Matt's Blog
Care to comment? Email me at mscheine@iastateSPAMMAPS.edu
July 31th 2008
More Demoing, Team Gandalf Dominates
Today we had the program evaluation with Kevin Saunders in the morning, and demos in the afternoon. The evaluation made me recall all of the fun and enlightening activities we had here, the C++ course, the OpenGL course, HCI class, Journal Club, field trips to John Deere and Principal, luncheon lectures, etcetera etcetera. I gave the REU a glowing review, as it richly deserves. We had to demo the Magic Table again this afternoon, and Kevin Saunders was very impressed by our work. Check out the Quotes page for his opinion verbatim. The 2008 HCI Faculty Member of the Year also came by to check out our work, he only had a couple critical statements to share. Tomorrow: LAST DAY! Set up in the morning, presentations all afternoon. This will probably be the last entry of the summer, unless something extremely important and unexpected tomorrow. But I doubt it.
ThomasNiedzielski - 01 Aug 2008 - 00:12
Dude, where was your Star-Trek picture this week? You're just phoning it in now. I'm disappointed.July 30th 2008
Demos
Nothing much happened today, except all the groups had to demo what we had so far for Steven Gilbert, Catherine, and Pam. I think Team Gandalf's presentation went very well, except for a little marker trouble. We were exploring possibilities of adding new, simpler markers to lessen the camera confusion that was occurring, but unfortunately Andrew wasn't around. We need his computer to train new markers, but since word on the street is he won't be around for the rest of the week, we'll have to make due with the markers we have. It's not a big deal, but it would have been nice to solve that slight issue. I'm also supposed to evaluate the REU as a whole. Seeing as how we'll do that tomorrow with an actual evaluation, and I hate to repeat myself, I'll say the best and the worst. The best was probably paintball, although I enjoyed pretty much everything we did. The worst was the library orientation and tour I suppose, not because the information wasn't valuable, but because it was much longer than necessary and we most likely could have figured it all out ourselves anyway. Not very original, I know, but that was the only thing that really stands out in my mind.
NizarKhalife - 31 Jul 2008 - 00:34
Explosions?July 29th 2008
Animation Problem Solved
Yesterday afternoon I was able to solve the problem I was running into with the animations. Apparently I need to take an independent object, animate that, and combine it with the rest of the module when it's time to export. What I was doing before was animating only part of a greater object, which for some reason did not carry over to the Table. Thanks to this breakthrough, I've animated the Moon Tours component and am almost done with the Solar Sailing one. I have noticed a problem with the materials on the Moon Tours component, so that will probably be the next step. Team Gandalf's is pretty much done, these animations are the last real part of our project to be finished.
SamanthaLevine - 30 Jul 2008 - 10:28
Yay Matt- we are awesome!NizarKhalife - 29 Jul 2008 - 21:55
I love the Moon Tours animations. I want explosions though. BIG EXPLOSIONS!DavidOluwatimi - 29 Jul 2008 - 17:11
Yeah, that space sailboat was kinda cool....kinda.JennaLanger - 29 Jul 2008 - 16:57
Welcome to the home stretch...July 28th 2008
Successful Animation
I was finally able to get the spy component animation working, but only by adapting the working lab into it. This wasn't hard, but it makes me concerned about creating future animations that don't require, for example, a rotating satellite dish. This afternoon I'm going to try to retrace my steps when I first made the lab and see if there was an important step that I forgot to do in my second and third tries. At this point, animations are essentially extra, but they would definitely spice up the application quite a bit.
July 25th 2008
Wal-Mart Run
This morning Team Gandalf went on an epic quest to Wal-Mart in search of posterboard and electrical tape. We succeeded in this endeavor and I also got a sweet ISU hat. I also tried a couple more exports for the spy satellite module, neither of which worked. I've got one more idea that might work, but otherwise I don't know what's going on with this component. We're working on fixing some of the bugs with the new Magic Table, especially the lighting and some of the changes Eliot wants us to make. The paper is also due today, and we're going to the PWSE poster presentations. Busy day ahead, but I'm confident we'll be in fine shape by this time next week. And it's almost the weekend!
SamanthaLevine - 25 Jul 2008 - 15:02
Good luck with animations!!! Team Gandalf is awesome!ThomasNiedzielski - 25 Jul 2008 - 13:39
Was there anything you had to drop in the dumpster behind the Wal-Mart?July 24th 2008
Table Overwhelming
Today Sam and Andrew put together the rest of the brand new Magic Table, complete with mirror and flatscreen TV. First impressions: it's very impressive looking and much more neat looking than the old one, but it's also huge. Maybe too huge, but that's how it goes. Anything's better than the old table, at least this way we won't be getting wrist cramps while using it. I was able to get the rotating satellite dish working on the lab module, which looks pretty cool. I also got the dishes rotating on the spy component, but for some reason it didn't translate to the Magic Table. I'll have to re-export the file and try again, I'm not sure why it didn't work. Tomorrow: Going to Wal-Mart for arts and crafts! Plus a PWSE presentation that we don't have to do!
BrianRussell - 24 Jul 2008 - 23:58
I'm glad to see the Star Trek Picture of the Week today. It wasn't there yesterday.TravisChristian - 24 Jul 2008 - 21:10
Headaches and blurred vision are much better than carpal tunnel and blunt force trauma.July 23rd 2008
AN-I-MATE!!
This morning I made a lot of progress with animating the satellite dish. I was able to get it to rotate around a central pivot, although it has a strange delay for half a second every rotation. However, I realized I didn't like how the model itself looked, so I'm going to redo it from scratch. However, since I know what I'm doing this time, it shouldn't take as long. This afternoon I need to touch up a couple models and hopefully finish the satellite dish. After that, I'm brainstorming more animations to possibly do, since we're in really good shape on our project. I also plan on reading over the paper, even though I'm sure it's fine the way it is. Also, yesterday I apparently didn't give Sam any credit for the work she's been doing, so I now say she is doing a great job both with the paper and constructing the table. Hooray for her. EDIT: I totally forgot about Star Trek Picture of the Week yesterday, so here it is now: A very nice Star Trek wedding.
NizarKhalife - 23 Jul 2008 - 19:06
I think it might be too late to make up for that Matt since I'm about 89% sure that Sam already sent the ninjas to assassinate you. Don't worry buddy! I'll break the news to your mother. I can be ever so gentle in these sensitive situations.July 22th 2008
Lunch with Jim Oliver
We had our second luncheon lecture in two days today. Jim Oliver, the head honcho around these parts, came to talk to us about...graduate school. I'm sensing a theme in the lectures this week. He presented a very positive picture of graduate school and said it was one of the best times in his life. While I don't think I'm headed for academia graduate school is now looking like a very distinct possibility. I'm running into some snags with the explosive particle system and it looks like it might not pan out. I've also successfully animated the satellite dish to spin around, but it's not looking quite right. I need to go back and figure out how to make it look exactly right, but for right now I need to convert the advanced components into 3D Studio Max so they can go on the Magic Table. Travis and I are moving quite steadily through our list of things to do for this week, you can track our progress on the board, but don't touch!
