{"id":424,"date":"2024-07-30T13:52:28","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T17:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/?p=424"},"modified":"2024-07-30T13:54:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T17:54:16","slug":"development-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/development-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Development updates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi, my name is R. Mike Livingston. I&#8217;ve jumped into being a part of the team as a UI\/UX designer and programmer back in February of this year, and I&#8217;d like to share with you a few updates to the project at this point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2040\" height=\"1536\" data-id=\"429\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/1715005279094.jpg\" alt=\"A man is using augmented reality glasses while pointing at something in the air during a presentation. Two other individuals are seated, watching, with a laptop and a projector screen displaying slides.\" class=\"wp-image-429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/1715005279094.jpg 2040w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/1715005279094-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/1715005279094-1024x771.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/1715005279094-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/1715005279094-1536x1157.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2040px) 100vw, 2040px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/image.png\" alt=\"A person with long hair and glasses smiles at the camera, standing outdoors near a wooden fence and a palm tree.\" class=\"wp-image-425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/image.png 768w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/image-225x300.png 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find me on my blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/rmikelivingstondesign.wordpress.com\">https:\/\/rmikelivingstondesign.wordpress.com<\/a>. Enough about me, let me show you a bit of what we have been up to.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/comparison_1-1-2.gif\" alt=\"An animated image comparing three different versions of an AR program; the hand draws in the air, but year after years gets better at drawing.\" class=\"wp-image-431\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>My first major task was important \u2013 making it more responsive. This ended up taking about a month of pouring through the scripts, noting the various ways it interconnects, and slowly building out a replacement unified management system. As I went along I also significantly optimized the program; optimization wasn\u2019t my primary goal, so I didn\u2019t go out of my way to optimize unless it was directly connected to the pinch-detection systems I was working on, but I made great strides all the same, gaining an average of 10 to 50 frames a second on average, depending on what is on screen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being able to consistently draw does a lot for the usability of the program. Another important update has been to the menu \u2013 making it nested, more compact, and have better tracking. This was important for members of the team with shorter arms, who couldn\u2019t easily interact with the arm-mounted menu before this update.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/20240410_084658_hololens-1.gif\" alt=\"A pair of hands interact with floating AR menu items.\" class=\"wp-image-433\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The following was a highly requested feature from the team; while working in the field, digging at a site, they\u2019d like to have pegs in the ground marking dig zones. The pegs existed, but didn\u2019t really do a good job of taking the environment into account, particularly on slopes. This update fixed that. As the user walks around the environment, the mapping data from the hololense updates where the pegs are supposed to sit \u2013 now, they follow the curvature of a hill, rather than sitting uselessly in the air!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/peggridoutside-1.gif\" alt=\"Two moving images compare a before and after; ghostly, purple lines hover in the air outside in the first, and in the second the purple lines fall to the ground around the camera looking almost like lawn darts.\" class=\"wp-image-434\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s happening is, as the hololense starts to map out the space around the user, the individual pegs run checks to see if ground has been found underneath them yet. What&#8217;s particularly fun about this is they don&#8217;t do it constantly, or even all at once. The ground checks of the pegs are staggered \u2013 spaced out over time, so the system doesn\u2019t lag. Once again, the feature is now both more functional AND performant!!! I personally think this demo scene is quite fun to watch, with purple lines procedurally (and in an order) moving up and down to follow the moving &#8220;ground&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/07\/peggridstaggered-1-1.gif\" alt=\"A demo scene is shown, with a big black block moving up and down, with purple lines procedurally and in an order moving up and down to follow.\" class=\"wp-image-436\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>This has not been an exhaustive list of the features developed for this project; just a few of the more photogenic ones. Currently, the big thing being worked on has to do with locational data; implementing both GPS, and a QR code system to save and position drawings. I&#8217;m certain my next update will have some pretty moving pictures to show you here when it&#8217;s ready. Until then, take care!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, my name is R. Mike Livingston. I&#8217;ve jumped into being a part of the team as a UI\/UX designer and programmer back in February of this year, and I&#8217;d like to share with you a few updates to the project at this point. You can find me on my blog, https:\/\/rmikelivingstondesign.wordpress.com. Enough about me, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions\/439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/datch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}