Week 11

On monday the 6th of December we have a meeting. We are mainly going through the final presentation for milestone three. In the meeting we have make some changes and add some slide about the Legal and ethical issue. In the meeting we discuss that more information need to be included on the product's market and the place in it. We have discuss that it is a downloadable content from the Portland Quarry and Stone Trust, Rob have look into Xbox Arcade, and being  in a Kiosk form in the Portland Quarry museum.

 After that we moved on to discuss the game. For the final version of the game is running very smooth and I have added the arm weapon this will make the game less violent and more fun.

Rob have send us a link for the final presentation. 

On Wednesday the 8th of december we have a meeting before the presentation. We discussed the presentation, who will me in-charge of different slide and burnt all the element of our project in to CDs.

The presentation went fairly well, we all have contributed to the project and have demonstrate the product. We have answer all the question ask and listen to the feedback provided.


Here is a link to milestone three presentation:

http://prezi.com/btvxlyz9g2yl/group-07-collaborative-practice-milestone-03/

week 10

As our group is facing the problem of lagging issue. We are looking for solution to solve the lagging issue. In the mean time I was task to build another lower poly building remaining the structure of the initial building.

From the feedback it is suggested that changing to a first person shooting game style will be more interesting. I have take this into account. So in this lower poly building I have included a first person shooter assets in it such as the camera, the bullet/cannon, and the movement of the character.

This building is then leave as a back up because we have found a way to solve the lagging problem. The lagging problem is due to the massive polygon count, physics and logic and the game engine are not able to run at a minimum speed. Since we are changing from using mouse to interact to first person shooting the logic on each block can be deleted. This helps a lot in speeding up the game engine. But with the massive polygon count and the physics the game is still not running well. So some part of the building that is not needed to hold the building is deleted, and also changing the bounding area of the blocks from convext hull to cylinder/ box. By changing all this physics the game is running at an accepted speed. So I move the first person shooter idea to the initial building.

My group member have a meeting with Brian and I wasn't there because of the weather. They have discuss with Brian and wrote down what changes we need to made before milestone three. The next day in the research practice I have meet Brian and have talk about the game (Tumbling Tower). It seems that the game is running fine. Just that I need to tweak the game. Brian have give us some ideas of tweaking the game. For me, I m concentrating on tweaking the game play.

1. Finger Weapon
2. Ball Weight/ Physics
3. Resetting the game/ Restart
4. Second Camera (perspective view)
5. Mouse Look + Keyboard Controls
6. Strafing Control

For Resetting the game / Restart it is just tweaking the setting in the game engine in Blender. 

For Second Camera I have research into Rotating the camera, moving the camera and also setting the camera such as which one to be the active one, and which key is set to be which camera. I have found a tutorial that is very useful. 

Here is the Links:

Link: http://www.tutorialsforblender3d.com/GameDoc/CamChange/CamChange_States_2.html

This website gives tutorial step by step how do you add the camera and how to set the settings to be the active camera when the game is running.

For camera rotating I have some experience in the previous so it is done fairly quickly.

Finger Weapon Rob have model the arm model I have modified the model and imported to blender. In order to make it working with the moving limit. So it is only poking with the maximum distance of how long the arm is. I have try an error for a long time to get the arm to get to the original place after poking. For it to work I have set the initial place of the arm is next to the camera. Then set the arm minimum and maximum of the poking distance and it is working properly with it.

Cannon ball physics it is change that the ball will fall slowly. It will look real that the bullet is falling because of the gravity.

Restarting the game is trigger using keyboard Z key.

The control of left and right look is change to moving left and right.

Mouse Look is the hardest part for the changing. I have search around for tutorials for mouse look. There are a lot of tutorial that is for older version of blender.

Mouse Look Links

Link:http://www.tutorialsforblender3d.com/Game_Engine/MouseLook/MouseLook_First_1.html
This tutorial guide us how to set up and using first person mouse look in blender game engine

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_VbP-13iYE
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B470daJY2tA&feature=related

For the mouse look movement python scrip is use to control the mouse. The scrip for all the tutorial that i have look into is only for blender 2.49 it doesn't work on blender 2.55. So I have look for tutorials for blender 2.55 there is only one script for 2.54. I have copied the script. Using the skills I learn from the previous tutorial and import the script, change some physics and set the camera to move together with the mouse. Finally all the changes I was task is done.
I have also tweak the physics for the game to run faster my deleting some of the physics and logic of the assets in the scene that is not needed.

Week 9- Milestone Two

Beginning of this week Rob have finish building the final building. Every block have physics and logic in it and it also have a mouse trigger. This building is build based on the Leeds Town Hall because it is build by Portland Stone. All the assets use to build the building is build in 3D Max by our group and import it in to blender. Then apply physics to it.

The final building that is build is running very slow when the game is start. It is only running at 4 - 5 Frame Per Second, as supposed it should run at least 20 -50 FPS. This issue was confirm by the group that every one in the group try the game in different computer it is still the same issue. So the group have started to look for solution for it and also carry on with what each of us are suppose to do. So I have put the Rotating, Moving, Zooming Camera that I have modified and build in the previous prototype. I have also added the reset key for the game as well.