NizarKhalife - 22 Jul 2008 - 20:16
Ease up on Sam! She's building the dang table.JohnMorales - 22 Jul 2008 - 17:02
You animating the satellite dish at 3d studio max?TravisChristian - 22 Jul 2008 - 15:18
Oh, is that a subtle attack on Samwise?SamanthaLevine - 22 Jul 2008 - 14:37
You are a beast!!! I don't know how you go about doing all of this 3ds stuff. I'm sad I can't check anything on the board...yet.BrianRussell - 22 Jul 2008 - 13:48
There does seem to be a theme for the lecture series this week. Graduate school sounds much better than I originally thought.July 21th 2008
THE FUTURE
Complete buzzkill of a luncheon lecture today. Thelma Harding came to talk to the REU about THE FUTURE, and more specifically, graduate school. She talked about the process of applying to graduate schools and how we should all go to Iowa State. This lecture was a sobering reminder that I haven't really thought at all about life after college and probably should have started thinking about it a year ago. I don't know whether I want to go to graduate school or get a job, and while this REU was supposed to help me figure that out, I remain as indecisive as ever. Harding did talk a little bit about financing going to graduate school, which was very helpful, because I know almost nothing about that subject. Something else I need to research, sigh. When I get back home in August, I think I'll really have to put some serious thought into this topic. Better late then never I guess. For today, I fixed one of our basic components that was a little messed up and started work on a basic animation. I'm trying to get a satellite dish to rotate (counter-clockwise, because I'm a rebel). The explosion I was working on last week looks pretty good, but someone was on the upstairs computer so I couldn't try exporting it to the Magic Table. Maybe this afternoon it'll be free to try.
NizarKhalife - 21 Jul 2008 - 22:53
Counter clockwise rotation is part of an ancient ritual of raptor summoning. I'd be careful.DesireeVelazquez - 21 Jul 2008 - 16:43
I'm on the same path. Though I did, at some point last week, for almost a day, consider how to become a librarian. It was an interesting day. I could tell I felt at peace with the universe. But now the universe decided to drop this on me. Though I was surprised about all the HCI degrees in Iowa. It's in every department...July 18th 2008
Particles!
After fixing some minor problems yesterday, I have fully entered the world of particle systems in 3D Studio Max. It looks like there's great potential for all sorts of exciting projects to be made here, but the implementation will be tricky. I'm hoping to make the satellite dish on the lab send out waves of circles out into space, like a cartoony radio transmitter/receiver. I was also thinking about making one of the components "leak" smoke, which could look amazing. Once I figure out these particles, which will probably take a while, on to animations. Also, because one critical reader complained that my blog was becoming "boring", I give you Shark Vs. Octopus!
NizarKhalife - 20 Jul 2008 - 22:23
I'm more partial to sharks of the flying variety.JennaLanger - 18 Jul 2008 - 14:47
You guys should ditch the space station idea. New idea: Deep Sea Castle! instead of exploding at the end, a shark can come eat it, and then the octopus will strangle the shark.AllisonWhite - 18 Jul 2008 - 14:20
where's the video of robot v. raptor v. zombie robot raptor??July 17th 2008
More Robotic Discussion
We had yet another article about robots this week for Journal Club, specifically how robots should interact with humans in a social setting. The article speculated on how humans interact with both non-humanoid (R2-D2) and humanoid (Data) robots. It suggested that humans were comfortable interacting with non-humanoid robots in most cases, even if the robot is devoid of basic speech and motor movements. Humans are also willing to interact with humanoid robots so long as the robots are high-functioning, as in, they possess common sense and fluid speech patterns. However, if the humanoid robot is lacking in those areas, humans could be made uncomfortable by how creepy the robot is. The article also discussed the use of basic robots as therapy for autistic children, because the robot obeys commands precisely. I guess children with autism respond well to that kind of thing. Textures were added to the components using Studio Max, and once they were converted into .IVE files, they showed up on the Magic Table darn well. I also tried some programming this morning, but the combination of not understanding really what's going on in the code and not being able to run it deterred me considerable. But that's OK, I've got more modeling to do! Travis and I figured in order to "label" our components we can just make text models and import them into the parts library near the corresponding component. Once I get that done, I'm going to try to figure out how to animate the satellite dish on the lab. That could take a while.
NizarKhalife - 17 Jul 2008 - 21:14
Looks like the "magic" space station is coming along nicely. For the text, wouldn't it just be easier to update your text on the bottom left with the name of whatever part you have on your staff? Then if you have your staff in the parts library you can update the text to the part names as you "roll over" the parts? I hope to be able to play around with the game at the Symposium.July 16th 2008
On the Importance of Being Polite
All of us just attended a PWSE lecture about dining etiquette, where we were lectured about the various methods we should use when attending a lunch interview or business meeting. It was a little nerve-racking eating lunch, because the lady lecturing would walk around and point out a mistake to the rest of the group should someone make one. On the way back, we discussed how useful these rules are. I'm in two minds about them, it is true that these rules are not efficient ways to eat and really don't indicate your worth as a person or a job applicant, but if you want a job, you should do whatever it takes to get the job, and folding your napkin a certain way isn't too much to ask, plus it could make a difference. I think I'm going to use what I've learned today in future job interviews, and leave the rebellion to the starving artists. The honeymoon's over with Studio Max, as I begin to add textures to the objects from Maya, since the 3D textures don't carry over into Smax. The way to add textures in Smax is totally different then in Maya, so I have to learn a new whole program. However, I don't think it'll take too long to learn, and then we'll have nice multi-colored components for the Magic Table. Here's your Star Trek Motivation Poster of the Week!
NizarKhalife - 16 Jul 2008 - 19:02
Poor Ensign Ricky. He had so much going for him. By the way, every time you say "Smax" it reminds me of:
TravisChristian - 16 Jul 2008 - 13:52
I'm guessing it's Kirk. Just going out on a limb there.July 15th 2008
Multi-Marking
Another breakthrough was made today as Travis got multi-marking working for the parts library and the build area. Multi-marking just means the objects are represented by several markers rather than just one. This is useful because if a hand or arm accidentally covers up one marker, the objects won't all disappear. I'm really happy at how much progress has been done with the Magic Table program, even though I had almost nothing to do with it. What I have been doing is getting our textures to work. I was able to make objects with 3D Studio Max yesterday, but all of their origins were messed up and that was screwing with how they were showing up on the table. This morning I solved that problem by reimporting the objects into Smax differently, so all of the basic objects are showing up on the Magic Table with textures working perfectly. They look pretty good, if I say so myself. The next step for me is to keep modeling new components, since I haven't finished that yet, and load the models I've already made into Smax and make sure they look OK. We also had a faculty luncheon lecture today. Eve Wurtele told us about Meta!Blast, the big program that the Biology team has been contributing to for their research project. It sounds really exciting to play, you're a high school student in command of a experimental ship tasked with saving the last plant on Earth. It seems like a combination of "Fantastic Voyage" and that issue of Justice League where they shrink and go inside the kid's body and encounter an civilization of microbes. I would definitely play such a game, who cares what Robert West says about video games' effect on my mind. The fate of the human race depends on me, I can handle a little brain damage.
NizarKhalife - 16 Jul 2008 - 00:21
[burn src="Nizar" target="Matt"] In your case it also helps to have extensive brain damage already. What's a little more, anyway? [/burn]JennaLanger - 15 Jul 2008 - 17:02
The game reminds me of the Magic School Bus!July 14th 2008
3DSmax
Back to work today after a fun weekend. I had to redo some of the markers I made last week, as some weren't the right size and others were too small to be picked up definitively by the camera. They all should be working pretty well, now. Travis also made yet another breakthrough by setting commands so that the computer recognizes which component is being selected and added to the station (Solar Panel, Living Quarters, etc.). This will allow for victory conditions for the basic game and an "tech tree" aspect to the advanced game, if Travis can figure out how to make the computer recognize when a component is removed. I have now entered a new world, the world of 3D Studio Max. 3D Studio Max is another modeling program similar to Maya and I am in the process of converting the models I've made in Maya into 3D Studio Max. I have to do this because the Magic Table is having trouble reading the textures of the objects and Andrew thinks if the objects are remade in 3D Studio Max the textures will work. This isn't too big of a deal, since 3D Studio Max doesn't have much trouble importing the actual objects, but the textures don't always translate. Thus, I need to relearn how to assign materials to parts of objects, which will probably take a little while. I might be able to add animation too, which would be really cool.
