GB Designs

IDAT210 - Demo

2010-04-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Right so i've created a demo video for this piece of work. This is mainly because i encountered a number of different problems when trying to code the application for the Iphone.

The main one being my lack of knowledge of C++

Here is the link to the demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNTOPP_wY2I

IDAT210 - App store

2010-04-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well i thought i would just design a page for the application page on the itunes library.

You can find it at the link below.

http://www.garrybarter.com/idat210/home.html

IDAT210 - Implementation

2010-04-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

So once i've done the designs of the interface i decided to create a couple things to show how the application will be implemented.

Once the user arrives at the festival for example, they will be able to locate a wireless Wi-Fi network on their mobile phone.
Then to connect to the Wi-Fi network they will use the unique number that they will be able to find on their ticket.

Once they access the wirless network, and enter the code, they will be able to download the application. Once they have this downloaded they will be able to access it from their phones menu.

IDAT210 - Designs

2010-04-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ok so after coming across the main problem in my application and fixing it i decided to start designing interfaces.

This is the main menu system for the application. The user will be able to load up any of the links by touching any of the links.

The interface also includes the logo of the application and the ability to fully navigate around the interface.

IDAT210 - Development Part 2

2010-04-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a major flaw in my project. As i was designing the application i found that a major problem with the program.

If you need to find your friend in a big crowd, a GPS location of them is not really going to help so i needed to develop something that will actually show the friend.

So i came up with a new feature for the program. You will be now be able to load up the camera on the mobile application, scan the area that your standing in. Then the camera will display the location of the friend your trying to find.

This sytem is called augmented reality, developing something on top of current reality.

The image above was an early version of the augmented reality feature, however i felt that it was neccessary to include some on-screen prompts that will show the exact distance and location of the friend.

IDAT210 - Development Part 1

2010-04-26T17:48:00.001-07:00

So now i've defined what im going to do i started my development of the program.

To begin with i decided how i would show my product, whether i would actually create the application or just develop a prototype with images.

I think for now im going to develop it as if i could create it even if i do run out of time to actually create it.

To begin with ive done a couple diagrams to show the workings of my system.

IDAT210 - Friend Finder

2010-04-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Well its time i start developing my idea i think, as i said earlier, Friend Finder is a small application that is available to users that go to largely populated events such as music festivals and football games.

The system allows users to create friends lists, view useful information and then find their friends whilst at the events. The application is designed for the Iphone however could easily be designed for Android/Normal mobile devices.

IDAT210 - Augmented Reality Links

2010-04-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well as i said in my last post i thought i would give a link to my work from another module.

The first link will take you to a product page for my final product.

http://www.garrybarter.com/ar/project.html

The second link will take you to the blog posts for that module. These explain my thoughts throughout the development of my work.

http://garrybarter.blogspot.com/search/label/IDAT204

IDAT210 - Updated research

2010-04-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Quick post about research for my new idea. As my new idea sticks to the fundamentals of my previous idea i think it would be pretty pointless just to post it up again.

However i have decided to change one of my 5 keywords...

LOCATIVE MEDIA

SOCIAL NETWORKING

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

AUGMENTED REALITY

I have decided to change online security to augmented reality. This is because after completing a project for another module and i feel that this technology could become very useful.

IDAT210 - New Idea

2010-04-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ok so after discussing my idea with Ben i have decided to create a new idea.

Ben suggested that i stick with my initial idea to an extent, but instead choose an area and focus on it instead of doing a broad, general idea.

So i started thinking about combining social networking and locative media on a smaller scale than before.

I used the idea of looking for your friends in nightclubs on nights out, and using your mobile to do this. This got me thinking of other situations where you will need to find your friend.
So i came up with the idea of Friend Finder. Friend Finder helps the user find their friends in large scale organised events, such as music festivals and football games.

So i designed a logo for it. Here it is

IDAT210 - Screens

2010-04-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

All of these screens will be inserted into a iphone template to show with my work.

IDAT209 - Projection - Final Project

2010-04-25T19:52:00.001-07:00

Below you'll find a link to the final video for our projection.

http://www.vimeo.com/11222426

IDAT209 - Projection - Implementation

2010-04-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

Sensor that we will be using.

So after creating two versions of the actual thing were projecting we were now ready to begin thinking about implementation.

The main problems with the implementation were going to be using the motion sensor on the Arduino board, and getting hold of a decent enough projector for our project.

The code side of it was a bit tricky, so we decided to use a webcam for initial testing. This is the code for the webcam.

onClipEvent (load) {
lee=true}
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
c = Camera.get();
c.onActivity = motion(mode);
_root.girl.attachVideo(c);
_y=-c.activityLevel*2+200
if (c.activityLevel>=70 && c.activityLevel<=75 && lee==true){ this.gotoAndStop(2); } This code was supplied to us by Lee. Once we had refined the webcam code, we decided to start working with the Arduino board. After speaking to Lee we found that we could have either used Flash/AS3 or Processing. We decided to work mainly with Flash/AS3 as we all had Windows PC’s. However we did also find some code for using processing. Once we got the coding out the way the only problem we had was getting hold of the actually projector itself. In the end I managed to convince one of my friends to borrow one. Below is a diagram of what the projection will be like.

IDAT209 - Projection - Design

2010-04-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

So now we have our specific location we decided the next step would be to create some designs for the animation.
Initially the idea would be to have Harry Houdini appearing out of smoke, as to look like an illusion. So we got about creating this.

Then I thought it might be quite cool to use something a little different as well, so I created the following animation. This animation would have Harry Houdini appear from particles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amq4vk2R1p8

IDAT209 - Projection - Chosen Idea

2010-04-25T19:24:00.001-07:00

Ok so we’ve discussed our 3 ideas, and even though I thought my idea might be quite cool, we couldn’t come up with a practical solution on how to record the thoughts of people. This meant the heart of the idea wasn’t feasible. This was the same problem with Lukes, the third, idea; there wouldn’t be any way of projecting down onto the ground without projecting onto the people themselves.
So our main idea is the animation that will be monitored by the motion sensor. Hopefully this idea will look quite good as well.
I though initially we needed to figure out a perfect location for our little “experiment” so we went back down to our site.
What we decided is shown below. It is a small “dingy” grey wall that does not look interesting in the slightest. I think this will be perfect for the surprise effect of the animation.

IDAT209 - Projection - Arduino

2010-04-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would do a quick post about Arduino boards. The following links that takes you to the open-source website. http://www.arduino.cc/.

“Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.”

“Arduino is a hardware device and software used to program it. An Arduino is used for the design and development of embedded computer systems. An Arduino consists of a simple open hardware design for a single-board microcontroller, with embedded I/O support and a standard programming language. An Arduino is programmed using the Wiring language, which is essentially C++ with a few simplifications. The Processing programming language is often used to interface a computer with an Arduino, often to create unorthodox interfaces.”

A typical first program for an Arduino board.
#define LED_PIN 13

void setup () {
pinMode (LED_PIN, OUTPUT); // enable pin 13 for digital output
}

void loop () {
digitalWrite (LED_PIN, HIGH); // turn on the LED
delay (1000); // wait one second (1000 milliseconds)
digitalWrite (LED_PIN, LOW); // turn off the LED
delay (1000); // wait one second
}

IDAT209 - Projection - Initial Ideas

2010-04-25T19:21:00.002-07:00

So after hearing the opening talk by Lee, I have had a couple early ideas for this project. Mainly from the first term and some others using some of the aspects from the 1st part of this term.
The first of the ideas has come from one of my group mates. After the initial Stonehouse work, me and Louis Wood both seemed to latch onto the history of the location. Louis especially liked the whole mystery surrounding the performance by the world famous escape artist Harry Houdini. So he came up with an idea, where we would use an Arduino board to monitor the movement of the public in a certain area, then as a member of the public approached a certain area an animation of Harry Houdini would play. This idea is quite cool mainly because I like the idea of scaring members of the public.
The second of the ideas is one of my own this time. I thought I could carry on with the work of my 1st part, where I was monitoring and recording reactions to the site. I thought I could then project the heartbeat of people as they moved around the area. I’m not totally sure as to how I could produce this or where I would project, however I think I might look into this a bit more yet.
The third and final idea is an idea from the final member of our group, Luke. His idea is to use the movement routes of the public in our site, then project them back down onto the ground behind them. This would then give the effect of the public actually leaving a trail behind them. Once a number of people have walked through the area, there would be multiple trails and hopefully something interesting drawn on the ground.
I think all 3 of these ideas could be worked further and will post again when I know more about what were going to do. Time for a team meeting I believe!