After adding all the function I have look into texturing because Chris is looking for solution for the game lagging. So I have take over the texturing task. I have search around for Portland Stone texture. Then texture the building with portland stone texture. After texturing I resume in to the searching for solution through Forums, Internets, and Blog. I have also leave a forum on about the Issue that we was facing but we have no luck of reply from other people. The only conclusion that our group make is that there is too much physics and logic in the game world so the game engine cannot process the game at the normal speed. Although it is not a perfect running game but it shows that we as a group have working collaboratively through out the project.

This is the texture that I have done for the Model.

Then our group have a discussion using emails and texting that worst come to worst that the game is not working because of too many model in the world, then we could reduce the amount of the model in the world or recreate a lower poly version of the game. These options will be the result if there is no solution for it by next week. However if it comes to it our group will be more likely to have a working game other then a good looking but not working game.

Chris have run the game in his computer and using Fraps to record it. It seems to run faster in Chris computer about 10 - 12 FPS. But it is still slow when playing it. After this Chris take over the texture and uses UV Mapping to texture on some of the texture, because some of the texture is stretch .


On Wednesday we have arrange a meeting at 10:30 , me  and Rob were there but Chris have arrive at 13:30.  He showed us a better version of textured game using UV Mapping. But it was still a little bit dark and we have take note into it and because of the presentation was in about half an hour time so we are not able to change it. Then Rob go through the presentation made by him and discuss who in the group take part in the presentation and how to present the prototype to the client.

We have present our presentation and waited for the client's brief feedback. The suggestion is that we need to look in to the context of the game where should this game, how the user would access to it. Where the product is place within the market. One Idea that we can think of is to execute as an .EXE file and can be downloaded from the Portland Quarry and Stone Trust website. We have also point out that the game is not running at a acceptable frame rate. Then the suggestion for this is that we can render an animation of the building falling if we cannot solve the game engine problem. Another suggestion is that we can change the game so that player are able to pick up pieces, building could be rebuilt and also changing to a "First Person Shooter" style that it will be more interesting. But for the time being we are most likely to keep to what we have started and get it to run.

Week 8

On thursday me and Rob have a meeting after the research practice module to discuss what task do we need to finish and to delegate them. We also have a discussion with Nick Cope as well. He have showed us an example of what can be done using Blender game engine that is very close to our tumbling game idea.So we have communicate among our group and decide that it is a good way to start.
The task is split into different part:
Rob is to build the model, I am going to add assets to it such as moving camera and more, and Chris will look into texturing.
So Rob have start into importing the model and building the model based on the Leeds Town Hall. Then I have start looking at the camera rotating and game controls.

I have look into a few tutorials about camera rotating.

Here is the link
Link: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/3D_interaction/Navigating/Camera_View
This tutorial teach about adding camera, How to navigate it and setting the active camera and the camera view.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRIJJL_a9A4
This tutorial is a video tutorial teaching how to track the camera to an object. When the object it move the camera will follow it.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBFL_TliCcI
This tutorial taught how to rotate the camera 360 degree using tracking to an object with a circle path.

Then Rob have build a prototype of the Tumbling tower game and share it on Media Fire. So since I have learn through the tutorials. I use this prototype to try and error on the camera moving. I have absorb what is taught in the tutorial and combining all the technique that i have learn then modified the settings, controls and physics of the camera.

I have use and empty point as the centre pivot after that add a camera adjust to the point where is able to view the object. Then parent the camera to the empty point. Using this empty point I have set the control of rotating around moving up and down using the keyboard. So it was able to rotate around the building and also able to move up and down. Then I have also set the camera able to zoom in and out using the mouse scrolling.

Week 7- Milestone One

On monday afternoon our group have a meeting. This meeting is held is for Rob to show us the presentation that he have done over the week end. Then we are also discussing who will be taking part in the presentation. Rob will be starting the presentation then Chris will talk about the progress of our group and what is done after the last presentation. I will be talking about the modeling and content that we are doing. This include the game idea and the augmented idea, but we are focusing on modeling and flexibility of the pieces at this stage. we also suggest that our group will buy some simple block and stick Augmented Reality marker on it and demonstrate it to the client on the presentation. Rob have also include my falling block video into the presentation as well. This is included because it is to show the client how the tumbling tower would look like and the reason of why it is needed to split up. Rob also put an image mock up showing the Augmented Reality marker on the block and the display on the screen. This is to let the client to have a more clearer idea of what is Augmented Reality.


On Wednesday we present our presentation for Milestone One. This is better then the previous presentation. We have show a clear idea of what we have up to at this stage. There is some confusion during the presentation about Augmented Reality because we didn't explain it clearly, we have assumed that the client know about it. In the previous we are focusing on modeling and keep our ideas open (Augmented Reality/ Tumbling Tower). But now we are going to nail down on one of them. Our group have chosen Tumbling Tower other then Augmented Reality after discussion, It is very important that we are going produce a product that is nearly complete working prototype by the next two week for milestone two. After the presentation Nick mention an open source software that have a physics engine in it. It is very suitable for our game.

