So far I have had 12 subjects who have ranged from 1-3 people using the 2 and 4 Wiimote versions. I am expecting more subjects on Tuesday, and perhaps visiting some friends in Boston this weekend so that they can help me test. I should be mostly done by Tuesday, however, and will be writing up the results this week. I am getting a lot of good feedback!
I've been getting quite a lot of sign-ups the past few days. I currently have 8 participants scheduled, at least 3 that have confirmed, and 4 more to be confirmed. This Saturday I will be running the study for 6 people from 12pm - 5pm. At this rate I will only need 5 more to complete the study, although it might be nice to take some extra people.
In my study proposal I had stated that there would be 10 sessions: 6 for the 2-Wiimote version, and 4 for the 4-Wiimote version. These sessions are divided into: for those who have played the Wii before (and therefore know at least a little bit about the controls), and for those who have not played the Wii before. I think it might be difficult to find enough people to fill all those session categories, especially for the 4-person 4-Wiimote sessions. I think it's better to focus on 1-2 and 2-4 person/Wiimote interactions, since those are probably closer to the actual usage of the current WiiPaint controls.
Commence Operation Cookie Baking tomorrow night! Let's hope Ran and I don't eat them all...
The WiiPaint study has been approved by the IRB! I have already sent out the email asking for testers and hope to get some started this Friday. They will be given a background questionnaire when they come in, play with WiiPaint for a while, then be asked a few questions about their experience. Now, to get those cookies baking...
Since my last update, I've had a Fall Break during and after which I've been vigorously working on graduate school business. I've narrowed it down to 7 schools and will soon know which faculty members I want to work with. This research, although fun, takes up a lot of time.
WiiPaint hasn't been touched since the last version as I am also working on the IRB proposal to conduct a study with students and faculty on using WiiPaint. I'm meeting with Takis today to go over the proposal and to discuss the structure of the study. I'm hoping to run about 20 subjects over the course of a week as part of a pilot study evaluating the limitations of the current application.
While I wait to hear back from the IRB in the next week, I will be studying rather vehemently for the GREs, which I am taking next Saturday. If there is any free time left from researching grad school faculty members, it will be devoted to starting WiiPaint 2.
Just added support for 4 Wiimotes. Everything is peachy keen, except for some reason scaling/rotating won't work anymore. Nothing happens when you lock with the 2nd Wiimote. Perhaps I'll test 1.0.4 and 1.1.4 with students where 1.0.4 is independent and 1.1.4 is collaborative. I'm not too concerned with the scaling/rotating algorithm and the recognition because it won't be an important aspect for WiiPaint 2.
Meeting tomorrow with my thesis committee to discuss the app, some ideas, and the direction I'm going. This weekend I'll be at a retreat so I won't have time to work on the IRB stuff for a study, but it's top priority when I come back Sunday afternoon :] I probably won't get to start testing until after Fall Break, starting on Wed 10/15, but hope it all goes smoothly until then.
Finally, an update amidst all the application frenzy!
1.0.3 fixes: Registration point issue for all strokes and shapes. Now all the shapes and strokes are correctly centered after they are drawn. This was supposed to make scaling and rotating easier.
1.0.4 Scaling and rotating now at alpha level! It's still pretty basic but a lot better from version 0.3 from over the summer. I made a screencast so you can kind of see it in action (it's at 15fps so not very good quality). After you lock both brushes onto a stroke, you can move them up/down or left/right to change the rotation and scaling respectively. It's pretty rough, but it does what it's supposed to do. One disappointing aspect was that the scaling/rotating algorithm I found online didn't happen from the center for some reason, so I had to reposition the sprite as best as I could afterward. I also experimented with using the x-accelerometer value to do the rotating. Wasn't as good as up/down movement of the Wiimote. Click the image below to go to the screen cast link (too big to fit on blog).
I think (and hope) I'm finally ready to do some actual testing with students and faculty. Still debating if I should add support for 4 Wiimotes in this latest version. Code will get quite messy as I don't want to spend much time on v1 any longer. Anyway, drawing functions should be all set even though the recognition algorithm is still the same with a few minor changes. I'm really looking forward to working on WiiPaint v2 within the next few weeks. Next up will be working on the IRB forms for testing.
Fixed color patch issue where all the strokes were changing color simultaneously, to WP 0.1 functionality where color changes during each stroke. All the good features of 0.1-0.3 are now included in 1.0.2. Also, Nick helped me change the registration point of some of the shapes so that when scaling and rotating, it will start off in the center instead of the upper left corner.
Small update, but some of the time was spent analyzing current gesture recognition code and Didier Brun's Mouse Gesture Recognition code. Nudoru has created a Wii remote version of that algorithm, and will be helping me with it, hopefully this weekend.
Next up will be the scaling algorithm, and perhaps a change in the gesture recognition depending on how this weekend goes. I'm only giving myself a week to fix this up more as I apply to the IRB to do a study on students here as they interact with WiiPaint.
This weekend I'll also be drafting up proposals for the Daniels and Schiff Fellowships for senior projects/theses and working on the IRB forms.
It's been a while since I've updated :) The poster session went really well and people of all ages have encountered the newborn WiiPaint. The three versions I made over the summer are now WiiPaint versions 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3.
The start of the semester brought new inspirations. As with giving up the 3D game idea, WiiPaint will soon no longer be a sketch application. It will transform into a fully-collaborative abstract art application, where strokes and shapes and whatnot will be determined by the users' body movements, taking full advantage of the accelerometers in the Wiimotes. Instead of pointing and clicking to draw, users will be able to wave the Wiimote around to create patterns and swirls, and will work with other users and maybe even an audience to create different colors, sounds and effects. One of my inspirations came from bomomo. As of right now, it is but a vision, but I hope to start as soon as I finish WiiPaint 1.0.
WiiPaint 1.0 - what's new?
- I have merged the color patch and separate color brush in WiiPaint 0.1 with the shape recognition algorithm Nick wrote in 0.2-0.3.
- Change color with left Wiimote, but also lock and scale shapes in conjunction with the right Wiimote.
- Undo strokes one by one, or clear whole canvas.
- Integrating the HelperBrush class into the existing Brush class for cleaner class organization.
- New scaling/rotating algorithm based on matrices.
Upcoming WiiPaint 1.0 features:
- 4-Wiimote support
- Fix scaling algorithm
- Implement rotating algorithm (which should be straightforward after making scaling work. Hopefully.)
- New shape recognition algorithm using this Mouse Gesture Recognition algorithm. I won't be doing letters, but tweaking the algorithm to support common shapes, instead.
Website is finally done! Check it out here.
Everything should be all set for tomorrow, too, except for the poster which is getting printed before lunch. I have an irrational fear of forgetting my Bluetooth dongle, but I quadruple-checked :D
The project poster is done, and will be uploaded to the website soon. I am aiming to get the website done by tomorrow night. So far, I have part of the project description, Wiimote setup information, all demos, and all 3D resources done. All I have to do tomorrow is finish the project description, Wiimote features, and the online resources (links) section.
Went to Office Max today and got a small pad of Post-It notes. They are blue and white, matching my poster :D
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