IDAT209 - Projection - Group

2010-04-25T19:21:00.001-07:00

Quick update about my group for this project, after completing the first part of this term with only me and Louis Wood, we decided to find another member for the group.
After some careful consideration, will he run away from us like the others? We decided that as Luke Best was without a group he could join the “dream team”. Hopefully he can help contribute to this module.

IDAT209 - GPS - Final Project Part 2

2010-04-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

I then took the data and did the following piece of work.
To display their feelings I thought I would alter the GPS route to show a sort of heartbeat monitor. So as they get angry or scared their heartbeat rate would increase, as the location got friendlier/quieter the line will straighten out.

GPS Number 1
GPS Number 2GPS Number 3

All together

IDAT209 - GPS - Final Project Part 1

2010-04-25T19:16:00.001-07:00

The main thing that stuck out in my mind from the walkthrough was of people thoughts, mainly their opinions & feelings whilst they walked through the site. So I thought I would explore this option for my final project.
I could then use their GPS routes to show different people’s opinions each of each place. I think this would show quite a personal feel to the Stonehouse area.
So I asked 3 of my friends to walk through my site, Union St with a piece of GPS tracking equipment. I have then summed them up into 5 different locations throughout my site. Before they set out I gave them 3 different words to use for each location to make things simpler to express. The results are as follows...

Full Name: James Owen
GPS number: 1
Area 1: Dangerous
Area 2: Dingy
Area 3: Run-down
Area 4: Disgusting
Area 5: Civilised

Full Name: Guy Rolfe
GPS Number: 2
Area 1: Dangerous
Area2: Run-down
Area3: Run-down
Area4: Horrible
Area5: Friendly

Full Name: Steve Watson
GPS Number: 3
Area 1: Fearful
Area 2: Disgusting
Area 3: Needs Work
Area 4: Horrible
Area 5: Friendly

IDAT209 - GPS - Using Stonehouse

2010-04-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

So I have my 2 versions of the walkthrough and I’ve explored what Hertizan Space is last year so I thought I would try and figure out how I could adapt this into a project in Stonehouse.
Whilst working on the GPS walkthroughs I quite liked the different results I was collecting. So it got me thinking about what sort of data I could collect whilst people were in the Stonehouse area, in particular, our groups site of Union St.

IDAT209 - GPS - Hertizan Space

2010-04-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Right, so instead of typing up the same references and research that I did in my previous years work, I’m going to copy some of the more interesting points that I feel show what Hertizan Space is best.

The above image was developed in my old halls of residence, monitoring the different signals inside the building. This map is for my final project, I recorded a lot of data for my final project for IDAT106. The data includes phone signal, Bluetooth signals & Wi-Fi signals.

IDAT209 - GPS - Adapted Walkthrough

2010-04-25T19:12:00.001-07:00

Ok so I took my data from my walkthrough and decided to alter the image every time I went onto a new road.
The result came out like below.

IDAT209 - GPS - Initial Walkthrough

2010-04-25T19:10:00.001-07:00

Ok so now instead of having Shaun Murray, we now have Ben for a short period of time. He’s going to be teaching us about GPS & Hertizan Space. However I am already quite confident with this area, as we covered a lot of material with Gianni in our first year.
For the next set of posts I will be talking about my previous years work as well as my new work. I will include some images of my first year & second year work. I feel that this will show a level of development in my work.
For the first session we were asked to either use the GPS equipment that the university supplies us with, which after last year’s difficulties I didn’t want to do, or use our own equipment. My mobile has the ability to track the GPS position of the phone so I used this.
We were also asked to form groups of 4 and create a set of rules that directed us around the city centre. Our main rule was to follow any method of transporting, apart from walking, until we saw a new method. We thought that this would allow us to keep a heavily influenced but unknown path. Below you will find the initial image of the route, extracted from our groups GPS device.

Now I have this data I need to figure out what I’m going to do with it & how I could use this method of data recording to help me transform my area of Stonehouse.

IDAT209 - Group Update

2010-04-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

Just need to get this out of the way really, after coming back from the Christmas break, my group seems to have disbanded.
Not very helpful for a group based assignment so for the foreseeable future it seems that my group will consist of myself & Louis Wood. This means that we will have to do a couple more bits of work than everyone else. However it also means that we can produce what I believe will be a better standard of work.
Will probably deal with this new GPS work and then find some more people for the second part of the term.
More posts to follow for IDAT209...

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality Project - ICA - Fifth Feature

2010-03-29T13:14:00.002-07:00

The "ICA" also makes parking a whole lot easier. When in "parking" mode, the "ICA" will help identify empty parking spaces.

It will also display the neccessary information about that space, i.e. Time Limit, Fees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_WKEB6ZKlY&feature=player_embedded

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality Project - ICA - Fourth Feature

2010-03-29T13:14:00.001-07:00

The "ICA" will also assist you with your breaking. When there is a car in front of you slowing down, the display will instantly change that car to red, the deeper the red the more it is breaking.
It will also notify you of upcoming traffic lights, the driver will receive an on-screen warning if the lights are red.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSfl8LqSNc&feature=player_embedded

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality Project ICA - Third Feature

2010-03-29T13:12:00.001-07:00

When using the ICA you will automatically get a built-in Satelitte Navigation System (SATNAV). Not only do you get a normal "SATNAV", but unlike any other on the market today, you get an on-screen visual aid as well.

The "VSATNAV" will paint a line on the road, all you have to do is follow the road, it will also give you an on-screen warning of any upcoming turnings and will highlight all road signs with the distance to your location on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u09Mfy4BvL0&feature=player_embedded

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality Project - ICA - First Feature

2010-03-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well i thought i would do some posts about my Augmented Reality project.

Now that i've done my final presentation im just going to provide some links to each feature, and then talk about them a little bit.

The first of the five main features is the Hazard Perception feature. The idea of this feature is to provide the user an on-screen warning if something that could cause a hazard comes into the road. This could be a pedestrian or another car pulling out.
The feature itself will display a small red box when the hazard is on-screen. You can find the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH9mAxylF5U&feature=player_embedded

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality Project - ICA - Second Feature

2010-03-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

The second feature of my project is the speed trap feature.

This feature is pretty simple, instead of a normal SATNAV where it notifies you by sound, the ICA will display the trap on the screen and then tell the driver what speed they need to be going.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH9mAxylF5U&feature=player_embedded

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Final Product

2010-03-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post with the link to the final product for my Augmented Reality Project.

You can find all the information and videos at the following address...

http://www.garrybarter.com/ar/project.html

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application UI

2010-03-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

Heres a early version of our user interface for our e-learning project.

User Interface Version 1.

As you can see the interface includes most of the features we have already mentioned. The only thing that needs to be included is the use of the webcam feature, but that will come with version 2.

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application - Market Research

2010-03-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Well me and luke have found a couple interesting products out on the market at the moment.

Both of which are similar to our desired product but i feel we have a better overall idea, mainly because we are combining both of these products into one.

The first link - http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2010/03/power-gig-its-a-rhythm-game-with-a-real-guitar.ars - is an article about a product thats been developed along the same basis as ours, guitar hero, however they have created an special guitar that is meant to be more like a real guitar than the guitar hero/rock band guitar. However this still means your not actually using your own real guitar.

The second link - http://www.jamorama.com/standard-edition-b/ - is a product page for a piece of software that allows you to play along to songs, the software breaks down the song and tells the user which notes to play. A similar aspect to our software, but there is no link between the software and the guitar.

