2010-01-31 meeting

Venue: CS FYP lab

Time: 14:00-14:15

Attendees: Karina, Eric

Recorded by: Karina

Discussion:

1.      The basic structure of BaseApp (Program) should be:

-          Interactive system (for gesture)

-          Visual system (for UI, feedback)

-          Audio system (for midi)

-          Music system(for generation)

2.      Follow the first point of discussion, the systems will be responsible by:

-              Interactive system (for gesture)           à Karina

-              Visual system (for UI, feedback)         à Karina

-              Audio system (for midi)                        à Eric

-              Music system(for generation)              à Eric

Each of us will propose some ideas about the systems.

3.      The issue of reducing the project scale

Last Friday, HongBo asked us to scale down the project size. For this problem, we decided if we can’t find a 10-jet ultrasonic fogger by next Friday, the project size will be smaller and we will use 2 webcams instead of kinect camera.

4.      Date and Time of the next meeting:

11 Feb 2011(Fri) 4:30pm

5.      Things will be talked in the next meeting:

A.          Report if we find 10-jet ultrasonic fogger

-              If it would not found, we should talk about changing the project goal and structure

B.          Report what our ideas about ourselves system parts

Blog in December 2010

In this month, we were busy for exams and projects, so we didn't do much thing.

To prepare setup of the hardware, we went to Sham Shui Po three times and brought 3-Jet ultrasonic fog machine, air blower and 2 white tubes.

The following is our progress of testing the air blower:

As the result, we got the air blew from air blower could  be split into 2 tubes.

Blog in November 2010

In this month, we keep on doing program about tracking for hands' motion and gesture tracking.

For hands' motion tracking, we find a "FingerDetector" library from http://www.openframeworks.cc/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10264,
It is very good to track and find fingers and hands, and commonly used in Openframeworks. If we need it, we only need to install OpenCv library and include this library, it is very convenient to use.
However, after some testings, we found that it does not perform very well,especially live video image,if the background is not in solid color or indoor light due to noise in image. So it is a big issue before we use it in Openframeworks.

To solve this issue,we search in the web. In the conclusion, the method for decreasing the noise, we can increase the thresholds and filter the useless color(which is not skin color) out.




For the gesture part, we found ofxPatterns library is very helpful for tracking gesture; but it is used for mouse gesture, not for hands.
(download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/amelibraries/files/ofxPatterns/0.05/
and documentation: http://ame4.hc.asu.edu/amelia/ofxpatterns/index.html)

It is a very robust for training and testing a gesture; also it provides functions for saving and loading by database, I was surprised that the saved gesture could be loaded back into CodeBlocks despite I turned off then on the computer.
Therefore, we will develop it for gesture of hand tracking.

More References for ofxPatterns library
- http://ame4.hc.asu.edu/amelia/
- http://ame4.hc.asu.edu/amelia/ofxpatterns/index.html
- http://www.openframeworks.cc/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3073
- http://depts.washington.edu/aimgroup/proj/dollar/
- http://faculty.washington.edu/wobbrock/pubs/uist-07.1.pdf

For prototype , we met in 2D lab and do a prototype about box for releasing fog, which was mentioned in the Blog in October(link: http://cool-bluerose.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-in-october.html). The following is the pictures of recording how we did it:

At the result, we got the prototype of box for releasing fog 

Blog in October 2010

In this month, we continued to do the program of tracking and research of fog machine and fog screen.

For customizing fog screen, After we asked a teacher in HKIVE, Mr.Law Kwok Ho (who experienced in stage field), and did some researches. We have two findings:

First, we found that there were 2 kinds of design for making a fog screen:
1. Using method of air current, by fan to blow the fog down and then by vacuum cleaner draw the released fog back, to make the fog likes a plane.
2. Using method of air pressure, blow the fog down between 2 layers air current from the top, to push the fog down as a layer of mist to make it plane.

Second, for type of fog machine for fog releasing, we found ultrasonic fog machine is the best for our project. Comparing with Dry ice, ultrasonic machine releases water molecules, which do not stick on floor after it touches the floor. Comparing with Haze, water molecules is much bigger and much easier to control by air current.

After that, we decided to employ the second method of making a fog screen and ultrasonic fog machine as our releasing fog machine. Then we went online and searched about how to more about customizing fog screen method.

For learning how to customize the fog screen by ultrasonic fog machine, we learnt from these links:
- http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/diy-fog-screen/
- http://www.slashgear.com/diy-fog-screen-video-demo-0621655/
- http://www.networkerror.org/component/content/article/1-technical-wootness/26-halloween-fog-screen.html
- http://bonlebon.blogspot.com/2008/11/diy-fog-screen.html
- http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/75397-haze-video-projection-3.html


As the conclusion from the below links, we learnt that we need to create a box to handle the flow of fog and air.

Inside the box, it should have 3 layers, two outer layers should be used for releasing air current and connected to air blower, and the spaces should be filled by long and thin tubes, to lead the air straightly down from the box. Else, the middle layer should be used for releasing fog and connected to fog machine, and the space should be empty and narrow enough to make a thin sheet of fog screen.




More references of customizing fog screen:
- http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=990
- http://www.mbvideo.com/fogscreen.php
- http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/diy-fog-screen/
- http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/fog-screen.html
- http://www.computerpoweruser.com/articles/archive/C0312/32c12/32c12.pdf?guid=
- http://www.integramerk.com/Installation%20Guidelines%20for%20FogScreen%20Inia.pdf
- http://www.gizmag.com/go/3863/picture/9409/
- http://entertainment.bowenwang.com.cn/question240.htm

17th Jan 2010 meeting

Venue: CS FYP lab
Attendees : Eric , Karina
Recorded by: Karina

Content:
- Test the Acrylic box with blower machine and tubes
- We found that it works with the blower machine, but there was some sound when we were testing.

- Discuss how to track people’s hand movement
- The fog screen places between webcam (front) and people (behind).
- The hand tracking code was not well to handle the hand tracking. We should search a better code for tracking.
- It is better to buy a Kinect camera for tracking to track in 3D
- We should test if we can program with Kinect code.

- Discuss make a Acrylic box for fog machine
- Because there is not good when we testing with paper fog screen
- We draw it at home then discuss later.

14th Jan 2011 meeting

Venue: Inno center 2D lab
Attendees : Eric , Karina
Recorded by: Karina

Content:
- We presented our findings about gesture and tracking in OFs
- Gesture:
We agreed to employ a program which for mouse gesture and modify its detecting part for tracking.
- Tracking:
- Karina found a finger and hand detection program, but both of us found the result of hand tracking was not really worked well during we tested it.
- We discussed how to combine these codes to our application

-We discussed about the prototype
- Because the acrylic box can be taken back in this weekend, so Eric will take the blower machine and the box in this weekend.