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I would like to do an interesting project for a computer graphics course. I know that there is a lot of literature out there (i.e. SIGGRAPH conference papers). I have a very large range of interest with regard to computer graphics (i.e. image processing, 3D modeling, rendering, animation). However, I've only taken computer vision/graphics for 2 semesters and thus don't have too much background experience, except for the class projects that I had to do.
I've been looking through SIGGRAPH papers trying to see if there is anything that will be of interest to me but the literature is extremely vast. I was wondering if anyone has any topic suggestions, anything interesting that you ran across that you could recommend. I would prefer to do something fun yet slightly challenging (not really interested in making a shooter game).
If this question does not belong here, I apologize and please let me know where I should move it.
Thanks!
Image Drawing animator. (the name is kind of misleading, but I didn't care much about it)
Anyway, the software does the following:
Takes an image say a JPEG or BMP as input.
Extract the lines from the image. (I used Matlab and Laplace transformations)
Convert the static lines to Vector paths.
Simulate drawing the image using the extracted paths.
In summary, you should give an image, for example a city scape, the program extract all lines and start drawing the buildings, streets and sunset lines, then finally add the colors one by one, until the full image is done.
Real time hand(s) detector.
You'll have plenty of interesting and fun applications with this.
resistors.org site and foxthompson.net download links are stale/broken.
http://www.resistors.org/index.php/The_SAM76_programming_language
Every other link I've been able to track down on the 'net (mostly in old newsgroup posts) are broken. E-mails to the respective webmasters all bounced.
I have a morbid curiosity for arcane programming languages, and SAM76 sounded really interesting to look into and mess around with.
There are quite a few lisp folks lurking on this site, so figured somebody might have a lead... as I heard SAM76 had some early redimentary functional programming ideas.
Extra credit: link to track down a copy of the SAM76 manual!
Wayback has a copy of S76.exe for DOS and Windows
http://web.archive.org/web/20070505122813/http://www.resistors.org/index.php/The_SAM76_programming_language
http://wikivisually.com/wiki/SAM76
http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Sam76
http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Algorithms_in_Sam76
======================= F R E E W A R E =======================
User-Supported Software
If you are using this program and find it to be of value
your $20 contribution will be appreciated.
A contribution of $30 will bring you the SAM76 language
manual and other useful and interesting documentation.
SAM76 Inc., Box 257 RR1
Pennington, N.J., 08534
U.S.A.
Regardless of whether you make a contribution,
you are encouraged to copy and share this program.
> ---------------------------------------------------
http://web.archive.org/web/20110726163455/http://www.hypernews.org/HyperNews/get/computing/lang-list/2/2/1.html
I believe the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.s (have no idea what the letters
mean) was a group of kids who played with computers and
electronics in Claude Kagan's barn in Pennington, N.J. near
Princeton. Because the developer of TRAC, Calvin Mooers,
spent the rest of his life inventing the software patent and
sued everyone in sight, Claude (whose employer, Western
Electric Laboratories was sued by Mooers) created a very
similar language called "SAM76" supposedly based on S7 and M6
"languages from Bell Labs". I have the original tutorial
manual written and illustrated by the R.E.S.... and versions
on paper tape for the Altair and TRS-80 floppy disk. I think
it looked more like #os#is;; but you could change all the
special characters and command names so it could be made to
look EXACTLY like TRAC. Claude wrote some neat graphic games
for the TRS-80 in SAM76/TRAC.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110726163335/http://www.hypernews.org/HyperNews/get/computing/lang-list/2/2/1/3.html
Yes, we RESISTORS did indeed meet in Claude's barn which was filled with old telephone and computer equipment. Claude's version of TRAC started on the PDP-8, migrated to the PDP-10, and for the legal reasons mentioned ended up as SAM-76. (FYI, SAM stands either for "Strachey and McIlroy" or "Same As Mooers". RESISTORS always stood for "Radically Emphatic Students Interested in Science, Technology, and Other Research Studies" as much as it stood for anything.
Starting when we were members of the RESISTORS, Peter Eichenberger and I wrote a PDP-10 TRAC processor and later reimplemented it for the PDP-11, eventually adding a little multi-terminal time-sharing monitor. We kept a lower profile than Western Electric (either that, or as 19 year olds we had no noticable assets) so we and Mooers stayed on cordial terms.
I don't know if this is useful, but on this page there is an email adress dsf#hci.ucsd.edu which seems to be Dave Fox's one, the guy who maintained the page hosting the SAM76 file.