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application - Whats next

2010-03-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well our next step is to develop a working prototype of our products.

Luke is in the middle of designing the interface for the product, will upload some versions of it soon.

The main problem were having with the interface is the main section, the bar that shows which notes to play. On the guitar hero/rock band model they have it scrolling down the screen, however because we have a lot more notes to hit than the games we have to be careful where we position this. At the moment we have it going right to left, however that is not the final position.

Another problem is that at the moment were using numbers to indicate where to play, however because there are a number of these, as well as the speed the indicator is moving, we may need to change it to some sort of symbols, similar to the computer games blocks.

Technical development hasn't begun yet, mainly because we are waiting on the final confirmation that our product is good enough :)

Will post those pictures soon!

IDAT211 - Considering other technologies

2010-03-17T16:05:00.001-07:00

Well i thought i would do another post about a new technology that is coming to the market in the next year.

That tech is something called Project Natal. Developed by Microsoft, for its Xbox 360 games console. Project Natal will use modern motion tracking software and hardware to allow the user to control games/objects without using controllers.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/ - The official Microsoft website for Project Natal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACt9R9z37U - A youtube link to the Project Natal in action. Looks good.

The reason im posting about this, for our application were going to develop a webcam section which reads your movements and hand locations to tell the user whether their playing correctly. However the motion tracking code is very tempermental.

If we could use this sort of technology we would be able to perfect this feature.

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application - "Our Method"

2010-03-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

After the last post i thought i would put another post of how we would do it with our product.

We have settled on 4 main methods that will help you learn the guitar in record breaking speed (well maybe)

The first would be to have the program load songs up straight away without any uneccessary information or tutorials appearing and confusing the student before they even start playing guitar.

The second method is to give extra information to those users that want to learn more about what there playing. Not only musical information but information about the song itself.

The third method is that because were using technology as the main aid, it means we have lots of benefits, looping each section to play repeatedly until you get it right, slowing the track down, productive and useful feedback showing which notes you didn't hit etc...

The final method which in my opinion is the main one, its fun!!! As we've based our product on one of the highest selling products in the gaming industry at the moment, you will be able to have all the fun of guitar hero/rock band but will also be learning the guitar properly at the same time. A win win situation!

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application - "Other methods of learning the guitar"

2010-03-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

I thought i would do another quick post about some more research into our e-learning project.

The first method would be to have lessons. However these have some major disadvantages. The main one being that they can become expensive if you don't learn the guitar in a couple sessions (which you won't). Another drawback is that the average student would only have the one lesson a week, these sessions tend to only last for about 2 hours, which is not enough time, which means you have to put in extra sessions on your own.

The second method is to teach yourself. There are plenty of success stories of doing it this way, however like everything you do on your own, your going to pick up bad habits that limits the quality of your skills. Also if you use books to learn, not all the information in them is relevant.

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application - "Functionality"

2010-03-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

For this post i'll quickly go over the main two points of our e-learning project.

Use any real life guitar -
This means the user will be able to plug any guitar into the system without having to spend extra money on new devices. Also means that the user will develop their skills with familiar objects instead of having to get the feel of new objects.

Webcam -
A webcam can be attached to our program to allow the program to track your finger positions to compare with the online tutor. Means the user will also be able to see what there doing and what there needing to do with an on-screen overlay.

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application - "Main Features"

2010-03-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Main Features -

-Multiple Skill Levels: Helps the user learn, no matter how experienced they are.

- All songs broken up into sections to be practised at will: Means the user can learn a track to a professional level without having to repeat back on themselves.

- Speed Selection: The user will be able to slow the song down if they are struggling. Or speed it up for a greater challenge

- Loop sections of songs: Another feature to help the user learn certain tracks to a professional level.

- Proper musical tabulature: Helps users learn all aspects of music practice.

- Feedback showing areas needing improvement: Ability to review tracks for overall improvement.

- Scores and note streak rewards for playing well

IDAT211 - E-Learning Application - "How" / "Who"

2010-03-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

Next question is,

"How"

Using a real instrument, plug into the usb device and play along to real songs using an intuitive user interface. Based on the popular guitar hero/rock band rhythm games, our e-learning product will be as much fun as a game to play, but also a powerful tool in learning the guitar.

"Who"

All Skill levels, from complete beginners to professionals.

IDAT211 - E-Learning - "What are you attempting to teach with your application"

2010-03-17T15:32:00.001-07:00

Well i thought i would come on here and do some posts about our device were going to develop.

To do this i thought i would break it up into some different headers:

"What are you attempting to teach with your application"

Our application is primarily focused to help the user learn how to play the guitar, however as well as this we want our users to have fun and feel a natural progression of their skills, without forcing them to address issues.

IDAT211 - Main Idea (Revised)

2010-03-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

So me and luke got together and went through our initial idea for this project, taking into consideration what Katina said to us.

It seemed that we were given two main ideas for this music learning project. The first idea would consider using a virtual learning room, rigged up with sensors and camera's. This room would then monitor what the student was doing, right and wrong, and then help them with on screen commands.

The second idea would be a device that you plug the guitar into, this device would then turn any "proper" guitar into a computer controller. In a similar way to our initial idea of using guitar hero/rock band instruments. The computer would then be able to read what the student is doing. The student would then be able to see what there doing by looking at the computer screen.

We thought we will go with the second idea, mainly because we feel we can achieve the most proffesional results, and if we went with the first idea, we would be speculating a lot because the technology is not available currently.

Example of device (Behringer USB to Guitar Link)

IDAT210 - Implementation

2010-02-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

To implement this product i will try and create the actual website with a java based application that will allow the users to actually use my social networking website.

As well as creating the website and application, i will also try and set up an online community that uses the network to meet with each other.

IDAT210 - Inspiration

2010-02-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

So after looking around the different articles and looking into popularity and usage figures i have decided on my main influences for this project.

My main social networking influence will of course be Facebook, simply because of how popular it is. As well as this i will look into the influence of Twitter and how such a simple idea can be so popular.

For my locative media influence i will look towards such programs as Bliin & Street Maverns. For these two i think i need to install these pieces of software to figure out how they work and there limitations.

IDAT210 - GPS/Social media programs out there

2010-02-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

After looking at the GPS history, im now going to look at some of the other websites out there that combine GPS and social networking.

The first website is called "mologogo" - Apparently "mologogo" is a free service that will track you and your friends using dirt-cheap GPS phones and smart phones.

http://www.mologogo.com/

Apparently this service has been around since 2005, however i've never heard of it. The website is very user friendly and i think the creators have created it simply to make money.

The second website is called "ipoki". Ipoki is currently in BETA still but it seems quite cool, like an early version of what i want to do, basically you install the software to your phone and then can share the position with other people. The only downside seems to be that it doesn't offer much in terms of social networking.

http://www.ipoki.com/

The third website seems the most like what i want to create. Its called "bliin" and is a bit more hardware based then what i want to create.

http://bliin.com/

To explain it more i've found this link on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6767593.stm

IDAT210 - GPS Timeline

2010-02-21T13:53:00.001-08:00

After looking at the social networking websites i've decided to look at the other main part of my project, GPS.

Once again i thought i would check out the history of the device, i examined this subject for another project, so i know a little about the history already.

This is a link to a pretty decent timeline on GPS.

http://www.aero.org/education/primers/gps/gpstimeline.html

Interesting to see how it was developed by the US military, not very surprising though!

IDAT210 - Social Networking Popularity

2010-02-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

After looking at the history of the different social networking sites i thought i would try to find some figures and reviews on each of the websites.

The first article i found is something called "Social Networking Evaluation Chart"

http://www.digizen.org.uk/socialnetworking/snsComparison.aspx

This article goes through everything on each of the websites, apart from Twitter for some reason, and compares the different sites. It has 5 main sections of comparison, General Info, Groups, Design & Customisation, Security & Access, Viewing & Moving Content. These sections are then split again to look at specific subjects within the groups.

This next article is a little different to what i wanted to find however it is quite interesting.

http://mashable.com/2009/12/31/social-media-web-2/

This article examines how popular social networking is on the internet by looking at google search results.

