Applications for the AR system

One of the advantages of the AR system developed is the ability to couple the logic of a video game. At the same time I was coding the system, my friend Carlos Torija was designing a video game, he created the artificial intelligences and logic and then we both added simple graphics with openGL and gave it some AR. In this game you have to evade/attack an evil drone that follows and tries to kill you. The game has been produced to be played in a open space and it has virtual walls! Next step includes map recognition.

I also started another AR game using my system. I planned to release it for bada 2.0 but Samsung keeps delaying it so the game is unfinished. The game is an augmented stunt kite simulator, at the moment it has really simple physics and fixed wind but I plan to add a wind system using weather forecast and advanced physics in order to perform realistic tricks.

Note: Pink artifacts appears when taking a screenshot and are not present in the real application. 

NDS experiments

I know that Nintendo DS is old hardware now, but back in my time it was awesome! One day I discovered PAlib for NDS and I decided to investigate. I came up with some weird ideas, from a back-scratching game to a portable version of the "Shelters of Catan" board game (now it do exists for NDS but it is not my unfinished-experimental version). I also started to program a time-based multiplayer gymkhana game for various teams so they can play in a specific forest, and the clues had to be solved using the NDS.

These projects taught me how hard is to create a game without a real graphical artist in the team, but I also found that seeing your results in a video-console transmits and amazing feeling.

Note: the scratching game is about...that. With difficulty from stinting to herpes and a punctuation system!

The home-made VR system.

During my holidays I was growing quite fat due to inactivity and I were spending to much time playing Minecraft. Here at home I have got a dance mat for DDR and those rhythm games but I don't really like them, so I decided to create something funny, healthy and a bit geek: a home-made virtual reality system!

I found GlovePIE, an input emulator where you can create scripts to remap almost any controller, from dance mats to wiimotes. And yes, I have got both of them. I created my first script for Minecraft where you can walk using the dance mat (1 step in real world == 1 step in Minecraft) in a quite realistic way (it is not about pressing one single button, but walking in a natural way) and also jump (the character jumps when you release both feet from the ground so it is almost 1:1). For digging and gather wood you have to shake the Wiimote as if you were using a pickaxe and for putting blocks you have to move the Nunchuk.

Then I started to play Skyrim and so I gained weight again, that's why I remade it! Now it is possible to detect when the user is sprinting, and the script also implements different controls for each weapon: when you are using a sword you need to swing the Wiimote horizontally to perform a light attack and vertically for a strong attack; you can get some cover with your shield raising the Nunchuk and shake it from here to push things with it; you have to raise your hands for controlling spells and, most important, you can use your voice. GlovePIE can easily detect voice commands and in Skyrim this means that it is not only possible to make simple orders like "save the game" or "equip the bow" but you can also shout! So if you want the character to shout the spell "FUS ROH DAH" all you need is to shout it!

I forgot to show how to hit things with the bow shaking the Nunchuk :-(, also voice commands are in spanish.

Who needs Kinect?

Augmented Reality System

After 5 years studying it comes time for the dissertation. You can choose one of the many subjects proposed by the professors , but I decided to go on my own creating a whole augmented reality system.

 The original idea consisted in a program that should work in open environments, without markers, trying to naturally fuse the virtual and the real world. In fact those "open environments" were a problem, because giving the user so much freedom can result in  low performance visualization when using a smartphone. This was the key point and I wanted to success where other programs such as Layar (poor integration) or AiRaid (lack of freedom) failed.

The system was developed trough a year using C++ and OpenGL for bada smartphones and integrates some new ideas that makes it excels over other AR systems:

• Efficient usage of sensors to obtain a sound registration. This allows the program to work faster in open environments and to avoid possible measurement errors faster.
• Real lightning system. Using GPS-based weather information and sun tracking algorithms in order to get a realistic integration.

In this video the sun movement has been accelerated and the perspective translated for didactical purposes.

• GPS Hybrid. The system can respond correctly even in extreme scenarios, where no accurate GPS data is given, thanks to the advanced pedometer developed.
• Game's logic integration made easy. Programming an augmented video-game is really easy thanks to the well designed system architecture.

This example recreates the worst-case scenario where no GPS signal is received.

For extra information, an explanatory part of the dissertation and many interesting papers about AR can be found here, but I am afraid it is in Spanish. 

Note:Pink artifacts appears when taking a screenshot and are not present in the real application.

The Augmented Agenda

Augmented Reality is probably one of the most eye-catching technologies nowadays. I still remember how I started to dream about it years before it became an emerging technology. Much time later I was able to do a complete dissertation about it (I will talk about this in another section).

My very first try with AR supposed the creation of a weird idea I had long time ago: some day AR and social networks will work completely together and people will be able to see personal information about me just pointing at me with their phones. This terrible future is too close and I decided it was possible to create an App that explains the idea.

My little experiment puts together AR and social information in an Augmented Agenda. Created for bada phones (C++), the app is capable of detecting faces of your contacts and show their names, mobile phones or e-mails. It also includes a drawing program to create masks for the faces, so you can easily remember who is each person by enhancing their image with funny glasses (or hats, or scars...). It is very useful to recognize those people you met long time ago and whose names you can't remember without the embarrassment of asking.  

Oink! Mobile version

Oink! is a Spanish blog created in 2001 with no more tools than the keyboard and the brain of Mr.Oink. In there, he links dozens of webpages everyday to amuse the souls of those bored in their offices, from crazy games to weird shops, you can find anything. It has thousand of daily readers and many mentions on the media, so in 2011 Mr.Oink decides it was time to create a mobile version. I have followed this blog for years and once I had finished my studies I wanted to help him releasing Oink! Mobile.

 Using PHP, MySQL and jQueryMobile, it took me a few days to program a nice looking comments section and to enhance the old structure including some clean, and always elegant, regular expressions. Now the mobile version is still under development, but hundreds of people are enjoying it from their beds, the bus... or some other places, aehem.

Minekhaan

Minecraft is an impressive and extremely funny game, and I really love it. So when I decided to start learning OpenGL this game was my model: a simple, but huge, game.

MineKhaan is just an experiment programmed from scratch using OpenGL and C to create custom worlds using big cubes. You can walk and jump, create or erase cubes with different textures and  moreover you can select figures (a tree, a house or some grass) and copy-paste/store-save them! So you can construct your world in a faster and friendlier way!