Project 4 - Never too late

There were some troubles again. The seller got disappointed at me for not getting the sensor on Friday and told me that he's going to refund the money. Anyway on what I've come up for a new idea, the sensor is only one part of the element. I was trying too hard to innovate the equipment  and not taking the brief in a sense of going in a deeper meaning. I took it too literally and forgetting what's really the brief is all about. So I tried to get back on what's on the brief and I thought about why are we even using the sensor in relation of the concept. Besides the camera itself would be pointless if the one that would be functioning is just the sensor. So I decided not to focus on the "arduino" sensor part anymore and move on with either processing and Max/Msp. In the meantime I will try the best as I can on what I can do with the programming with the short amount of time that I have. 

For the idea on what I just came up, it's about an augmented reality game where two players will join forces to battle out the fish monsters who would try to destroy the other fishes. I'm thinking the fish characters will be in 3D since that's the trend for all the gaming recently. However knowing that it's not possible to finish it, but if we still have time to do it, I will be willing to. Here's one of the examples of the augmented reality using a webcam.

There were also other elements that I think it's a feasible project. This one is how it reacts to the object by using a live webcam. They used processing on this visualization.



Augmented webcam study from flight404 on Vimeo.

what really inspires me on this project for the concept is the view from the top of a building. It would be really interesting to experience the thrill of looking down below of a building while playing a game.




The idea on this is about the people representing the fish. There are good and bad people in the society, so in the game it would be kind of like that. The good ones need to be kept alive but the bad ones needs to be taken out. So during the game the two players will have to help each other out. One of the player will take control of the fishing rod and the other one will have to play on the computer. So it's a matter of interacting with each other and cooperating to achieve a certain goal.

Connecting the idea of the sensor, it can be use to detect how far it needs to start the game. The sensor will function like the Xbox Kinect, like it will only work on a certain distance of the camera to the ground. We can use either an Ultrasonic rangefinder or an IR Proximity sensor. But it would be better to use the Ultrasonic rangefinder since it has a rather longer distance in detecting objects.

So this time I really have a strong concept about this project and I also connected the all those elements and got the right answer about it. I still want to do it if the other members still are keen to do it at the end of the semester. I really learned a lot on developing the creative process and I really should go deeper into the meaning of those things to have a really great and original idea.

Project 4 - It finally comes to the point

2 weeks passed after working on our programming and journals, finally I could focus on the project. The first thing I try to find is what we're going to show for the visualization. I tried to look for processing codes that can be used in webcams. I got one code which is nice to use but I feel that it's not enough for  the visualization so I just save it for later purpose. 

I got problems where I was trying to decide whether I'm going to buy the sensor or not because it's like gambling my money if ever it's gonna be use or not and whether it works or not. I was targeting for the Ultrasonic RangeFinder Maxbotix LV EZ42 sensor which will have a large beam width that can detect an object 6 feet away. Then I found out that the sensor that I was trying to buy is going to take a week before it will come because they don't have a stock at their store and they have to order it on the US and the presentation for the project will be the following week. I found one sensor that they have in stock which is the Sharp IR Proximity Sensor (Long Range) but it can only detect 5 feet away. So I try to find another solution out of it then found out that we can do like a sonar/radar visualization from the sensor. I found one example from it at this website http://hacknmod.com/hack/make-a-diy-sonar-system-using-arduino/ . Another thing was, instead of getting some objects detect by the sonar on top of a building, we  could use it underground the city.

After getting that idea, I was full decided to buy that IR Proximity Sensor. I explained my idea to the group but then Jonathan was worrying about jumping from one idea to another. He told me that "how could we explain on relating the first idea to this new concept idea". I know it's too late to implement this  new idea that I have come but I told them that's "there's nothing wrong if we try on doing it". Edrian commented when me and Jonathan were talking that we should insists to stick the idea on the spy concept since Kim said from the critique that the equipment kinda looks like a spying camera where it can be use to spy on places that people usually don't see. The sonar/radar idea also kind of relates to the concept of spying things as well. So from the concept of getting the data from a hidden space it develops into detecting objects or motions by using the sensor. I still haven't got the sensor at the moment but I do hope by tomorrow Friday, I will get it and if not there's going to be a huge problem for me and I know the group will be disappointed as well. So it's all or nothing now, I will work hard on getting the sensor and to get things done before the presentation day. 