Graph on search results of "Social Media" & "web 2.0"

This graph shows how the popularity of social media searches is really starting to rise. Maybe proving that is more than just a "fad"

The final link is a very useful article, it shows the most popular social networking websites ranked by a combination of Inbound Links, Alexa Rank, and US traffick data from Compete and Quantcast. Obviously most of this is only from the US though, it is not easy to track worldwide traffic im afraid.

http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites

It is interesting to note the top three being Facebook, MySpace, Twitter. A lot of people may be surprised to see MySpace above Twitter still, but this data is very up to date, in fact it's less than a month old (from the date of this post).

IDAT210 - Social Networking -The main players

2010-02-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

Well i thought i had to do this post about this subject, as everyone immeaditely thinks of these websites when the word social networking is mentioned. This websites are Facebook, Bebo, Twitter & MySpace.

In a way these are the most powerful websites and in the instance of Facebook seem to have ripped up the rulebook. What i mean is, if you look at the history of social networking websites, they come in, making a big noise on the web at the same time. Last about 2/3 years, then are replaced by another new social networking website. However if you look at Facebook, it came in and took the users from MySpace, the biggest social networking website before Facebook, and it looked as if the cycle was about to happen. However due to the massive amount of users on Facebook, this has given them the financial powers to stay ahead of the other websites in terms of technology and features, which means they are not going to be replaced so easily.

The only main rival at the moment to the social network crown seems to be Twitter. Twitter is unique because it is different to every other social networking website as it simply allows the user to update other "followers" of their daily actions and thoughts.

Because of this massive battle for the "king of social networking" spot i thought i would have a look for some articles on the net about the history of the major players in the market.

The first article is about Facebook and its history.

http://mashable.com/2006/08/25/facebook-profile/

The second article is about Twitter and its brief history.

http://gigaom.com/2009/02/01/a-brief-history-of-twitter/

The third article is about MySpace and its history.

http://personalweb.about.com/od/myspacecom/a/whatismyspace_5.htm

IDAT210 - Quick history of social networking

2010-02-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

To fully understand the fad that is social networking, i have decided to look into the past of the area.

After looking around the internet for quite sometime i have found a very useful article about the history of social network sites.

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html

This article seems to be a piece that has been submitted for some sort of work, very text based and well referenced.

It goes through a definition of social networking, the early years of social networking, and then goes through a number of different popular websites and how they grew in popularity and then was replaced by another.

Timeline from article

IDAT210 - How to create my own social networking site

2010-02-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

After looking around the website for a bit i've noticed quite a few guides on how to create a social networking website. There seems to be loads of these sort of guides, i guess it's because people are starting to think how to make money out of such a popular trend.

The first one i found really reminds me of the get rich quick schemes that used to fill up the internet, well i guess they still do but i just ignore them. The link for this one is:

http://www.startasocialnetwork.com/

This guide goes through loads of subjects about starting up, such as how to get your first 2000 members quickly and using social psychology to boost your membership. Obviously these subjects are very important to someone who's starting a site to make money, not very helpful to me though as the university will own my work!

The next article i found was a 4 step guide to a successul start in social media. Might be helpful, here's the link

http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/how-to-get-started-in-social-media/

This one is much more useful than the previous, it includes guides on what to include such as video sharing and forums. It also tells you the positives and negatives of these features. This could become very helpful later on

Well i could sit here and link loads more, to be honest there all pretty similar if you really want to see more, just search "how to create your own social networking site" into google and enjoy the reading!

IDAT210 - Overview of idea

2010-02-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

For my project i have decided to focus on social networking websites and the theory behind them. If you look at the most popular social networking websites at the moment, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, there is one main thing that is evident in all of them. That is that there is an underlying purpose to them, these sites are around simply for the user to be able to communicate with people they know but may not be able to see on a daily basis. This purpose has worked very well so far, however if a new social networking website was to be created, it would struggle to come up with something new for this purpose that hasn't been developed already.

So far social networking websites help people keep in contact with other people they might not see a lot. However these sites do not encourage their users to go out and interact with each other, why would they encourage this, it would pull people away from their website.

Because of these websites encouraging the users to stay at home and communicate over the internet, interaction between people is starting to dissapear in the real world. I have decided to act on this and create my social networking website based around the theory of going out and meeting their friends and other new people.

To do this i plan to create a social networking website where you can login, create a profile and then find your friends. Once you have your friend's lists you can then do everything with them that you can do in the more standard social networking websites. However once you've done this, you will also be able to download a version of the website for your mobile device. This version will then use GPS to find out where you are. This will then update your location on the website for all your friends to see, so they can join you.

The extra bonus of using locative media will be that you will be able to see your current location and then check the area to see which of your friends are in the area. For example, you're at a gig, you want to know which of your friends are also there, you then login to the website through your mobile device, select the "find your friends" option and you will be shown your local area and which of your friends are there. This will encourage more interaction between users.

IDAT211 - E-learning project

2010-02-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

We seem to have come up with a pretty decent early idea.

The idea is pretty simple to grasp, we hope to develop a program that helps the user learn a musical instrument.

We got this idea after playing on a computer game called "Rock Band". Most readers would of heard of this, if you haven't there are a couple links below to some youtube video's of footage from the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd3E8zgqJM4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gt_z72hkH0

As you can see these games rely heavily on the user using a fake version of a guitar/drums.

Our initial idea will be to use the drums hardware to develop a visual aid to teach the user how to play the drums properly.

At the moment these games only tell the user which drum to hit, but it doesn't tell you what sound it will make or anything useful like that. Not very helpful if your trying to learn the drums.

We would develop a visual system that would tell the user which drum to hit, but if they didnt hit it the sound wouldnt play. It sounds quite obvious really and it really is.

This is the version of controller that is currently being used for these games however we feel that this does not offer the user a full feel as to what drums feel like. So we are going to look into changing the design to suit it better.

We are also starting to look at other instruments we could use, some of the early ideas are quite obvious like guitars or a keyboard. But we have also thought of some of the non-traditional instruments like the flute.

Hopefully this idea is alright and then we can start doing some proper research into it.

IDAT211 - E-learning research

2010-02-10T12:10:00.001-08:00

Well i thought i would do a couple posts on research into E-learning, and then hopefully this will help me come up wiht my idea.

The following website is an e-learning directory called "Learning Light", the website is http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/

This site is really useful for finding different e-learning projects.

Another site i've found that seems quite useful is a site called "E-learning for Kids" and can be found at the following address - http://www.e-learningforkids.org/

E-Learning for kids is a charitable project that develops e-learning programs and projects for classrooms. They also offer courses to both children and teachers to learn how to use their programs. Quite a cool little project.

After looking around i have found that there are a lot of different programs that are using e-learning as a key feature in their new programs.

After looking through a government run site, ive found this site which offers a list of current and past projects that schools/colleges/universities that are developing e-learning projects.

This is the website address for the directory:
http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/projects/archive/technology/index.php

One of the more interesting briefs can be found on the link below:
http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/projects/archive/language/lang2.php

This project sounds quite cool and very useful. However it does not provide the link to the actual program which is a bit annoying, even though the project finished in 2007.

Well these projects are quite cool but the majority are orientated towards children, im not too sure if our project should entirely focus on this.

IDAT211 - Project 2 brief

2010-02-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

Well like i do with all my new projects, this is the brief for the new project for this module.

Working in pairs, research and design an interactive multimedia product for learning. The concept and
design should be informed by the psychology of learning and HCI principals, and demonstrate a
comprehensible design practice.

Designs solutions should be a response to an investigation of learning products, methods and
environments, exploring collaborative, remote and individual learning with interactive and networked
technologies. The aim is to develop a critical awareness and practical application of learning theories and
styles in interaction and interface design.

You are encouraged to be highly speculative and experimental in your approach. As there is no product,
designs should go beyond what is possible with conventional media, shaping innovative uses for emerging
technologies. Solutions should be mindful of how the development of cognitive and social skills in learners
might be mediated with technology.