NizarKhalife - 14 Jul 2008 - 19:03
It's a conspiracy because the money goes to the same company either way.DesireeVelazquez - 14 Jul 2008 - 16:19
Sounds interesting. Good luck with thatThomasNiedzielski - 14 Jul 2008 - 13:53
I've heard that a lot of people prefer 3DSmax to Maya. We'll have to see what you think.July 11th 2008
Parking
We went on an exciting trip to Des Moines for most of today. We went to the Principal building to check out their usability testing setup. Principal is an insurance company and they use usability to make use of their website easier for their customers. They have a room with a computer in it, and another conference room with a TV in it that can see what is on the screen of the computer in the other room. We watched David attempt to apply for a job on the Principal website, I thought he did a pretty good job at exposing some of the counter-intuitive parts of the website. This was really cool to see in action, because we've only done usability tests in the classroom during HCI class and it was nice to see these concepts applied to the real world. I also think I have a real future as a usability subject (someone who uses the website and is evaluated by the usability testers). At 4 we have a panel to talk about Facebook. I don't know much about it beyond that, but I assume it'll be about the social networking aspects of it, both personally and professionally. It should be pretty interesting, I hope. Tomorrow: Mall of America!
NizarKhalife - 12 Jul 2008 - 12:14
The parking was... great. Yeah. Not crooked... at all.BrianRussell - 11 Jul 2008 - 23:03
I agree, it was interesting to see that our HCI techniques are being applied in corporate America.TravisChristian - 11 Jul 2008 - 15:52
Parking? What about parking?July 10th 2008
Magic Markers
Today we made some more markers that we'll use for the Magic Table. These markers are symbols outlined in a thick black border, with each one a different symbol, in order for the computer to be able to distinguish a given marker from the rest of reality and the other markers. We've scanned the patterns into the computer using a webcam, and my next task is to print each marker so that they are all the same size to make programming them in easier. The patterns we added are: the Neptune trident, the A symbol from Stargate, the Linux penguin, a "no-raptors" sign, the Star Trek arrowhead, and the hacker symbol, which only Travis gets. We also had Journal Club this morning, where we talked about the use of robot swarms in everyday life. Developers are hoping that these groups of small robots will be used one day to find people in disaster areas and lead rescue teams to their position. It's a pretty cool concept and not all that far away. In terms of modeling, I didn't do too much today, but I started an astronaut for the Space Walk tourist module, although (s)he might show up in other places. The astronaut doesn't look too bad, considering it's made out of spheres, cylinders and boxes. But for now, I need to resize some markers. EDIT: I also wanted to post this video to show that text messaging on the move has grown out of hand.
NizarKhalife - 10 Jul 2008 - 20:21
I think people like are precisely why traffic in India is so bad.ThomasNiedzielski - 10 Jul 2008 - 15:49
That video was insane. I'm surprised someone would do that in India, where the traffic's even worse than it is here. I got to see some of the program you guys had in action. It's very cool.July 9th 2008
More Modeling
Nothing special occurred this morning, so I kept modeling away. I finished the missile platform and the space hotel, as well as a Moon Tours component. I think instead of posting each individual component, I'll wait until I'm done one particular kind of station (military, earth science, tourism, space science) and then take a picture of all the components. In any case, the modelings moving along at a nice pace, but I still have quite a bit left. For this afternoon, even more modeling and read the article for Journal club tomorrow. For the Star Trek Picture of the Week, we have this nice shot of Spock struggling with a computer. I'm not too happy with it, but a certain someone (Sam) is rushing me to finish this entry. If you feel your Star Trek fix has not been satisfied, simply scroll down to yesterday's entry and you'll find a hilarious pic Cole generously left me.
DavidOluwatimi - 10 Jul 2008 - 09:13
So....wats up with the star trek?NizarKhalife - 09 Jul 2008 - 20:08
I was there. It was rushing.JennaLanger - 09 Jul 2008 - 17:14
You guess are making different types of space stations? Sweet!SamanthaLevine - 09 Jul 2008 - 14:42
I was sooooo not rushing you! And I am most appreciative that you went through the paper. And your Maya work is amazing. Who's got skills? Matt's got skills!!July 8th 2008
Double Lecture
Today we went to Eric's defense of his PhD thesis and also had a luncheon lecture. Eric talked to us about using 3D computer imaging in the medical profession. This kind of imaging would be used to show tumors and other parts of the body to make surgeries easier by allowing the surgeon to see the full picture of the job ahead of him or her. Currently, doctors look at a bunch of 2D X-rays and try to visualize in their heads what the 3 dimensional image would look like. With this kind of technology, they no longer would have to do that. Our luncheon lecture was by Debra Satterfield, a graphic designer. She talked about doing research to improve the design of products to make users happier. This kind of research is different from marketing research, as marketing research attempts to convince new people to buy a product for the first time, while her designs respond to consumers who already have bought the product. She talked about the layout of bags of Tostitos and the images on cans of soda. Yesterday I made a lot of progress on the Enterprise, so I put it aside for a while. I'm now in the process of putting the finishing touches on a missile platform for the military wing of the advanced space station, with the missiles in Iowa State colors. It hopefully should turn out pretty well.
NizarKhalife - 08 Jul 2008 - 22:34
I sabotaged your missiles. Don't tell anybody.ColeAnagnost - 08 Jul 2008 - 22:32
July 7th 2008
John Deere Tour
This morning we went to the John Deere factory in Ankeny for a tour. We rode in a cart and saw all of the assembly lines and equipment. Some of the trucks and combines they were making were really complex! We saw robot arms welding and lasers cutting steel. From an computing perspective, it was nice to see advanced technology having real world applications and not simply confined to the lab. Also, the sinks in the bathrooms were a prime example of bad user interface design. In order to turn the water on, you have to step on a bar which is not only close to the floor and thus completely out of your line of sight, but the bowl of the sink blocks your view of said bar, so even if you're looking for it, you won't see it unless you bend over entirely! I guess Cole's used to bending over, that's how he found it so easily (burn!) As promised from last week, here's a picture of the Enterprise. It's not done yet, but I think I'm almost there.
DavidOluwatimi - 08 Jul 2008 - 09:08
Ok, i do have to admit that is kinda cool. OPERATIVE word "kinda"NizarKhalife - 07 Jul 2008 - 21:28
I heard that about Cole.BrianRussell - 07 Jul 2008 - 20:44
I like these sinks better than the motion sensing ones. These don't turn off when you don't want them to.AllisonWhite - 07 Jul 2008 - 17:10
AAAARRGH!! how could you cody?!? I just lostCodyGlover - 07 Jul 2008 - 13:49
Sweet, that definitely needs to be in the game.TravisChristian - 07 Jul 2008 - 13:49
Something about the phrase "robot arms welding and lasers cutting steel" makes me nervous. What happens when the robots learn that welding and lasers work on human too?July 3rd 2008
Last Entry of the Week
Short week here at ISU, due to July 4th tomorrow. Today we had journal club in the morning, during which we talked about the drug industry using computers to create new drugs more quickly and easily. There wasn't too much to discuss about this topic, I think we all concluded that it wasn't a big deal if computers helped in the creation of drugs, as long as the appropriate testing occurred and the standard guidelines were met. I also completed a robot arm module for our space station and a satellite dock (complete with satellite), and have moved on to a spaceship dock, for the advanced game. I'm thinking the spaceship within the dock will be a pale imitation of the original U.S.S. Enterprise, but we'll see if my Maya skills are up to par. Now that the basic objects have been made, I can be more creative with the advanced parts, since they don't actually exist in real life. Holiday weekend ahead! Hooray!