There's a pile of information in the old SIMTEL archives, specifically CPMUG Volume 34, which is included in the nearly 13G download here including example code. You have your choice of "DSK" and "ARK" (ARC) format images. The standard {file} utility knows what format it's in {CPMUG034.ARC: ARC archive data, dynamic LZW} SIG/M v. 53 also has SAM76 information and you can find it here.
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I'm not a great fan of duplicating effort. I do find, however, that there are benefits to tracking agile iteration progress on both a physical card wall and an online "calculator" (Excel, some scrum tools) or an online card wall (e.g. Mingle).
I find that a physical card wall in the team space provides a visceral kind of connection to the status of the cards... and that moving a card physically when you finish something provides a level of satisfaction that can't be duplicated online. I can feel the card... and people can see me walk up to the wall to move something.
Online tools provide great capabilities to share remotely and to calculate progress (e.g. in Mingle, you can use the built-in tools to automatically calculate burn-ups or burn-downs from the real data, saving lots of administrative time in doing those things manually).
I'm curious if agile practitioners maintain two tracking media like I do, and how do you present the benefits of the physical wall to those who say "I can do it online... why would I want to do it on a card wall instead?".
I feel the same. There is something very psychologically satisfying in moving a physical card around on a wall. Thinking managerially, we like stats and we like them to be automated as much as possible.
Perhaps you can keep both? Use the physical wall as the main daily source of information your team work from. Then, assign one person (e.g. the scrum master) to take down the live status and put it into Mingle/Excel at the end of each day.
As long as there is good benefit for the users to have both, then you should find both keep happening alongside each other nicely. Find out what the motivators are for each tool. For example:
Physical wall:
Instant reaction
Quick visual
Physical satisfaction
Online records:
Really really useful statistics
People can be rewarded against the stats in there (e.g. points completed)
Hope this helps.
My team has struggled with this as well. Electronic data makes analysis and reporting very easy and enables associations of checkins with a backlog item, but its a lot easier to manage cards during the standup. Plus, it's a lot easier to get a "5000 foot view" of the project from looking at a large wall than a small monitor.
No matter what you do you're either either going to have some duplicate effort, or you're going to have a process with some pain points. The goal is to find that balance between the amount of duplicate effort and the value that it affords.
We're still working on finding that balance :) Here's what we do:
During planning, we throw everything into OneNote. Formatting is a bit of a pain, but we're getting better.
After planning, our ScrumMaster enters the data from OneNote into an Excel document for generating our burndown. He then exports this data into TFS, for associating checkins, and does a mail-merge to print each task on a label which is then affixed to a post-it and added to the wall.
During the standup we move the post-its around on the wall.
After the standup, the ScrumMaster updates the Excel doc, generates the burndown update, and sends it around to the team.
As a team member this is pretty low-friction, but it's pretty wasteful of the ScrumMaster's time.
I greatly prefer Cards on the wall for a few simple reasons:
Everyone know how to use them. No software training required.
Not subject to problems with network, someone's computer needing maintenance etc., even in a blackout, people can still update their cards. This may sound like a joke, but can be nice to have something to do when for whatever reason yu can not use your PC
Programmers can freely update the cards while they are booting up/compiling
Easy to see them all at a glance
Ideal for meeting if your in a scrum environment and having amini meeting aroudn a desk.
I like jotting a note on the card when it's moved with time and mover... for trakcing bugs/features.
Cross link your online and card wall.
Set up two way replication. Method is left as an exercise for the student.
Also handy to catch whiteboard content from discussions.
We use both, and I can't imagine doing it any other way. Part of it may be that we find our "online card wall" a little too clunky to easily maneuver, but we use the physical cards for getting a quick idea of what developers are working on, letting QA know which cards are ready for testing, and for QA to post what is ready for our weekly demos. The dev area, QA area, and ready to demo areas are three physically distinct places, with the ready to demo being most easily accessed. We also use the physical cards for final scoring.
Could we do all of this online? Yes, would it be quicker, and easier? No way!
We've abandoned using cards after the sprint planning session (they get added to Rally) because it doesn't make sense for us to track in multiple places. Our scrum master is accountable for making sure people enter their tasks appropriately and move them (that's what the daily standup is for). The 5000 foot view is much better in an online tool than a bunch of cards on a wall that can only be categorized two-dimensionally (or maybe three if you stack enough on top of each other).
