Unified Coordinate System for String and QCAR

You can use your own plane but you will have to know how to change some code, add a new material (depth mask) to the plane, etc.
I think the easiest way is to only use UCS geometry for walking on. This should work with tap gestures as well. Give it a try.

Which script do you use for touch gestures?

 

I'm using either Finger Gestures or PlayMaker. PlayMaker works well ( but restricts any 3rd party code updates )

both are assets I purchased via the online asset store. Until I have a better grasp of C, I'll run with Playmaker.

I'll have another go at it over the weekend. I'm trying to get the animation working correctly in a non ios scene. then port to UCS once all is running properly. My main issue is triggering the animations such as walk / run to play when the character moves.

 

Ok, I will have a look at how the play maker script works and if it is compatible with UCS.

Edit: Which exact function are you using for the tap-to-walk feature?

 

Regarding Assets :

PLAYMAKER: I'm using a "touch event " action. I have a thread open on the playmaker site
http://hutonggames.com/playmakerforum/index.php?topic=2531.0

I'm currently waiting for the creator of PlayMaker to upload a sample package of a " touch to walk " example. ( should be there by Wed-Thu )

AI-Driver Tool Kit: I am now creating a small bike game in UCS. I'm thinking of using the " AI-Driver Toolkit " will this operate ok ?

Prime31 :
In particular the "social networking plugin" for iOS.
I would like to get a screen grab and send to FaceBook.
iOS GameKit Local Mulitplayer: I also notice Prime31 have a BlueTooth script that allows players to sync up simultaneously. I wonder if it would be possible to view the UCS environment ?

Lots of assets..I know sorry, just dreaming of all the cool things I could do with UCS
I'm a designer.. not a coder but I sure hope some of these will work with UCS. That would allow me to create one slick looking game.

 

Don't know but you can try. In general everything *should* work with UCS.

UCS is nothing special. It is just a normal Unity scene rotated, scaled, and positioned so it looks like it is stuck in a real world. So yes, this should work.

I will have a look at the playmaker issue.

 

Hi Elecman,

Is it possible to dynamically scale a race car track in UCS ?

So for example, placing three target cards on a table.. and then a race track is scaled proportional to the card positions.
A player with lots of room would place target cards in the corner of the room, someone restricted by space could still play on a small table, simply placing three cards on each edge of the table 9 similar to the ucs geometry setup but having the actual 3d object scale.

here's an example of an AR strategy based race game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGsfDDxhFN0

I like the idea of placing separate cards down that dictate game play.

Mickman

 

Yes, this can be done in UCS. You will probably have to use some custom scripts though. For example, you have to specify which markers will be used for the scale reference.

UCS will give you a Game Object which is the "center" of the world. You also have access to the individual marker transforms so with that combination, you can do anything you like.

 

Awesome... thanks for that.


I've just been reading up on Vectrosity. ( PlayMaker support Vectrosity ! )

https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W948

Unity4 Pro is finally out... time to upgrade

 

I think I have found a quick fix for the touch to walk touch event with PlayMaker and UCS.

Instead of adding the PlayMaker logic to your own plane where the character walks on, add them to this prefab in UCS:
Project window -> Prefabs -> squarePrefab2
This is the square plane you create at runtime using UCS.

Give it a try and let me know.

Good to hear that PlayMaker supports Vectrosity!

I noticed that Unity4 is out. Too bad that the included MonoDevelop script editor is still a very old version with numerous of bugs...

 

Jean from playMaker has mentioned that since Unity4 is out I have Unity4 Pro I should be considering using Mecanim to animate the character...

So taking this into account I am trying to fbx export my character into Unity. This means I need to bring in the rig for mecanim. Normally I'd just bake out animation from Maya.

Ah yes... ok the squarePrefab2 I will have a try.

Right now i am busy getting my UCS scene rolling in Unity4.

Might even start over.. no big deal since loading UCS is easy now, I've done it so many times


note: I just spend the last two days learning C .. oh my aching head

 

Let me know if the squarePrefab2 modification works. By the way, I will be renaming that prefab to "planePrefab" in the next release.

Also, in the next release (1.0) I will add support for 13th Lab PointCloud. That will be awesome, No need for markers but using UCS you can use the geometry building feature.