Throughout the design process, careful consideration should be paid to the context of use. Design
decisions should be based on an assessment of learners needs, and define a clear role the technology has
in supporting learning.

Basically, in pairs, me and Luke Best, have to come up with an e-learning project, and then research and develop the new idea.

IDAT210 - Locative media research

2010-02-10T11:57:00.001-08:00

Just found quite a cool website called Locative Media, pretty handy title for something about locative media!

Here's the address, http://www.locative-media.org/

"What happens when people experience narratives and media in place? What happens when media is contextualized with location? When history, personal narrative, and place are interwoven?

The Center for Locative Media works with different cultural and educational communities to enable the creation, delivery, and distribution of narrative histories of people and places using emerging and locative technologies.

To date, the Locative Media space has primarily been inhabited by artists. But as educators and amateur neo-geographers, we found a rich vein of place-based pedagogy to tap into. Here story was already married to place. As technologists we watched the tools become available to not only tag content to place, but to experience it in that place.

Locative Media, like its technology, is emerging; but as with all community engagement, it has its roots in the the importance of story, the value of place, and the use of technologies old and new."

This website seems to pretty useful, it has tons of different examples of locative media work. Thought i would post a couple of them below,

http://locative.x-i.net/

http://www.locative-media.org/projects/C89/

This website also has an interesting link to the following article about the history of locative media.

http://www.hz-journal.org/n8/hight.html

It also has another couple decent links, one that is about the tech that is around at the moment.

http://www.locative-media.org/tech/

and the other is about mobile technology and the use of mobile tech.

http://www.locative-media.org/mobile/C95/

IDAT210 - Iphone apps

2010-02-10T11:50:00.001-08:00

Just thought i would do another quick post about a couple iphone apps i've found.

The first will pretty familiar to many people. It's a application that allows you to access the website Twitter, which is a social networking site.

The second app is a GPS app that allows you to place comments around the world through the app. Then other people can access the program and view your comment when they view the place you put the comment. Just thought this might be useful to look at, the technology it uses will be very similar to the stuff that i need to use.

IDAT210 - Research into Locative Media & Social Networking

2010-02-10T11:45:00.001-08:00

I've come across an iphone app that is very similar to the one that i plan to create.

The main difference between my idea and this one is that their is no website where you log in and create profile/add friends/ arrange meetings.

This is the extract from the apple app store, you can find the full page here.

http://www.apple.com/webapps/socialnetworking/streetmavens.html

IDAT210 - Social Networking / Locative Media

2010-02-10T11:30:00.001-08:00

Ok so now ive come up with my idea, apparently i need to come up with 5 or 6 keywords for my project.

This will help me target my research and develop my site to a high standard. Well hopefully.

The keywords i was thinking of are:

LOCATIVE MEDIA

SOCIAL NETWORKING

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

ONLINE SECURITY

Free Space

The reason i have left the free space at the bottom us so that if throughout my research i come across something that i feel is important i can then add it.

IDAT210 - Social Networking

2010-02-10T11:19:00.000-08:00

After the lecture for this week, ive talked to my lecturer and he suggested looking into locative media inside my social networking site.

So the idea would be that you can register onto my website, create a profile and add friends. Pretty basic social networking stuff so far. The new flash part is that once you sign up, you can register your mobile device to your account, i.e. iphone.

You will then be able to connect through an iphone app / downloadable java app to the website and log in. Once you've logged in you will be able to activate your gps locater (within the mobile device). This will then allow your friends from the website to see where you are.

You will also be able to look for friends near you, so if your in a city centre or a nightclub and you have the phone signal, you will be able to look to see which friends are near by. Therefore getting you in touch with your friends and being able to socialise even more.

I quite like this idea, even though some of the technology may be beyond my current level of knowledge, i think i will develop this idea even further.

IDAT210 - New project

2010-02-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

Quick post about my new project for this module.

Quite an open brief really...

"This project requires you to set a problem and provide a unique, innovative, creative, informed and culturally aware solution. Projects are to be negotiated with your tutor through an initial proposal written up in your online workbook - blog. It is essential that the production work is informed by critical debate underway in seminars and lectures.This is in contribution to the development of your professional practice and your final year project. It is essential that the development and production of the project is informed by critical debate underway in seminars and lectures. The proposal must include description of the topic, evidence of relevant research, critical references (bibliography, netography, filmography, etc), illustrations, diagrams, technical solutions and a realistic production timetable. This proposal contributes an important component of the overall mark, as it sets out aims and objectives against which the project will be assessed."

There was a quick discussion when the brief was set, and my mind starting thinking about what work i could do.

My idea is to produce a social networking site that encourages people to go out and get together. Not too great of a new idea at the moment but hopefully can develop it a bit.

General Post about current work.

2010-02-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Well i thought i would do a quick post about some ideas for current projects im working on.

This is more for me than the average viewer of my work. I just need to figure out what i need to do.

IDAT204- In car assistance program - See tons of posts below

IDAT205 - Monkey Game - This project has the potential to be a huge project for my portfolio. Initial ideas include a monkey vs poacher game, a monkey defence game & a monkey sanctuary simulation.

IDAT209 - Not too sure on this one, need to talk to fellow class mates to figure out what needs to be done.

IDAT210 - Social Networkin / Locative Media - Create a social networking site that uses Locative media as a main focal point of site, Need to do the keywords task for this and more research. More to follow shortly.

IDAT211 - E-Learning product / Pairs work. Me and luke have thought of a couple decent ideas for this one. The main one being a product that uses the guitar hero / rock band instruments to teach someone the drums & other instruments by showing a correct visual instruction.

SOFT232 - Final Project / Pairs work - Me and luke working together again here, have come up with idea that will work through the users mobile phone. Using their mobile, the users will be able to access everything about their university course that they need, i.e. Timetable & Email.

SW Poker Portal - Using framework from previous idea, create new design for site. Create header / BG / Menu system.

Soccernights - Using document provided from client, add content to website. Find a working league system and implement. Set up new PHPBB forum.

Portfolio - Create RSS Feed from blog, add Lightview system. Add work pages.

Idless Images - End sale & Add new photo's from recent event.

Untitled wedding photography website - Create logo, Colour Scheme, Framework for site.

Wow, quite a lot! Need to get SW Poker Portal, Soccernights, Portfolio, and wedding work done ASAP. The university work looks like its going to take a back seat!

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea, Whats next?

2010-02-08T13:50:00.001-08:00

So i've gone through my main idea, so what's next?

Obviously i need to tweak some of the ideas a little but that goes without saying. They will develop as i develop this idea.

The main thing is to sort out the graphics, so it compensates between the driver and the road and doesn't distract the driver too much.

I also need to decide how i plan to implement this idea and how good i can make the final product.

For the final presentation of my product i think i will create an advert for the system, very similar to those that you find on the American TV networks advertising the latest in hair growth creams or something along those lines.

Im quite liking this assignment and hopefully this idea can be developed to quite a high standard.
Stay tuned to find out how the next stages go.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Implementation

2010-02-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, so i've gone through each of the features, all thats left now to talk about is how i would implement the system.

The two main ideas i've had are to use either a special screen instead of the windscreen, or a special pair of glasses.

The first option is probably the best for implementation, however this idea could not be that feasable due to cost. The windscreen of a car is designed to break quite easily, so if it's breaking all the time and the system costs a fair amount people would not bother.

The second option solves this problem. You could use special augmented reality glasses instead, so when the driver/user sits down at the wheel he puts the glasses on, which are hooked up to the on-board computer system, and can use the car assistance system.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea 8th Post

2010-02-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

The final feature of the car assistance system is the hazard warning.

Hazards can be defined by anything from someone moving into your lane, to there being an accident ahead.

If something like this happened, the system would automatically detect it and then display a warning.

Here is an example of a warning when someone moves into your lane ahead of you.

Once again another mock-up using the brush tool.

The image above is highlighted in a sharp red, however for something not as serious as a car coming into your lane it wouldnt be as sharp. This colour would be for something like an accident or immediate danger.

