Week 6: 27th Oct - 2nd Nov: Review Part 2

The things that I wanted done by week 5 were:

• have a good idea about what your project will involve
• have read some previous projects in the same area and started on related textbooks
• have searched the WWW and other material in the library
• have started to make noted from these resources (don't copy)
• have started a week-by-week log book
• have written down exact references as you find them
• have seen your supervisor at least 2-3 times

The update is that I have done all of these however some probably not to the level I would have hoped. I have looked at books and other resources and I have made notes but not as much as I would have liked. I have seen Dr Lucas twice I think and Dr Paris once at the start. At the moment I think I do have a pretty good idea on what the project will involve.

Below is an update on some references that I have looked at:

http://eprints.kfupm.edu.sa/62704/

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120705799/PDFSTART

http://www.staff.uni-mainz.de/schoemer/publications/WSCG99.pdf

ftp://ftp.cs.unc.edu/pub/users/manocha/PAPERS/COLLISION/thesis.pdf

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120705881/PDFSTART

http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Steed/book_tmp/CGVE/chapters.htm

Week 6: 27th Oct - 2nd Nov: Review Part 1

We were told that the presentations of our honours project will be held on Monday 17th November in Conference Suite. I am in the 10.30am to 11.30am group. The research question presentation has to be 3 mins in length and 2 mins afterwards will be left for questions. Have to make sure that it is rehersed well and that I keep it to 3 or 4 slides only. Also been told that it is not assessed so I do not need to worry about that however it will be good practice for the final talk at the end of the year. The audience will consist of CGT lecturers and students too. Also been told to keep researching and to make sure I know my methodology and I know the topic well to prepare for the questions on the presentations.

Week 5: 20th Oct - 26nd Oct: Lecture And Goals

We were told in the lecture that the next worksheet to be done for 2 weeks time would be worksheet three. Shown as follows:

Honours Project Worksheet — #3,


Your draft research proposal

In the presentation be prepared to talk for 2 or 3 minutes describing the main points of your proposal.

The proposal should address the following points.

Introduction
What is the aim of the project (general overview)?

Motivation
Why do you want to do this and why would anybody be interested in what you want to do?

Research question
The research question to be answered.

Addressing the Question
What will be done to answer the question

Resource Requirements
What equipment/resources will be needed/used

References and Bibliography
The supporting evidence for your proposal


The proposal should be properly referenced throughout in Harvard format.

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Aim: by week 8/9 - done worksheets and presentation and therefore should be ready to write the proposal.

Remember: What?

Why?

How?

So What? - what is the measure of success

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I really think more research is needed. I have to define the question a bit more and be able to explain it by giving sufficient background into why it is a problem.

Week 5: 20th Oct - 26th Oct: Review

Last week worksheet 2 was handed in and I got back comments from one of my peers. This was as follows:

This sounds like it could be a really great project, I'm not really sure how much i can add to this as you have a very good idea of what it is you wish to do, and you already have a solid plan on how to tackle this problem. About which API to use, i guess its a trade off between simplicity to code (openGL) and performance (directx) but i agree that these 2 are most likely the best choices given our experience with both of them.

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Last week also saw no lecture for this module, however, I went to the library skills session. This was scheduled for us, to give us a jump start and a reminder of how to research journals etc. I found it really helpful and over the last week, I have been researching my question more and more with the help of some of the sites.

Week 4: 13th Oct - 19th Oct: Initial Meetings

True to my word, I have had meetings with the lecturers. Yesterday (Tuesday 14th), I met with Dr Lucas to discuss my question and today (Wednesday 15th) I met with my technical supervisor Dr Paris. Both were very helpful. My aim in seeing them, was to make sure my research question was good enough to carry on to the next stage. I wanted to make sure it wasn't too hard a question and equally, that it wasn't too easy. Both were happy enough with it and I found that, I could probably make it easier or harder depending on what I include. I have taken on board all of the advice they have given me and have now got a lot more ideas on what I shall be doing. I have decide that I should first look at how a particle moves and collides on a curved surface, then move onto a sphere and finally if time permits (which I hope it will), I will look at other objects such as a box or cylindrical shape. I was also told that my chosen topic will probably include maths knowledge from every teaching year of this course, which I am very happy about because it will allow me to bring in all my previous knowledge, along with present teaching, and apply it to solving a problem.

Because of some of the above mentioned reasons my research question has very slightly changed to:

How can the movements and collisions of objects on a curved surface be realistically simulated?