We use both a card wall and ProjectCards. It's painful for me because I sync the two of them, but it's worth it to have the feedback for the team that is local.
We've bandied about the idea of getting a large touch screen, but I still would rather have physical cards. The other idea I've been toying around with is having a printer which will automatically print out an index card whenever a story is added to ProjectCards.
I was just wondering. How about a giant projector based touch wall. ;)
Best of both worlds. This might give some pointers.
http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/
Theres something very good about a big wall everyone can always see. I think we need a way to print onto regular thick index cards but I've had no luck so it is duplicated effort at the moment.
Electronic Card Wall Using RFID, this allows you to use a physical wall, with data mastered in software of your choice. As you move cards around, software updates accordingly.
If you use JIRA. http://wallsync.net will keep your cards in sync for you...
I've been wondering, as a lone game developer,
or to say a part of team which has only got programmers and people who like to play games...
How do I manage the void created by lack of artists (sprites/tiles/animations) in such a situation???
What do you do in that case? and suppose I am a student, with no money to hire artists, is there a place where I can get these resources legally & free ?
For images there is also several sites like freespace pointed out for instance http://commons.wikimedia.org/ another great resource for getting artwork/images for your projects is to reach out to art schools or other locations that you know artists frequent and permit them to sign or get credit for any creation you use.
Recently I needed some free-as-in-speech sound samples, and found freesounds.org where all sound samples are under a CC license. Not quite sure where I would go for images/textures though.
Have you tried to attract a game playing artist to join your effort?
Lot's of people play games (even artists). The idea of collaborating on a game may be enough incentive, particulary if they get credit in the game, and samples for a portfolio.
For a hobbyist, the simplest answer is that you shouldn't worry about your game's art. You can get by fine with only programmer's art.
After you've created a working gameplay prototype, only then should you look for artists.
For an independent developer, you would need cash to hire artists. There's no getting around this. Just think of it this way: you get what you pay for.
Fun trivia: the most popular programmer's art is Kirby. The developers were using a pink fluffy sprite as placeholder's art until the the creator, Masahiro Sakurai, decided that the art fits the game and should stay.
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I've always felt that my graphic design skills have lacked, but I do have a desire to improve them. Even though I'm not the worlds worst artist, it's discouraging to see the results from a professional designer, who can do an amazing mockup from a simple spec in just a few hours. I always wonder how they came up with their design and more importantly, how they executed it so quickly.
I'd like to think that all good artists aren't naturally gifted. I'm guessing that a lot of skill/talent comes from just putting in the time.
Is there a recommended path to right brain nirvana for someone starting from scratch, a little later in life? I'd be interested in book recommendations, personal theories, or anything else that may shed some light on the best path to take. I have questions like should I read books about color theory, should I draw any chance I have, should I analyze shapes like an architect, etc...
As far as my current skills go, I can make my way around Photoshop enough where I can do simple image manipulation...
Thanks for any advice
Most of artistic talent comes from putting in the time. However, as in most skills, practicing bad habits doesn't help you progress.
You need to learn basic drawing skills (form, mainly) and practice doing them well and right (which means slowly). As you practice correctly, you'll improve much faster.
This is the kind of thing that changes you from a person who says, "It doesn't look right, but I can't tell why - it's just 'off' somehow" to a person who says, "Oops, the arm is a bit long. If I shorten the elbow end it'll change the piece in this way, if I shorten the hand end it'll change the piece this way..."
So you've got to study the forms you intend to draw, and recognize their internally related parts (the body height is generally X times the size of the head, the arms and legs are related in size but vary from the torso, etc). Same thing with buildings, physical objects, etc.
Another thing that will really help you is understanding light and shadow - humans pick up on shape relationships based on outlines and based on shadows.
Color theory is something that will make your designs attractive, or evoke certain responses and emotions, but until you get the form and lighting right the colors are not something you should stress. One reason why art books and classes focus so much on monochrome drawings.
There are books and classes out there for these subjects - I could recommend some, but what you really need is to look at them yourself and pick the ones that appeal to you. You won't want to learn if you don't like drawing fruit bowls, and that's all your book does. Though you shouldn't avoid what you don't like, given that you're going the self taught route you should make it easy in the beginning, and then force yourself to draw the uninteresting and bland once you've got a bit of confidence and speed so you can go through those barriers more quickly.
Good luck!
-Adam
That's a difficult thing. Usually people think "artistic skills" come from your genes but actually they do not.