The system would also monitor the traffic through a 3G feed, so it could notify if the driver if the traffic was particularly heavy in an oncoming area. It would then work with the GPS to deliver a work around route.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea 7th Post

2010-02-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

The fourth feature of the driving assistance isn't a main feature. It is the road sign system.

The main part of this feature is to highlight your destination that the GPS is going to. So when it comes up one a roadsign your attention is alerted by a highly visible colour.

Here is another quick mock-up of this feature.

Another quick mock-up. Obviously this driver using the system is going to Harrow.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea 6th Post

2010-02-08T13:12:00.001-08:00

The third feature to talk about is the speed camera feature. This feature will make all speed camera's highly visible and the speed that is required to be just as visible.

Obviously the yellow speed camera is quite visible as it is, however this will make the whole object, not just the camera, flourescent yellow.

Also it will make every speed change sign highly visible. This will allow users to be aware of how fast they need to be so they do not get penalised.

This system will also put the neccessary speed next to the speed camera, just in case the speed is not shown clearly.

The two images below show a speed camera without the system effecting it, and with the system effecting it. Please note the image with the system effecting it is not anywhere near the final version of the camera, just a quick version done with a paint brush.

Just a quick mock-up of what the system will create. Will look a lot more convincing in final version!

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea 5th Post

2010-02-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

The second main feature of this system is the GPS side of it.

The GPS works as you might think it would work, it paints a line on the road showing the driver where to go.

This technique is very similar to the one shown in racing computer games, in these there called "Driving lines". They tell the user where to put the car to get the best speed. Obviously the car assitance will not want the driver to drive faster, but get to where they want to go.

Driving aid in Need For Speed.

As you can see from the image above, the driving aid isn't too overpowering so the user can still appreciate the graphics in the game. However in the driving assitance system, the driving line, along with the arrows would be a lot clearer.

This feature of the system would also have a distance counter, to allow the driver to see how far he has got left to get to their destination.

It would also have direction arrows to tell the driver where to turn.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea 4th Post

2010-02-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

So this is the first post about the features of the car assistance system.

The first feature that im going to post about is the main feature, the braking assist. This may sound like something that automatically slowes the car down for you, but it is much more than that.

The main system of the braking assist is changing the visual display to show a car is braking/slowing. I have two images below that show a normal display and then a mock-up of the same image with the braking assist on.

The braking assist will sharpen and become brighter the more the car brakes.

To further this system, the system could also slow the car if the system recognises that the car in front of the drivers car slows. The sharper the colour, the more the car brakes.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea 3rd Post

2010-02-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

Well after posting up my ideas for this project, im now going to go through the specifics. Beggining with how the system will look.

The augmented reality system will display on the dashboard. And the user/driver will be able to look at the road as if normal, and see all of the displayed features.

Similar view as to where the display will show. Obviously on the other side as were not in America!

Displaying in this way means that the drivers vision won't be obscured or taken of the road.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea 2nd Post

2010-02-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well i thought i would continue talking about my main idea for the augmented reality project.

In the last post i talked about a couple of the features of the car assistance system.

I've now sat down and put this on paper:

The first image is of my initial ideas and the second is of the development of my final idea.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Main Idea

2010-02-08T11:07:00.001-08:00

Well i've come up with my initial idea for IDAT204. We have to create something to use augmented reality to do something...

A pretty open brief.

This is the actual brief, as it appears on the module overview document found on the university portal:

"Working individually participants are required:

- To investigates either (option 1) the ways in which the real world can be augmented with different forms of digital information or (option 2) the ways in which an interactive sound environment can be designed, constricted and implemented.

- To negotiate your particular idea and its possible implementations with the tutors in order to define the “nature”, “specifications” and “realisation” of your individual project.

- To implement your idea in the most creative and effective way.

- To analyse in your blog the conceptual context of your idea and final product, the aim and the results achieved, the positive and negative aspects of its planning, designing and implementation."

My main idea for this brief will be titled "Car Assistance", all of my further blogs on this subject will be titled this.

The main idea is to incorporate a car assistance system into a driving expeirence to help the driver get to where they need to be, quickly and safely.

The system will allow users to see many different things such as where they need to go, and also show when other drivers are slowing down.

More posts to follow on this subject.

IDAT204 - Augmented Reality - Quick Idea

2010-02-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

Just had another quick idea that i might use as a fall back option if my chosen idea isn't good enough.

The idea is to have a special pair of glasses that allow the user to count cards.

What i mean is, the glasses will allow the user to be able to count what cards have been pulled from a hand. This would then be used inside casino's to cheat the casino and be able to win large amounts of money.

Might come back to this idea because it could be quite a useful project to look at.

IDAT204 - Augumented Reality

2010-01-25T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well for our project for this term we have to create some sort of project to work with augmented reality...

After our initial lecture my mind was racing with ideas for my project, the bonus with this project is that if your idea is not viable to create using the augmented reality technology then as long as you make something that shows what the idea is in a clear way then that is fine.

So some of my ideas i came up with are...

The lynx effect, this is one my personal favourites, for reasons that will become clear shortly. The idea is that, once you put on a special pair of augmented reality glasses, you can see through peoples clothes. In a very similar way to the way in the James Bond movies or in the lynx advert.

Zombie, this is another one that i like. When the user puts on the special augmented reality glasses, whoever the user looks at suddenly appears as a zombie trying to kill them. I think this effect would be cool and not to difficult to set up. Obviously due to a lack of funds i will not be able to program this to work with glasses however i could just use a trick of film so it seems that it is actually happening.

Explosion, this idea is pretty simple, whenever you wear the glasses, whichever building you look at will have a series of explosions coming out of it. This means that it will give the effect like there is a terrorist attack on whatever building you look at. You could also expand the idea to include headphones on the glasses so it plays the explosion sound into your ears to make it seem authentic.

Football teams, this is my only idea which i could actually create using the special augmented reality cards and software. My idea is pretty simple, whenever you were watching a football game or reading a preview about a match, you hook up the cards and the web camera. Then the players/formation and team news will appear, this will give the effect like there off the screen.

Player HUD, for this idea i thought that maybe you could take an existing First Person Shooter such as HALO or Call of Duty and create a standout display, so when you put the glasses on you have a 3d hub appear close to your eyes so that you have better vision. The nearest i have seen to this is in the Avatar blockbuster.

IDAT211 - Final Idea - Working through my video

2010-01-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

After i had chosen to use the sphere and the soundtrack i decided to add some more to the visual side of the video.

After playing around in After Effects for a while i was still struggling with effects to use on my video. In the end i stumpled upon a program called Trapcode - Particular and decided to use that in my video.

Trapcode - Particular allows you to use a particle engine to manipulate any way you wish.

One of my thoughts was to have particles exploding to the beat around the ball, however after trying this with a number of different versions i couldn't get the effect that i desired.

However i did manage to get something that sprayed the particles working quite well so i decided to try and implement that. I found that by putting a "sprayer" in two of the corners of the video it gave an effect that i liked so i decided to work with that.

This is the effect i achieved.

IDAT211 - Final Idea - Choosing a soundtrack for my video

2010-01-20T15:41:00.000-08:00

As my video is heavily influenced by music it was of up most importance that i chose the correct track to act as a guide for my video.

The key thing was to have a distinguishable beat to the track. This is the main reason why i chose my track.

The track i chose was a song called "Riverside Mother******" by a dj called Sidney Sampson. You can find a link to the clean radio edit here.

I chose the original version of this track because there is only one line of lyrics and i decided lyrics would not work well with my video. However due to the lyrics that are in the original i had to edit out a certain part using a sound editor.

In the end i feel that the song i chose fits the video well and the genre of music is very appropriate for my video.

IDAT211 - My final idea

2010-01-20T15:29:00.000-08:00

Well after having a lot of ideas initially and then them failing i started to give up hope on finding a decent idea.

So i started looking for an idea that i could do within my initial ideas. In the end i decided to adapt the guitar hero idea.

