Food List

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Please add comments for what food you would like to have on Friday and I will see what I can do

C.A.V.E. Final Update

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Lauren: Finished modeling, scaling and adding all final objects to Egypt. Started to create a new level adapted from the previous assignment in order to make up for lost time. Worked on the final presentation. Came in all day Saturday

Kevin: Worked on programming. Worked out the flaws with the physics systems defaulting to Dynamic, resulting in objects falling through the ground. Figured out the teleportation system. Added smoke particle effects. Worked on the final presentation. Came in all day Saturday

CC: Worked on the Museum.

Nick: Worked on programming. Worked out the flaws with the physics systems defaulting to Dynamic, resulting in objects falling through the ground. Figured out the teleportation system. Added smoke particle effects. Shooped three Chinese paintings for the Museum puzzle. Worked on the final handout. Came in all day Saturday

http://imgur.com/s8iOn5U

http://imgur.com/3G1V69B

http://imgur.com/BYqKZfD

Now what we have to do: Skybox, Come up with two quick levels, combine all levels and sync up logic, finish final presentation/handouts and not go insane doing it.

Also sorry for the lateness, my wireless card finally died, and I couldn’t get to campus until now.

Haunted Hotel Update

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This week our group met on Saturday to go over what we need to do for the next week.

Jerry rebaked the lighting because we wanted to delete certain objects that we want to make interactive (Skeleton on the bike, a few chairs, the chandelier.)

Jerry H. has the programming complete for the game to run.  He was able to get the text up in front of the user so they know how many ghosts they have caught and still need to catch.

The stairs were giving us trouble because in the baked version there was obviously no gravity, so we made a simple sketchup model that will allow for the gravity to work in the space so that the user can get upstairs.

We have been working on inserting sound affects when people walk by certain objects, for example and chair makes a noise when you walk by it, the chandelier glass shatters when you walk by it, etc…

When the user opens the bedroom door with the skeleton on the bike, the bike will come towards the user with a bicycle bell ringing.

Hasti and Natalie spent time looking up some of these sound effects, and Jerry H. also found some.  We have been having trouble finding unique ones for each ghost, but hopefully we find some more effects for the ghosts.

Jerry has also started on the PowerPoint, and I hope to be able to help him with it on Wednesday or Thursday.

This week Jerry H will put the finishing touches on the program with the added sound effects, and then we will be ready to test it out in the CAVE.

Overall, the hotel design is actually pretty creepy and the sound effects add to the eeriness!  I think we are all very pleased!

 

 

5/5 Update

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Dan was out of the country all week with spotty Internet. Nick worked with Kevin and fixed the bounding issues which were preventing us to move smoothly down the mountain surface. At this current point the geometry of the mountain is flat because of the above issues. Tomorrow during the day I plan on changing it so the skier can fly through the air going off jumps. Russ finished modeling the resort, including 1 room for exploration, a lobby, and lounge rooms off lobby.

Things still left to be done:

-skybox

-make runs unique and more interesting

-draw ski model at bottom tangent of bounding sphere

-change between skis, snowboard, sled

-interface Wii Balance Board and potentially controller

 

Monday I (and maybe Dan) are planning to work most of the day, and Russ will work on addressing modeling issues.

 

************EDIT 5/7************

Dan was able to get navigation issues worked out and was able to get the Wii Fit Board connected. Current outstanding programming/interaction tasks are:

  • thresholding the wii fit board for navigation
  • adding an ability for the user to get back to the top of the mountain following a run
  • changing between skiis, snowboard, and sled
  • making the soccerball invisible and showing the skiis
  • adding particle effects? (snow, fire in the lodge)

Expectations for Next Week

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Here are the expectations for next week.

For Tuesday

The experience and behavior of things in the CAVE is often different from the simulator and devwall, therefore we will look at each groups project in the CAVE.  This doesn’t necessarily mean your project needs to be finished, but it should be  90% complete.

For Thursday

We will do a dry run of what people will experience on Friday.  This means projects should more or less be complete with only small tweaks left.

Don’t wait until the last minute to test things!!!!!

Computer programs have a tendency to have unexpected issues.  I really suggest having things mostly done by this weekend.  Remember, this is 40% of grade for the class.

Finally, I posted the presentation guidelines earlier this week.  You can find those here.

 

How to Setup Parameters for Light Baking in 3DSMax

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Here are how to setup the parameters for baking light in your scenes.  There are many many parameters that can be tweaked, but here are some values that seem to generally work

First setup your lighting

Choose “Render to Texture” in the “Rendering” menu.  You will get the dialogue box below.  First change the output path to the directory you want the files to end up.

Select all of the items in the scene.They should show up in the dialogue box.

Up the padding.  I am not sure the best value here, but 12 seems to work well.

Click the add button

Choose completemap for the name, choose diffuse color for the target map slot and automatic map size.  If the target map slot doesn’t have diffuse color option, continue through this tutorial and comeback to set this parameter before pushing the render button

Choose save source and create new baked to Standard:Blinn

The scale option in the automatic map size creates a mapping between the model size and the size of the texture.  The higher the number the larger textures will be.  0.1 seems to work for indoor models

after baking the texture choose export as an osg.  Be sure to write “.osg” at the end of the filename

 

Use these parameters:

Don’t save the images

 

Use the original texture files

 

put things in meters

About your presentations

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For presentations next week, each group should have the follow sections

Introduction

  • Introduce everyone in your group
  • Briefly describe what your project is
  • Describe your motivation

Describe what are people going to do/see?

  • What will people see in the CAVE
  • How do they interact with your system
  • What are they trying to do? (explore, survive, gain points, etc)

For Each Person

  • Describe your contributions to the project
  • What kinds of difficulties you ran into
  • How did you overcome these challenges
Safety Slides

Footwear

  • To prevent scratching and smudging the CAVE floor:
  • Shoes, bare feet, and high heels are NOT permitted in the CAVE
  • Socks are OK
  • Use surgical booties over shoes or bare feet.

Safety
Virtual reality can be disorienting. It is rare to have any problems but in case of disorientation, know these guidelines:

  • If you feel dizzy, faint, or nauseous; ask for help
  • Step out of the CAVE, remove the glasses, and sit down to gain your bearings
  • If the above symptoms persist, inform a Living Environment Laboratory staff member
  • If you know you are prone to dizziness or fainting you can choose to view the images without stepping in.

Delicate Equipment
The CAVE structure is delicate.

  • When walking in the CAVE, step only on the hard, clear plexiglass surface. There is a visible line around the edge of the plexiglass that can be helpful in distinguishing boundaries.
  • The virtual reality of the CAVE disrupts depth perception. When you are walking or reaching for an item in the CAVE make sure not to touch the projection screens that make up the walls of the CAVE.
  • Do not touch the black sensors in the corners.

The presentations should last about 10 minutes.  This means each person should speak for somewhere between two and three minutes.