I am a Computer Science student working on a project, and I need some help. I'm writing this in C++. In my project, I basically need some way to output a graphic to the screen. It doesn't have to be pretty at all, but I don't know how to do it. If there are any libraries that would be helpful I could use them, but I don't know what they are.
Basically I am writing a program in which an object can be moved around in space. It will have a starting point, and an ending point, and I want to be able to output its path as it moves along it, so that the user can actually watch the object moving around in space. I've thought about trying something with ray tracing, but I don't think that's quite what I'm looking for. Like I said, it doesn't have to be pretty. A dot moving to another dot would be good enough, I just need to have something. Thanks for your help.
In another thread, they suggest using Cairo. I used it in the past for creating a pdf to animate (page by page), but it seems it can display directly to screen as well integrating with OpenGL.
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I have the basics of AE but I don't know everything, I would like to make an animation like the one in the link, with phone, if someone can tell me where to find such tutorial then that would be great. The animation of the phone is my main problem, it looks like a 3d model in sketch style. https://www.planradar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/iPad_EN-1.mp4
First of all you need vector paths for drawing the tablet/phone it the style you have shown. (like in this video https://youtu.be/zSlXOIsfjLY?t=123)
Next you just need to put that all in 3D via camera settings and each layer as an 3D object and work this out step by step.
I think you should find many examples on youtube for what you are looking for.
Say there are 3 boxes on the screen, how can I go about touching one of them to pick it up and "throw" it at the others? I have the rest of the world implemented but can't find much information on how to grab/drag/toss physics objects. Any sample code or documentation out there that would help with this?
It depends what you are attempting to do. It is a physics simulation and as such a typical way of interacting with the system is by applying forces to objects opposed to direct manipulation of the x,y coordinates. But you can in fact do either. I believe the most common approach is to use a mouse joint. A google search on b2MouseJoint will show the documentation and several examples including this one.
http://muhammedalee.wordpress.com/tag/b2mousejoint/
I recently saw the virtual mirror concept on you tube, I tried it out and researched about it. It seems that the creators have used augmented reality so that people can see the output on their screens. On researching I found out that we identify a pattern on which a 3D image is superimposed.
Question 1:How are they able to superimpose the jewellery and track the face of the person without identifying any pattern?
I also tried to check various libraries that I can use to make a program similar to the one they show. Seems to me that a lot of people are using Android phones and iPhones and making apps that use augmented reality.
Question 2:Is there any way that I can use c++ and try to make a program that uses augmented reality?
Oh, and the most important thing, the link to the application is provided below:
http://www.boutiqueaccessories.com.au/virtual-mirror/w1/i1001664/
Do try it out. Its a good experience. :D
I'm not able to actually try the live demo, but the linked video suggests that they either use some simplified pattern recognition (get the person's outline), or they simply track you based on the initial image (with your position/texture being determined by the outline being shown.
Following the video, it's easy to see that there's no real/advanced AR behind this. The images are simply overlayed or hidden (e.g. in case it's missing track of one ear due to you looking to the side) and they're not transformed (no perspective or resizing happening). They definitely seem to track the head (or features like ears, neck, etc.). depending on your background and surroundings that's actually a rather trivial task.
Question 2: Sure! There are lots of premade toolsets out there, but you could as well use some general image processing library such as OpenCV to do the math. Augmented reality usually uses some kind of pattern (e.g. a card or page with a known pattern) to determine the correct position and transformation for the contents to be added to the image. There are also approaches using the device's orientation and perspective changes in camera images to determine depth/position (I really like this demo).
I've always been inspired by dynamic, futuristic-like user interfaces. The best I can describe is a graphic interface such as in the latest Iron Man movies.
Although I wouldn't build a full blown application, I would like to make little snipplets of animations that I plan to make interactive. And maybe put them together someday to make something bigger. Admittedly, I will use for audio manipulation in the future but anyway, that's not the point since it's the animations/graphics I'm unsure of.
I know it's possible to make those kind of animations in Adobe After Effects. I'm just having a hard time thinking of the processes (artistically and programmability) to proceed.