Good effort on the C# adventure. Keep up the good work. Oh, and C is not the same as C#... Be sure to learn C#, not C.

 

Point Cloud integration ... Wow ! Will the system allow me to gather only immediate area point cloud information or will users be able to move around creating a wider environment cloud ?

yes I'm learning C# I have a few books here that I'm slowly working my way through.. can you recommend any good online Unity game tutorials in C# ?

I just have to ask the next Q. What's the estimated date for point cloud integration ? This will be incredible !

Will I still be required to create geometry such as ground planes ?

 

I think you can make the tracking area any size. For details please use the PointCloud forum:
http://forum.pointcloud.io/discussions

This book: "C# for dummies" is good for a general understanding of C#.
These Unity tutorials are really good:
www.burgzergarcade.com/hack-slash-rpg-unity3d-game-engine-tutorial

The problem with learning to program is that people try to teach you everything a language offers. This is a waste of time as most of it you don't need when you write small simple programs. All programming can be done with the statements below, so only look up the following and forget about the rest for now.

Variables: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6a71f45d(v=vs.71).aspx
bool
int
float
string

Conditions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6a71f45d(v=vs.71).aspx
if
else
foreach

Operators: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x53a06bb(v=vs.71).aspx
==
!=
<=
>=
>
<

Functions: http://csharp.net-tutorials.com/basics/functions/#.UKjaLGfJaSo

Unity specific:
GameObject
Camera
Light
Transform
Rigidbody
Collider
Renderer
Material
Prefab
C# script

Of course you need an understanding of how Unity stitches this all together. The burgzergarcade.com will cover most of that.

One month to a few months.

The original goal of UCS was to stitch the markers together but with SLAM that doesn't make sense as there are no markers. Using the geometry creation feature is the only thing that does make sense. A SLAM based tracker still has no idea where the real geometry is so you will have to tell it where it is, just like with marker tracking.

 

I'm looking over Burgzerarcade tutorials now... Wow ! so many video tuts in C# ... this is exactly what I need Thanks heaps..

I also read PointCloud's forum area "Rasmus" is nearly completed a Unity plugin ... I sent him a message to test the beta version.. but he's not often on the site

 

Hey Tjeerd
I am using UCS to create a small puzzle game where you have to use real world objects to get your character trough a small obstacle course. I am having some issues:

when I create my own ImageTargets for tracking UCS can't handle it. As soon as i go into Image target mode the buttons in the menu become unresponsive. If however i create a set called ImageTargets containing 6 markers it works fine.

I can't figure out if it is possible to create moveable realworld objects or not in UCS. will the geometry follow my objects around?

 

Unresponsive buttons are a sign of a repeated NullReferenceException.
1. Did you read the chapter "Changing Markers" in the UCS manual? If you change the name of the dataset you will have to make some changes in the source code as well.
2. Does your dataset run ok in a generic Vuforia demo scene?
3. Did you set the "Marker Amount" variable on the MarkerRecorder.cs script to the correct value?

I am not sure what you mean. Can you elaborate?

Edit:
Do you mean for example having a chair and if you move the chair around, it will occluded the 3d content accordingly while the table will be stationary?
Yes, that can be done using the UCS merge scenes feature.

 

If that 13th lab SLAM stuff can get working in Unity... thats going to be a game changer for alot of stuff. That sort of tech is easily marketable in so many fields.

 

SLAM on Unity would be great great. I was quite surprised when I found out that 13th lab didn't realise that. Some time ago they send out an email saying that one of the most requested features was a Unity plugin so they were going to support that due to popular demand. They didn't see it coming...

 

I have changed the code according to the manual. I have read the manual 50 times . I have found that i have to name the markers 0,1,2,3,4,5,6...n to get them to work, and have now gotten markers to work with less and more than 6 but the name of the dataset still has to be ImageTargets if i change it in the script at datasetName.

however it seems that all the markers have to be the same size as soon as I put in a marker that doesn't have the same x size as the others the program runs fine but it doesn't track any of the markers.

