This weekend was a busy one for us at Team seVen. Having been assigned our room (Building 7, 1440 at RIT) we begun setting up the room and our final testing.
After encountering what appeared to be a fluke problem with our infrared detection, we decided to move to rear detection of user movements, we feel this gives us the most accurate correlation of user movement to screen movement with only minor draw backs which we are able to code around.
Our frame style has also been changed, we are now using hanging screens for an easier setup process and an overall better feeling when inside the room.
Networking protocol and code has been finalized and we’re moving towards the final stages of our code in time for ImagineRIT and the Spring Carnival after that.
Expect more frequent updates this week as we get nearer to ImagineRIT including previews and photos of our setup process.
The state of our code is strong. I have begun to integrate all of the individual scene files into our main “shell” Processing file that manages IR, sound, networking and smooth transitions all in one neat package. There are still plenty of tweaks to be made: converting all the mouse-based code into IR-based code, ensuring a robust transfer of data between computers, and polishing the design. These can definitely be accomplished (with a few late nights…) by ImagineRIT.
Jared is hard at work on the audio. We ran into a problem regarding switching between midi tracks and controlling the pan. We are looking into solutions that include using a different program to handle midi (we are currently using Live) or setting up Processing to act as a controller so we can change the pan and (hopefully) the midi tracks on the fly.
We scoped out our room today – 1440 in building 7. It is totally sweet. We are thinking of setting up an “airlock” for users to pass through, where they will pick up their wands before entering the simulation. This way, the room can always stay totally dark. People waiting to use the simulation will be out of the room.
Here is a draft of an intro video for when users enter the room, before the simulation starts.
The shapes now move around! The input method has also been changed to accomodate the IR wand. As long as the mouse is pressed (or IR is detected), the program will sample a point every 10 frames. Once it reaches 5 points, it draws a shape.
We’ve been working on implementing some simple drawing for the graphical side of things. Here are some images of the basic shape drawing functionality.
We’ve been hard at work writing code for the backend of the project including networking, midi operation, and some more tracking work.
Here are some pictures taken over the past few weeks including materials testing of our rear projection screens, testing of the new Midi operated power system, and construction of the room where our users will be.
And yeah, we might have had a BBQ and played with fire.
After successfully building a prototype IR emitter, we moved to create a second version with more IR LEDs and some resistors to keep the LED from blowing.
Published at: 02:02 pm - Saturday February 14 2009
A milestone has been achieved!
Using the Processing wiimote connect library we’ve wrote some code that will draw trails based on an IR location. The trails are removed by pressing the A button the wiimote.
