Hello, My Name is Jeffrey: February 2015

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Class 7 Gimp Tools

Selection tools:

Here I am using the circle selection tool on a previous picture that I was using.

Here I am using the rectangular selection tool.

Lasso selection tool is being used.

Stroke:

Here I have used the stroke tool and drawn inside of my oval selection.

Paste Into:

Here I took two pictures and selected an oval from one picture and pasted it into another of my pictures (right).

Transparency:

Picture #1

Picture #2

As you can see I set the Opacity to 52.2 so that you can see through the first and see both pictures at the same time.

Text:

I started by putting my name in the top left in green text, 66.5 Opacity, text size 50, and font of Sans.

Now I entered the text "Discovering Computer Graphics" in blue text, 100 opacity, text size 80, and font Serif Bold.

I added the date "2/26/2015" in white text, 75.8 opacity, text size 100, and font Shruti.

Added "Prof. Walsh" in red text, 84.1 opacity, text size 55, and font Courier New Bold.

I added "Joshua Tree" because this was at Joshua Tree. The text is in purple, 43.4 opacity, text size 200, and font of Sans Bold.

Scale:

Original Image of Midterm #8

This is scaled proportionally from the original image. The gray background shows how much smaller the image has become.

Here I scaled it but not proportionally.

3D Printing is a way for us to print out three-dimensional objects. These objects are made by utilizing additive processes to layer and create the object. It is also being controlled by computers to deposit material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads. It allows for you to take any graphical image and turn it into a 3D image.

In this video it shows you that the 3D printers can in fact produce anything. For example, they show an ear being made by using a 3D printer. It is an example of bioprinting and is being used to create people's body's parts such as fingers ears and noses. The cells anchor onto the scaffold and slowly making tissue and the scaffold then goes away. The ear shown in the video takes about 4 hours to make and is made of something called "bio-ink".

It is very interesting that they are using this 3D technology to create human body parts. They are attempting to use this technology to create organs that are eventually going to be used in transplants somewhere along 10 years down the road. Bioprinting will allow for us to create thousands of any organ that we want. This will be revolutionary in being able to provide people with body parts that they need. They are first testing this on dropping skin cells over the wounded area as a first step towards integrating bio-printing technology.

Some commercial planes are equipped with air ducts that are created with 3D printers. These are not only a lot more lighter but also a lot more cheaper and affordable for airline companies. In order to do this or any other usages of 3D technology a blue print is processed and printed by a printer. They can use these printers to create literally anything in this day and age.

People are also speculating the ability to 3D print food. They have already been able to create simple foods such as chocolate with 3D printing which sounds almost absurd. In addition, the 3D printer will soon be able to print other technologies such as Ipods according to those who are working closely with this innovative technology.

This tool was first only used as an industrial tool but now has gone mainstream. A commercial version of the 3D printer is actually available to the public for around $2200. The company is called MakerBot and was one of its kind as of 2013. The printer allows anyone to create anything using a SD card to upload blueprints that are then printed by the printer.

Robotics

Robotics is a combination of the fields of mechanical engineering and computer science technology that allows for the operation of "robots". These robots are created for the purpose of being able to replicate a humans appearance, behavior, and cognition. Robots are also utilized to automate various processes which allows for more safety and further productivity in a working environment. Robot technology has vastly improved in the past century.

Here is an example of a consumer toy called the RoboSapien. It is a toy-like biomorph robot that is produced by the company WowWee Toys. It is programmed with various moves that the consumer can control and set commands that it can execute as well. The commercial product is sold with a controller that operated based on 21 different buttons and allows for users to have the ability for 67 unique executable commands.

Although robotics is used for various purposes they all have a set of similar elements. First of all, all robots have some form of mechanical form designed to achieve a specific purpose. A robot also has electrical components which allow for the device to be powered and controlled. Finally, the robots require computer programming, which allows for the robot to functionally complete its set task.

Robots require many components including a power source, actuation, sensing, manipulation, locomotion, and navigational tools. Robots need to manipulate objects in order to complete a task whether it includes picking up, modifying, or destroying another object. In order to manipulate, the robot must have a set of tools such as an arm or specific tired/tracks to successfully work.

Robotics at Harvard has taken steps to make products that are actually applied and used in the real world. They are trying to make robotic tools that allow you to safely do things that would be dangerous for humans to do. An example is in the situation of a flood to send robots rather than humans to safely create sandbag walls. I think this is a very exciting step of technology for the future.

