Augmented Planet, and augmented reality blog

Augmented Planet is an augmented reality blog recommended to me by one of the PhD students I am involved in the supervision for and is indeed an excellent AR blog for those who want to catch new developments in the area. With a heavy emphasis on mobile AR, the blog covers AR browsers, web augmented reality, mobile (and particularly iPhone) AR apps, related events, an AR job search section and other topics which are relevant to the issue. Incredible to see how far the medium has come along since I first started looking into AR for mobile in 2005!

Anyone with an interest in AR shoulc check this out at http://www.augmentedplanet.com/.

Non-photorealistic rendering in Unreal 3

Currently doing some research on Unreal 3/UDK related matters in preparation of something that I will possibly be able to post on soon and I have come across this link here; it is a description of using UDK settings to create a cartoon shader (which works quite well too, as can be seen in the pic below) in the official Unreal Developer Network.

The process uses Sobel edge detection which operates by calculating the gradient of the image intensity at each pixel and then producing a value which correlates to how abruptly the image changes. Very interesting to see this implemented step by step (the instructions in creating the shader are very thorough in the link above) and a very powerful and potent reminder of the real-time visualization potential of NPR styles with modern gaming engines.

Gameloft's first Unreal engine iOS title

One of the most prolific iOS game developers, Gameloft, will be using Epic Games' Unreal engine on a game called March of Heroes. A trailer for this has now become available and it is eagerly anticipated in terms of seeing what a developer such as Gameloft can do with the technology (following hot on the heels of titles such as the very impressive Infinity Blade), rather than their own proprietary engine.

The very Black Ops-like March Of Heroes looks quite impressive in the trailer above (though obviously will not be winning any originality awards anytime soon!) and is a strong reminder of the potential the UDK technology has for mobile gaming.

Sandbox 3 receives update

A few days ago I posted the release of the Sandbox 3 level editor for the CryEngine, which was eagerly anticipated by the modding community. It appears that Crytek has now released an update which fixes many of the problems of the early version of the (free) application. This is version 1.1.

These are the following (taken from the Crymod website, here);

"• Added FMOD Designer to Mod SDK
• Added editor.cfg being installed into Crysis 2 root folder to enable useful default settings for custom animations
• Fixed a bug with CryMaxTools in 3DS Max not being functional
• Fixed a bug with not working automatic installation of LoadCryMaxTools.ms into respective 3DS Max installation
• Fixed registry warning when starting Sandbox 3 Editor on Vista/Win7 machines
• Fixed installation error “Error: Could not access network location $MOBU11_64_PATH$” on 32-bit operating systems”
• Fixed 32-bit CryTIFF plugin being installed into Photoshop 64-bit version
• Fixed .bat file for CryMaxTools not installing plugins and tools for all 3DS Max versions properly
• Fixed a bug with 64-bit 3DS Max plugins getting installed into 32-bit 3DS Max if both are the same release version.
• Fixed a bug with the 3DS Max Exporter not working properly with exporting animations.
• Fixed a bug with the 3DS Max 9 installation to only include plugins from now on as CryMaxTools are not supported for this version.
• Fixed a bug where some installed 3DS Max versions did not show up for automatic plugin installation
• Removed automatic 64-bit 3DS Max plugin and tools installation (requires manual installation).
• Removed Motion Builder as it is no longer supported
• Sandbox (64bit) is a mandatory installation
• Significantly reduced size of the installer"

You will be needing the Crysis 2 game installed to run this incidentally. I will post some examples of the first few projects emerging out of this over the next few weeks, at the moment the community seems to be learning the ropes of the new tool.

UDK used for architectural visualization

As another example of using a modern first-person shooter game engine for architectural visualization, Epic Games have posted the work of Luigi Russo, a student in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Naples, Italy. With the help of the (freeware) Blender for model creation and the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the student has produced a fairly impressive and realistic walkthrough (as is evident in the pic below).

A search on YouTube will reveal many more architects using tools such as the UDK (or the CryEngine) for visualizing spaces for their projects and it appears this could turn into a major area of where software like that could also be used (in addition to entertainment purposes of course). Meanwhile, you can check out Luigi's walkthrough here.

BloodRayne: Betrayal, another NPR game

BloodRayne: Betrayal is soon to hit the PSN and XBLA as a digital-only release (on August the 30th and 31st respectively). Developed by WayForward, the game builds on an established franchise/brand (which briefly even took to Hollywood a few years ago, albeit not particularly successfully).

The interesting part about this release is the 2D focus (slightly reminiscent of the Castlevania franchise) but, more importantly, the incredible hand-painted, non-photorealistic graphics the game comes with (look at the pic above).

