Discovering Computer Graphics

Screenshots for Tail Gunner

2010-04-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Tail Gunner is in the same category as Battle Tank and Web War. It requires only a 200MHz machine, which is not a problem nowadays. It is very simple. All one needs to do is click the mouse button to fire and try to avoid contact with enemy fighters. The third picture is a flash screen because an enemy fighter got past me and fired on my ship.

Screenshots for Web War

2010-04-29T19:17:00.001-07:00

Web War is also very easy to play. All one needs to do is move the ship with the “arrow” keys and fire with the “space” key.

Screenshots of Battle Tank

2010-04-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Battle Tank is extremely easy to play; even for me – an absolutely idiot when it comes to video games. It only requires a 133MHZ machine and players need to know only a few keys (as in first picture) in order to play.

Screenshot of Video Game

2010-04-29T18:58:00.002-07:00

Final 6

2010-04-29T18:58:00.001-07:00

MT 35101 Discovering Computer Graphics Course Evaluation

Final 5

2010-04-22T21:09:00.001-07:00

My view of the "Immersive Education Future”

We are living in a fast-paced world, where technology is advancing at a breathtaking pace. Imagine all the new technologies that have been introduced in the past ten years. Not that long ago, we did not have Smartphones, all the Apple devices -- iPhone, iPad, and iPod -- DVDs or even relatively affordable high-definition flat screen televisions. In the year 2000, we were still using dial-up to connect to the Internet, saved files on 3½ inch floppy disks and played music on cassette tapes rather than CDs. Ten years ago, I had never heard of online banking, online video games, online social networking, virtual worlds and so forth. With all the changes that have taken place in the last ten years, what can one expect will happen to Immersive Education in the next ten years? Will classroom teaching still be the norm or will Immersive Education largely replace it

Recently, I became acquainted with a start-up company (http://www.immerz.com) based in Cambridge, MA that has developed a device that is intended to take PC gaming and movie viewing to a new level. The device allows game players and movie viewers to feel and sense what is happening before they hear or see it just as they do in real life when a vehicle approaches or an automobile accelerates.

I can foresee the virtual world adopting this technology. A virtual world creates the illusion of being physically present in a particular place and participating in some activity, for example, riding a horse. However, the experience is incomplete because today virtual worlds are more like cartoons than real. For example, the horses we were riding (as shown in the picture) do not look like real horses and our bodies do not feel the impact of the horses’ hooves striking the ground.

A major drawback of Immersive Education today is that it lacks the feel of in-person education. But what if the experience were made so much more lifelike that the avatars looked exactly like the students and the instructors, the virtual classroom could be viewed in 3D (images and effect) and students could hear each other not just through a small speaker but through surround sound coupled with a device that gave them the “feel” of being in a classroom?

If that could be done, the time and cost required to participate in a class in-person in one place could be eliminated. Immersive Education could provide students a learning experience that was even better than they could have if physically present in the classroom. In an architecture course, for example, students could actually explore the interior and exterior of a building with their instructor as their guide. Students might meet in-person only at the beginning of a course and after that participate in a virtual classroom as if they were present in person.

At the rate technology is developing, I can envision Immersive Education at some point in the future becoming the preferred mode of education at many educational institutions.

Final 4

2010-04-22T18:55:00.001-07:00

I signed up a Gizmoz account, chose my favorite video and uploaded my own pictures. And then I copied the embed code and pasted it into the blogger.

Get your own at Gizmoz.com

Final 3C

2010-04-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

I teleported Ace and Zayn to the Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum, which is owned by the FLWM Building and Planning Committee and licensed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. I landed on the top of the Fallingwater.

Ace and Zayn joined me later. We were explored by flying around the house.

Below me is the famous Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian style house.

I was attracted by a picture -- the Federick C. Robie House. The house has not yet been constructed, as it shows “coming soon”.

We decided we were ready for our next destination. I took my last screenshot.

Final 3B

2010-04-22T18:31:00.001-07:00

Zayn teleported Ace and me to a place called Black Horse Country. He showed us how to sit on a horse.

Ace and I joined him later. The three of us sat on the horse together.

Zayn led us to a bull farm. He invited us to ride on the bull.

I was trying to ride but failed. Zayn told me to fly up and right click on the bull.

I took a screenshot of Zayn at the end of the tour.

Final 3A

2010-04-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

First, all classmates met at one place. Ace, Zayn and I decided to be in a group.

I teleported them one at a time. Ace was the first.

Zayn joined us later. I teleported them to a place that I had landmarked, called Forest Feast. Forest Feast has beautiful trees and fields of flowers waiting for people who love gardens, fantasy and romance. Here you will find colorful floral plants, and everything you need to decorate your yard, garden, or meditation area.

Then, I flew them to the crystal shining building that I had previously discovered.

We decided to move on to the next destination. I took my last screenshot.

Screenshots for Land-marking

2010-04-16T12:31:00.001-07:00

Avian Retreat is a nature park for birds and is dedicated to avian avatars and bird/nature lovers.