I thought instead of having multiple graphics i could subsitute them with a central sphere that would react to the music being played.
So i started creating the sphere and decided to use a texture on the sphere to give it another effect.
Then i added the glow effect to the sphere. This started producing some interesting results so i started playing with this some more and this is what i ended up with.

I decided i wanted this sphere to match the main beat to the soundtrack, to match this, it will grow and shrink in size to look like a solid beat.

IDAT211 - Fisheye lense

2010-01-20T15:24:00.000-08:00

To make my video work inside the IVT Dome i have to use something called a fish-eye lense.

The standard way to do this is to apply a special lense onto your camera whilst your filming.

However if you do not have a special lense or you need to convert something that is not filmed, such as a animation then you have to find a plug-in/converter for a program.

The main program i am using is Adobe After Effects so i needed to find a plug-in for this program. Luckily i was given a plug-in by one of my course mates called "fulldome". This creates the effect of a fish-eye lense.

IDAT211 - Idea 4 - 3d

2010-01-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

My final initial idea was to use some 3d tech to create the video.

I got this idea after watching the movie "avatar".

I thought i could expand onto my previous idea of doing a 1st person perspective. This time adding a 3d aspect to it. Obviously i wouldn't be able to use the tech they used in "Avatar" but i could use the older technology with the special glasses.

In the end this created another issue as well as the ones i mentioned before, instead of having to worry about 1 camera you would have to use two camera's shooting the same footage. A non-starter really.

IDAT211 - Idea 3 - 1st Person

2010-01-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

The 3rd idea i had was to use a set up of camera's to record something in 1st person view.

I got this idea after watching an advert on tv. The advert is a nike advert and features a 1st person perspective going through a football career. The link is found here. Nike Advert.

I thought i would change this into either of two ways. The first way would be to set up something very similar to the advert, where it seemed like the camera view was coming from the eyes of a football player. The football player would be doing many things like dribbling, tackling, shooting & heading a football.

The other idea i had was to attach the camera on top of a helmet and then ride a quad bike around a track, giving the view that the viewer was riding the quad.

However like my previous ideas i found both of these very difficult to set up. This one mainly because it's very difficult to do things like tackling with a camera attached to somebody without breaking the camera. Also i found with a few trials, the camera's i had available meant that i could not capture the required quality.

IDAT211 - Idea 2 - Guitar Hero Graphics

2010-01-20T14:56:00.000-08:00

My second idea i came across after playing the computer game "Guitar Hero".

I thought that it would be quite cool to take some of the images from the game and change them, so that when a certain music note played the image changed. Like it does if you hit the right/wrong note in the game.

To suit the dome i thought i would only show the 5 notes instead of all of the background stuff. So each time a note played it would play a certain animation. I was thinking of having it shin up a bright illumination so that it would be very striking in the dome.

IDAT211 - Idea 1 - Timescale

2010-01-20T14:47:00.001-08:00

So my 1st idea i want to talk about is the timescale of Plymouth.

Im calling it a timescale, but thats for lack of a better word. Im not 100% on the name of this technique.

What i would do is, set up a camera somewhere either in my house or in the university. I would then hook that camera up to a computer and constantly record over 3 days. This would then capture the earth moving. I would then edit all of this footage together with a appropriate sound track behind it. This footage would then be sped up to fit in a 60 second video.

I belive that this footage, combined with the dome would create a pretty impressive video.

After deciding on this to be my main idea i tried to implement this idea over christmas. Then the problems started, the main problem was finding a location which would capture nothing but the sky. The other problem was that when i finally found this location, i couldn't get the camera to record straight to a laptop hard drive.

These problems soon put an end to this idea.

IDAT211 - Ideas

2010-01-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

This post is about some basic ideas ive been having for my video.

My first idea is to have a recording going of the sky above plymouth, this recording would then record for multiple days, then for my final video, i would speed the footage up.

The second idea i had was to use some graphics similar to the guitar hero, and then they would animate as music was played.

Another idea ive had is to use a series of camera's and record a view of 1st person with the person doing a series of tasks, or playing a sport.

My most recent idea ive had i got after watching the new blockbuster "Avatar", i wanted to create something in 3d.

My next few posts will be about each of these ideas and will sum up if there reliable or not.

IDAT211 - Blender, Examples of other peoples work

2010-01-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

Well i thought it would be important post some pieces of blender work done by some other people.

Here they are:

This piece of work is done completely in blender, it shows how to do game textures.

This piece is quite an easy piece apparently, it simply shows how reflections look in blender.

This model looks quite difficult to do, this model has used something called "SubSurf" to do the head modelling.

IDAT211 - Perception?

2010-01-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

After the lectures i thought i would do a post about "perception". Im not very certain on what it actually means, so i thought i would go out and look for some work that is called "perception". Hopefully this is what is meant.

After spending some time looking around the net, i seem to have found some artwork that can be called "perceptive art". However im yet to find any videos, that would be key.

IDAT211 - Blender - What is it?

2010-01-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well for this module we have been given the chance to learn how to use blender and maybe incorporate it into our video.

So what is this program called "Blender", as soon as i loaded the program up i thought it looked very similar to 3ds MAX which we used in our first year. So i thought i would do a quick post on some information i collected after doing a couple searches of the internet about the program.

Blender official website - This is the link to the official blender website, as this program is open-source it means that it is free, and this site offers links to download. It also offers access to the community of Blender.

Blender Magazine - This is a link to to a something called Blender Magazine, as the title suggests, its a site dedicated to Blender. However this site isn't just a link to magazine, but it also features a blog, and after looking at the posts on the blog, this site could prove to be very helpful to me.

Blender Wiki - This link is just a link to the Wiki Blender page, just in case some of you want to know more than the website tells you.

IDAT205 - SimpleAS - The final thing

2009-12-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Well i know i haven't blogged much about this but i thought i would quickly come online to give you some links to my final work.

We've now completed our presentation, even though we had some technical difficulty we still managed to say everything we wanted inside our 5 minute allocated time.

The link to the final site is http://www.simpleas.eu

If you have any problems accessing the website please be patient as it is on a very tempermental server. If after a couple tries you still cannot access the site please contact me.

IDAT204 - Second Life - Final post

2009-12-19T13:38:00.000-08:00

Right so...

We finally did our presentation to vlad. In the presentation we showed him our area inside second life, by logging on and actually showing him. We also had a video and some pictures from the actual event.

The link to the pictures is http://www.flickr.com/photos/37525283@N02/sets/72157622863148891/

The link to the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioiKy5wTQlk

Just so you know, the images are Adam Grove's and i created the video, with footage from Gemma, Luke and myself.

As well as showing this, we had to show our work on a blog, Carla put this together and the link is http://en.wordpress.com/tag/idat-204-workshop-2/

Hopefully all the links will work ok for you, if they don't or if you have any questions please contact me.

IDAT211 - Some images of a fulldome

2009-12-13T12:29:00.001-08:00

This is a image i found through google that shows the input that you need to create to show in the dome. This technique is called a "fish-eye" lense. I will talk about this some more in another post.

This is another image i found on the net that shows people inside a fulldome, notice how their seats are leaning back, looking at the roof.

IDAT211 - A quick post about the "Fulldome/Dome"

2009-12-13T12:26:00.000-08:00

I just thought i would write a quick post about a blog i found dedicated to work on the fulldome.

The link is http://fulldome.ning.com/ this blog is pretty useful and i think i'll look through it more when coming to developing my idea for my project.

IDAT211 - The IVT "The Dome"

2009-12-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

The dome is a place inside the university campus, for most people the dome will seem very similar to a planetarium. It's pretty hard to describe, so i'll just quickly explain the experience of being in there.

"You enter into a room that seems like a cinema in the way the seating is arranged, however instead of the screen being in front of you like in a cinema, the screen is above you. So to view it, you have to look up, however the way that it's made means that it takes up your whole field of vision. This is pretty impressive.

The other main thing to note is the sound, the sound is spread over multiple speakers which means you really get the feeling that your right in the area of the work being shown."