Procedural bought by ESRI

Procedural, a company producing an urban modelling tool (CityEngine) I have blogged about many times in the last few years, has now been bought out by ESRI. ESRI has been around since 1969 and is most famous for the very popular GIS tool called ArcGIS. It is believed that CityEngine will be integrated with that but also remain available as standalone too.

CityEngine has been making the news for quite awhile now with some very high profile clients using it for their city modelling needs, so I suppose this was inevitable. Furthermore, integrating this with ArcGIS could prove to be a masterstroke as ArcGIS' 3D urban modelling functionality will be significantly spruced up as a result of this.

SIGGRAPH 2011 coming up

This year I will, for the first time, attend the prestigious SIGGRAPH conference (despite of the fact that I had a paper in SIGGRAPH Asia last year, see older post here) and needless to say I am very much looking forward to attending the sessions of what is one of the biggest conferences in the world. Taking place in Vancouver, Canada in early August, the event takes in contributions from computer graphics researchers, games developers, animators, industry experts and many others for what is a wholly comprehensive event.

I will report more on this in August, till then you can visit the official site of the conference (which it should be noted has its 38th outing this year) here.

Monkey Island remakes receiving retail release

Having invested only in the iPhone versions of these so far, I was delighted to hear that the recent excellent remakes of Monkey Island 1 and 2 by Lucasarts, two of the finest adventure games ever and also complete with incredible hand-drawn non-photorealistic graphics, will now receive a boxed release on the 9th of September.

These HD remakes were available as digital-only so far, complete with an incredibly cool feature that allowed the player to switch from original graphics to HD remake ones at any point during the game. There will also be bonus features such as concept art material and pre-production content from an unrealised film to entice fans to invest in these, as well as playable soundtracks. The platforms, as with the digital versions, will be PC, XBox 360 and PS3.

CryEngine's Sandbox 3 Level Editor now freely available

I have just noticed that at long last Crytek has made available a level editor for Crysis 2, available for free on its website! This is titled Sandbox 3 Editor and also includes tools such as MOD Designer, Poly Bump, plugins for Maya and 3ds Max plus sample assets.

I've not yet played with this (or read any comments on it) but given the fact it's only been out there for a few days and it has over 150,000 downloads already speaks volumes! The level editor can be downloaded from here.

Valve's Source SDK is now free

Valve's Source SDK is now free. This is followed by the news that Team Fortress 2 (one of Valve's most popular games and incidentally one of the most prominent non-photorealistically rendered gaming titles around today) is also becoming freely available (see here).

The engine has been around for a while (which does prompt the question on whether Valve is working on a replacement) but this is still fantastic news, remember this is the engine behind iconic games like Half Life 2. More information on the Source website here, which incidentally has a section for educators teaching game design (such as myself).

Publication claims to be able to predict MMORPG player behaviour

A new paper, which will be presented at the Foundations of Digital Games conference in Bordeaux, France in late June, titled "Using Sequential Observations to Model and Predict Player Behaviour", claims to have come up with a methodology to predict MMORPG player behaviour. This is based on cliques, i.e. groups of achievements which have been collected together, as argued by the paper from North Carolina State University researchers.

After analysing badge data from 14,000 World of Warcraft players, the authors of the paper observed which achievements a player within a clique has not picked up yet. This can lead to accuracy of prediction for player behaviour of up to 80%. Interesting work, and of course in the eventuality that it is sound, it could mean that companies such as Blizzard could use this information to further improve their titles in the future.

A New Beginning, new non-photorealistic rendered adventure

A new adventure game called A New Beginning by Daedalic Entertainment has caught my eye because of its very beautiful hand-drawn art; as shown in the image below. Described by its creators as an interactive eco-thriller, the game immerses the player in a story which combined both time travel but also, and perhaps more importantly, global climate change.

Recently released for the PC platform, this appears to be one of the strongest point and click titles that have emerged of late, with the non-photorealistic rendered artwork showcasing how much this type of visualization can enhance the impact of a storytelling-driven game. A making of (pre-release) for the title (discussing the artwork creation amongst other issues) can be found here.

Levitation art project via the use of EEG

As I am conducting an experiment using EEG devices at the moment, here is a very cool art installation, created by a team at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where students have combined an EEG BCI device with a flying harness. This enables the individual with the EEG to levitate using input directly from the headset, i.e. fly using their thoughts.

Called the "Infinity Simulator" (while the art installation is called "The Ascent"), the set up will also allow users to trigger light, sound and video effects using the EEG device, other than of course flying. This effort uses the Emotiv EEG device (which I have previously discussed in this blog), is described by its creators as a platform similar to Wii or Kinect and looks particularly impressive in its prototype, work-in-progress form (check out the video above).

