The Nokia-endorsed video below demonstrates what I referred to on a previous post, the NAVTEQ capturing of street maps (in Helsinki) by using specialized hardware. It's probably a bit lengthier than I would have liked but I have to say that this (driving around while capturing 3D maps!) is one great job!

The video explains the process quite well including how the camera capturing hardware operates (explained in a previous post here). Well worth watching, I am eagerly awaiting NAVTEQs 3D urban models to be made available as it looks like they will be of very high quality.

Emotiv headset review article on Joystiq

I've just read an article on Joystiq which also mirrors my thoughts and first experience on the Emotive BCI headset fairly closely. The potential of this is almost mouth-watering, but the reality is that trying to perform simple actions can result in great frustration after a while.

Quoting from the article: "The EPOC is not a mass market device for people looking for a turnkey telekinesis solution. It's an expensive toy for people to experiment with, or a cheap device for scientists to do research with. It's fun to show off to your friends but probably not something anyone will want to play with for very long. The signs were there from the beginning that the EPOC might not live up to its hype, but with full page ads in places like the pro-transhumanist magazine H+ and promises of sci-fi technology in the here and now, Emotiv clearly sees geeky gadget enthusiasts like me as its target audience. With all that promise, all those allusions to nerd icons like the Jedi, it's hard not to feel a little taken advantage of. Seldom has the early adopter tax (one I've paid often) felt more onerous."

However, unlike the writer of the article I am definitely not prepared to give up on the BCI technology which is in its infancy and will develop further over the next few years. At the moment it feels as too experimental (since it is!).

Would it not be interesting to see this technology being the mainstream interaction route in a couple of decades time? Devices such as Emotiv will then be the equivalent of an Atari 2600 to today's PS3/XBox 360 users...

You can read the full Joystiq article here.

iPhone game development engines roundup article

I am teaching iPhone game development this term at Bournemouth University and have just come across a great (though sadly all too short) article at Develop Magazine's online site which lists the most popular game development middleware engines for Apple's device.
These include Shiva, Unity, Torque 2D and Borque 3D. A list of features, prices plus pros and cons is covered for all of them and it makes for a very interesting read, particularly when considering that key to minimising risk in game production is spending as little time and money as possible (and middleware is a crucial part of this). For what it's worth, I am using Unity for my teaching at the University but the other three seem well worth checking out!

You can read the article here.

Brain Maze, mobile brainwave game

Mobile-games researcher Dr Paul Coulton and PhD student Will Bamford from Lancaster University UK have recently unveiled their new game ‘Brain Maze’, in which players use ‘tilt’ controls and a brain-wave reading headset (NeuroSky's MindSet) to progress a marble around a course.

At certain key checkpoints around the maze, the phone (Nokia N97) picks up electromagnetic waves from the player’s brain. Brain Maze uses alpha waves, which are associated with a meditative state, and beta waves, which are associated with an attentive state, to control access through the mind gates that form part of the game. If the players want to get through the mind gates then they literally have to think about it.

Of course learning to adjust a mental state during the game can take some practice and people often find one state easier to control than others (this appears to be the biggest question mark over this technology anyway).

I've just had my first go on BCI a few days ago (the Emotiv one rather than the NeuroSky one used for this research) and I intend to feature more posts in this area which is fast becoming a 'hot topic' for gaming and interaction alike.

The Attractive City Generator

A more unorthodox approach at 3D city modelling, called the 'Attractive City Generator' has been developed by Sofia Georgakopoulou, Edyta Augustynowicz and Stefanie Sixt as part of The Masters of Advanced Studies in CAAD course at ETH in Zurich.

This approach explores urban design methodologies with the use of parametric programs based on object oriented-programming. The results, as can be seen from the excellent video which takes you through the process of creating different parts of the city, are very interesting and incredibly original in their methodology.

Creating a 3D urban environment in 3DS Max 2010

I have in the past featured articles on using plug-ins such as Greeble and 3D Studio Max for the creation of digital cities. Just came across a new video tutorial which is creates a similar effect but this time with no plug-ins.