Week 6- Virtual and 3D Modelling.

week me have a meeting with Nick about the Augmented Reality idea as an end product. We have discuss a few ways and some detail for the idea such as using the existing code by substitute our model with the existing model and changing the marker and tweak the code by using AR tool Kit and Virtual as the software. Nick also demonstrate a few ways we can achieve our goal.

This idea is very interesting Nick also tell us that Virtual not only can do the Augmented Reality it also able to do the game idea as well. He also show us what he have done in previous as an example. We have discussion after the meeting and come out with that we should continuing doing what we are going to do previously because this doesn't affect what we are doing now and also research into virtual and start building the 3D assets.

I was assign to make a 3D pillar (square, round) using the picture from Rob research at leeds as a reference.

 This is the pillar build by me and this is build using the reference from the picture taken by Rob two weeks ago.

 This pillar have the detail of the real world pillar.

AR toolkit

AR toolkit is a software library for building Augmented Reality Application. AR toolKit uses computer vision algorithms to know where the user is looking in the real world and draw the virtual imagery. AR toolkit video tracking libraries calculate the real Camera position and orientation relative to physical markers in real time. 

Features of AR toolkit :

• Tracking code that uses Simple black squares.
• Single camera position/orientation tracking.
• easy camera calibration code.
• The ability to use any square marker patterns.
• fast enough for real time Augmented Reality applications. 
• SGI IRIX, Linux, Mac OS and Windows OS distributions. 
• Provided with complete source code. 

This is the the PDF file of AR toolkit

Link: http://www.tinmith.net/lca2004/ARToolkit/ARToolKit2.33doc.pdf

Here is the link for some publication of AR toolkit

Link: http://www.hitl.washington.edu/artoolkit/publications/

This week we have a second meeting with Nick during the Collaborative practice session. We have discuss both the Tumbling Tower idea and also the Augmented Reality idea. We show him what we have build and he suggest that the model should be cut up into smaller pieces. In real life all this part is also in pieces and put them together when building the building. This the explanation for it but for reason to cut up in to pieces is that in Tumbling Tower Activity the pieces would fall a little more naturally and from the Augmented Reality side, each market represents the one part of the pillar for example then the user will stack up the block and have a whole pillar display on the screen.

Our group have a discussion of what each of us will do after the meeting with Nick. Our group have discuss that we will split our model in to pieces and update the latest version of building online and update the group mates.  

After the meeting i have split up my 3D model into parts and i have also done an animation. This animation is to show the client an example of why the model is split into pieces. 

This is the split up of the pillar .

 This is an animation about how a pillar will be falling.

After upload the file to Mediafire ( an open source online storage) . Then Rob start to build a building construction in order to give the client an idea of our progress and avoid any confusion. At  first we plan each of us in the build build one building but Rob suggest that we all should contribute to a making the same building. As this module is to collaborating with the group. After Rob have finish part of the building it is passed to me and I go on building the building when I have done my part I passed it to Chris to finish up the building and do the UV Map Texture.

This building Rob has done

I have added an extra level and also pillar.

Chis have add the roof and tower. He also done the texturing.

week 5 - feed back and Presentation Skills

We have receive our feedback and as we have suspected it was quite bad, we only got a grade D. The only thing that is positive in our feedback is that we have a render 3D shape examples and using Prezi for our presentation. The feedback on the pitch is that our group lacked of energy and enthusiasm, insufficient of detail and concept wasn't clear.

This week an external lecturer Paul come to talk to us about how to present a good presentation. We have learn new things about presenting from the lecture. Me and Rob had a meeting with Brian after the session. Brian and Nick have come up with another idea "Augmented Reality" that they have both discuss after the presentation last week. For this idea we will still create architectural shapes in 3D Max then get a few early learning building blocks and put marker on each piece. Then use AR tool Kit and Virtual or Flash as the software to pick up the marker from the web camera and then display the 3D model over the block. So on the screen there will be the real world 3D block that is build by us will be over the real world block and user can rotate around (but the marker need to be seen by the camera) and interact with the real world block. Brian have show us an example of the Augmented Reality using Flash. We have a quick research on the Augmented Reality after the meeting with Brian. There are some interesting examples of Augmented Reality out there.

Rob and I have come out with some important problems that our group will face if we are going to the Augmented Reality route:

1. None of the member in our group know anything about Augmented Reality. 
2. After the quick research we found out that Augmented Reality need a few tool kit and programs. It also involves a lot of coding and scripting as well as knowledge in game engine. 
3. In the real world each pieces of the block will be stack up and the marker need to face the camera. So if the marker of the block is been block and not pick up by the camera then it will not show the model. So user are only allow to build a single building just the front part and not all the building. 

Brian also suggested us to schedule a meeting with Nick Cope who has some experience in this field. And both us Me and Rob decided to keep this idea cause it sound interesting. If after meeting with Nick and feel like it is unrealistic then we will lean back to the Tumbling Tower Activity. 

Link to the Augmented reality Tutorial and research:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU6PcBS1pWw

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux6Ihiy6ZLA

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/21/augmented-reality-iphone-advertising

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_7NW_u3VFo (Toyota iQ)