SamanthaLevine - 03 Jul 2008 - 13:39
Ohhh-the Enterprise! I am so excited. And that would be a space ship, not a space shuttle.July 2nd 2008
Modeling/PWSE Lunch
Another fairly dull morning here at VRAC. I spent most of it clearing layers of polygons off of the space station models, which is almost as exciting as it sounds. It's busy work, but it makes a difference about how they look on the Magic Table. Supposedly there's a way for me to do coding using this new program installed on our computers called Tortoise that I have yet to figure out. Luckily, Travis is making up for my lack of assistance and today he figured out how to get the different parts of the station to "snap" together. We had thought in the planning stage that this would be one of the more difficult steps in the building process, but Travis says he was able to figure out relatively quickly. I guess he doesn't need my help after all. We then went, at 11:30, to a PWSE luncheon. PWSE stands for P-something Women in Science and Engineering, and somehow encourages women to major and pursue a career in, you guessed it, science and engineering. Usually only the ladies in our group go (sans Sam), but for some reason today all of us had to go. The topic of the lecture was Balancing Work and Family, and was not something I had wanted to think about for quite some time. Luckily, I had my pen with me, and drew an epic seascape on the tablecloth as a diversion. Due to some controversy within Team Gandalf, I submit to you this question: Is this video not one of the greatest Youtube videos ever? And of course, since it's Wednesday, here's your Star Trek Picture of the Week!
NizarKhalife - 03 Jul 2008 - 09:32
Why was the battleship on your seascape firing a missile at the East Coast? Did you go turncoat? And that video not one of the greatest Youtube videos ever. Pretty much anything wit Mr. T in it is better, for example.ColeAnagnost - 02 Jul 2008 - 16:13
I would have to say I'm more partial to this video.CatherinePeloquin - 02 Jul 2008 - 14:44
Excessive estrogen exposure? The percentage of men in the PWSE luncheon was probably a lot greater than the percentage of women in a lot of science and engineering classes. Just think how weird it might feel to be one of the few women there.BrianRussell - 02 Jul 2008 - 14:23
I miss classes to break up the day.TravisChristian - 02 Jul 2008 - 13:44
is it possible to die from excessive estrogen exposure?July 1st 2008
Happy July!
"Aaah! How can it be July already? Summer is slipping through our hands like grains of sand!...Aaugh! It's a half hour later than it was a half hour ago! Run! Run!" Today we had two courses, the ethics one with Stephen Gilbert and a luncheon lecture by the Robot team's faculty mentor. They were both pretty interesting, even if that meant sitting and listening for three and a half hours. For the ethics course, we talked about the various -isms that are part of engineering, racism, sexism, materialism, etc. It seems like engineering is similar to the rest of the world in terms of struggling with these issues. The luncheon lecture was about robots using tools, which was pretty cool. Our lecturer talked about training a robot arm to use different tools to move a puck around using trial and error, and showed some videos about the possible future of robotics. Apparently it's not so implausible for there to be a robot in every home. We already have the hardware available (made by Honda) but they haven't figured out how to program the robot in the most effective way. For this afternoon, more modeling!
ThomasNiedzielski - 01 Jul 2008 - 15:43
I do love Calvin and Hobbes. Anyway, I think the robot tool use idea is very cool. There's just something fun about watching a child learn to do something for the first time, especially when you don't expect it.June 30th 2008
Ethics Reading
This morning I did most of the reading for the Ethics course we're starting tomorrow. The first chapter was very dense and heavy, it was talking about various terms that will be used in the rest of the text. Such terms include social justice and ethic of care. Also, the chapter mentioned various philosophers of ethics, such as Marx and Rawls. The second chapter talked about jokes about engineers and what values can be gleaned from the jokes. I found them humorous, but I failed to see most of the value that made them worthy of comment. They were mostly self-deprecating cracks at engineering stereotypes. Still, it was a nice break from the heavy prose of the first chapter. The third section was divided into sections based on divisions in society, such as race, class, sex, etc. I read the section about sexism and engineering, which talked about the experience of many women taking engineering classes and/or going into engineering as a career. It didn't paint a very positive picture, but I think things are getting better than they were. Andrew talked to us this afternoon about using the magic wand tool for our program. The code he gave us was complicated, but seems pretty straight-forward. I think it currently works anyway, and if not it shouldn't be too hard to adapt. What bums me out about the setup we have for the Magic Table is that I can't really help Travis with the coding. I can look at it and try to figure out what it does, but I have no way to test it, since my computer's not connected to the Table. I feel terrible that Travis is the one doing the bulk of the coding by himself, but he seems more than capable of handling it. Still, I'm managing to stay busy by modeling the objects we're going to use in Maya, which is something I guess.
NizarKhalife - 01 Jul 2008 - 00:10
The joke about the golf course was pretty good, though.PaulClay - 30 Jun 2008 - 14:51
Yeah, um engineering jokes = so not cool. Something we definitely we could do without.June 27th 2008
It's Friday!
Another week comes to a close here at ISU. This morning, I made some markers for our Magic Table. Markers are black rectangles around an arbitrary symbol and are used by the computer to see where to place 3D objects. My symbols were Gandalf's rune, the Star Trek arrowhead, the Batman logo, and the Green Lantern symbol, because I am just that cool. We need to wait until Monday to convert the markers into a format that the computer can understand, though, because we need a different piece of software that we don't know how to use. We also just got an assignment for Stephen Gilbert to read a few chapters for the Ethics course we're going to take. I'm looking forward to this, actually. Ethics is pretty interesting stuff, and something that I feel isn't emphasized quite enough these days. This afternoon: Last HCI class. Woo hoo! And then Blade Runner in the evening! I also might swing by the comic store during dinner in order to pick up James Robinson's first issue of Superman, I've heard good things about it. And then it's the weekend!
JennaLanger - 27 Jun 2008 - 15:08
This is true, ethics is very important, but it is rarely stressed anymore. At least we know we're all thinking about ethics when all of our journal club conversations turn into the possibility of computers taking over the world.AllisonWhite - 27 Jun 2008 - 14:12
no superman logo?June 26th 2008
Rainy Day in Iowa
Heavy rains today in Ames, I suppose we'll see more flooding before the summer's over. This morning, we had Journal Club and had a very interesting discussion, although it wasn't quite as good as last week's. We talked about the use of video games as a teaching tool and whether they were a) an effective teacher and b) better than traditional methods. I could go either way on this issue, because while I do enjoy video games and know that some of them can be educational, I also think school is more than the knowledge you're given and some school experiences cannot be replicated virtually. I guess video games will do as a reward or a break from traditional lecture styles, but in moderation and only for older children. We also got text to appear on the Magic Table, and by we I mean Travis. This is pretty cool and we will certainly use it for our games. In the afternoon, we'll meet with our grad students and hopefully get some more code that we need. That's it for today.
