All progress requires change, yet not all change is progress

After almost all day, here's what I've got.

New Features:

1) Radar sweep shows where player is

2) arcs under blocks snap to the sector boundaries, can span multiple sectors, set on odd/even (1 or 2) for now, can easily be changed to support longer than a sector sounds

3) Calibration page for assigning blocks (drawing only), need a function to assign the blocks on the screen to sounds

4) Calibration for center and big_r. Calls the init_calibrate() function using blocks 0 and 1. Redraws the board with a new radius. This function needs some clarity on the assumed rotation and how that impacts drawing.

5) New hot keys: X to set block sounds, C to set the center, Z to exit without changing

Set Blocks:

Set Center:

Next Steps:

A) After the center and rotation are set, the translated blocks need to be drawn correctly. Perhaps a function called getLocalX() can help. I put in a prototype.

B) After blocks are set, a way to tell if they are correctly placed would be nice.

How tall are kids?

Re: Shiny New Blog

This is a sample post for our blog sent in via email. You can post using the editor or our secret email address (it's in the email header).

Check out the blog:

http://cs247-2009.blogspot.com/ 

documentation

hey.

i’ve been thinking a little about documentation. they haven’t really talked about it much in the course, but i’m pretty sure we are supposed to be documenting the project – and hand that documentation in at the end of this quarter.

so, how about we just make it a blog? that way we could all post, we could add text, photos, videos, audio files, screen captures… etc. i’ve had the idea for a while but wrote it off because i felt like we should have started it earlier. until now, when i remembered that many of the blog tools let you post stuff retroactively, which means we could fill in the previous parts in our process as we go along.

i kind of like the thought of it, it’ll be like a story which can be read chronologically.

yay, ney? Yay!

Sounds and Objects

Sounds are now associated with objects. I did all the Updater code, so we have a working fiducial -> sector mapping and sector -> vector of fiducials mapping.

ISSUES: The sector numbering is off. It'll play the object when it's in that sector (in code) but it is drawing a different sector being highlighted. So let's figure that out. and let's associate sounds with more fiducials so we can mess around more easily with the simulator

-Ian

Soldering

Hey, so I spent a while this afternoon with prof verplank soldering together a string of 24 infrared LED's. I'm not done yet, but they're coming along. They'll line the outside of the table and provide IR lighting. HOOZAH!

Progress

1) Fixed the play/pause skipping problem by adding in a delay

2) Changed the play/pause button to change shades instead of disappearing

3) I think we should drop the button and only use keyboard shortcuts (p/P/space for play/pause ... )

4) Minim doesn't like my machine. I get an error "no such method". I tried various things, reinstalling it, changing directories, no such luck. Maybe the library machines will work.

-Ryan

A/B User Test Results

A/B user tests.

-felt like the triangle one didn't have a good way to hold it.

-The discs seem to afford more of a sliding motion, where as the cube caused them to actually pick it up and place it on the surface

-They thought the cube was too heavy.

-The smallest disc was too thin

-need to sand them down so they can see what the bottom design would be. 

A/B User Test Ideas

A few suggestions:
- shapes for the blocks (half spheres/cubes/etc...)
- building existing songs (puzzle) vs playing with samples (composition)
- a more sophisticated prototype software-wise (if we could get it to play automatically that would be solid)
- graphics for the top of the blocks (like none vs some, or different versions of graphics)
- having different difficulty levels like sarah suggested
- play/pause function
- difference with a more suitable song
- square vs circle (or have we decided to go for the circle?)
- the dividing of songs into different parts to complete. i e the one full circle would be the verse, then start over and fit together blocks to build the next sequence (normally the refrain comes after the verse...)

-Maria

Projection

GOOD NEWS: CHECK IT OUT! Got the big projector projecting onto the whole board with our demo underneath. The film is great and easy on the eyes from above. Also, if you can see, it is reading the block (dark bit) and putting a shape (light square) in a somewhat similar position (although flipped, didn't rotate screen). Also, all text reads forward. I just used a scrap piece of plexiglass and took the blue film off one side. So it wasn't as intense a reflection, but that's also kind of what we were going for. Also, i didn't notice any 'ghost' image. The vision was still a bit sketchy and the camera picked up the glare of the reflection off the bottom (see second pic) but its something.

-Ian

Pricey Blocks

Our plan for the look and feel of blocks may need to change due to finances...

Added Button in response to user test

I spent a couple of hours working on the board tonight. I added some text (it's easily changed). I also added a state PLAYING or not, so the spinning can stop. I put a button in the middle and tried to make it look like a triangle when paused and two lines when playing. You'll see, check it out. 

-Ryan

I also made a new directory, maybe we can standardize on it?

User test 1

Idea for Face of the Block

Initial idea for making the blocks a visual puzzle as well

Recognition!

Twinkle Twinkle

Music for the first paper prototype test:

I just finished making the sound files for twinkle twinkle. nothing spectacular, but i found some good software so we should be able to create more sophisticated stuff pretty easily. (and for free). 

it's in twelve files to cover the whole thing, we could still do eight pieces for the prototype, the last four is just a repeat of the first four anyway. but if you make a playlist out of them they turn into a song. i may or may not have had an unreasonable amount of fun making them :P -Maria

Processing

I got the Processing demo working. Here's a screen shot to give you some ideas. I think we'll definitely be able to focus on the interaction using Processing.  I labeled two parts to show the Simulator and the Sample App (black squares) 

-Ryan