The bests graphic designer I know have some sort of education in arts. Of course, photoshop knowledge will allow you to do things but being interested in art (painting specially) will improve your sensitivity and your "good taste".
Painting is a pleasure, both doing it and seeing it. Learning to both understand and enjoy it will help and the better way to do it is by going to museums. I try to go to as much expositions as I can, as well as read what I can on authors and styles (Piccaso, Monet, Dali, Magritte, Expresionism, Impresionism, Cubism, etc) that will give you a general overview that WILL help.
On the other side... you are a programmer so you shouldn't be in charge of actually drawing the icons or designing the enterprise logo. You should however be familiarized with user interface design, specially with ease of use, and terms as goal oriented design.
Of course, in a sufficiently large company you won't be in charge of the UI design either, but it will help anyway. I'd recommend the book About Face, which centers in goal oriented design as well as going through some user interface methapores and giving some historic background for the matter.
I'm no artist and I'm colorblind, but I have been able to do fairly well with track creation for Motocross Madness and other games of that type (http://twisteddirt.com & http://dirttwister.com).
Besides being familiar with the toolset I believe it helps to bring out your inner artist.
I found that the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" was an amazing eye opening experience for me.
One of the tricks that it uses is for you to draw a fairly complicated picture while looking at the picture upside down. If I had drawn it while looking at it right side up it would have looked horrible. I impressed myself with what I was able to draw while copying it while it was upside down.
I did this many years ago. I just looked at their website and I think I will order the updated book and check out their DVD.
I have a BFA in Graphic Design, although I don't use it much lately. Here's my $.02.
Get a copy of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and go through it. You will become a better artist/drawer as a result and I'm a firm believer that if you can't do it with pencil/paper you won't be successful on the computer. Also go to the bookstore and pick up a copy of How or one of the other publications. I maintain a subscription to How just for inspiration.
I'll see if I can dig up some web links tonight for resources (although I'm sure others will provide some).
most importantly, carry a sketch book and use it. Draw. Draw. Draw.
Drawing is probably what I'd recommend the most. Whenever you have a chance, just start drawing. Keep in mind that what you draw doesn't have to be original; it's a perfectly natural learning tool to try and duplicate someone else's work. You'll learn a lot. If you look at all the great masters, they had understudies who actually did part of their masters' works, so fight that "it must be original" instinct that school's instilled in you, and get duplicating. (Just make sure you either destroy or properly label these attempts as copies--you don't want to accidentally use them later and then be accused of plagiarism..)
I have a couple of friends in the animation sector, and one of them told me that while she was going through college, the way she was taught to draw the human body was to go through each body part, and draw it 100 times, each in a completely different pose. This gets you comfortable with the make-up of the object, and helps you get intimately knowledgeable about how it'll look from various positions.
(That may not apply directly to what you're doing, but it should give you an indicator as to the amount of discipline that may be involved in getting to the point you seek.)
Definitely put together a library of stuff that you can look to for inspiration. Value physical media that you can flip through over websites; it's much quicker to flip through a picture book than it is to search your bookmarks online. When it comes to getting your imagination fired up, having to meticulously click and wait repeatedly is going to be counter-productive.
Inspiration is probably your biggest asset. Like creative writing, and even programming, looking at what people have done and how they have done will give you tools to put in your toolbox.
But in the sense of graphic design (photoshop, illustrator, etc), just like programmers don't enjoy reinventing the wheel, I don't think artwork is any different. Search the web for 'pieces' that you can manipulate (vector graphics: example). Run through tutorials that can easily give you some tricks. Sketch out a very rough idea, and look through web images to find something that has already created.
It's like anything else that you wish to master, or become proficient in. If you want it, you've got to practice it over, and over, and over.
I, too was not born with a strong design skillset, in fact quite the opposite. When I started out, my philosophy was that if the page or form just works then my job was done!
Over the years though, I've improved. Although I believe I'll never be as good as someone who was born with the skills, sites like CSS Zen Garden among others have helped me a lot.
Read into usability too, as I think usability and design for computer applications are inextricably entwined. Books such as Don Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things" to Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think", have all helped improve my 'design skills'... slightly! ;-)
Good luck with it.
As I mentioned in a thread yesterday, I have found working through tutorials for Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects to be very helpful. I use Adobe's Kuler site for help with colors. I think that designers spend a lot of time looking at other's designs. Some of the books out there on web site design might help, even for designing applications. Adobe TV has a lot of short videos on graphic design in general, as well as achieving particular results in one of their tools. I find these videos quite helpful.