ThomasNiedzielski - 27 Jun 2008 - 10:03
I definitely agree that video games should only make up a small part of school time, but I think I prefer the early aimed MECC style software (Oregon Trail, Munchers, Odell) to any software aimed at older groups. At later ages, the students' skills are so spread out that few auto-adjusting difficulty systems could cope and still make an effective experience.SamanthaLevine - 26 Jun 2008 - 16:53
We only got play Oregon Trail during inside recess when it was snowing-and now I know NEVER to ford ANY river. Thanks Oregon Trail!June 25th 2008
Working on Little Things
This morning I worked on a variety of tasks. I studied for the HCI Word of the Day quiz this afternoon (sigh), read the article for Journal Club tomorrow, and reviewed Andrew's OpenSG code. I also checked out an OpenSG tutorial page, which has information for an HUD on a screen. In other words, there's ways to add text to our Magic Table, which will come in very handy with our advanced game. This afternoon we're looking to play around with the Magic Table some more. We need to hook up our new camera and make sure it's working OK, that's the first thing. Then we'll add some of the models Travis and I made yesterday and see how they look. After that, we'll just play around and see what does what. And if programs give us trouble, I'll just think of this. And we'll continue our theme of Captain Picard pics with this week's Star Trek Picture of the Week:
NizarKhalife - 25 Jun 2008 - 22:50
Will it be a Robocop style heads up display? The new camera looked great. I hope you can fix the issues with the twitchiness.SamanthaLevine - 25 Jun 2008 - 13:53
Yeah OSG is way awesome! And Team Gandalf will be dominating at the HCI Word QuizCodyGlover - 25 Jun 2008 - 13:37
I like the Gates email. One would hope that if numerous user emails can't get a tech team to work an email from the multi-billionaire owner would.June 24th 2008
OpenSceneGraph Explained
Today Andrew gave his long anticipated introduction to OpenSceneGraph , which is the programming language that we'll use in our final project. He explained the basics of adding a new object to show up on the Magic Table, as well as previewed how we can move 3D objects around without using wooden blocks. We can instead use a wand which acts like a mouse. It's kind of complicated, but I think we have a pretty good handle on it. I'm feeling pretty confident that we can do this project, since I think I was understanding what Andrew was saying, and if I'm getting it, then I know Travis is getting it and we're good to go. Our next step is to start modeling basic components in Maya, since we didn't have much luck finding space station components on the Internet. We'll do the basic components only for now: central hub, solar panels, living quarters module, research lab, docking compartment. Basic textures, not too much detail, we really just want to get them working and on the Table. Once they're imported, we'll make a wand and start moving them around. Oh, and we also had a speaker from the Psychology Department to talk about the effect of video games on undergraduate students. I learned I'm not playing nearly enough, seeing as how some undergrads my age are playing 12 or 13 hours a day. I'm going to go home after work and rethink what I'm doing with my life. Away we go! Hiyo Silver!
NizarKhalife - 25 Jun 2008 - 01:11
At this rate you may run out of things to do. That would never have happened with a farm application. Oh, and I have a dollar here that says the Starcraft LAN will never happen.TravisChristian - 24 Jun 2008 - 16:25
that Starcraft LAN needs to happen statBrianRussell - 24 Jun 2008 - 15:16
OpenSceneGrpah sounds cool, I wish I knew more about it.June 23rd 2008
Monday Monday
Pretty boring morning today. I started trying to figure out what are the different components our space station will have, so far for the basic I have about 5 or 6. I also was working on the tech tree for the advanced game, as in, for the four different types of space stations, which basic components unlock more advanced ones. I think I've got a pretty good framework for them. I was thinking we could make the objective of the game to accumulate "Victory Points" or "Magic Points". The player gains points for building components, the more advanced the component, the more points you get. Using this system will allow for cooler random events, which could also grant points if the player completes a certain task. I don't want to give away most of the random events I've come up with, but suffice to say Zombie War on Earth is definitely one of them. For this afternoon, we have two classes: Craft of Research, where we learn more about how to write our research paper (sigh), and HCI where we talk about paper prototyping. Only two days of HCI left, I guess I better study for that Word of the Day quiz.
NizarKhalife - 23 Jun 2008 - 23:01
Brains!!!! Braaaaaaaaaaaans!!CodyGlover - 23 Jun 2008 - 14:15
So would the events just be keyed off the time you play the game or how many points you have? Would the higher levels lead to bigger random stuff?ThomasNiedzielski - 23 Jun 2008 - 13:44
Sounds like you guys have some really cool plans for this project. I like how you're taking AR in some interesting directions. The current AR apps we have here aren't very dynamic, and you'll change that in some pretty cool ways.TravisChristian - 23 Jun 2008 - 13:34
I just decided that we have to include some kind of colonization ship/pod to Alpha Centauri as a very high level component, as a nod to Civilization.PaulClay - 23 Jun 2008 - 13:31
you definitely have to include aliens at some point in the game, and pictures of me and Nizar as prototypical examples of beautiful humans.June 20th 2008
Presentation Day
This morning we had a library orientation and Journal Club. In the library orientation, we learned how to search for books in the online catalog and how to search for academic journals using the library website. To be honest, I think I could figured it all out myself in about 20 minutes, but whatever. For Journal Club, we talked about using brainwaves to move a mouse pointer around on a computer screen. I think the discussion went pretty well, we covered a lot of ground within this subject area, and the phrase "Big Brother" was mentioned, which is always a sign that the discussion is moving along nicely. We talked about the current application of this technology, the possible uses in the future, and the ethical and social issues associated with it. This afternoon we present our project proposal to the group. I hope it will be well received. We have HCI after that, and then it's the weekend!
NizarKhalife - 22 Jun 2008 - 23:19
Your presentation went great!SamanthaLevine - 20 Jun 2008 - 13:43
Yeah- 20 minutes max. But whatever! And props to Travis for the matrix!CodyGlover - 20 Jun 2008 - 13:18
I agree most of what they went over in the library could have been figured out easily. The sheet with the list of databases was about the most important thing they gave us.TravisChristian - 20 Jun 2008 - 13:06
I mentioned the Matrix but nobody went with it... I was disappointed.June 19th 2008
OpenGL's Over
We presented our snowscape today with the rest of the OpenGL projects. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, the snow and fog effects looked really good, and the 3D models were cool. I wish it had run a little faster though. These projects mark the end of our OpenGL class, but we'll probably use it again for our research project. The Magic Table runs on OpenSceneGraph , which I think is pretty similar to OpenGL , so hopefully we'll pick up on it pretty quickly. We also wrote down more software ideas for our space station project, which is going to be even more amazing than we originally thought. Tonight: Baseball game! And read the journal article that I'm supposed to lead the discussion on!
NizarKhalife - 21 Jun 2008 - 13:47
I was wondering about framerate as well. It seems pretty difficult to put so much on the screen so fast without slowing the framerate down on video games. I wonder how they pull it off.JohnMorales - 20 Jun 2008 - 00:39
hey congrats, your snow scape was awesome and I'm using OpenSG too, the thing is that is a little bit messy for my head right now, but yes it use OpenGL and you have to define a lot of pointers. If you know more about it let me know or lets do some practice programs together.ThomasNiedzielski - 19 Jun 2008 - 23:13
I liked the snowscape. It's a shame the framerate had to be kept so low. Otherwise it would be neat to let the users explore in more directions. I wonder how pro game makers move so much data so fast.June 18th 2008
New Topic! Psych!
So Team Gandalf has switched our research topic after meeting with our faculty adviser today. To be honest, I don't think any of us were all that enthused about 3D chess anyway, we just needed someone to come out and say that. Anyway, we're now doing a 3D model of a space station, which I think will be awesome! We'll get our thoughts down in more permanent fashion in our Powerpoint for Friday, but rest assured this will push the limits of the Magic Table. Our OpenGL project is coming along and I think we're reaching the finish line. Sam and I created two different sections of the path the snowmobile is taking, and after this I'm going to combine them. After that, we're going to change the trees into 2D billboarded images in order to save on space, and then add Easter eggs and animations to make the program interesting to watch. We'll definitely be in the lab after dinner tonight, but I don't expect it to be too late of a night, if we just stay focused. I forgot Star Trek Picture of the Week last week, but there's one for today:
NizarKhalife - 21 Jun 2008 - 02:23
The space station is a good idea but will it involve...
Input, Output (My Keyboard)?