Science Simulator

2010-04-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

ScienceSim is a virtual environment that allows several parties to participate in building a simulation, working together jointly in either real time or at different times. I was in the virtual world at night (that’s why below pictures are dark) with a few other classmates. Each of us had a different perspective. That enabled us to focus on the parts of the scene that most interested to us. ScienceSim is an open-source application and still in beta stage. At times I experienced some server instability, resulting in delays and one time logging me off.

Final 2

2010-04-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

Final 2A: Finding and talking to people in Second Life to figure out how to start building.

First, I went to the Ivory Towers where I could learn some basic building skills and was hoping to find someone who knew how to build. I found 2 persons there and I asked whether they know how to build or not. I got no response from Trystan O’Hare.

Wada Portland responded, but he was there to learn as I was.

I walked into the Ivory Towers. I spoke to Ivan Scrabblebat. He was there to learn as well.

Ivan Scrabblebat walked away from me. Then I decided to tour the Ivory Towers.

I found some helpful tutorials. In the picture, the tutorial shows how to adjust size of an object.

Final 2B: Start Building in Second Life!

Dania, Kimberly and I were assigned to a group to build a garage. We agreed to build a 2-door garage. Jose joined us soon after. We searched for a sandbox near where other classmates were building house. We then created an object on the sandbox to mark the piece of land as ours.

We started by constructing the basic frame of the garage. We had not agreed on the texture of the garage at that point. That is why the back wall was a different color then the side walls. We used the chat tool to communicate and agreed to use brick as the garage’s texture.

The four of us each got the chance to build one part – back, right and left walls and the roof. In above picture, we were trying to coordinate the height and width of our walls.

We put in the 2 doors as we had agreed. We decided to leave the left garage door opens.

We changed the color of the roof to make it darker.

I inspected the garage from far behind it to get a better view. I discovered that Jose had added an antenna at the peak of the garage. It looked cool to me!

Then, I flew further away and saw that our garage fitted in well with the big house that our other classmates had built.

Kimberly then had an idea to add a semi-rounded patch in front of the garage. That added completeness to the garage.

Although everything appeared from one angle to line up perfectly; that was not the case when we looked at the garage from other angles. Therefore, we spent a lot of time walking around the garage trying to line up various parts.

At the end, we had to delete what we had created.

Mirror

2010-04-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

Screenshot for April 08, 2010 class

Basic House Building

2010-04-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

I was trying some basic house building techniques. In the picture above, I have constructed the basic frame of my house.

I enlarged the roof and added the back wall. I was planning to add the front wall, a door and a window and to change the texture and color of the house. But the system quit unexpectedly. I had to stop building as class was over.

Final 1

2010-03-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

Please click at the following links for the swf files that I created using Powerbullet:

all.swf - combination of all 3

object.swf

name.swf

image.swf

Greeting Card

2010-03-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

I adjusted the brightness and contrast and smaller the image. So that, the image looks brighter and the swan boats are the main focus. Then added the text as requested. Finally, I saved the image as a png. I did not choose GIF, because it will only display a maximum of 256 colors. For this reason, GIF is NOT a good format for saving photographic type images with many colors.

Understanding and Using Layers

2010-03-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

Understanding and Using Layers

First, I created a blank new image by selecting “Transparency”. I added a text box and typed in “Understanding and Using Layers in GIMPShop”. Then, I added a new layer by selecting “White” and another new layer by selecting “Transparency” and named the second new layer “Tux”. After that, I opened the “Tux” image, copied it and pasted it into the Transparency layer that I had just created. Next, I clicked on the “Anchor” icon and the “Down Arrow” icon. Finally, I deleted the "White" new layer and saved the image as tux.gif.

Rocket World

2010-02-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

Midterm 10

2010-02-24T13:05:00.001-08:00

I drew above picture by using Ms. Word with various shapes, textures, patterns and colors. After I was finished, I took a screenshot of the image and saved it as a png file. Then, I saved the word version and uploaded it to BC MyFiles.

Click here for Midterm 10.docx file. To get better result, please download the docx. file.

Midterm 9

2010-02-18T20:41:00.001-08:00

I drew my course diagram in Ms. Word with various shapes and colors. After I was finished, I took a screenshot of the image and saved it as a png file. Then, I saved the word version and uploaded it to BC MyFiles.

Click here for Midterm 9.docx file. To get better result, please download the docx. file.

Audio Whiteboard II

2010-02-18T20:09:00.001-08:00

I typed my name, decorated it with various shapes and highlighted it with blue color.

Midterm 7

2010-02-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

I found a picture of a famous female actress from google.com, saved it to my desktop and then opened it in GIMPShop. I used the “Ellipse Select Tool” convert the rectangular logo into a square, copied it and pasted it into her eyes. I used the “Rectangular Selection Tool” to create a black banner at the bottom and then added the text as requested with different sizes, fonts and colors. Finally, I saved the image as a psd and as a png. However, I only able to upload the png file and not the psd file on blogger.com.

Roll Call for Class #5

2010-02-18T17:27:00.001-08:00

ROLLCALL5-1

ROLLCALL5-2

ROLLCALL5-3

Midterm 4

2010-02-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

My Avatar in Second Life

I had a hard time figuring out how to take a snapshot of my avatar's face. Eventually, I discovered that my avatar was facing me while changing appearance. After I took the snapshot, I opened it with GIMPShop, added text and then saved it in jpg format.

