An application that allows you to track guild members, guild items wanted, needed, instances run in past (with exported stats?) future instances with times, and signup slots. message boards, gallery.
I know that was just a quick brain dump, but I wanted to get a quick idea on paper before it flew out my ear.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Different Tack
Well, after hack-a-day posted a version of the project I'd been working on, I decided I needed to do something new and unique. I think that thanks to al's suggestion (and a little sluthing on my own) I'm going to go for broke and try to incorporate some form of stereographic projection into it for a true 3d feeling, as well as incorporate the IR headset, instead of into a set of glass, into a set of behind the head earphones, and incorporate true stereographic sound as well.
That's a virtual environment. All that I'd need left to do would be to figure out how to do is wire bluetooth into your brains..... er I mean handle tactile input/output.
Anyway, while things've been slow going as work has been insane, I've got a bunch of idea's percolating, I really like playing with LED's and I have some ambitious things I'd like to do with them.
That's a virtual environment. All that I'd need left to do would be to figure out how to do is wire bluetooth into your brains..... er I mean handle tactile input/output.
Anyway, while things've been slow going as work has been insane, I've got a bunch of idea's percolating, I really like playing with LED's and I have some ambitious things I'd like to do with them.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
How to Make Electric Origami
We'll take a quick break to update with a little filler. I've fallen a little behind with this project due to illness. This seems to be quite an interesting little project. Something fun you can do on a budget that yields impressive results. I would love to see someone make 1000 of these like they do with the peper cranes and then arrange them in some manner.
"This little LED-lit cube is much more than just a paper lantern: It's a translucent and flexible thin-film electronic circuit that hooks up a battery to an LED, limber enough to be folded into an origami box. And the coolest thing about circuits like these? You can make them at home."
read more | digg story
"This little LED-lit cube is much more than just a paper lantern: It's a translucent and flexible thin-film electronic circuit that hooks up a battery to an LED, limber enough to be folded into an origami box. And the coolest thing about circuits like these? You can make them at home."
read more | digg story
Friday, March 14, 2008
When software enters the picture
I took a cursory glance at the code projects provided as samples to go along with the Wiimote projects. It turns out there is good news and there is better news. One thing Johnny Lee neglected to mention in his online video tutorial were the config files that need to be set up, as well as the initialization that needs to be done once you've deployed the hardware. It turns out (and not unexpectedly) that the software that process the rig is very sensitive to relative positions of objects. So you need to specify the distance between the 2 points on your emitter (something in which my setup must vary from either the [standard] Wii Sensor Bar, or Johnny's Goggles [now that has a nice ring for a product name...]) you also need to initialize the vertical centerpoint. You also need to instruct the program as to whether the Wii-mote is above or below the screen. One thing that I did find interesting was that you never had to initilize your distance from the screen.
The rest of the good news comes from the fact that this doesn't look like complete gibberish to me. It'll take me a good handful of learning regarding whatever graphics package I go with (and that'll take research into which is the best/most portable) and it'll take me a little bit to remember all my trig/ELA, but it doesn't seem daunting.
Once again I hit a hardware wall. I'd not expected to run into that issue quite as soon again. Without a second Wii-mote all I can do is develop an environment that you can "look" into, but n ot simultaneously interact with. However this does free me up some time to think about "alternative" peripherals. Perhaps a series of additional "positional" sensors that detect hip movement, or shoulder twisting. Adding in gloves that provide force feedback.
In reality little of this would require a Wii-mote and I could engage in a lot of these projects (and have a lot of fun) without the use of a Nintendo branded product. But they provide such a nice platform of hardware for such an afordable price that I really can't say no. The other major issue I face is my complete lack of ability to fabricate housings. I can prototype and do the electrical/software design, but I've got nothing to put it on. I know some guys who do custom fab with a laser cnc, and I might know someone who could get me access to a cnc, but it doesn't change the fact that in the end I really end up paying for whatever I'm doing.
The rest of the good news comes from the fact that this doesn't look like complete gibberish to me. It'll take me a good handful of learning regarding whatever graphics package I go with (and that'll take research into which is the best/most portable) and it'll take me a little bit to remember all my trig/ELA, but it doesn't seem daunting.
Once again I hit a hardware wall. I'd not expected to run into that issue quite as soon again. Without a second Wii-mote all I can do is develop an environment that you can "look" into, but n ot simultaneously interact with. However this does free me up some time to think about "alternative" peripherals. Perhaps a series of additional "positional" sensors that detect hip movement, or shoulder twisting. Adding in gloves that provide force feedback.
In reality little of this would require a Wii-mote and I could engage in a lot of these projects (and have a lot of fun) without the use of a Nintendo branded product. But they provide such a nice platform of hardware for such an afordable price that I really can't say no. The other major issue I face is my complete lack of ability to fabricate housings. I can prototype and do the electrical/software design, but I've got nothing to put it on. I know some guys who do custom fab with a laser cnc, and I might know someone who could get me access to a cnc, but it doesn't change the fact that in the end I really end up paying for whatever I'm doing.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
V. 2.0 Complete
Well the new circuit was a success, although it wound up costing much more than expected. It did however double the range off of v. 1 and it seems like it made it much less sensitive to positional variation of the emitter. (Eg, it works better for a wider range of angles)
Final schematic was 6 IR LED's wired in series with a 15 ohm resistor all on a 9V battery. I upped the voltage to keep current down and it also allowed me to leverage parts I already had.
