AR MATEY

Last minute issues with the AR markers is not fun. Essentially what works on my own laptop at home does not work in college. After some trial and error I’ve realised this is due to the different lighting systems, camera clarity and our AR codes. We’re in a weird position where AR codes we make are too detailed and when we scan them in online (http://flash.tarotaro.org/blog/2008/12/14/artoolkit-marker-generator-online-released/) to make our .pat files what we get back is a file that is essentially instructing the AR code that any patch of black is our AR code. This happened before but I believed I had fixed the problem, I now realise that this is just something that seems to happen on the college computers

Unfortunately these are the computers we’ll be doing the presentation on. I spent most of today trying to sort our AR problem and I think I have it sorted now. Unfortunately we’ve had to revert back to the AR codes that came with the sample demo as these are clear and distinct enough to be seen as separate markers by the AR code.

It’s a weird problem to be having this late but sort of understandable. It’s really hard to implement AR code as it will have very different results depending on the conditions. Poor lighting or a bad webcam can stop it working entirely. This is something I noticed a few weeks ago when I found out Kinder are currently using AR codes with many of their Kinder Eggs (http://www.magic-kinder.com/mk/lang/fr_FR/index.htm). However, when I tried to view these AR codes the camera simply wouldn’t recognise them. So if Kinder can’t get it working 100% then I don’t feel too bad.

I feel like this will be less of a n issue if it’s implemented in the museum. The AR section of the website is not really intended to be viewed outside the museum and instead will be running on a desktop in the museum. We’d be able to tailor our .pat files and markers for that environment.

All men AR…?

Finished work on one of the AR pages.

 

When you speak it replaces the pigs head with another version where the mouth is wider. The louder you are the bigger the mouth gets.

This is what AR was always meant to be.

Dreams Die Hard

One of the annoying things about doing a project is that there’s a lot of things you’d like to do but the limited time frame means you really have to prioritise. Things like asset creation and making flash buttons aren’t as fun as integrating new technologies but unfortunately if you don’t have them then… well you don’t have anything. That being said I feel like there are two technologies I would have loved to integrate into this project

NFC

Near Field Communication is an amazing technology. Essentially you have these NFC tags that can store information in them and get powered up when a phone with NFC capability is near them. I was really interested in this technology when I first heard about it and I ended up buying a pack of NFC tags on ebay. My hope was we would be able to store the page numbers (those codes you input into the phone to load the quotes page) on the NFC tag and when the phone powers up the tag it gets the information. I spent a bit of time looking at this and it seems there’s been some work done integrating NFC and Adobe flash but unfortunately my lack of familiarity with the intricacies of actionscript meant I wasn’t able to figure it out. I felt like I was really close but I only had the phone I was testing it on for 2 weeks and this was around the same time we had a lot of other projects. It is still something I’d like to explore in the future.

Flash Cookies

The ability to store variables in a cookie on the phone would have really improved our project, meaning that the app would remember what you’ve unlocked even if you close it early. As part of a project last semester I got cookies working on Javascript and was very pleased with the results so I feel that if I had more time I would have been able to look at this more closely. In the end it’s not something I had time for. I don’t feel it effects the app too negatively as the app is not really intended for repeated use, rather it’s used once in the museum and then removed from the phone. It would have been a nice feature to have but at the end of the day I don’t feel it was vital

I feel like the things we have achieved in terms of the integration of AR and the creation of an android app are perhaps are pretty impressive so I can’t say I’m all that disappointed. Still it would have been nice to integrate these technologies if we’d had the chance. Maybe next time!

Great minds think alike, fools seldom vari(ables)

One of the key parts of our flash app was we wanted to make a note of choices the user had made (I.e what language they have picked, what screens they have visited). We did some research into this and we pretty confused to find out that global variables do not exist in AS3. Or at least that’s what google said.

We should not have believed google.

After speaking to our Evolving Web Technologies lecturer I learned that global variables do still exist, it’s just AS3 has better ways of dealing with things now. Well good for actionscript 3! I want variables though, I need them. We have them now and once you have variables you have if statments and that is all you need in life. If statements are the true path.

Else {

Or at least they’re pretty good

}

We have now coded the app so it checks variables before playing sound and it notes what pages the user has visited. This was pretty important to our overall app idea and I’m happy we’ve gotten it done.

Onwards onwards ever upwards

Mutually Assured Des(ign)trcution

Ended up really getting into this project by the end. It’s unfortunate it coincided with the animation project but I’m very pleased with my final design.

And I got to make a gif! I love gifs

Anyways, just to prove how on top of things I am right now I already have it uploaded to my Behance, go there for even more pictures!

I hope this doesn’t upset my Ukrainian fanbase…

DONE

It was a real panic at the end but I am done. DONE. The Duke of York is no more. I am happy enough with how it turned out but I feel like I could have done better if the actionscript hadn’t tripped me up. I wish we’d learned more actionscript, it’s similar enough to Javascript that I think we could have learned it quick but unfortunately it’s different enough that it can be tricky to pick it up on your own.

Anyways, the flash is approved by my nephew so I feel that guarantees top marks. From him at least

Check out here on this link:

http://www.darraghmkelly.com/Flash/Duke.html

The Read Menace

Why are frames? Because they draw the eye towards that which they frame.

Wireframes? Why yes, here are some.

 

Very happy with this idea. It does feel a bit gimmicky but I love the gimmick. I have a neat idea for the incoming call screen I hope I’ll get time to do. Taking some  inspiration from Dr Strangelove and the game DEFCON. Fun fact, I have never properly played DEFCON despite it being in my Steam Library for maybe years. I’ll get round it. I

Contain yourself!

One of the key things in our app is that it’s self contained. It’s not expecting users to connect to the internet or install any additional programs to work, it comes with Adobe Air and none of it’s functionality requires an internet connection. I feel this is important for the project as visitors are not necessarily going to check the app before they get to the museum, the app only really works in the museum so they wouldn’t get very far if they did. That was part of the design too, when we spoke to the museum curator she pointed out that she didn’t want an app that replaced the museum experience but rather enhanced it.

War, what is it good for? Mobile phone redesign

Gonna do a Cold War inspired phone. I like the idea and I think I have enough to work with. I have decided this now cause it’s in my blog. No turning back.

Phone Redesign

Coming up with ideas is hard.

 

– Ocean theme. Water washes icons on screen when you unlock
– Steampunk theme. Pressure valve in the corner represents how much processor power is currently being used
– A hundred other ideas I have made up and forgotten

 

I always ends up falling into a theme, it’s sort of strange. I want to do a dramatic redesign of the phone rather than change aspects. Really finding it hard to pin down an idea right now.