This makes use of the "Make quadrilaterals" option within ProBoolean. The quadrilaterial function helps to cut mesh into blocks to be used for builings. Well worth checking out in the low res video above, or even better here to download the high-res video file.

Putting webcam images onto Google Earth 3D models

Austin Abrams, a PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, US has developed a method to replace the texture of virtual buildings on Google Earth from the Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes (AMOS), a collection of live feeds from nearly 1000 webcams streaming from various sites around the world.

This application called Live3D, maps 2D webcam images onto a 3D model of a location or landmark. For example, at night it clothes the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, with the samedarkened surface seen by a webcam. This operates by using the system's web interface, where the user outlines a region of the webcam image. Then, another window shows the Google Earth view of the scene, where the user repeats the process (this time in 3D). The program then takes whatever appears in the outlined region of the 2D image and warps it in order to fit the 3D geometry.

An incredibly interesting project, check it out in more detail by viewing the video above.

Ghosts N' Goblins on the iPhone

One of the games I spent an incredible amount of time when I was younger on coin-ops now sees an iPhone release, albeit with the required facelift. The classic Ghouls N' Ghosts is now rebadged as Ghosts N' Goblins: Gold Knights. It is a new addition to the long-running series, which introduces a new hero, Lancelot. Character models seem to have been upgraded to 3D while the game is still 2D platformer, sticking to the original.

It's also on offer at the moment at the iTunes store for £0.59, not sure how long that is going to be for so for any retro gaming fans that fancy another go at the classic Ghouls N' Ghosts, this is more than recommended.

IPC member for IASTED HCI 2010

I am now a member of the International Program Committee for the IASTED HCI 2010 conference to take place in Maui, Hawaii in August 2010. Submission deadline is April the 1st.

The Fifth IASTED International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (IASTED-HCI 2010) will be a major forum for international researchers and professionals to present their latest research, results, and ideas in all areas of human-computer interaction, covering a wide range of topics on the subject from virtual and augmented reality to mobile and ubiquitous computing issues. Its aim is to strengthen relations between industry, research laboratories, and universities.

http://www.iasted.org/CONFERENCES/home-713.html

PhD studenship in non-photorealistic rendering research at Bournemouth University

There is a fully funded 3-year PhD studentship at Bournemouth University to start in Oct 2010 under my supervision (with Dr Tian Feng as the second supervisor). The deadline for submissions of application forms and supporting documents is the 30th of April.

The PhD subject for this studentship is "Evaluating expressive computer graphics rendering using brain-computer user interfaces". It is today a traditional exercise to view the end purpose of computer graphics techniques as photorealism, which can be defined as the generation of synthetic images that cannot be distinguished from reality. After decades of research striving for this, and given appropriate resources in hardware, modern renderers can now produce results very close to photographic images. Improved efficiency for this, as well as further advances, is still possible but at the same time there is an increasing amount of research focusing not on approximation of the real world but on the eventual purpose of the depiction and also all of the communicative aspects this can convey, thus influencing a variety of important factors. These can vary from low-level perceptual processes and emotional responses to cognitive workloads and information interpretation.

This relatively new research field is called non-photorealistic rendering (or NPR in short) and, while most traditional computer graphics research still focuses on the production and assessment of photorealism, NPR concentrates on viewer engagement by the use of stylization, abstraction and expressiveness. These characteristics can be found on all different varieties of non-photorealistic rendering in computer graphics, as well as an assortment of different influences from 2D human artwork, which itself dates back centuries and carries inherent insights in the psychology of depiction and related observation. While non-photorealistic graphics should not be seen as competition for the challenge towards ultimate realism, it does remain an unexplored alternative that has the potential of improving several aspects of many application areas where communication of certain types of visual information using 3D photorealism can be problematic, detrimental and inefficient.