BrianRussell - 18 Jun 2008 - 21:35
The Star Trek Picture of the Week seems appropriate for a blog concerning the space station.ThomasNiedzielski - 18 Jun 2008 - 17:16
I'm glad to hear that you guys actually get to do something cool for your project. I remember your ideas kept getting stomped, so it's cool that in the end you got to do one.JennaLanger - 18 Jun 2008 - 16:53
Space Station? No way! Are you going to be able to put parts together or is it going to be on one card? Can't wait to see the presentation on Friday!June 17th 2008
Progress Made
We didn't get very much work done on our OpenGL project last night, much to my disappointment, but we made up for last time for being very productive this morning (and hopefully this afternoon). I created a steadily forward moving car (to be replaced by a sled later), and manipulated the keyboard interface to swivel the camera in order to look around during the drive. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, but I think it should work pretty well. I've also downloaded a bunch of cool objects to be included in our tour. Travis has created our sky and is working on the forest environment, while Sam struggles with her snow program. This afternoon, I'm looking to find an appropriate vehicle for our forest tour (like a sled or a snowmobile) and then integrate our programs together, which might be a pain in OpenGL . Stephen Gilbert (the head honcho around here) also delivered a lecture today about virtual tutors and one virtual tutor in particular, Carnegie Learning. This is pretty interesting stuff, it's essentially a dynamic program designed to teach a user how to use a program or a subject (like math). Unlike previous teaching programs like Mavis Beacon, this program responds to user commands with positive or negative reactions, depending on whether the user is proceeding correctly or not. There's also hints and scoring systems. He also told us that virtual tutors are likely to become more specific and used to train users in very particular tasks, like flying an airplane or driving a car. It's pretty amazing what these programs are capable of, I can see them revolutionizing education systems.
NizarKhalife - 18 Jun 2008 - 13:32
Your vehicle should be a reindeer.PaulClay - 17 Jun 2008 - 15:03
Ima excited for your snow program.... it shall be like returning the the siberian winters of my childhood.... ahhhhh, the memories.June 16th 2008
Topic Decided
We just had a group meeting with Andrew to discuss our research project, and we've finally decided on a topic! We're going to do 3D chess on the Magic Table, using a real board and a bunch of little blocks for all of the pieces. The board will be real, but we'll also create a virtual board on top of it. We'd like to start with a simple game board, playing the normal way between two players. Depending on how long that takes us (I think we'll be able to get it done fairly quickly), we could add a beginner's version, which helps a player learn how to play. When you pick up a piece, the spaces on the board that the piece can move to light up, hopefully. I'm really glad we're decided on a project and I'm excited for this topic. Nothing else really going on today, doing the last homework assignment for our OpenGL course. We need to start working on our OpenGL project tonight, or I'm going to start getting very nervous. We've got it mapped out, but no coding yet.
TravisChristian - 17 Jun 2008 - 09:21
Well we talked about animated pieces when we first came up with the idea, and yesterday we verified that we could use simple animations. I thought that was the obvious conclusion. All Magic chess boards have animated pieces. Don't you watch Disney movies?NizarKhalife - 16 Jun 2008 - 21:59
That's not magic at all!JennaLanger - 16 Jun 2008 - 15:18
I would love to learn how to play chess on a magic chess board! it sounds really cool!June 13th 2008
TGIF!
Another week is coming to a close here at ISU, but the work has unfortunately not ended with it. For this weekend, I have to finish up the TARDIS and get a lot done on Team Gandalf's latest endeavor. For the TARDIS, I have to change the top part to a glass cylinder, and place the sign on the front door. I'm also supposed to put in a door handle, but that will depend on how inspired I am. I'd also like to create an animation of it disappearing, which would be super cool. For Team Gandalf's latest project, we are going to make a snowmobile travel through a snowstorm and end up somewhere, we're thinking either an igloo or a military base. We'll use OpenGL for this project, which luckily I have grown much more comfortable using. This afternoon we have Journal Club, where we're talking about the ethical, economic, and social implications of biometrics (a.k.a., fingerprint scans, retina scans, voiceprint matches, etc.), then more Modeling where I'll hopefully get a lot done on the TARDIS, and then: David and I are going to see The Incredible Hulk!! If I feel inspired, I might jot down my thoughts on this latest Marvel flick, so look for extra-special updates either late tonight or tomorrow sometime. SATURDAY UPDATE: I saw the Hulk, and it was indeed incredible. Almost as good as Iron Man, and definitely worth going to see if you're at all a fan of the character. We also saw a bunch of previews for movies that we wanted to see: Hellboy, Dark Knight, Hancock, The Mummy 3, etc. It's going to be a good summer.
SamanthaLevine - 13 Jun 2008 - 17:24
MEGATARDIS on the Magic Table was quite awesome!!June 12th 2008
Animations for OpenGL + Speaker
Long morning today, as we had another lecture about OpenGL . In this one, we learned how to do basic animations, kind of, use the mouse and keyboard with our objects, and how to adjust camera angles. I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with OpenGL , although I'm still relying on the sample code in order to do pretty much anything. We've got a tough assignment for tonight, I dunno if I'm going to finish it on time, but if not I'll do it over the weekend. Our luncheon lecture today was a guy who was working on a video game for the visually impaired. It's pretty cool, basically the player can tell whether they're close to a platform by a pinging sound, which gets faster the closer to the platform the player gets. I thought the pinging had the potential to be unbelievably annoying, but I guess you gotta deal with that kind of thing with many video games. Our speaker also programmed his whole program in Python, which was impressive as well. He also told us about his experience interning at Google, and how much better working there is than at IBM. This afternoon: Keep doing Maya until our research meeting at 2, which should be pretty interesting, then Modeling class where hopefully we'll learn textures, and then go home and do OpenGL . I hope it works on my laptop, but I think I should be able to figure it out if it doesn't.
ThomasNiedzielski - 12 Jun 2008 - 22:41
I remember seeing the speaker's poster in the hallway and thinking his game idea was pretty cool. I'm glad he came!BrianRussell - 12 Jun 2008 - 17:24
The corporate culture part of the lecture was interesting. Google did sound way better than IBM.June 11th 2008
First look at OpenGL
This morning we had our first OpenGL class. OpenGL is a method of 3D graphics programming using C++ as a basis. The teacher seems pretty good, he showed us some really cool demos, like a landscape made from a picture and a trip through snowfall. I have to admit, though, I'm pretty intimidated by this new concept. It's not based off of a graphic user interface, unlike Maya, and I don't have any prior experience with it, unlike C++. A lot of the code he was showing us I had a lot of trouble following, but I'll go over it again this afternoon and tonight and maybe it'll make more sense then. I was able to get the code to compile, and now I'm working on my initials. I have an M and half an E, with the hardest letter to go. Also, exciting news on the Magic Table front. The 3D models we use for the table are created in OpenSceneGraph , which is a very similar program to OpenGL , with one major difference. In theory, you can import models made in Maya into OpenSceneGraph pretty easily. Needless to say, I'm imagining the TARDIS I'm modeling at the moment being used in the Magic Table. That would be awesome. Tonight: More Maya modeling in the afternoon, review OpenGL code tonight.
