Monthly Archives: May 2014

Running the DSCVR System

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Table of Contents

  1. Turning on the controller
  2. Turn on the system
  3. Turn on the head tracking (only if necessary)
  4. Turning on 3D
  5. Moving your data to the system
  6. Launching your Application
  7. Exiting the Application
  8. Rebooting the System (Only if things go horribly wrong)
  9. Shutting down the System (things to do before you leave)

Turning on the controller

1) Go to the machine on the side of the room

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2) Unplug the PS3 Controller

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3) click the PS3 icon on the computer

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4) You will be prompted for a password.  It is on the pink sticky on the desk

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5) You will now be prompted to push the PS button.  Press and hold it down until the controller shakes.  This means it is now ready to go.

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Turn on the system

1) The screens should be blacked out when you come in

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2) Go to the machine in the back of the room

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3) Click the green button on the top bar

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4) Now the screens should be on

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Turn on the head tracking (only if necessary)

This should be running automatically.  If it isn’t you may need to start the tracking server.

1) The head tracking is run from another machine.  To access it click the VNC icon

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2)  You will be prompted for a password.  It is on the pink sticky note

3) I unfortunately don’t have screenshots for these next steps yet.  The SkeletonApp should be ready to go.  To run it either press F5 or click the green run triangle.

4) When running, change the tracking to “sticky 1 player”

Turning on 3D

1) Click the glasses in the top bar

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2) Uses the “aviator” style glasses.  These are designed for the system.  The other glasses will not work optimally.

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Moving your data to the system

1) All of your code, applications and code need to be put on the “dscvr” mount.  This can be found by clicking the link on the side of the window or through the path “/mnt/dscvr/”

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Launching your Application

1) There are a few shortcuts to launch apps.  You can look at how these are setup by right clicking on them and choosing properties.

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2) If you would like to launch your application from a terminal, open up a window.  Either right-click on the desktop or click the icon to the left of the green circle icon

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In the terminal type

csastart [path to application] [parameters]

Here is an example

csastart ~/dscvr/apps/SkeletonApp/SkeletonApp ~/dscvr/data/exampleData

Exiting the Application

1) To exit the application, press the escape key

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2) If for some reason this doesn’t work, you can force close the application by typing these commands into a terminal window

tentakel killall -9 [application name]killall -9 [application name]

for example

tentakel killall -9 SkeletonApp
killall -9 SkeletonApp

Rebooting the System (Only if things go horribly wrong)

1) You can reboot the system by typing these two commands into a terminal

tentakel reboot
reboot

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Shutting down the System (things to do before you leave)

1) Make sure your application is closed (i.e. you see a blue background)

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2) Turn off the monitors by clicking the red icon

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3) Now the monitors should be turned off

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4) Turn off the controller so the batteries don’t drain.  Do this by holding the PS button until the red lights turn off

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5) Plug the controller back in

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6) Turn off the lights and close the door behind you

 Add comments for other information that you have found useful for working with the DSCVR system

 

Vex 5/2

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walking

This week:

Cory – Programmed NPCs to walk or run around to random locations. Created simple teleporting functionality. Other small things for the Reverse Turing Test.

Giang – Looked into and created a base system we can use for goal platform in the Zombie co-op mode.

Jacob – Looked into and implemented having the NPCs drop weapons and health items. Also started to look into the Love Crowbar, which makes NPCs like you.

 

Accomplishments:

We created all of the base pieces for the Zombie Co-op and Reverse Turing Test modes. Only need to combine them and tweak things to get them how we want.

 

Problems:

The models that NPCs use are not always the same as the one that we can load for players. There are subtle differences like a differently colored jacket or an extra item on the NPC’s belt. Choosing the NPC models for the Reverse Turing Test mode may be difficult if this problem is present on most NPCs.

Also, Making an NPC like you does not seem to mean that they will defend you. This may affect the Player vs Player Armies mode.

 

Still on schedule?

I think we’ve done a good job of catching up this week. Probably still a week behind, but we gave ourselves an extra week at the beginning to account for that.

 

Plans for next week:

Group – Testing Multiplayer support. Combining different elements to construct each Gamemode. We at least want to have one of the gamemodes completed in the next few days. Work on a goal system.

Cory – Look into Team creation for the Player vs Player Armies mode. Currently, every player and NPC is independent of each other. Possibly help create a Menu system for starting games.

Jacob – Keep looking into implementing a “Love Weapon” for the Player vs Player Armies setup. Make sure Tridef 3D Ignition software works correctly on his computer.

Giang – Make sure Tridef 3D Ignition Software works correctly on his computer. Possibly help create a Menu system for starting games.

Music Team 5/2

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IMG_3713Simon: This week, with some help I got Fmod to work in the Discover system. The simulation now plays music and has a basic spectrum visualizer working.

Tim: I looked at the code for the texture packs.

Chelsi: I got video coverage and started to compile which videos we will alternate through in the video.

Accomplishments: This week we got the music analysis to work in real time. Also, we now have video footage to play in the background of the simulation. The model is simple now but can be made more complex later.

Problems: Everything actually went pretty smoothly this week. Learning textures in OpenGL is still challenging but otherwise mostly everything we want to do is implemented successfully.

Schedule: We are on schedule now that the music analyzer is working. Until class is over we will update what we have to make it fancier.

Next week: Put the video in the simulation, and add more details to the visualizer.

 

About the end of the semester

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Now the end of the semester is fast approaching I thought I would post what will be due at the end of the semester.  In addition to the weekly progress reports, we will have three items due on 5/12 consisting of a final post, a group demo/presentation, and a final email each described below

Final Posts
Final posts should will be longer and more comprehensive than our regular weekly posts.

First, make a video of your work.  It should be between 1-3 minutes in length.  Put text and/or voice over when appropriate.  The video should give people who are unfamiliar with your project a better understanding of what you did.  Upload your video to youtube or viemo and embed the video into the post by simply pasting the url in the text.

Next, in the text, answer these questions:

  1. Describe the operation of your final project. What does it do and how does it work?
  2. Describe each team-members role as well as contributions to the project.
  3. As a team, describe what are your feelings about your project? Are you happy, content, frustrated, etc.?
  4. What were the largest hurdles you encountered in your project and how did you overcome these obstacles?
  5. How well did your project meet your original project description and goals?
  6.  If you had more time, what would you do next on your project?

Final Demos and Presentations
We will have a final presentation event during our assigned timeslot.

5/12/2014, Monday
5:05PM – 7:05PM
NANCY NICHOLAS HALL 1125

Your presentation can follow the questions in the final post.  Each group member should present information.  Be sure to describe your contributions to the project as each team member will be graded both individually and as a team.

After each group presents they will give a demo to the class such that everyone can try it out.  This demo is part of your grade so make sure you have something that works.

Final Email
The last step of the this process is to send me an email.  This is your chance to give feedback in a way that will be kept confidential.  Emails need to only answer each question, but can be as long or short as you want.  Emails should include:

  1. Your personal thoughts and feelings on the project
  2. Your opinion of the about the team dynamics of your group
  3. Your opinion if everyone in your group contributed to the project
  4. Your opinion if everyone in your group should receive the same grade

Optional If you would like to, you can also provide class feedback.  You can answer any of the question below, or simply write freely.

  1. What things in the class worked and do you think should continue?
  2. What things in the class do you feel did not work?
  3. What things in the class do you think would be beneficial to add in the future?
  4. Are there readings that would have liked to see earlier or later in the semester?
  5. Are there other topics you would have liked to have read about more?

These emails will be due after our presentations,and need to be sent by no later than Monday May 12th at 11:59pm.