Project 4 - Finding Visualization

I had some problems trying to figure out what suppose to make for the visualization of the equipment since I'm the one who got this idea. The only thing I could think of is getting the speed of falling from the top of a building to the ground or depends on how long the wire can handle. I try as much as possible to think about different things that can relate to our concept. I also try to learn arduino since I know it's going to be needed but it's no use. But the thing is that I was to restricted from the concept that we already developed. Like there's the concept of knowing the spaces from the building apart but there's not much that I could think of. Well I ask the group about it but they can't come up anything as well for the visualization. Another thing, if I only know how to program arduino, I could have already started on doing the program. I try to manipulate on doing the visualization by getting some examples from Processing and Max/Msp but it doesn't relate much on the concept of what we're trying to achieve. 

At that point I got stuck and I don't know what to do. I also got carried by the other works as well on the programming and the journals. If only I got more time to do it, I could have focus more on to this project. I can work a lot better if only Im focusing on one thing. That's why during those times where I was doing programming and journals, I manage to get it done. If I juggle on one thing to another I might not be able to keep up on it. So it's also a matter of multi-tasking but for me I really cant cope up if I do that. So the almost 2 weeks passed and still I can't come up with an idea for the visualization that could relate to our concept. I would like to experiment that's not related to the concept but it's going to be hard to explain on the presentation. One thing I know, we will definitely use a sensor to collect some data when the camera falls down from a building/structure. We test it before the critique on Friday without any visualization and there were some problems as well on the view of the camera. It will need to develop more in order to work out on what the vision of the concept.

Project 4 - Sketching and Modeling

Now that we had our concept, its time to move on to one of the first process of the project. Which is the sketch and the model of the equipment. Ke is the one who will be our 3D/CAD modeler. Anyhow we help him vision the suppose accurate look of the equipment. We draw some sketches and took a while to make a final one to pass it to him. In my vision the equipment is about 1.5 meters long. That's about the size of a table. We also talk about issues on how the camera will be put in the long wire. The thing is, it will have to fall straight and not swaying with the wire. I suggested to put weights on both sides of the camera so it would fall down in the straight perspective like how you see when you fall in down in some heights. And another the problem was the USB wire that's connected to the camera which doesn't have much long wire to go with it. This could be improve into further development but since we only have limited budget, we're sticking with the wired webcams. We also have to deal with the materials that we're going to use on if its a metal, then it needs to be weld. I got one good example for the visualization of the equipment itself.

So obviously the laptop will be hooked up to the webcam and when it falls down, the sensor will gather data and it will perhaps make some visualization out of it. We still haven't got any ideas yet but it will come out eventually as we go on with the on going research and development. 

Project 4 - Combining Ideas

When we had our time to make some research we found a lot of cool experiments that we saw from other people. There were a lot of discussions on the concept of the project that we're gonna make. First Edrian and Ke thinks about the idea of using the gorilla pod we're we can put the camera anywhere and anyplace since it's attachable to almost everything. Connor on the other hand thought about the idea of using the the alcohol sensor where it will have interesting data that we could get when we do the experiment. And for my idea, its about having a rig/rod in a edge of  a building and when it falls it will gather some data of speed/distance and it might have some visualization out of those data we will have. Take look on some of the example of what I thought for the project.

This would be one of the perspective of a camera when it falls.
And here's one of the great example of that is similar to my idea.

So after we discuss those ideas that we have come up, we combine all of it into a really interesting but smart idea. We decided to go for a rig that has tripod on it (which is the gorilla pod) that will gather sensor of distance and speed and later on it will make a visualization out of the computer. As we call it urban fishing. For now the concept was to get those video of the hidden spaces in the city or where humans can't really possibly access it neither walk on it. We want to show what it feels when someone falls down into one of those spaces like in a building, a tree, or could be in the sea perhaps. We will have to work further on these ideas and this will be our basic structure in the skeleton our the framework.