Journal

A Slightly Better Video

25th April, 2009

Thanks to Alan for pointing me in the direction of CamStudio, a free video capturing software for your screen, which I have used to produce a slightly better video of my project’s 3D world.

Running both the software and DirectX at the same time was a bit tricky, slashing the FPS from around 120 to 40 but it’s better than using my camera to take a video of my laptop screen!

The water can be manipulated from any point, but for now it is set to only ripple from the centre. When I produce a final visualisation the position will vary, of course based on biofeedback influence.

Quick Interface Sketch

24th April, 2009

Having considered a number of alternative means of connecting human with hardware, I’m going down the route of using a joystick-like handle with the various sensors placed in suitable positions in contact with the fingers and palm.

Here is a very, very quick sketch of what I have in mind:

A Couple More Dartmoor Merges

24th April, 2009

For the past couple of Sundays I’ve decided I have enough time to go walking on the moor, which naturally has meant I’ve returned with some photos to merge into panoramic views.

Easter sunday around the scout hut SW of Burrator:

And the following Sunday, up around Merrivale and Woodtown:

Both views showing North Hessary in the distance.

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Wheatstone Bridge

23rd April, 2009

A possible means of measuring a specific resistance of an unknown component, skin for instance is to use a Wheatstone Bridge. Basically by measuring current across the centre of the bridge, and comparing the difference between one side which is a known value, the resistance of the unknown component can be obtained. If the unknown and known resistances were the same, then a current of 0V would flow through the centre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatstone_bridge

Project Site Graphics

23rd April, 2009

I have decided to have a separate set of showcase pages for my project, to be used to present information about various aspects. Currently it’s literally just the header design, but this features a wavy line of icons that represent the process:

Water Motion Preview

22nd April, 2009

Since still images don’t quite demonstrate the effects going on in the 3D side of my project, I decided to take a video recording of the liquid as well. It’s not great in terms of quality and could have been composed more fancifully but gives you an idea.

Hunt for GSR Measurement

20th April, 2009

My hunt for circuit schematics has obviously been ongoing for a while but I hadn’t really discovered much worthwhile until lately. Eventually I came across an excellently documented electronics project for producing a polygraph, one measurement of which it is taking is Galvanic Skin Response:

http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/ee476/FinalProjects/s2007/jsc59_ecl37/jsc59_ecl37/report2.html

Experimenting with HLSL

17th April, 2009

After quite a lot of effort, adding, swapping and killing code I’ve started to get away from having HLSL turning everything a shade of utter grey.

The screenshots show my water mesh which will be one of a few features of this virtual environment which responds to biofeedback data from the avatar’s user.