In my game i have some real world objects on a table, a juicebox, matchbox, cigarette pack and a lunchbox. these items are used to build small bridges stairs and also have some abilities like lighting a fire and so on. I need to be able to track their position and place geometry where they are. I see that vuforia has Multitarget as a solution to detecting them but i understand it does not work with UCS. So what im wondering is if it is possible to track the objects as the user moves them around on the table and have the geometry follow them around as the user builds with them.

 

Yes, the markers should be called 0,1,2,3,4,5,6, etc. Sorry, I forget to add that to the manual. Fixed it now

If you change the name of the dataset, you have to change the name of both the .dat and the .xml file to the same file name. I have changed the manual now to make it more clear:

Use the Vuforia Online service to create a DataSet from your pictures. In this example it is assumed that the name of the dataset is "NewName".

1. Using the Vuforia online marker generation website, give the markers a number as the name and start at 0. For example, if you use 4 markers, they should be named: 0, 1, 2, and 3.

2. Place the online created dataset (dat and xml file) in this Unity folder:

StreamingAssets/QCAR

3. Change the name of your DataSet for both the xml and dat file. The xml and dat file name must be the same. For example:

Original:
ImageTargets.dat
ImageTargets.xml

New:
NewName.dat
NewName.xml

4. In the file MarkerRecorder.cs from UCS, look for this code:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. void CreateImageTargetsRuntime(){
3.     ...
4.     string dataSetName = "QCAR/ImageTargets.xml";
5.  

Then change the name "ImageTargets.xml" to "NewName.xml".

Does it work now?

You need to set up the sizes of the markers correctly if they don't have the same size. Use the Vuforia online marker creation system to set up the marker size correctly for each marker. See the chapter "Marker Size" in the manual for more info.

MultiTargets do not work with UCS. UCS is a replacement for the MultiTarket system altogether and is much more advanced. What you need is the "Merged Scenes" feature of UCS. See the chapter "Multiple Scene Setup" in the UCS manual for more information.

Let me know if it works.

Edit:
With the current version, unresponsive buttons are also a result of an error with the marker initialization. The next version will give an error message instead.

 

I can't get it to work. In the manual you write:

When using the online Target Management System
(TMS), the X size of each marker must be set to the X size in meters of the corresponding
physical marker. For example, if the physical marker has an X size of 20cm, the X size in
the TMS of that marker must be set to 0.2 The Y size of a marker will be calculated
according to the aspect ratio of the picture. Each marker can have a different aspect ratio.

Does this mean that the aspect ratio of the markers can be different but not the X size?

I have some markers that are full A4 pages on a Table, these are tracked with no problems, they are X-size 28,9 and Y-size 20,1. I have then got some smaller markers for each side of a juicebox they are 5x5 cm and they will not be tracked even though the vuforia systems says they are excellent for tracking. I have tried changing the aspect ratio of the smaller markers to the same as the A4 ones by changing the Y-size, still no change. I am sure I am overlooking something. The markers are all imagetargets and called 0,1,2,3,...,9

this is the .xml file

Code (csharp):

1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2. <QCARConfig xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="qcar_config.xsd">
3.     <Tracking>
4.         <ImageTarget size="0.289 0.201136" name="0"/>
5.         <ImageTarget size="0.289 0.201136" name="1"/>
6.         <ImageTarget size="0.289 0.201136" name="2"/>
7.         <ImageTarget size="0.289 0.201136" name="3"/>
8.         <ImageTarget size="0.289 0.201136" name="4"/>
9.         <ImageTarget size="0.289 0.201136" name="5"/>
10.         <ImageTarget size="0.05 0.034859" name="8"/>
11.         <ImageTarget size="0.035 0.035" name="9"/>
12.         <ImageTarget size="0.05 0.05" name="7"/>
13.         <ImageTarget size="0.035 0.035" name="6"/>
14.     </Tracking>
15. </QCARConfig>

 

Both the marker X size and the aspect ratio can be different.

Make sure at the beginning of MarkerRecorder.cs it sates:

Code (csharp):

1. //#define SAMESIZE

and not

Code (csharp):

1. #define SAMESIZE

Also make sure that the order in which your markers appear in the xml file is sequential like: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and not 0,1,2,3,4,5,8,9,7,6. I am not sure if you can just edit the xml. You might have to do it via the TMS.