This project plans to explore this potential of NPR by using new modalities that have recently been available to researchers and public combined; those of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs). There will be a series of experiments conducted using this hardware and a variety of contrasting NPR/photorealistic stimuli. This will provide data which for the first time are not based on subjective (self-reports, preferences etc.) or even objective data (for example task completion times etc.) but on actual brainwaves (EEGs in this particular case) that will then be interpreted and analysed in order to assess the effect of expressive rendering on human subjects in a variety of situations/application areas.

http://www.postgraduatestudentships.co.uk/node/14133.

Please email me at cgatzidis@bournemouth.ac.uk for more details. Also note this position is open worldwide to applicants with a good first degree (1st of 2:1) and/or a Masters.

Precise motion control prototype for PC gaming

At the recent CES 2010 high-end PC gaming accessory manufacturer Razer, in conjunction with Sixense, have teamed up to present a precise motion control prototype for the PC. The companies have also enlisted the help of videogame developer Valve.

The prorotype operates by using an electromagnetic field sent out from a single transmitter. Thus the two-controller setup is able to create an exact one-to-one duplication of movements onscreen. The technology can support gesture-based commands and more impressively can also detect location in space along six axes.

The Razer Sixense Ultra Precise Motion Controller is to be available later this year and is a great example of the research going on into novel gaming interaction techniques. The vid above shows a recent demonstration of the prototype and its potential.

Navteq moves into 3D laser mapping technology of urban areas

Navteq has begun collecting data to construct detailed 3D models and maps of the United States, the digital-mapping specialist recently announced. This is facilitated by fitting on data collection vehicles a system called Navteq True, consisting of a LIDAR contraption that uses lasers to construct 3D maps of the world out of a sea of data points.

Additionally to the lasers are high-resolution panoramic cameras and devices called Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) that can precisely gauge road curvature and slope, which are the other part of the equation of the Navteq True solution. With the process under completion, Navteq has begun selling what it calls Enhanced 3D City Models which can be used in navigation devices to give people in cars or pedestrians a better graphical idea of their surroundings.

The Enhanced 3D City Models are at the moment available for the United States, with other continents to arrive later this year. It sounds like a great project (and let's not forget that the company is owned by Nokia) which could have a great impact on 3D urban pedestrian navigation. I will post updates when I get the chance to experience some of the city models created.

Epic Games develops a mobile device focus

Engine and software giant Epic Games has just joined industry consortium Khronos, a consortium with a collective interest in the creation of API standards such as OpenGL and OpenGL ES. As a member of Khronos’ board, Epic now has a say in determining the evolution of graphics standards on key platforms including mobiles (OpenGL ES). This comes after another piece of news which I've blogged about where Epic recently announced that it would be releasing a mobile version of its Unreal Engine 3 for the iPhone 3GS.

In joining Khronos, the Gears of War creators are in the company of the likes of Apple, id Software, Sony, AMD and Nvidia. This is a move that could see increasingly great quality for real-time graphics (and games) for mobile devices while at the same time signifying the importance of the mobile market in the games industry.

Broken Sword heading to the iPhone

Revolution Software has just announced that their best known game, Broken Sword is now heading to the iPhone. Broken Sword: The Director's Cut is an update on the adventure classic, similar to theremake of Beneath a Steel Sky, which has been very successfull and has prompted the company to pursue the remastering of old classic titles further.

The game follows the adventure of Nico Collard as she races against time to uncover a sinister conspiracy linked to an ancient secret and includes some all new cut-scenes and animation. Apparently the game will be on iTunes store before March, can't wait personally as it's always been one of my favourite adventure games and it would be great to have a mobile version of it.

Nokia's location-based driving movile game with real-world maps

At the recent CES at Las Vegas, Nokia announced details of its new location-based racing game. Ovi Maps Racing uses Ovi Maps to form the tracks you'll be racing your cars around. The racing itself is in a top-down view resembling the classic Micro Machines. The phone's GPS function can track down where the player lives and allow him/her to use 2D maps of the local area for the game. Additionally, the game will also let you do the same for anywhere else in the world.