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Thursday 16th - went to the library session that was scheduled for us. Showed us where to find journals and e-books on my subject area. The following resources seem particularly useful:

IEEE

Safari

ACM

Scholar

ProQuest

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My aim now is to plan the research I do from now on, write everything down, keep a record of

websites/journals/articles/books that I use and also start planning my proposal and how I will implement it on screen.

Week 4: 13th Oct - 19th Oct: Research Question (So Far...)

In preparation for deciding on a research question, I looked into resources on the ideas I previously stated. Resources shown below:

• questia.com - www.essentialmath.com/FutureOfCurvedSurfaces.pdf
• www.gamasutra.com/featues/20000530/sharp_01.htm
• www.gamasutra.com/features/20000330/bobic_01.htm
• www.gamasutra.com/features/20000208/lander_01.htm
• www.gamasutra.com/feautres/20000920/lander_pfv.htm
• www.gamasutra.com/features/20000516/lander_pfv.htm
• www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/2001E/lasse_jensen.pdf

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Completed worksheet two today. Shown below:

After a lot of research, I think that I have reached a research question.

How can the movements and collisions of a ball over a curved surface be realistically simulated?

The focus of my project is on the use of maths/physics in determining and simulating realistic movement of objects on different surfaces. These surfaces could be anything from hard, soft, flat, curved, sloped, concrete, grass etc. This can be seen in a lot of games. Sporting games for example, football and golf. Different types of balls made from different materials colliding with very different surfaces. In these sort of games designers and programmers need to work out just how realistic the movements and collisions of the ball are and often have to strike a balance between graphics and realism of gameplay. I would like to see if there are ways of implementing realistic graphical simulations of ball movements and collisions with the surfaces without having to suffer loss of speed, sacrificing good graphics/animation or even less accurate collision detection and response. To find out more about this area, I would have to study real life ball movements on different surfaces looking at how they bounce, how they react with grass etc, how they move over non-flat surfaces. I will also have to research how these surfaces can be simulated in a game by looking into how to implement curved surfaces (Bezier curves, meshes, basic triangle strips), looking at the forces of friction, air resistance, and looking at the collision of these objects with the surfaces(how they bounce, how it can be accurately detected). After learning about all the maths/physics that apply in the real world, I will then attempt to implement it into a computer program which will demonstrate all the movements and collisions of a ball on a curved surface. At the moment I am thinking that OpenGl or DirectX may be the best why to represent my findings, however I’m open to other suggestions. All of this work will hopefully allow me to successfully answer the research question.

I am now waiting for a reply from a colleague and my lecturer. Hopefully, this will be a good enough question to study, research, implement and write up. In the meantime, I am still looking for sources around this topic and gathering more knowledge on the subject to make sure I know as much as I can for the proposal.

I also made appointment with two lecturers for this week and hopefully, I will get some useful feedback from them soon.

Week 3: 6th Oct - 12th Oct: Research, Research, Research!

This week is just about research. I need to get more defined at the research to come up with a specific question. My aim this week was to narrow down a problem until I got to a specific research question. This week I have done nothing but research websites and looked for journals and now that I'm at the end of the week I'm still confused on what to do. The weekend however will be used to research more. I do have a few ideas just need to narrow them down and decide.

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Some ideas:

Objects bouncing

Colliding in environment based on real life

Buoyancy

Movement over different terrains

Simulation of dynamics involved in animated joints/body

Procedural surfaces -curved

Liquid simulation

Particle dynamics affecting collision response

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On Wednesday, I received an email back from the colleague below me on the class list. He gave me very helpful comments and a website to look at on a physics engine.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15261 (Nvidia's GPU phsyics)

This was quite useful and got me more interested in the topic.

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On the list of things to do for this week, the only thing which I have not got round to yet is meeting with the lecturers. I should have done contacted them about meeting this week as it would have helped to have their opinions before I decided on a research question. This is number one priority for next week.

Week 2: 29th Sept - 5th Oct: PART 2

Got next worksheet to do for the 12th October. Shown below:

You should have decided upon a broad topic for your honour’s project and identified some issues associated with the topic that you want to research.

1. Formulate a research question for your project. Details on the research question can be found in presentation 1 in the module folder.

2. When developing a research question you must produce a question that can be answered by performing literature research, practical experimentation and critical analysis. The question should also focus the activities of your project.

a) What is the focus of your project?
b) What information do you need to find out about?
c) What Experimental work do you need to perform?

3. How will the information that you obtain in 2 allow you to answer the research question?

This is to be done for the 12th October. It gives me plenty of time to think seriously on the specific topic and therefore the research question and also to go and see lecturers to get some advice.