If it still doesn't work, email me your markers in pdf format (at the scale you are using) and the xml and dat dataset files. I will debug it for you. You can find my email in the manual.

Some questions:
-Are you using Vectrosity?
-Are you using merged scenes or just a single scene?
-If you are recording, do you place both the big and small markers in view?
-Does UCS give you a message about unresolved markers when recording is finished?

Edit:
Ok, I had a play with various configurations and figured it out.
The order in which the markers appear in the xml file HAVE to be sequential, so 0,1,2,3 instead of 0,1,3,2. If it is not sequential, the markers will not be tracked. If the order is not sequential, there is no need to change it with the Vuforia online TMS, but you can edit it in the xml file. I added this to the manual now as well.

 

Hi.. I'm stil playing around with UCS.. just busy with another project that I have to get out the door before wed. Any new updates to UCS ? How's SLAM looking ?

 

I am working on an update which enables SLAM tracking withPointCloud. There are still a few issues with PointCloud which need to be fixed before it is ready for prime time so let's hope for the best.

 

Hey Tjeerd,
I have gotten everything to work now and want to thank you for your help when i had some trouble. the game i made has been used in a project I have been doing at my university, about social agents in Mixed reality worlds. I will credit you in my report. I had some issues which i think relate to UCS.when i mergeded my scenes the objects not in my groundplane would sort of float abit above the ground even though they were standing on the table. I think the problem is mainly with my understanding of the system though. I dont know if you have had any similair experience. The problem was most prominent when the markers on the object were perpendicular to those of the ground plane.
well anyways thank you for your help, i hope to get more in depth with AR next semester.

 

This is probably the result of:
-The markers which you set as the reference marker per scene. If you choose the wrong marker as the reference marker then your 3d content will be offset when you merge your scenes.
-Your 3d objects are not placed correctly in the scene even if you use only one scene instead of merging them. Make sure it works in one scene first.

 

I see.
Another issue i was having is that the camera on my tablet very quickly becomes out of focus and unable to track the markers. in the camera application native to the tablet it can auto focus very easily. Is it very processor power demanding to have the camera auto focus and is it easily enabled in ucs/vuforia?

 

I didn't enable automatic auto focus in UCS. You can press the focus button to generate a single focus event instead. You could add a function which executes the focus automatically every few seconds or so. That is not too much work. I will add it to the to do list.

 

Regarding SLAM: Well it was fun playing around with PC's Unity slam scene but I still prefer UCS. Why ? UCS allows for wide area augmentation. PointCloud is still restricted to approx. 30 - 45 degree angle of sight. I see in an earlier post you mentioned " I think you can make the tracking area any size. For details please use the PointCloud forum " I read over the posts on the forum but can't find anything relating to extending the area

I'm glad Vuforia have finally updated to ver.2 that now supports Unity4. I couldn't move forwards with my UCS project till Vuforia was ready to go. Now all is AOK... Over the next few days I hope to get my little bear character running around again.

p.s I'm learning C# the http://www.burgzergarcade.com is really helpful. I'm going through a couple of C# books.


Mick

 

With the previous version of PointCloud, the SLAM map size was restricted. With the current release the map size is unlimited. However, due to the very slow expansion of the map, the size still seems restricted. I already contacted 13th lab about this so hopefully they will fix it.

Another point where image recognition outperforms SLAM is re-recognition after the tracking is temporarily lost. With PointCloud SLAM this is relatively slow but with both Vuforia (frame markers) and String, this is very fast. Slow re-recognition is really detrimental to the user experience.

I didn’t test UCS with Vuforia 2.0 yet but will do so soon.

Keep up the good work with C#

Edit:
Vuforia 2 breaks compatibility with UCS 0.9
This will be fixed with UCS 1.0 which is in the works. It will probably take a month or so.

 

no pressure.. sure would like to see UCS with Unity4. I'm busy creating my game around UCS. Well I'm designing the AI GUI so still roughing things out.

a castle siege style game.. with cute bears etc..

Looking for a good pooling script A* enemy path finding.

 

Update on the Vuforia 2.0 migration.