Anti-pirate MMO used by the US Navy

It is reported by Gamasutra that the US Navy is attempting to use an MMO to battle Somali sea pirates. The design document describes a simulation of three different stages on anti-piracy issue strategies, all equally important; namely the protection of sea lanes, the prevention of attacks at ships and, finally, the rescue of hostages.

More information on this very interesting project/serious game, which battles an existing problem can be found here.

Kinect's SDK released by Microsoft

Microsoft has now released an SDK, albeit in beta form, for Kinect. This is for hobbyist-use only and includes drivers, APIs for raw sensor streams, audio functionality, sample code and other useful material.

I expect this means that Kinect will be used for research purposes a lot more in the immediate future (which can only be a good thing); in fact I would bet that in the next few months many new pieces of work with the device at their core will be submitted to academic journals and conferences.

Open days at Bournemouth University

As we start organising the delivery of our open days at Bournemouth University (for which I will be around to talk about and present on the BSc Games Technology degree), here is a reminder of the dates for 2011;

- Saturday 18 June
- Friday 9 September
- Saturday 10 September
- Saturday 15 October
- Saturday 22 October

Please visit the site here to book a place for one of these open days if you are interested in the course. Also, you can get a taster video of the Games Technology degree (for which I am the course coordinator for) by viewing the video above.

Guest editor for journal special issue in NPR

I will be the guest editor for an upcoming special issue of the IBIMA International Journal of Interactive Worlds (IJIW), titled Non-Photorealistic Graphics in Games and Animation.

After many years of computer graphics research striving for results which cannot be distinguished from reality, there is now, in parallel, an increasing amount of work focusing not on the approximation of the real world, but on the simulated depiction of more traditional human artwork styles. These styles come with a variety of implications such communicative, emotive and perceptual processing aspects that these approaches can convey, via the inherent abstractive forms and stylization they are associated with.

The research field itself is called non-photorealistic rendering (or NPR in short) and can today be observed in a number of application areas, including real-time computer and video games plus also animated feature films. Contemporary hardware has made possible recent mainstream gaming titles such as Sega’s MadWorld (for Nintendo’s Wii) and Ubisoft’s Prince Of Persia (for a variety of platforms), employing comic-book/sketched and cel-shaded rendering styles respectively. Equally, Disney’s upcoming feature length film Tangled simulates oil-painting techniques. Titles such as these demonstrate that there is considerable interest from developers, film-makers and public alike to explore the possibilities for alternative graphical representations that modern NPR techniques, because of their flexibility in different stylizations, can offer in the area of computer entertainment.

Only original research papers will be considered. Authors should limit initial submissions to no more than 30 double-spaced pages in 12-point font with appropriate margins, inclusive of all materials. A double-blind review will be conducted and papers will be returned to the authors, with explanatory notes for further action. Submissions will be screened to ensure coherence with the theme of the special volume and will be accepted for by the 30th of June 2011.

More information about the journal and the special issue itself can be found here.

Short course at Bournemouth University in game dev fundamentals

This is a reminder that, in my capacity as a lecturer at Bournemouth University I teach, amongst the regular undergraduate courses, a short course in July (5 days long, with 4 hours of tuition per day) on the fundamentals of games development. This course is ideal for beginners with an interest in improving their skills and understanding of the game dev pipeline.On this short course you will develop an in-depth knowledge of contemporary game development. Via a set of intensive lecture and tutorial sessions you will comprehensively cover the basics of the three main aspects of modern video game creation; 3D modelling and animation, level design and engine programming.

You will be taught in state-of-the-art, dedicated games development laboratory facilities at Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus, using industry-standard software such as Autodesk’s 3D Studio Max (used to create content for games such as the Assasin’s Creed series), Epic’s UnrealEd (used in games such as the Gears Of War series and Batman Arkham Asylum) and Unity (a very popular up-and-coming multiplatform indie engine capable of producing browser-based 3D games.More information about the course can be found here. This a great taster of the ins and outs of games development and well worth checking out if you have even a passing interest in this.

Keynote at Context-Based Services In Tourism Workshop

On the 8th of July I will be giving a keynote talk at the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT) Context-Based Services In Tourism workshop, which will take place at Bournemouth University, UK.

Context Based Services is emerging as a key research area and a great business opportunity and challenge. This is particularly the case in Tourism where location and context based services will be used for serving the travellers of the future. The aim of this workshop is to bring together industry leaders with scholars and researchers with an interest in the interaction between Context Based Services, technology and Tourism.

My talk is titled "An overview of location-based gaming", for more information about the event please check its site here. The event offers the opportunity of submitting a full paper for peer review and formal presentation, towards the development of special issues in JITT (Journal of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism).