even code reviews, all through simple GitHub comments.
Tags: mycoder, agents, software-development
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • March 7, 2025
Adding GitHub Mode to MyCoder has radically improved my productivity, making my agentic coder feel like a true team member. By leveraging GitHub for task tracking, pull requests, and CI/CD feedback, I’ve seen a 3x to 5x boost in development efficiency.
Tags: mycoder, agents, software-development
Ben Houston • 2 Minutes Read • March 6, 2025
Adapting your codebase to match AI coder assumptions doesn't just help AI -- it uncovers hidden complexity, ultimately benefiting human developers.
Tags: mycoder, agents, software-development
Ben Houston • 16 Minutes Read • March 5, 2025
As AI coding agents become increasingly capable, we need to rethink our code organization and documentation practices. Here's why traditional "human-first" coding approaches are becoming obsolete and how to structure your projects for optimal AI compatibility.
Tags: mycoder, agents, software-development
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • February 18, 2025
Why TanStack/Start may be the right choice for your next project. Exploring the unique features of TanStack/Start in comparison to Remix, and Next.js.
Tags: software-development, tan-stack
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • December 20, 2024
Open Core combines the viral growth of open source with the revenue potential of enterprise software – but most founders get the balance wrong. Drawing from my experience building both open source and enterprise products, I explain why this model particularly shines for developer tools, and how to execute it without alienating either developers or paying customers.
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • December 6, 2024
From solving a unique rendering challenge for a single film to becoming an industry-standard tool used in blockbuster movies like Avatar and Harry Potter, the origin story of the Krakatoa point renderer.
Tags: enterpreneurship, frantic-films, visual-effects, software-development
Ben Houston • 7 Minutes Read • December 5, 2024
Sometimes big opportunities come from solving what seem like minor problems. In 2002, fresh out of university, I accidentally co-created what would become one of the most widely-used tools in Hollywood visual effects - all because I needed a better way to run fluid simulations.
Tags: visual-effects, frantic-films, entrepreneurship, computer-graphics, software-development
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • December 5, 2024
After learning the hard way that chasing startups and SMBs was a dead end, I discovered why the path to sustainable SaaS growth lies in mastering enterprise sales and the 'land and expand' strategy.
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • December 4, 2024
How a pioneering web-based 3D editor pivoted from trying to revolutionizing visual effects to finding unexpected success in enterprise product visualization.
Tags: clara.io, enterpreneurship, computer-graphics, software-development
Ben Houston • 2 Minutes Read • December 2, 2024
A startup journey can naturally be split into two phases, each driven by a different question: survival and then maybe scale.
Ben Houston • 7 Minutes Read • November 5, 2024
Kubernetes often represents the ultimate solution for container orchestration, but my experience has led me to leave it behind in favor of a simpler, cost-effective solution using Google Cloud Run.
Tags: software-development
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • October 23, 2024
RISC-V is currently quite slow compared to modern CPUs in 2024.
Tags: risc-v, performance
Ben Houston • 3 Minutes Read • September 1, 2024
Web3DSurvey is a tool for 3D web developers that tracks and aggregates WebGL, WebGL2, and WebGPU capabilities providing valuable insights into real-world support for these features.
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • May 30, 2023
Graph-based materials, while innovative and flexible, pose significant costs for run-time dynamic loading in Web and Games. We delve into these costs and propose alternative solutions.
Tags: computer-graphics, standards, pbr, gltf
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • October 25, 2022
Understand the background and potential future of the evolving Khronos glTF PBR material definition.
Tags: computer-graphics, gltf, standards, pbr
Ben Houston • 2 Minutes Read • May 6, 2015
With Physically-based Rendering (PBR) becoming the new standard, we need a simple standard interchange format.
Tags: computer-graphics, obj, standards, pbr