Author: tim

Devin Slimes the Big Toy

Devin wanted to play with the big kids at the mall, but they were too big; jumping off the big toy. So I brought Devin to the top of the Meydenbaeur boat where the big kids were playing King of the Hill. He slobbered the top of the steamstack. As each of the big kids fought for dominance, one by one they fell, screaming, “I’ve been slimed”.

More of the Shoe Part 2

I spent an hour correcting the poly flow of the heal and toe portion of the shoe. Things are getting easier now.

The main take away is the poly flow. You can see here the evenly space polys and how they alll line up vertically and horizontally. Also each poly maintains four sides and the model has an equal amount of polygon rows and columns across the model.

The previous image resulted from cleaning up the creased and chaotic polys from this. I found myself spending more time on cleanup than actually modeling the original polys.

So far my favorite cleanup tools are: edge bridge, edge sew, polygon, edge slice, and the move tool.

Related: [post] [shoe_019.lxo]

Linae Finished her Masters Paper

The title of the paper is: “How Does Teaching Student To Program Animation Help Them Learn Math?” The paper can be viewed at [https://tagenigma.com/linae/masters/rev2/] .

The paper looks at how teachers have used programming to teach math. During the master’s project, Linae also worked at an animation camp. The project talks about the camp and has screenshots of the students’ animation. The screenshot above is a view of one of the programs that the students created.

Bluetooth/Wiimote Compatibility Issues… Success

In my case for some reason the [WiimoteLib ] can’t find my bluetooth device (Kensington Bluetooth EDR Dongle). [WIDCOMM] connects to the Wiimote, but again [WiimoteLib] fails to find the device. You’ll find Kensington has a useless [driver update]. WiiLi.org has a link to another [Kensington Driver].

Here is a [list of working bluetooth devices] for the WiiMote.

I supposed I should have just started by using a [$15 BlueSoleil Dongle (Vista compatible)] or the [Msi Star Key Bluetooth USB Dongle]. Yet another list of [Wiimote compatible devices].

For attempt number two, I picked up a [Targus Bluetooth 2.0 adapter with EDR] from Staples. To work with Vista, you have to download the latest drivers from [Broadcom] (don’t use this driver). I’m going to make my first attempt to get the Wiimote working with [BlueSoleil] (doesn’t work). It’s not looking good. I have to uninstall [Bluesoleil ] because this device uses the WIDDCom drivers… Nice the drivers that came with the device aren’t signed. (Don’t put in the small CD the device came with)

There is a Vista supported driver on the [Targus support page]. (Use this one, the Vista/non-vista drivers are separate) These drivers fail to install the device, but when the install CD dialog opens, if you point the dialog to your temp folder, the drivers will successfully install. Have the Vista installer search the subfolders in the C:/Users/username/AppData/Local/Temp/ folder. It turns out that Windows is able to detect and connect to the device. I’m having issues sending data back and forth with the [WiimoteWhiteboard example]. Next I’ll try the more recent version of the [WiimoteLib]. Success. The more recent [WiimoteLib] works. So I’ll need to copy source and build the [Whiteboard example] with the newer [WiimoteLib.dll]. There is a little bit of an upgrade process because the API isn’t exactly the same. Most of the changes are straightforward. Likely the changes can already be found on the [Sourceforge WiiWhiteboard] page. (Unfortunately not) The [Managed Library for Nintendo’s Wiimote] has discussion about the latest API changes.

Get the latest Whiteboard source code from CVS:

  • cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@wiiwhiteboard.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wiiwhiteboard login

  • cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@wiiwhiteboard.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wiiwhiteboard co -P source

    • Forum: [post]

    Source: [WiiWhiteboard with WiimoteLib 1.2]

    Interaction Design

    [Wiimote] application for tracking your fingers with the Wiimote and interactive whiteboards.

    [Johnny Chung Lee] shows off more interactive displays.

    [Johnny Chung Lee] shows another application of the wii remote by doing head tracking to make objects appear more 3d on your TV.

    For any of the examples to work, you must connect your wiimote as a blue tooth device. Follow the [walkthrough]. Your blue tooth software may still not work, so you may need to resort to using [BlueSoleil], which installs to the C:/Program Files/IVT Corporation/BlueSoleil folder. You may need to update to the latest [WiimoteLib].

    [Glovepie] uses a variety of bluetooth devices to play games including the Wiimote.

    [Onakasuita’s Wiimote Source] is able to use the Wiimote just like a windows mouse.

    [Brian Peek] has an example of using WiimoteLib with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.

    [Wiimote Whiteboard vs. Commercial Electronic Boards] video analyzes which is better for the consumer.

    [Wiimote] another random person shows off how to draw with the Wiimote after building an IR pen.

    [Wiimote Music] shows a variety of interaction methods to play music with the Wiimote.

    [Depth Sensor] – designed by [Andy Wilson] – adaptive systems designer at Microsoft Research

    [Elliptic Labs] – shows off a touchless interface prototype

    [Anu Saha] – uses the Wiimote to control a robotic arm

    Sports Shoe

    I’m following the [Luxology shoe tutorial]. And after two days of modeling, I have the shoe insert structure done. Things go a lot faster now. Knowing when to sew, bridge, polygon, and edge slice makes things easier.

    Forum: [post]
    [part1]

    On the second part, the bridge tool is used to make the shoe lace eyelets. But the example process didn’t work for me. I found another way to bridge the inner ring by selecting these two loops and then hitting bridge.

    Other fallback is to select and bridge two edge loops in edge mode.

    Here is a test render of my shoe halfway thru part 2.


    Versions: [shoe_012.lxo]

    Using fonts to make a hand

    Sketch3d has an [example tutorial] of how to use the Wingdings font in order to create a cartoon hand.

    Delete the inner edge by selecting edge and double clicking the inner edge. Hit the delete key.

    Create a new mesh item and use the pen tool to trace the hand in front view.

    Next create a net to constrain over the hand like this [tutorial video].

    Something needs to be done with the jagged outer edge.

    Forum: [post]
    [model]

    Survey of Facebook

    [Facebook Developers] The Facebook Developer site is the starting point for learning how to develop an application for Facebook.

    [Visual Studio Express with Facebook] Visual Studio Express Showcase contains tutorial videos of step by step instructions for including Facebook in C# Windows Applications and C# ASP .NET webpages.

    [C4F Vista Peer-to-Peer Toolkit] Codeplex offers a P2P toolkit for Facebook developers.

    [Actionscript API for the Facebook platform] Google-Code offers an API to access Facebook from AS3.

    [Facebook Wiki] Another useful resource for developing Facebook applications.

    [Exploring 3D in Flash] An example that Facebook could be applied to.