Unfortunately Vuforia 2.0 breaks nearly everything on the AR part. Most of the Vuforia API changes are undocumented so I can't fix it that easily. I am waiting for better documentation and at the moment the migration project is at a halt. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

I guess you'd be better off putting your energy into PointCloud once the Unity Beta comes out. It's due any day now, yes ?

I just hope it will cater for WAAR (wide area AR ) Have you tried Vuforia's new image based system where you simply pre-record any image.

I tried it about two weeks back but still felt SLAM is more accurate.

I tried PointCloud's Domino's SlAM scene. I added my own objects then tried to target fridge magnets on my fridge. Because the images are positioned vertically like a picture on a wall everything flips faces down the negative Y axis. so the Y axis sits on the Z axis. When I fire a ball from the camera 0,0,0 position it simply sticks to the wall rather than drop away and down. Try it for yourself.. I'd like to know how to flip the Y axis so it sits vertically again when the target is vertical (not horizontal )

 

Still working in PointCloud. The Unity beta of PointCloud has already been available now for a while. I will release a beta of UCS which will be using PointCloud in a week or so.

I didn't try Vuforia's new image recording feature yet. Will do so some time later.

I know about the problem with PointCloud applying wrong reference coordinates to the scene. This is because PointCloud second guesses what the floor plane is by assuming that the features it first sees when building the SLAM map are located on the floor. I disagree with this approach and subsequently UCS will workaround this "feature" or lack thereof.

Stay tuned.

 

Awesome..

just a quick note: have you seen this product http://www.gosphero.com

one amazing A.R device.

p.s can't wait to see UCS wiht Point Cloud.. a Beta in a week or two. Yehaa

 

I'm wondering if its possible to incorporate both a target card and point cloud together in a scene... to aid in verifying the start position of an object.

Often when using Point Cloud the 3D object will not sit well in a scene. The initial placement sits on a strange angle.

 

Yes that is possible. But UCS will fix that problem as well and then you don't need a marker.

 

Hi, thanks for your efforts! How can I download the latest version of UCS? The first message has relase UCS 0.9c.. Is this the latest one?

Thanks a lot again!

 

Currently that is the last one but it will only work with Vuforia 1.5 if you still manage to find it. Vuforia 2.0 breaks UCS due to undocumented changed. I am waiting for the Vuforia team to help me out with the migration but so far no luck.

Update:
Here is the beta which enables the use of PointCloud:
http://pilotpage.monosock.org/fileadmin/hidden_files/UCSPointCloudBeta1.rar
Make sure to read the manual.

 

Ok I got it operating.. UCS PointCloud edition

I added a simple sphere and created a plane with three points.

Nice one

note: I'm running Unity4 iOS Pro + Vuforia 2.0 + PointCloud + UCS PointCloudBeta1 + Vectrosity Unity4 ver.

all looks fine.

 

Good to hear. Let me know if you have any issues you run in to.

 

Are you planning on releasing a version of UCS that utilizes Vuforia 2.0 but still supports Unity 3.6?

 

Vuforia 2.0: yes. I already have a beta version up and running. Frame Markers generated in code don't work yet because of a bug in Vuforia. I am waiting for a fix on their part. You can still use frame markers by using the manually created markers, that works fine. Let me know if you are on a schedule and need the beta.

Unity 3.6: sort of. You will have to change some functions which are new to Unity 4 such as GameObject.SetActive() and the related logic changes that come with it.

 

UCS 1.0 is now final.

Major new release. Now compatible with Vuforia 2.0 and PointCloud! Also added a new cool video texture effect.

 

Where can i download USC for vuforia 2.0

 

At the fist forum post of this thread there is a link under "Download Here:"

 

When I try to open Vuforia-4-ImageTargets, there is an error.

How can i fix that?

 

From the manual:

Vuforia installation (IOS and Android)

6. If you don't want to use Vectrosity, then change
#define VECTROSITY
to
//#define VECTROSITY
in these files:
MarkerRecorder.cs
ObjectLineManager.cs
SingleLineManager.cs

I recommend you buy it though because UCS without Vectrosity isn't very useful.

 

If i did not use VECTROSITY, the tracking filter feature and all the benefits of UCS 1.0 gona be lost?

 

Im Using Unity 4, Vuforia 2.0