Holograms

The Immersive Education Initiative has been confirmed and will be coming to Paris, France this summer. The conference will address many topics surrounding the rather new immersive education initiative, including topics such as virtual reality, holograms, robotics, augmented reality, cybernetics, and more. The immersion conferences have a high reputation because of the various speakers and companies they bring in to speak every year. This year's conference will be even more exciting as it takes place in this beautiful city. More information about this event can be read at (http://summit.immersiveeducation.org/).

Holography is a technology that allows for us to project and view three-dimensional images. It uses various forms of lasers, light intensities, and diffraction to produce an illumination of a picture. The three dimesional image works in the sense that it changes as the position and angle of the person viewing moves. It is almost as if a real object is present and you are viewing a physically present object.

Holograms are created when two laser beams reach and intersect each other with their light waves. The pattern is displayed by the interfering and interaction of the light particles from the light sources. In order to view the content it required a laser key which displayed the contents.

Holograms were first invented by a Hungarian physicist named Dennis Gabor. He was warded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in 1971. The ironic thing about this technology is that holograms was almost a mistake invention. The physicist was attempting to improve electron microscopes when he discovered the hologram technology instead.

A very prominent company by the name of Musion, is known for its innovation in providing holograms to the next level. Some things they have down were providing holograms for the purpose of pure entertainment. There was a huge buzz regarding the Tupac hologram that was created for the Coachella music festival and that was done by this company. In addition, the company is attempting to pioneer holograms for educational and political purposes.

Another recent usage of holograms was announced by Microsoft and their "Hololens". This was an attempt for them to blend real and virtual reality. Microsoft Hololens was announced early this year and provides a new way to visualize work, share ideas, and connect with people across the world. Ultimately, it provides a new way to immersively utilize technology for an unlimited amount of possibilities.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is also referred to as something called immersive multimedia. It is ultimately a virtual environment that is created using a computer and replicates various forms of real world and fictional experiences. The virtual reality technology is capable of recreating sensory experiences to provide a more realistic experience. It has the ability to replicate things such as taste, sight, smell, sound, and even touch.

Oculus rift is a virtual reality head-mount display which allows an even more realistic experience. Currently most forms of virtual reality are reached through computer screens, an example being the game World of Warcraft. Something that is even more exciting is that a consumer version of this product is finally supposed to be released sometime this year. This is an exciting step towards innovation, namely in the field of virtual reality and video gaming.

Oculus rift is an example of a head-mounted display. It is worn on the head but is similar to a binocular in that you are looking through two eye pieces. The head piece not only projects information but also allows the user of the device to see and walk around in what is a virtual environment. This also has the ability to show a real world view which is referred to as a similar topic of augmented and mixed realities.

Another form of hardware that utilizes virtual reality is the wired glove. It is worn like a normal glove but was created for the purpose of tracking magnetic and inertial motion. With this the movements of your hand are interpreted and replicated inside a virtual environment. This is still a very expensive technology as the finger sensors and tracking devices must both be purchased separately.

Next is the omnidirectional treadmill, a device that is similar to a treadmill but allows users to move in any direction around them. Unlike regular treadmills which only allow you to go in one direction, this omnidirectional treadmill allows the user to go in a 365 degree area. Further, this treadmill also has the ability to capture the speed and direction that the user is going.

Class 6, Assignment 4

Screenshot with my classmate's blog links on my page.

Midterm #8

Here is the original picture of me at a restaurant.

I use the zoom tool to get closer to my face.

As you can see I have used the smudge tool to remove lines from my smile and eyes.

Here is the final image in jpeg format.

This is midterm #8. I used the smudge tool to remove the lines from my smile namely areas around my cheeks and also near my eyes. It is a midterm exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc

Midterm #7

For this midterm I decided to use a picture of NBA star, Kobe Bryant.

Here is after I cropped it to make it a little more balanced in terms of length and width of the photo.

Here I used the circle selection tool to crop the eyes and the scaling tool to make two that fit over Kobe's eyes.

I have created the black box after resizing my canvas so that it would fit.

Here you can see I have entered the text in 3 lines with all different colors. Kobe also has two of the images on his eyes.

Here is the final image in Jpeg format.

This is midterm #7 where I took a photo of Kobe Bryant and turned it into this. I used many tools including selection, cropping, text, canvas size, and other tools to accomplish this final product. It is a midterm exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc