Unity 3d

I did not get on with Unity 3D. It is a very good programme for making 3D games. However I found the software complicated to use and did not receive help from the lecture. Even though I did not get a handle on using the software I can still see how the programme can be very beneficial what taught correctly. The down side of Unity 3D is that it is not good for modelling, the best thing to do is to create model outside of the program is 3DS Max and then import the objects. However the one thing Unity 3D is good at modelling is the landscapes.

Google API

We looked at google API, we worked though a tutorial together as a whole class. We drew different coloured shapes around certain area of the the city. We also programmed in markers into the map, to show where different thing in Plymouth were.

Understanding: data and visualisation

Critique the design: what works what doesn't


This is a visualisation that demonstrates the popularity of trends on Twitter. Depending on how popular the topic is, depends on how big the circle is. I think the look of the circles and the different size meaning different popularity. Another this I do like, is that when you click on the circle it brings up the information about the topic. However I think visually it is not very appealing. I think the dull gray makes it look very boring also I do not think there is a need for the number.

http://infosthetics.com/archives/2011/12/follow_the_hash_tag_dynamic_bubble_graphs_of_tweets.html

Sketch a redesign to improve the visualisation

I have redesign the visualisation so that it is very bright and colourful. Which makes it more appealing then the dull gray colour it was before. I have also taken away the number because it is not clear what the number mean.  

What is Argumental realty?

Argumental realty is a type of virtul reality that aims to create aspects of the worlds envierment in a computer. An augmented reality system allows a user to take in information (such as a photo) from the surrounding area and the computer adds additional information. This is designed to enhancce the users experience of the world, allowing them access to information (such as 3D models, old picture, mesurment ect) they would have never know before. Augmented reality is used in many industries today such as entertainment, military training, engineering design, robotics, manufacturing and others. Argumental realty brings something new and unquic to each of these industries.

Argumental realty

For are argumental realty project we had to take a 3D object and put it in a programme called Junaio. Which adds all the things needed to make the argumental realty. The first thing I had to do was find a 3D object. Which was very hard because the programme can only handle very simple shapes with not many surfaces. Why we are using such a out of date programme is silly to me.However after hours of searching and I mean hours! I finally found a shape that was small enough that I could convert to md2.  Below is a image of my 3D object converted.

Once the 3D object is converted, we then had to upload it to a programme called Junaio which is very fussy to the least. Trying to find textures and tracking images for this programme to take is not a simple task. But once I had found one that it would accept I uploaded my object put a beige texture on it and a photo of people crossing the road for the tracking image.  You can scale and move around the image using the sliders at the bottom of the example. Once I was happy with how it looked I created my argumental realty.

This is my final project. To be honest I do not understand why anyone would want to create or use argumental realty. The idea sound really good but putting it into practice is horrible. I do not know if it was the way we were taught or if it really is this bad. But I can think of some many other things that are just as good and are so much simpler.

Interaction

We have been given 3 task from the lecture, each of these task relax upon what was covered in the lecture.   


Task 1 - Select 2 websites and analyse the bad design


This is a poetry website called Sixties press. The design for this website is shocking, it is all over the place. The first issues is that there are to many colours with in the same website, every bit of text is the same colour. Another issues with the website is that they have put black boxes behind the text which makes it very hard to read. Also the header design is horrible and very hard to read. The alignment is all to the left hand side, so nothing is in the middle of the page. The last thing about this website I dislike is the background I think it look really old fashion and does not suit the rest of the website look. To be honest looking at this website gives me a headache.   

http://www.sixtiespress.co.uk/

This is a website to recruit high school girls to go to a Greek college. This website is very unclear of what its purpose is. There is too much writing on this webpage, even though once you read though it all your still unclear what the website is meant to be showing. The boxes are all out of line, which look   dreadful. Also the menu is way to small, its very hard to find and move though the site. Another thing I do not like about this website is the fact there a scroll bar and you can scroll though one pannel on the home page. 

http://www.rushbiddies.com/

Task 2 - Describe the interaction framework that will be used in iPad 5 

I believe that the interaction framework for the IPad5 will include such thing as voice commands, eye movement and hand gestures. By this point in time technology will be so advance that people would of become lazy in the uses. They will want to be able to control the device without to much effect such as voice command and hand gestures.

Task 3 - Analyse all you know about natural language interfaces


Natural language interfaces are becoming more and more popular in devices today. Of course as they get more popular more issues will be raised around the interfaces. The main problem with the natural language interfaces is that it has a really issues understand what people say when they have accents. This makes the technology unusable by most people around the world.  
  

Reflexive methods

This was a very confusing lecture which did not seem to follow the pattern of the other lectures. We looked at human behaviour, how people respond to different situations. We looked at pictures and analysed the behaviour behind it. I find human behaviour very interesting and why people do what they do.

 This is a picture of a bin where people have dropped chewing gum around the bin on the floor. We looked at why people drop the gum on the floor rather then put it in the bin. Are people really that lazy that they can not be bother to work the extra step to reach the bin.

You know times are crazy when you have to have instruction on how to use the loo. These sticker are popping up all around the UK. The reason these stickers that have been installed is because of the growing foreigners coming to the UK, because they have different loos.

This is an interesting photo where people our making their own path right next to a set of stairs. You have to wonder why people would walk up the muddy hill instead of walking up the stairs. Are people really that lazy?

Invtervention

Intervention is something that makes everyone cringe after the experience last year. Where we spend most of the term wondering what a intervention is and how we would come up with an idea for one. So went we were told we would be studying it again and had to come up with an idea, we automatically thought it would be horrible and very hard. 

However with the explanation for Mike Phillips, along with the video. It became very easy to understand what a intervention is. An intervention is creating something to change something in a positive way. We had to come up with different idea for interventions. Below is a diagram of the idea of some of the intervention I could have done. The point that is in purple is the intervention I would do if I had to put it into practise.
 

Diagramming

In the lecture we talked about three different types of diagrams. We looked at why people uses these and what is good about each one. Diagrams are good for visualisation because it can take a a huge system or network and make it easier for people to read.

Architecture Diagram

This diagram is normally used for showing how computer system works. This is one of the most used out of all of the diagrams. This is a good way to visualisation a whole system, its makes it easy for people to understand just from a glance. 

Entity-Relationship Model


This is a diagram that widely used in data bases. This is a very easy way of displaying data and the relationship between the data.

Responsibility Cluster 


This is a very simple data to show how data flows and the relationship between certain fields. This can only be used for simple system because it is not very detailed.

Diagrams don't have to be boring

All the diagrams tend to be boring, however they do not have to be. Below is an example of the a flow diagram made with pictures. It is a lot more appealing to look at and people will want to look at it.