Nick SPRINT 8

Nick Hickey 

2017-03-23

Sprint 8

It was a very productive week. With many things on the list to do the team split up to focus on various tasks. I decided to work on the particle system as it has become a very overdue aspect to the application. As simple as it seems to make a particle system, we found it quiet troubling and came to terms with many programming issues. I went back to the start and began from scratch. With a new idea and system, I was able to complete a particle system which can now be implemented into the previously existing application code. Below is a snippet of the particle system in full effect. The colors are changing and the particles are constantly moving. 

Different Colors

Below is a zoomed out view of the system in 3D space. The particle system will be transferred into Geoffrey's engine. 

The plans for next week are to implement two more tools into the application. The goal is to create a very immersive and fun experience for the users, while remaining personal and still functional. If the team can meet all these crucial points with a mix of tools, then we will be successful and reach our complete goal. See you next week

- Nick 

Web Server Setup

I focused this week on setting up our web server for use with the Kubus installation. I completed the following tasks:

• Set up git for managing the source code of the project
• launch a test Node.js application on the server and use PM2 to control restarting it if the server restarts
• Set the Kubus domain name DNS settings to point to the server
• Begin setting up Express to redirect incoming traffic to the right places on the server.

Express isn't fully yet, but I'll get this setup finished soon so the team can begin testing the application in preparation for the beta presentation.

Nick Sprint 6

Nick Sprint 6 Blog

This week the team made great progress. All in all we worked hard to achieve the goals we set out for ourselves.

I focused on the projection mapping this week as this will be essential for the Beta presentation, but more importantly just the project as a whole. Using a javaScript library I was able to skew three webGL canvases. This mimics the effect that our final production will appear like as we have a three display box.

The first image shows the mock display and production created in Maya. This model was to be used in the javaScript application to skew the webGL canvases to that shape. 

After skewing the canvases the final product was amazing and exactly what I have been envisioning this project to look and feel like. Now having the ability to projection map our object puts the team in exactly the right path to achieve our goals.  

As you can see below setting each video to the Maptastic JavaScript library then allowed me to skew the objects or webGL canvases in the correct way.

This sprint was awesome for not only me but the team, and we are now in a great position to truly display a functional and eye pleasing demonstration next week.

- Nick

Laith Safa Sprint 6

Sprint 6, was not hard regarding difficulty but the difficulty more so came from the time crunch. excuse or not. During this sprint I worked on getting the particle system geoff started, completed. I jumped in to this fairly later, and due to my current lack of knowledge in javaScript, I hit a couple of walls. I fixed a few only to come across an error that I tried multiple times to fix but everytime I fixed something about it, it broke something else. For this sprint I am submitting what I have including the error, and Will be building up for the next sprint, and have this completed.

Server Setup and Progress on Particle System

Server Setup

This week I made considerable progress in setting up our Ubuntu web server. I created a single, dedicated instance using DigitalOcean and went through the basic server setup process. To accommodate our application, I installed Node.js and wrote a simple "hello world" application to prove it works.

Particle System Development

Another task this week was to prepare the basic data structure of two of the creation tools Kubus will offer. I focused on the particle system while Laith spent time on the animated typography tool.

Knowing there wasn't too much time available this week, the task I worked on was only to create the basic Three.js data required to create a particle system. Development on the effect will continue later. As it stands right now though, my particle system is well integrated into the Kubus application and can be added and removed from the Three.js scene just like the previous test objects I had been using.

Next, I'll be incorporating Laith's animated typography tool into the Kubus application and therefore the main project snapshot.

Laith sprint 5

The task for this sprint was to make a text object that will be used for the text tool further down development.  Tristan and I worked on this hand in hand, and we found out that drawing text is apparently harder than it sounds. Since we are using three.js as our base for our engine, it meant that the text has to be made using three,js objects. The text just wouldn't draw and we ran into multiple errors using textGeometry () where it wont even recognize it. It might have had to do with the way the engine was set up, who knows. We tried different methods and most of them were busts, we ended up creating a basic cube that has a simple html text input.

Nick Sprint 5

Nick Hickey BLOG 5

This week was a production oriented week. We were still discussing the final details for the productions to begin. 

As a team we decided the angles and the size of each of the three display faces. The ply wood and supplies were all purchased. The final production will be complete by this coming Sunday. My goal is to attach the final projection material to the object and be able to start projection mapping for next weeks sprint. I was able to create an object using researched methods, and A|B'ing similar objects found online. 

Using FlexiWhite projection material the object will be visible in dim light and allow the object to be presented during day time and still able to see by the users. As this object is planned to be placed in coffee shops and other stores having the ability to project during the day is key.  

Also using higher quality material will allow for a seamless display. Quality and mobility has always been a key issue for this project. I am really looking forward to have the ability to start projection mapping this object. The plan is to use OpenFrameworks functions and have a basic application projecting on to the constructed object by next Friday. The team has made great progress this week!

- Nick