A very cool concept, sadly only in 2D at the moment. Could however see this working in 3D at some point in the near future (interface with Google Earth?) which would give it even more value. Check it out at the video above.

Layar, augmented reality application for the iPhone

There's a number of location-based augmented reality applications available for the iPhone (including the very aptly named Bladder up which I'll leave for a future post!!) but the cream of the crop has got to be Layar.

Layar combines GPS, camera, and compass to identify your surroundings and overlay information on screen, in real time (in the familiar way that augmented reality applications do). This involves a range of information that can be found in a typical urban environment from demographics to cultural heritage descriptions and service-oriented data. It is also available for Android apart from the iPhone platform (3GS only).

Other features include options in the menu such as ‘Featured’, which has extra layers that were selected by the startup and ‘Popular’, obviously based on usage. There’s also integration with Google Local Search which lets you launch searches for places you find using the ‘Reality Browser’ and a host other possibilities such as interface with Twitter (and a number of other applications).

Check the example video out, it has a great example of another application area for Layar (or indeed any mobile AR app) which is mobile location-based property search. The application can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store and is expected to take off in the next few months so it's well worth checking out.

ArtRage painting/sketchpad application

For the aspiring artists with tablets and strong painting skills, one of the applications that has been getting a lot of praise from word of mouth on a variety of forums is ArtRage.

ArtRage allows you to paint with oils and watercolors, sketch with pencils, spray stickers over your canvas and much more. It also makes use of stencils and rulers, letting you create shapes or smooth curves freehand. The artist can also trace and reference images by loading photos to recreate either by eye or by letting ArtRage select colors whilst painting. Other features include Layers and Layer Groups, Layer Blend Modes compatible with the PSD file format, plug-in Filter suport and more.

Well worth checking out, whilst the almighty Photoshop still offers a lot of these features, many people are exploring the benefits of applications like ArtRage (particularly considering the huge difference in pricing too between this and the Adope app).

http://www.artrage.com/

DL3D XToon shader

The DL3D XToon shader is a cartoon shader (XTOON stands for extended toon shader) based on the articles of French researchers (Pascal Barla, Joëlle Thollot and Adrien Bousseau amongst others). DL3D XToon is working as a mental ray 3.5+ shader for mental ray standalone, compatible with 3ds Max, Maya and Softimage XSI (amongst others). More info and dowloads here.

The shader is well worth checking out (you need version of 3DS Max 8 upwards for the Maxers amongst you), as are the individual publications from the three researchers mentioned above (I've listed their personal websites below).

http://www.labri.fr/perso/barla/doku.php
http://artis.imag.fr/Membres/Joelle.Thollot/index.fr.html
http://artis.imag.fr/Membres/Adrien.Bousseau/

Mirror's Edge on the iPhone, urban modelling exploration for the Apple device

I've blogged before about the impressive urban modelling of Electronic Arts' Mirror's Edge. It turns out the game will in 2010 see an iPhone version which while scaled down to fit the hardware of the Apple device will retain the complex 3D virtual city back drops.

Really looking forward to this one, the original game got some flak but everybody recognised the potential of exploration in urban locations the title offered and I can't wait to see how that translates to a mobile device. Check out a demo of the game in the video above.

Google unleashes its first phone

Google has finally officially unveiled its new Nexus One Android handset. The handset runs the latest version of the Android OS and has been made by HTC. It has a 3.7-inch touchscreen and runs off Qualcomm's 1GHz Snapdragon chipset.

Predictably the Nexus One features all Google's apps, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation. Also a new version of Google Earth was also unveiled at the event, with some quality 3D fly-throughs demonstrated. There's also a trackball for navigation below the touchscreen.

The new device seems promising although it will be interesting to see how it fares against competitors with an established foothold like the iPhone (the 3GS has many more applications plus better controls -Nexus doesn't do multitouch- and battery life) .