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Plan for the next 2 weeks (to 12th October)

1. Research websites/previous projects etc to find the problems which I could address as my honours project
2. Narrow down a problem and how I can develop it into a question
3. Talk to lecturers about the chosen topic - their suggestions

Week 2: 29th Sept - 5th Oct: PART 1

Answered worksheet 1. Shown below:

For my honours project, I am thinking about generally looking into how objects/characters move and interact in different game environments. In particular I wish to look at how physics/maths affect the gamers immersion into the game world but very rarely enhance the gameplay itself. To be more specific, I would really like to look at the part physics plays in determining the movement of an objects over different surfaces, taking into account friction, viscosity and the type of surface whether it be hard, soft etc. I understand that this is very general and with more research I hope that I can pick a specific area to concentrate on.

There are a many challenges which I could look into. A number of challenges, for example, arise from the fact that there is a lot of potential as to what can be done using physics however due to computer capacity; only a minor part of this potential can be put into practice. There is also a problem when physics is used too much and the game may become too hard. If the use of physics does not provide new ways for the gamer to overcome challenges, it is completely useless from the gameplay perspective. There needs to be a balance, but it is a problem in itself when trying to find out where it should be used. There has been many times when I have played games and I've been annoyed in which the character has moved for example and this is made me believe that 'this just doesn’t look real' or 'it wouldn’t happen like that' and therefore the player gets pulled out of the game reality that they should be lost in and gets bored.

To illustrate these points, I could make an application showing an object moving over different surfaces, making them more realistic maybe taking them to extremes to backup the fact that it can be taken too far and just become very annoying to the gamer.

As I've said before, this is all very generalised and still not defined to a specific idea but suggestions are very welcome.

This was sent to the next person down on the class list for his comments however, he is absent at the moment and so I don't have any comments from my peers. It was then sent to Dr Ozveren and he replied with this comment:

As you have said it yourself it is very generalised at the moment which is very natural as we are trying to identify a topic at the moment.

I suggest that you start talking to Dr R Paris or Dr Lucas at the moment to try and focus it to a specific issue.

I really think that this may be my next step - talking to the masters of maths/physics. I need to research a little more as I am having reservations about my ideas on the topic. Still happy with maths/physics but I need to specify it a lot more now.

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2nd October: Looked at list of resources. Many of the resources were helpful

http://www.gamasutra/resource_/20040121/

Also looked at the book Physics for Game Developers

Week 1: 22nd - 28th Sept

First week back to uni and straight into 4th year with a bang! Been told to come up with the area we wish to study for our project. I'm still very much unsure but still looking over the most relevant topics that I'm interested in. In particular, looking at websites which may have more information on the types of problems surrounding the topic, what people have done so far etc. For next week, we've been given the first worksheet to do, which is designed to help us reach the final research topic and ultimately the research question. The first worksheet is as follows:

• State the topic of interest that you may wish to take forward into a project.
• Indicate the issues surrounding this topic that you may wish investigate.
• Outline your initial ideas about how you would carry out the practical aspects oft he project. i.e. what do you envisage yourself actually doing for.

To answer these questions, I have to finally decide on the topic. I think that maths would be the best decision for me. I'm very interested in it and how it is involved in the game design and implementation process as the is a lot of maths/physics in games. Still really unsure what area within that topic i could do. Some thoughts were:

• how characters/objects collide with environment
• how real life elements eg, wind, friction, are implemented and the problems surrounding them
• movement/reaction of characters/objects with this environment

I will keep looking over the resources to try and get this narrowed down so that I can submit my first worksheet.

Summer Thoughts...

Summer 2008

(May to Sept)

Initially, I had no ideas in mind for this project. Since the 4th year transition talk in May, I've thought a lot about the topic of my 4th year honours project. Before the talk, I had never really thought about what my honours project could be on. Over the summer, a lot research was done to try and help me come to some good ideas. I decided to have a look at almost every aspect of computer games that I could think of. This was attempted as much as possible throughout the summer in between other commitments. However, I haven't as of yet picked a topic.

Main areas of interest:

• Audio (was my option in third year, attempted it for my third year group project, I enjoyed it and im interested in the role it plays in games)
• Physics (looking into friction, air resistance, wind, other physical aspects of real life that can be put into games)
• Maths (interested in the technical aspects of games - making them more realistic eg collision, movement etc)
• Mechanics of Visual Arts/Animation (looking at the movement of characters, clothes etc)