JennaLanger - 12 Jun 2008 - 09:02
So you got your initials to stop blinking? That's good. OpenGL does seem really complex, but I think we'll learn some cool things step by step.SamanthaLevine - 11 Jun 2008 - 23:31
I'm telling you--We could totally redeem ourselves with the best OpenGL project...trust your instincts.June 10th 2008
Modeling with Maya
So learning Maya is coming along at a somewhat disjointed pace. I think I'm catching on to most of the basics, although I still get tripped up by some of the basic things like changing perspective and moving/rotating/scaling objects. I've made a fire hydrant and a screwdriver so far, and they both look OK. Hopefully we'll go at a little slower pace today in class, so we're all on the same page. Team Gandalf also had a meeting today where we discussed our research project. Sam is really busting her butt figuring all the physical dimensions and stuff out for the hardware of the Magic Table, so all credit for the eventual completion goes to her. We also talked about other project ideas, we thought about one super-detailed 3D model and some application built around it, like an airplane flying through rings or a cruise ship traveling from port to port. For our Modeling class we have to come up with an object to create 3-dimensionally. It's supposed to be an object we have with us, in order to hold it in our hands and look at it at all possible angles. I hope they don't stick too much to that rule, though, because I would really like to make the TARDIS from Doctor Who. I don't think it would be too hard (just a bunch of rectangular shapes), and I have a model of one at home, so I know what it looks like. If this project idea works out, that would be really cool. I'm thinking I could add an animation of it disappearing, or a picture of it at night. We'll have to see what happens, though. Behold, the Glowing Fire Hydrant of Power:
EvaTao - 11 Jun 2008 - 05:13
It would be nice to see it disappearing.ColeAnagnost - 10 Jun 2008 - 20:44
Why is it so foggy? It's confusing me to look at it. Other than that it looks really rough and textured which is nice.BrianRussell - 10 Jun 2008 - 13:41
It sounds like Team Gandalf may put this 3D class to good use.June 9th 2008
Programming Presentations
This morning we put the finishing touches on our Mazewalk C++ program. As I write this, Travis is attempting a subprogram that would in theory create a randomly generated maze, which would make our project much, much cooler. At the moment, we have three pre-made mazes in the easy, medium, and hard varieties, which are also good, and sufficient, but it would even better to have a new one every time. No pressure, though. In the afternoon, we have C++ presentations, where we see how much better all the other groups' projects were than ours, and then the Modeling class begins! I'm really excited for this course, not only because it's something completely new and very useful, but also we are definitely going to use this knowledge with our Magic Table research project. This class is essentially 3D graphics programming, which is pretty much our entire research project in 3 words. We're not using the exact same program, of course, that would be too efficient, but the program we use for the Magic Table (OpenSceneGraph ) is a higher level version of the program we'll use for our course (OpenGL ). So there is important things to be learned in this programming class. I may append this entry tonight after the class, in order to record what the class is actually like, rather than what I expect it to be. I'm sure it'll be good, though. Addition: Programming class was...interesting. The program we're using (Maya) has potential to make some really cool stuff, and it doesn't seem TOO difficult to use. We were given tutorials to follow, which were actually really difficult. I hope next time we'll have a little more direct assistance, rather than working through it ourselves. It's true that we'll probably remember the work better if we do it ourselves, but today was more like being thrown into the deep end without a life preserver.
CodyGlover - 09 Jun 2008 - 17:08
I have to say that I was excited as well for the modeling class but after using maya I can't say I still am.BrianRussell - 09 Jun 2008 - 13:41
I've been looking forward to these classes for quite some time.June 6th 2008
Finishing Up
Today was our last programming lecture, in which we discussed classes and structs. I think I understand them somewhat before this class, and the class didn't really help me all that much. The review was still helpful, and I'll definitely reference the class notes later. We also had a research class, where we discussed why we're doing research, and then looked for journal articles on the Web. I found a couple of really good articles about the use of cameras with augmented reality, which is definitely an issue we'll come across once we start our research project. Maybe the graduate students already know how the cameras work, but I would like to know for my own edification. As for the question of why we do research, our group still needs to discuss that one. I don't think the statement of "we're curious about the possible uses of this technology, both in the laboratory and in the outside world" is quite good enough, although it sounds fine to me. I guess I better read that section of our textbook again. For this weekend: supplement our C++ project with a Pac-Man variant, maybe do some leftover programming extra credit if I feel inspired, brainstorm additional Magic Table projects, buy JSA #16, go to the REU picnic on Sunday, finally catch up with Battlestar Galactica (3 more episodes to go!)
NizarKhalife - 11 Jun 2008 - 00:20
That seemed like a very engaging conversation you had with Travis through the web cam.EvaTao - 07 Jun 2008 - 01:07
Could you post your HCI video on the team blog?PaulClay - 06 Jun 2008 - 14:59
Oh, man, pac, man!June 5th 2008
Haptics and Mazes
This morning we had a lecture from a professor of HCI and Geology about Haptics. Haptics is this amazing technology that first started in 1999, and is based off of touch. Computers are usually based off of the visual and auditory senses, so this kind of interface is a new way of human computer interaction. Our lecturer has a device which is essentially a pen attached to a arm. He creates 3-dimensional models on his computer, and uses the pen to interact with the model. The model is "created" in the space around the pen, and when the pen would come into contact with the model, the arm exerts force to make it seem like the model is actually there, in space, invisible. He showed us a 3D model of a cylinder, and one of Beethoven's face. Haptics is a really cool technology, and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes much more widespread in the not-to-distant future. In terms of other work, Travis and I made a lot of progress on our C++ project. Our basic model is done, we have three mazes (in small, medium, and large variety), and the user has to find his or her way out. I'm pretty happy with it at this point, but we'd like to add music and possible sound effects at certain points. Maybe some colors too, if we can figure that out. We also met with our graduate students today, and installed our big-screen TV. We had some good ideas for our research project too, but we need to get some experience coding before we can figure out what's feasible and what's not.
AllisonWhite - 06 Jun 2008 - 13:26
Yay colors! I've been adding them to our Battleship game, so if you're still figuring out how to do that I could show you what I've been usingDesireeVelazquez - 06 Jun 2008 - 09:00
Oh, so that's what the lecture was about! Nah, just kidding. I jjuist couldn't understand his accent all the timeJune 4th 2008
HCI Filming
This morning was a slow news day, as the only thing we did was have another programming lecture, this time about arrays, strings, and functions. All three of those things were pretty similar to C, so I didn't have much trouble following along. I started doing the homework, and the extra credit, displaying the words in a string in alphabetical order, is giving me a little trouble. Anyone know a working function for converting a string into an array? I tried copy and strcpy, but both gave me weird error messages. Last afternoon to night, Team Gandalf worked on our assignment for HCI, a short film about webcams. It's intended to be directed towards an audience in the future, to show them how impressed we are with our current level of technology. We shot all of our original material yesterday afternoon, and I edited half of the video last night. I'm planning on getting the rest of it tonight, but since it's not due until Friday, I'm not going to stress over it (yet). I don't want to give anything away, but you can rest assured that it will be an amazing, Oscar-worthy presentation, and that a link will be up on here once it's posted on the Wiki. And since it's Wednesday, it's time for your Star Trek picture of the week! Enjoy:
EvaTao - 06 Jun 2008 - 02:50
Can't wait to see...SamanthaLevine - 05 Jun 2008 - 09:04
OMG! This is the best picture EVER!!!! Check out this link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xEZcslNOEBg You will laugh your head off.TravisChristian - 04 Jun 2008 - 22:29
How much C programming have you done? I took a semester of it amost 3 years ago and haven't touched it since then. All this Java in my head is tripping me up.NizarKhalife - 04 Jun 2008 - 20:31
Thats what I would look like in graduate school. I'm excited to see everybody's videos. It seems that our teams are cooking up some good stuff.CodyGlover - 04 Jun 2008 - 13:36
If you are talking converting a string into a character array, the .c_str() method returns a const char[] of the string.June 3rd 2008
Second Life
This morning we had our second programming class, which consisted mostly about iterative loops, variables, and math. I've written a couple C++ programs for homework, one of which converts feet to meters and the other creates random math problems for the user to solve. They're both pretty cool, and seem to be working well. What was more interesting was the speaker that came in at 11. His name is Gut Noel, and he's a professor in the business school at ISU. He came to talk to us about his research, which is all about virtual worlds and specifically the virtual world of Second Life. I'm not very familiar with this Internet world, but from what I understand, it's a type of social networking program, except in a three-dimensional world similar to World of Warcraft and City of Heroes. Unlike those two games, there's no specific objective in Second Life, rather, users spend their online time talking to each other and creating virtual objects. What's really cool about Second Life is that it has an actual economy that is based on the currencies of the "real world". Our speaker told us how various events in this world affect prices, and how people enact pyramid schemes in order to steal hundreds of thousands of virtual dollars, which are very much equivalent to real money. I'm afraid I don't understand why people would invest real money in a game in order to buy virtual objects like houses and T-shirts, but I'm told it's no different from purchasing a song off Itunes. The fact that the economy of Second Life has actual value also allows people to set up virtual businesses, and actual businesses to create stores in this world. Our speaker told us about how Adidas, Nike, and Reebok all had stores in Second Life that users could go into and shop, and about one guy who ran his own business and even had some employees, each working 10 to 12 hours a day! I'm not convinced that Second Life is the future of the Internet, and I don't think I'll be joining up any time soon, but it's hard to underestimate the power and utility of this program. I'll definitely watch to see what directions this program heads, and I'd recommend you do the same. The next great Internet revolution could very well start there. By the way, our speaker's Second Life name is Gut Noel. I don't remember his real name.