Second Life Adventure

2010-02-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

Niseko Annupuri Skiing area

Niseko Annupuri area claims to have “the No. 1 snow quality” in Japan. It offers skis, snowboard, luge, rafting, kayak and horseback riding. I explored the area by flying, did some skiing and some shopping.

Lemondrop's Forest

Lemondrop’s Forest – I flew to the treetops, visited Poosburgh and explored the sewers in Lemonville by gondola. I was urged to buy a box of Fairyscout Cookies in the welcome area to keep the islands up and running.

Landsale Center

Landsale Center offers “amazing landscaped islands” for sale or rent. I visited the Exhibition Hall that contained big screens showing various properties. I found a property I particularly liked and was teleported to it.

Audio Whiteboard I

2010-02-11T16:56:00.001-08:00

Name Decoration

My image is relatively small compared to the others. First, I wrote my name and highlighted it with pink color. Then, I decorated my name with 2 trees and a lovely house with a smoking chimney.

Collaborative designed a Valentine's Day card

Since Valentine’s Day is approaching, we collaboratively designed a Valentine’s Day card. That was harder than we expected, as we did not communicate in advance. As a result, we each worked on our own designs and the outcome lacks coherency. For me, I drew a cartoon girl and a cartoon boy, both with a happy smile and a “Love You” between them.

Roll Call for Class #4

2010-02-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

Second Life Screenshot

ROLLCALL4-1.png

ROLLCALL4-2.png

Roll Call for Class #3

2010-02-11T16:38:00.001-08:00

Second Life Screenshot

ROLLCALL3-1.png

ROLLCALL3-2.png

ROLLCALL3-3.png

Midterm 8

2010-02-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

Touch-up a photo

Original version

Touch-up version

I started by fixing Mick Jagger’s wrinkles. First, I used the Clone Tool to capture images surrounding his wrinkles by pressing the “control” button. Then, I released the “control” button to clone the images that I had captured to cover the wrinkles on his face. I also used the Smudge Tool to even out the color and make his face look more natural.

I moved on to lighten his teeth and to cover up the dark spot. First, I used the Color Picker Tool to capture the white pixels of his teeth and then, I applied those pixels to the dark spot using the Paintbrush Tool. Lastly, I used the Dodge/Burn Tool to lighten his teeth.

Midterm 6

2010-02-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

Creating an Animated GIF

I selected Xtns -> Script-Fu -> Logos -> Text Circle from the GIMPShop menu. I inserted new content in the "Text" box and clicked "OK". That generated the Text Circle image. I copied the image, added a new "White " layer and named it "New Layer 1", pasted in the image I had copied earlier, selected the "Rotate Tool", clicked on the text of the image and typed in "45" in the "Angle" box and then clicked the "Rotate" button and clicked the "Anchor" button. I created three more layers by increasing the rotation by 10 degrees on each layer. Lastly, I saved the image as a gif file.

Midterm 5

2010-02-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

Progressive JPG image

First, I opened the monster.jpg in GIMPShop. I used the Paintbrush tool to write my name, saved the file by selecting “Save a copy” from the File menu and named it “Midterm 5.jpg”. For effect purposes, I chose the highest quality (100), checked the “Progressive” box and saved the file.

Interlaced PNG image

For this image, I repeated the same steps as above, except that I saved the file as “Midterm 5.png”, checked the “Interlacing (Adam 7)” box, chose “Compression Level 9” and clicked “OK”.

Progressive vs. Interlacing

Progressive image takes time to download one line at a time from top to bottom until the entire image is downloaded. By way of contrast, Interlaced image displays an instant but blurry image before the entire image is downloaded. However, in the end they both take the same time to download.

Midterm 3

2010-02-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

Saving image in different formats:

First, I clicked on "Save as” and then on "Select File Type (By Extension)" to allow me to choose the File Type I wanted. This first step is the same for each of the examples below.

JPG lets users choose the “Quality” of the image on a scale of 0-100. It allows users, by checking the "Show preview in image window", to decide how much image quality is needed for the size of the image they wish to create.

GIF only has two options - Convert to Indexed or Convert to Grayscale. I chose "Convert to Indexed" and then clicked "Export" to continue.

PNG has "Compression Level" on a scale from 1-9. However, it did not allow me to preview the image before saving it. Therefore, I had to try different compression levels and save each one before I could find the right balance between quality and download time.

Midterm 2

2010-02-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

Adding a caption to a photo

I used the Rectangle Select Tool to create an area on the image and made that area white by clicking on "Fill with BG Color". Next, using the Type Tool, I chose my font size and color. Finally, I typed my caption and, using the Move Tool, centered it in the white space I had created.

Midterm 1

2010-02-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

Removal of red eye

First, I used the Color Picker Tool to capture the

black pixels surrounding the red eye. Then I used the Paintbrush Tool with those pixels to cover the

red eye and added white pixels in the middle of

each eye. Finally, I used the Smudge Tool to evenout the color and make the eyes look more

natural.