Sunil's Blog

I was able to revisit the spaghetti code on my FLARMultiMarkerDetector prototype and improve performance 100 fold. Thanks to the guys at Squidder.com for sharing their source for the virtual drum kit.

Here’s a post explaining their demo.

Here’s a link to their source.

The MD2 models I’ve been using should be familiar by now and are from Polycount.

I was writing this app on the train and didn’t have a printer to print the patterns. Now I have them on my iPhone, so I can test my Flar apps where ever I happen to be.

One thing I’ve noticed, is that if you cutting the patterns out or are displaying them on an iPhone it seems you have to leave a white margin in addition to the black border for the pattern to be recognized.

With Jamario Moon being dealt away to Miami just last week, it seems fitting that I revisit an old project Paper-Robo and resurrect Paper Jamario Moon.

I finally got a chance to sit down and play with FlarToolkit. For those unfamiliar, FlarToolkit is a open source library that allows you to manipulate 3D objects using a pattern (like QR codes), a webcam and Flash.

Thanks to Mikko Haapoja and Saqoosha for some awesome start up guides:

http://www.mikkoh.com/blog/?p=182

http://saqoosha.net/en/flartoolkit/start-up-guide/

I had to jump through some Flex hoops to get through some of the demo examples to work. Apparently you can only use the following syntax in Flex to embed binary files:

“[Embed(source="../lib/mypattern.pat", mimeType="application/octet-stream")]”

Since I haven’t used Flex before (I use FDT), I got around embedding these camera calibration and pattern binary files by using loaders. If you are using loaders, be sure to add MIME types on your server for .dat and .pat files. Other than that I didn’t change the original source code too much, other than replacing the basic cube primitive with a collada model. I also threw in some animated MD2 quake models (Boba Fett and Starscream) for good measure.

Briefly to use this library you need two binary files, a calibration file “.dat” for a webcam and a pattern file “.pat” representing your printed pattern. You specify a desired accuracy, and using a detector class you can determine if the marker is FOV of the camera. If the marker is detected you add whatever 3D object you want to a Flarbasenode, which is a Papervision3D Display Object. The Flarbasenode can then be translated/rotated using information from the detector class.

Try it yourself:

Download and print pattern

Test the application here (Webcam required)

Here is some sample code and other resources to jump start your Augmented Reality project:

Here’s a good repo of free animated MD2 models Project:

http://polycount.com/models/quake2/

Sample Code:

http://www.mikkoh.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/learningflartoolkit.zip

http://www.boffswana.com/news/wp-content/uploads/augmentedreality/AR_dev_source.zip

Air application to make binary marker files:

http://saqoosha.net/lab/FLARToolKit/MarkerGenerator/MakerGenerator.air

Welcome to my first blog post, in the post-IMM era! Right after the IMM Open house and volunteering at FITC 2008 Toronto, I parachuted out of Toronto with my girlfriend for a much needed vacation to Paris (France not Ontario). I had a relaxing vacation away from my computer for 8 days.

While I enjoyed the wine, crepes with nutella and croissants, I also stumbled across something neat at the Adidas Store on the Champs-Elysées while I was there. They had what looked like a Gesture Tek installation right in the middle of the store, where you could design your own shoe. These kids ran up to the screen thinking it was a touch screen, a la iphone. They were clearly lacking the appropriate training required to operate such a display! Having come across Gesture Tek displays before in our multimedia pioneering class, I decided to put on a clinic. It was funny seeing people stop in their tracks while I created my own personalized Toronto Raptors sneaker, using a user interface that screamed Minority Report. After you create your shoe, you could save it in a gallery and walk over to a “virtual mirror” and see what it looks like on your foot. Unfortunately, the “virtual mirror” was broken, so I only got to play with the interface. Thank you to my wonderful girlfriend Kerrie who filmed me looking like a dork.

Adidas Paris – Shoe Designer with Gesture Tek Interface from insultcomicdog on Vimeo.

I’m already thinking of ways to port this over to a Papervision 3D project using Dan Zen’s motion cursor classes as a user interface. You have already seen examples of the motion cursor classes used in Rock Revolution a project I built with my classmate Nick Poison. I don’t think motion cursors have been implemented with Papervision 3D yet, so hopefully I’ll come up with something neat.

So here’s my first attempt at creating 3D panoramas in QTVR and Flash using the Interactive Multimedia Lab as a demo. I used a “point and shoot” Canon PowerShot and a tripod.

Things to note:
- Flash file isn’t optimized for the web
- The top and bottom panels are blank
- Limited to a cube, which forced me to squish the photos
- The QTVR file is a lot lighter in file size

QTVR: (Needs Quicktime Plugin)
http://www.suniljohn.com/projects/panotests/qtvrs.html

Flash w Papervision3D and AS2:

http://www.suniljohn.com/projects/panotests/simplePanorama.html

I would like to figure out how to shoot the ceiling and floor to make the cube complete.

Here’s a link to my portrait assignment. It’s still a work in progress. The beat animations and song choice are a more of a commentary on the hip-hop world reaching back and getting great vintage stuff, than of my personality. The picture is my take on Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” cover art. I took it with the webcam on my MacBook Pro. The hat is a Michigan State Spartans hat that I picked up in a bargain bin for $5. I just liked the “S”. The song is “Can’t Forget About You (Featuring Chrisette Michelle)” by Nas. Carlos mentioned that the record looked like a coin, so I replaced that bitmap with a better bitmap. I chose a Decca LP, because that was Nat King Cole’s label (the sample in song was taken from Nat King Cole – Unforgettable). If you press shift + d you can see the records spinning clearly. I used shape tweening to morph between the cards suits (clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts). My portrait is interactive in that you can drag the beats around the stage.

http://www.suniljohn.com/projects/portrait/portrait2.html