EvaTao - 04 Jun 2008 - 04:44
Buy a house that you cannot move in is different from buy a song you can hear. The same thing is they are untouchable goods. We sometimes purchase the stuff we think it is treasure but others think is nothing. It could be a hobby or interest. On the other hand, you can save a lot of time to build up a store if you are going to run a business on 2nd life. Time is money. However, money cannot buy the time in most cases!NizarKhalife - 03 Jun 2008 - 21:53
His name is Brian Mennecke. Shame on you! Its on the Google Calendar. I wonder if Second Life will ever again reach the popularity it enjoyed during its peak. It certainly is something to ponder. Personally I enjoyed what he was saying at lunch about what makes an experience real.June 2nd 2008
C++ Programming
Today was our first day of the C++ Programming class, which we spent all of the morning working on. In lecture, we covered the basics, such as comments, input/output streams, variable declarations, and operations. I think most of this stuff I could have figured out myself, but having never formally learned C++, I still wanted to make sure I knew most of it. I also had some trouble staying awake, but Eric made sure I was paying attention. We were also assigned our group project, which was to create some sort of C++ program. Travis, Sam and I conferred, and we decided to create a program that created a maze which a user then had to travel through. We initially thought to make it text-based, with a series of questions dictating passage through the maze. However, after talking to Eric, we will instead depict the maze graphically, using an array and some symbol to indicate the user's progress. If we finish the simple maze traversal program in time, we may add a Pac-Man variant, which would require traversal of the entire maze, not simply making it to the end (wokka, wokka, wokka). I'm pretty excited to work on this project, it seems like a good mix of fun and challenging programming. What I Did This Weekend: Did the reading for our HCI (human-computer interaction) course, watched Dazed and Confused, watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica, visited Mayhem Comics and bought the most recent issue of Justice Society of America, reviewed a little C in preparation for the class starting today, and went out for Indian food. All in all, a good time.
DesireeVelazquez - 05 Jun 2008 - 20:00
THAT'S the video I was talking aboutMarisolMartinez - 04 Jun 2008 - 02:41
Did you to the Indian Palace? That place is pretty good.NizarKhalife - 02 Jun 2008 - 21:35
My mouth is still numb from the Indian food. The maze sounds like a good idea. However, if you get to do the Pac-Man variant you should probably replace the fruits with beer. Can I visit the maze?TravisChristian - 02 Jun 2008 - 13:58
Congratulations on your successful file attachment sirCodyGlover - 02 Jun 2008 - 13:38
A pac-man game would be interesting to see in text base form. Good luck on the project.May 30th 2008
ARToolkit
So the big research project that I'm assigned to, along with Travis and Sam, is the Magic Table project. We were shown our first look at it yesterday, which consisted of a camera filming a surface and generating 3D images on a screen. "Real" objects on the table can be moved with human hands and the 3D images can move in response. Needless to say, we don't know too much about how it works, yet, but it really gave us something to look forward to. One of the pieces of software that we are using is called "ARToolkit," standing for Augmented Reality Toolkit. Augmented reality is not the same as virtual reality, it is a halfway state between completely real sights and sounds (reality) and completely computer-generated sights and sounds (virtual reality). Desiree pointed me to Youtube, where I discovered a few videos of this technology in action. In this video, a character from Japanese animation (I have no idea which one) stands on a keyboard and eventually dances. There is sound, so watch your volume if you're in a public place. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5spuwsAeoIo That sheet of paper she is standing on can be picked up and moved around, and she will remain standing on it. This is pretty cool stuff, I'm really looking forward to what we eventually make.
EvaTao - 02 Jun 2008 - 02:23
I should show the movie Pay Ckeck on one of our Friday movie..TravisChristian - 01 Jun 2008 - 13:18
That is so cool... I was trying to figure out how the big screen worked the whole time, and then it turned out to be virtual too.May 29th 2008
First Ever Blog Entry!
Here's my first entry in my blog for the HCI REU at Iowa State University. I assure you it will be very engaging and illuminating, and well worth reading. With the pleasantries out of the way, we can move on to the interesting stuff: what I did today. Like everyone else in my group, I participated in three activities today. The first one was setting up my ISU email account/learning about the REU's wiki and blog, which is how I have the technical knowledge to start blogging. That activity wasn't exactly exciting, but it provided important information that I needed to know. The second activity was taking a C++ test in order to evaluate my programming skills. Since I've only ever done C, and that was six months ago, I don't think I did too well. But that's ok, I don't think anyone will hold my lack of C++ against me. I knew what was going on conceptually, I think, but the lingo threw me a little. Anyway, the last activity was discussing an journal article we had read for today. The article was advocating that allowing machines to indicate emotion and to recognize and respond to human emotion was a good idea. I'm not sure if I'm completely sold on that idea, and whenever I search for computational wisdom, I turned to Star Trek, as the article advised. Now, the Enterprise computer is devoid of emotion. It responds to voice commands quickly and efficiently, and none of the characters seem to wish that the Enterprise "felt" anything. Likewise, for most of the Next Generation series, the android Data does not experience emotions. Similarly to the computer, he does not require emotion to accomplish his tasks or be a valued member of the crew. He nevertheless wishes for emotions, in order to understand humans better, and eventually he attains them. However: numerous times when he finally achieves emotions, it ends up being bad news for the rest of the Enterprise crew. Whether it's joining up with the Borg ("Descent", "First Contact"), or succumbing to a virus that he should have been immune to ("The Naked Now"), Data's emotions make him sever his ties with the group of people he was supposed to be serving alongside. Now, I ask you, who would you rather have on your side, an efficient, emotionally stable computer, or a potentially renegade android? I know which one I'd pick. Now, Data did eventually learn to live with his emotion chip very normally, but it took a little while getting there. And that was in the 24th century! Applying that knowledge to our experience, I wouldn't be too quick to try to assign human values onto computers. Computers are not humans, and they need more than simple computing power in order to become so. That's my opinion, I think I'll do some more research on this topic when I get the chance. Either that or watch more Star Trek. Or both. ADDITION: We also were able to look at the C6 lab in Howe Hall today as well. It's an amazing technological marvel, composed of six screens (four walls, plus floor and ceiling) all in extreme high definition (around 4000 pixels!!). We were given a virtual tour of a universe that the guys working on it built, including a close encounter with a TIE fighter, so that was really cool. I would have posted a picture, but I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet. All in good time, I suppose.
SamanthaLevine - 01 Jun 2008 - 22:57
I love the Star Trek reference! This summer is going to be a ton of fun! We have the best group ever!EvaTao - 30 May 2008 - 00:18
You never know!!! Good way to start your research thinking. Talk to your team mentors...maybe you can come out an awesome research topic.TravisChristian - 29 May 2008 - 16:27
Why thank you, Olorin. That's quite a nice novel you have there.May 31th 2008
Your topic for the day
Put your content here.
- Code_of_Ethics.doc: Code_of_Ethics.doc
Topic revision: r174 - 2008-08-01 - 05:12:32 - ThomasNiedzielski
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