Weekly progress update #3

Despite some flu infections, we've made some great progress:

• Mac compatibility has now been worked on and tested to some extent: As of today, the application recognizes cameras connected to a Mac, and the connection can be via Firewire or a USB port.
• The application no longer hides the object on screen even if the marker is not seen by the camera (instead, the object stays still in the place where the field of vision was lost).
• The 3D model still needs some slight decoration mostly on the upper part but the overall style and material seem to be pretty close to the final one.
• The poster is nearly ready: it simpy lacks the new project name and maybe some sponsor logos.

Next week shall be a vacation week, so the weekly progress update #4 will be posted on a later date. Additional visual update and maybe some video material shall be posted at that time as well.

Weekly progress update #2

We're back again for our weekly progress update. There are several things we have been working on:

• We've added some rudimentary layout and menu systems to our application while also testing it out further. These changes help the user of the software to operate it fluidly.
• Posters and their layout designs are coming along nicely.
• The new 3D model for the Canada cup is very close to being finished, but it still needs quite a lot of adjusting texture-wise and some shading work as well.

Additionally, our pitching video is here, so go ahead and watch it!

Weekly progress update #1

The first developing sprint for the project has been quite a productive one, and much of the most crucial elements of our application are in a working order. Below one can find the individual tasks for each member their progress in them.

Ville: I have been working as the ScrumMaster for this sprint, but there have been other tasks I have been involved in as well. As the ScrumMaster my main responsibilites have included starting the daily scrum, listening to the other team members on their progress and possible issues regarding the project, and helping them in any way I can if necessary. Additionally, I have been doing some testing with different cameras, with an Android phone, and with both our previous AR technology as well as the new open source one.

Valtteri: I have looked up various AR technologies to use and tried to learn how to use Unity. I’ve also set up a git repository for the project and tried to encourage people to use it (probably not going to happen :c). Now I’m trying to get involved with the poster design.

Jenni: This week I've been working on the markers for the camera. First three drafts that I made were unsuccessful: The program which is used to scan the marker cannot detect them well enough unless the picture is surrounded with thick borders.

I made other drafts which now have different border sizes around the picture.  The correct border thickness will be tested next week. At the moment I’m still working on a silhouette of the Canada Cup, which will be placed inside the borders.

Petri: I’ve been learning how to use Adobe Illustrator and implement vector graphics. I’ve been working on the poster design and came up with a couple of simple drafts:

 

I’m going to keep working on the poster next week as well.

Teemu: This week we started designing an improved version of the Canada Cup 3D model. I have searched online for some reference pictures and started modelling the bottom part of the cup.

Viljami: I started working on the players on the Canada Cup. I have been using Autodesk Mudbox to create the players and their poses. The challenging part was to find a good way to create the players. At first I tried box modeling but our ScrumMaster Ville suggested that I use Mudbox. So far so good.

Rami: This week I’ve been looking for an alternative Augmented Reality plugin for Unity. An open source plugin called “ARToolkit” was found and it seems to be suitable for our needs, so I will continue working with that.

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So, overall we have worked on improving the 3D model of the Canada Cup, started working on the poster for the ICT Showroom and improved the appearance of the marker used in image recognition. Also we have been researching for a new AR-plugin and found a potentially usable one.