While researching on this on my own I have acquired basic experience with OGRE 3D and Blender. I've imported and compiled meshes on OGRE, have been able to do basic things like move the meshes around which is about it.
I'm beginning to think I may be approaching this the wrong way and there are better tools or if 3D is overkill for those kind of animations when 2D would suffice and maybe provide a smoother experience.
I'm having trouble understanding the process and am wondering two things:
1.)The main thing I'm having trouble understanding is how to get still graphics to make animations? Do the meshes keep the timeline from a program like Blender then a graphics engine like OGRE reads the timeline and plays them?
Most importantly:
2.)Do I even need graphics (meshes)? Most of the interface are thin-border boxes, text and shapes of transparent LED-like colors that can move around dynamically to make that futuristic effect.
Please share your opinions, suggestions and anything you think might help me accomplish to develop those kinds of sexy eye candy! Thanks.
When you look at awesome futuristic UIs in movies, they are usually made of
basic primitives
desaturated colors, and/or one color tone
transparency
a cool font or two
high-tech text, graphs or similar
simple animations to make things look "alive", blinking lights/text and similar
a touch interface, of course
Maybe you can't do a lot about the touch interface, but the rest is really not hard graphics wise, it's a matter of carefully crafted artwork and combining simple elements in a cool way.
Also I would look into Adobe Photoshop and fancy texturing rather than Blender and fancy modelling, as you are looking for a fancy 2D UI, and detailed 3D models will not be that important. Playing around in photoshop (well, or GIMP if you want a free alternative) can help you develop your art skills, and help you get that high-tech, sci-fi look on a 2D surface.
You know, I would go as far as to suggest making some sci-fi wallpapers in the style you are after before trying to solve this problem in code. I think you will find that photo manipulation skills and an eye for art will help you here. And for gods sake, look at those movies (Iron Man, Minority Report etc.) that have those UIs you are aiming at, and analyze what exactly they are. Decompose them like I did in the list above.
As for the "which tools should I use?", I say the answer to that is fairly simple:
OpenGL
Photoshop (or GIMP if you are a starving student etc.)
A compiler & toolchain
A code editor/IDE
A cup
I see this is tagged C++, which is an excellent choice of programming language if I may say so.
Ogre is a full blown 3D engine, which is fine, but not exactly targeted at what you want to use it for. You might find that you struggle to get what you want done (disclaimer: I have not tried this in Ogre, and it might work well for this. Then again, when did you last see Ogre used in an audio manipulation program?). My advice is to learn good, simple OpenGL. That would give you complete power over your UI, not get in your way or limit you in any way. It is also cross platform, well documented, and used by tons of developers all over the world (also for audio manipulation applications). I can't see how you could possibly go wrong with it. The fun part is that it probably won't take you long to get advanced enough in it to start developing some pretty nice UIs. As I mentioned, it's more of an art problem than a coding problem.
The cup is for the coffee, by the way. :)
The easiest and most efficient way is to keep track of all your graphics data (meshes, animations, effects) in "media files" and load & play them in runtime. Though you'll be able to easily change your game without changing the code.
For example, you have a Diablo-like game and you wanna turn it to the future-style. You just need to rewrite some player and AI scripts and modify meshes/effects/sounds/animations. But if you've done those via code - it will be a new game from scratch.
I would suggest Ogre, but you already used that, so by my opinion, you are on the right track.
Look up 'billboards' in Ogre documentation, re: LED and 2D stuff.
I just finished essential part of my own personal 2D engine in C++ and I'm kinda deciding how to complete the part where it is actually supposed to display everything on the screen, namely when do I call that function which does the job.
I don't have much idea of how does the graphic card work, my biggest experience is calling bios graphic services to write some stuff on the screen. Could you give me a hint on this please? Or maybe some keywords I should try to google?
look up render loop.
In a game, you will do it in a loop. You can also look up game loop which is a related concept if you're working on a game.
Are you rendering to a back buffer and then trying to display that? Common terminology includes "flip" (as in page flipping) or "present". If your copying from a back buffer to the screen, it might also be a "blit" (or blt) from "bit-block transfer".