After experiencing the dome, i decided to start looking at how the dome works. After having a look around the net for some stuff, i soon realised that it's more referred to a "Fulldome". This is what i found this:

Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video projection environments. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time (interactive) or pre-rendered (linear) computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments. - Wikipedia

Single-projector fulldome video systems use a single (or mixed) video source displayed through a single fisheye lens, typically located at or near the center of a hemispherical projection surface. A single projector has the benefit of avoiding edge blends (see below) between multiple projectors. A disadvantage of central projectors is the loss of the center of the dome for optimal viewing of the reconstructed perspective view provided by true hemispheric projection, a problem shared with traditional planetarium projectors. High quality hemispheric projection lenses are very expensive and operate at the practical limits of optical performance needed for high resolution full dome coverage. Single-projector mirror systems, pioneered by Mirrordome from Swinburne but now offered by Discovery Dome and other manufacturers, is placed on the edge of the dome to increase seating, decrease costs, and to allow analog planetariums to become digital without giving up their star projector.

Multiple-projector fulldome video systems rely on two or more video projectors edge-blended to create a seamless image that covers a hemispherical projection surface; splitting the entire image up into segments allows for higher-resolution imagery and projector placement that does not intrude on the viewing area underneath the dome. A disadvantage of multiple projection is the need to frequently adjust the alignment of projectors and the uneven aging of separate projectors leading to brightness differences between segments. Even minor performance differences between projectors can be obvious whan projecting a solid color across the entire scene. - Wikipedia

IDAT211 - Intro to module

2009-12-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

Well i thought i would finally do some IDAT211 work, bit late i know but i've had other things on.

Ok so after the first lecture we learnt how the module will be split up. The first term will focus on working with Blender and the IVT dome in the University. Shortly after we return from xmas break we will need to present and hand this project. The brief for the project is shown below:

Produce a short film for the IVT, which encapsulates an interpretation, or explores an aspect of perception and representation.

As well as producing this film we have to work on our blog throughout the term. Thats why im telling you this now.

In the second term we will receive another brief however i haven't received it yet so will post when i get that.

IDAT209 - Stonehouse - Turning this idea into a group idea

2009-12-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well i thought i would just do a quick post about turning my crime projection idea into a group idea.

The general idea of my projection actually opens itself up to creating a bigger projection.

The 1st idea could be to project more data along the green fence, this data could include emergency phone call data or even amounts of people in certain areas along Union Street.

The 2nd idea could be to use more of the Stonehouse area, gathering more crime figures inside the Stonehouse area and projecting onto a number of different sites.

The 3rd idea could be to turn Union street into a danger zone, what i mean by this is to develop other streams so that when the data's value is high, danger warning messages are projected onto the walls along Union Street. This could then change as you go down Union street into the quieter/busier areas.

I would like to develop the final idea because i feel it would create a type of interaction between us and the public.

Quick mock-up of Danger sign.

IDAT209 - Stonehouse - Final Location

2009-12-12T14:48:00.000-08:00

My next step in creating my projection is to decide where in the Stonehouse area i want to project the work.

I've decided that as the projection will be about crime i wanted to make sure i project it in a crime hotspot. I think the obvious answer for this would be Union Street. As ive explained in my previous posts, this area has a high crime rate & just generally feels dangerous at night times.

My next thing is to decide where i will project inside Union Street. I had a couple options but i've decided to go with this area.

This picture shows the location i want to use. It is a plot of abandoned land where a building once stood. The building has been burnt to the ground and nothing has been built to replace it. The only thing that has changed is that a small green fence has been erected to stop the public getting onto the plot of land.

My idea is to project onto this fence, i feel this will create a contrast of projecting crime figures etc onto an actual result of crime.

IDAT209 - Stonehouse - Data Stream

2009-12-12T14:18:00.001-08:00

After figuring out what data i wanted to project, my next step is to figure out what data i will actually use.

Like i said in the previous post there are quite a few different websites that provide data for crime in the Plymouth area. However the only set of data i found was on the following link.

http://maps.police.uk/view/devon-cornwall/ -
As you can see from the image above you can select any location in Plymouth and view the monthly figures. You can download the exact figures in a .csv (opens in Excel) file format by clicking here - http://maps.police.uk/csv/devon-cornwall/plymouth/plymouth-1/stonehouse.csv. This data also shows the different types of crime commited.

The next step of this is to determine which data i could use for my projection stream.

Ive determined i have 3 options. The first option is to use the data in the .csv file and visualise it, the projection would use the individual crime data and the higher the volume of that type of crime, the more something would appear on the projection.
The second option is to use the data on the website, and use the average amount of crime for each month and visualise the data in a similar way to the 1st option.
The third option would be very similar to the second option, however instead of using the average amount of crime for each month, i would take the monthly figures and figure out the average daily amount of crime and then visualise that.

IDAT209 - Stonehouse - Projection Further

2009-12-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well after learing that our projection has to use some form of data streamed live off the internet i started thinking of what i wanted to use.

One idea that i had was to use the crime figures to display something in the area. I found quite a few different websites that shown me the area's crime figures, however these were fairly general to Plymouth. As well as being quite general they were also displayed monthly. To make a decent stream i reckon i will need to find some data that updates daily. Not quite sure where im going to find this though!

The websites i've been looking at for data are listed below.

http://maps.police.uk/view/devon-cornwall/

http://www.upmystreet.com/local/crime-in-plymouth.html

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/crime

http://www.findaproperty.com/crimefacts.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&areaid=2164

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/43-arrested-DRUG-SWOOPS/article-1010044-detail/article.html

IDAT204 - Second Life - Whats Next?

2009-11-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

Right after doing our project proposal i thought i would do a quick post about what's next for our project.

We decided to give each other tasks, my task for the week is to start advertising the fundraiser inside Second Life. To do this i am going to create a sort of in-game flyer, and hand them out saying to email an email address to sign up to the mailing list. The reason im doing this is because we don't have a guarenteed piece of land, or a confirmed date yet. When these details get confirmed, we will send out an email infoming them.

IDAT204 - Second Life - Examples of gigs

2009-11-24T15:30:00.000-08:00

Just thought i would do a quick post with some examples of some gigs done in Second Life i found off youtube.

Heres the links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr0LlQfy8pA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igxqCY7Ruk0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN7f1LohtsQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iehnPOwdemE

IDAT204 - Second Life - Items

2009-11-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

After looking at the location possibilities we started talking about what items we could use.

There are two options available to us, one option is to create our own items. The other option is to borrow items.

The first option means that we need to learn the script inside Second Life. After a look around the internet i have found that there are vast resources available for creating objects inside the world. A couple of members from our group actually have experience of building objects. This means that if we cannot find the perfect items to borrow from people then we can just build our own versions.

The second option is basically the way that most users get items inside Second Life. Most users are that friendly that if you go up and ask them, they will give you most of their items they have, unless they have paid for the item normally. This has also led to areas that you can go to and gather 1000's of free items at a time.

IDAT204 - Second Life - Location

2009-11-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

After our meeting today as a group we've figured out that our one big problem is going to be location.

We need to find a bit of land that allows us to everything we want.

We have a number of different options, the first option is to purchase some land. This would mean that we could be as free with it as we desire. However the price to purchase land probably makes this option unrealistic.

The second option is to try and contact the people behind Second Life, Linden Lab, to try and convince them to give us free land for a couple weeks. Now we have some official documentation from Childs Play means that we can contact Linden Lab to try and negotiate this.

The third option is to rent some land from someone, instead of just paying a big fee for a bit of land that we only really need for a few weeks, we can rent it from someone instead. This will still give us the freedom we want at a much smaller fee.

A Second Life version of the Roundhouse - Possibility!

The final option we have is to use somewhere that is already being used for playing music, such as a club or bar. However the main problem with this is that they wouldn't give us much freedom over what we can put in there.

IDAT204 - Second Life - Intro to Charity

2009-11-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

Well as i explained in my previous post, we have decided to hold a fundraiser on Second Life for a charity of our choice.

The charity we have chosen is called "Child's play". With the money they raise, they improve the standards of living of terminally ill children by purchasing games & games for them.

You can find more information about this charity by going on their website - http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Their logo -