Parts list
4 IR-LED's 1.99 (each)
1 pack 9v battery clips 1.99
1 set breadboard jumprers 7
1 pack 22 ohm resistors .99 (Picked these up only since a lot of the equations I'd been working out seemed to require this resistor, this was not an immediate need)
1 button, on-off, spst switch 1.99 (I think)
1 9v battery ?
I did however get to test the rig on the projection screen and it works great. We did uncover one major problem. The angle between the camera and the emitter has to be on a virtually horizontal plane both to each other and to the axes of motion. Now that would usually mean you'd have to hang the wii mote on the level at eye level, which is far from optimal (unles you've got a CRT that already stands at eye level in which it's moot) but for a projection environment, or in the case of your having to view it from a laptop the odds of getting the wii mote in such a favorable position are slim. This needs to be adapted for.
However, with funding being essentially out for this phase, I will attempt the finger tracking demo next, just as proof of concept and then we're going under the hood boys and going to see if we can't make these little babies useful.
Final schematic was 6 IR LED's wired in series with a 15 ohm resistor all on a 9V battery. I upped the voltage to keep current down and it also allowed me to leverage parts I already had.
Parts list
4 IR-LED's 1.99 (each)
1 pack 9v battery clips 1.99
1 set breadboard jumprers 7
1 pack 22 ohm resistors .99 (Picked these up only since a lot of the equations I'd been working out seemed to require this resistor, this was not an immediate need)
1 button, on-off, spst switch 1.99 (I think)
1 9v battery ?
I did however get to test the rig on the projection screen and it works great. We did uncover one major problem. The angle between the camera and the emitter has to be on a virtually horizontal plane both to each other and to the axes of motion. Now that would usually mean you'd have to hang the wii mote on the level at eye level, which is far from optimal (unles you've got a CRT that already stands at eye level in which it's moot) but for a projection environment, or in the case of your having to view it from a laptop the odds of getting the wii mote in such a favorable position are slim. This needs to be adapted for.
However, with funding being essentially out for this phase, I will attempt the finger tracking demo next, just as proof of concept and then we're going under the hood boys and going to see if we can't make these little babies useful.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Just a few potential upgrades...
Spent some time thinking, and noodling out some of the kinks. I think I can boost the range on the system by building an array of IR-LED's. Granted this'll probably no longer fit in those spiffy glasses (At least without some serious mod. Still worth thinking about though.) Yet that'll fit kinda neatly into my plans. I'll be demo-ing the system tonight down in Geneseo hopefully w/ a projector rather than with my laptop.
So I'm also thinking about mounting them in a Cyclops-esque visor, simply for cool factor that and it'll leave me room to add additional components. Also contemplating (purely for form, no function at all) adding "bouncing" red LEDs for that Cylon feel.
On top of all that, I'm looking at either eye tracking, or finger tracking, ideally both. I'm going to have to look more into that.
But today's project is to double the range on the head tracking. I've got the schematics all sketched out, now all I need to do is buy the parts.
Parts List:
1 9V clip
6 IR LED's
1 15 ohm resistor (should be 18, but 15 should be OK)
1 breadboard
1 push button switch
1 pack misc lengths wire.
Total cost: <$20 (at radio shack)
So I'm also thinking about mounting them in a Cyclops-esque visor, simply for cool factor that and it'll leave me room to add additional components. Also contemplating (purely for form, no function at all) adding "bouncing" red LEDs for that Cylon feel.
On top of all that, I'm looking at either eye tracking, or finger tracking, ideally both. I'm going to have to look more into that.
But today's project is to double the range on the head tracking. I've got the schematics all sketched out, now all I need to do is buy the parts.
Parts List:
1 9V clip
6 IR LED's
1 15 ohm resistor (should be 18, but 15 should be OK)
1 breadboard
1 push button switch
1 pack misc lengths wire.
Total cost: <$20 (at radio shack)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Success!
Well this has to have been the easiest part. Even with my un-optomized version, I have a working proto-type. The range on the IR sensor can't be more than a yard or two, and getting the blue-tooth to reliably recognize the Wii-Mote is still proving a bit challenging. But we have a working proto-type. I figure a trip to Radioshack at lunch tomorrow on my break aught to give me the parts to up the output on the LED's (Hrm... perhaps if I use a block of 4 instead of a single one it'll increase the range, thus letting me hook the system up to a projection system...) But I'll lay it out now.
1). Wii Mote : Cost: $40
2). Misc. Parts from Radio Shack $15
3). Blue Tooth Dongle for PC $30
Final cost for project: 85 + tax.
Now if you could've waited, or shopped around a bit more you might've been able to save a few bucks (or if you own a mac with blue tooth already built in *grumble grumble*) but I wanted it now. So now some time will go into optomizing the throw length as that'll be required for the next phase. Finger tracking!
1). Wii Mote : Cost: $40
2). Misc. Parts from Radio Shack $15
3). Blue Tooth Dongle for PC $30
Final cost for project: 85 + tax.
Now if you could've waited, or shopped around a bit more you might've been able to save a few bucks (or if you own a mac with blue tooth already built in *grumble grumble*) but I wanted it now. So now some time will go into optomizing the throw length as that'll be required for the next phase. Finger tracking!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
