Ever Wished You Could Have A Few More Arms To Get Stuff Done? Researchers At The University Of Tokyo

Holo Messenger

Developer Abhishek Singh is creating an AR recorded video messaging app with iOS ARKit that is presented in classic Sci-Fi settings (and all the recording is done with a single normal camera):

Remember Princess Leia’s classic holographic message from Star Wars? Well I built this app using ARKit and some awesome tech from Aifi.io that allows you to record and send your own. If you want to know when it becomes available, head over here: http://bit.ly/holomsngr

Link

AI Pathfinding

An Update on what I’ve been working on for the Final Defence Fortress prototype. Originally I had planned to use Unity’s navmesh for pathfinding, but because of the way I designed the building system the path finding would need to update during run-time, something Unity’s navmesh can’t do. So instead I’ve been programing an A* pathfinding system which can update during run-time.

继续阅读

How to Safely Watch the Aug. 21 Solar Eclipse

On Aug. 21, 2017, a solar eclipse will be visible in North America. Throughout the continent, the Moon will cover part – or all – of the Sun’s super-bright face for part of the day.

Since it’s never safe to look at the partially eclipsed or uneclipsed Sun, everyone who plans to watch the eclipse needs a plan to watch it safely. One of the easiest ways to watch an eclipse is solar viewing glasses – but there are a few things to check to make sure your glasses are safe:

 Glasses should have an ISO 12312-2 certification

They should also have the manufacturer’s name and address, and you can check if the manufacturer has been verified by the American Astronomical Society

Make sure they have no scratches or damage

To use solar viewing glasses, make sure you put them on before looking up at the Sun, and look away before you remove them. Proper solar viewing glasses are extremely dark, and the landscape around you will be totally black when you put them on – all you should see is the Sun (and maybe some types of extremely bright lights if you have them nearby).

Never use solar viewing glasses while looking through a telescope, binoculars, camera viewfinder, or any other optical device. The concentrated solar rays will damage the filter and enter your eyes, causing serious injury. But you can use solar viewing glasses on top of your regular eyeglasses, if you use them!

If you don’t have solar viewing glasses, there are still ways to watch, like making your own pinhole projector. You can make a handheld box projector with just a few simple supplies – or simply hold any object with a small hole (like a piece of cardstock with a pinhole, or even a colander) above a piece of paper on the ground to project tiny images of the Sun.

Of course, you can also watch the entire eclipse online with us. Tune into nasa.gov/eclipselive starting at noon ET on Aug. 21! 

For people in the path of totality, there will be a few brief moments when it is safe to look directly at the eclipse. Only once the Moon has completely covered the Sun and there is no light shining through is it safe to look at the eclipse. Make sure you put your eclipse glasses back on or return to indirect viewing before the first flash of sunlight appears around the Moon’s edge.

You can look up the length of the total eclipse in your area to help you set a time for the appropriate length of time. Remember – this only applies to people within the path of totality.

Everyone else will need to use eclipse glasses or indirect viewing throughout the entire eclipse!

Photographing the Eclipse

Whether you’re an amateur photographer or a selfie master, try out these tips for photographing the eclipse.  

#1 — Safety first: Make sure you have the required solar filter to protect your camera.

#2 — Any camera is a good camera, whether it’s a high-end DSLR or a camera phone – a good eye and vision for the image you want to create is most important.

#3 — Look up, down, and all around. As the Moon slips in front of the Sun, the landscape will be bathed in long shadows, creating eerie lighting across the landscape. Light filtering through the overlapping leaves of trees, which creates natural pinholes, will also project mini eclipse replicas on the ground. Everywhere you can point your camera can yield exceptional imagery, so be sure to compose some wide-angle photos that can capture your eclipse experience.

#4 — Practice: Be sure you know the capabilities of your camera before Eclipse Day. Most cameras, and even many camera phones, have adjustable exposures, which can help you darken or lighten your image during the tricky eclipse lighting. Make sure you know how to manually focus the camera for crisp shots.

#5 —Upload your eclipse images to NASA’s Eclipse Flickr Gallery and relive the eclipse through other peoples’ images.

Learn all about the Aug. 21 eclipse at eclipse2017.nasa.gov, and follow @NASASun on Twitter and NASA Sun Science on Facebook for more. Watch the eclipse through the eyes of NASA at nasa.gov/eclipselive starting at 12 PM ET on Aug. 21.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

I did the thing! - From the Star Wars app

A.I. Artificial Intelligence - 2001 Steven Spielberg

Thanks Graylock

The Parallax View

Project from Peder Norrby is an IphoneX visual toy using TrueDepth facetracking to produce a Trompe-l'œil effect of depth from the position of your head:

Explainer video - enable sound! The app, called #TheParallaxView, is in review on @AppStore#iPhoneX #ARKit #FaceTracking #madewithunity pic.twitter.com/6P8ofGZqP4

— ΛLGΘMΨSΓIC (@algomystic)

February 28, 2018

Yes it’s ARKit face tracking and #madewithunity … basically non-symmetric camera frustum / off-axis projection.

The app is currently in review, but Peder plans to release the code to Github in the future for developers to experiment with.

You can follow progress at Peder’s Twitter account here

Google’s DeepMind AI just taught itself to walk

HV. Self-replicating artificial intelligence program named Dorothy.

Galerians: Ash (2002) PS2

AI Pathfinding - Update

An update on the A* pathfinding system I’m doing for my prototype. I’ve added smoothing to the paths so I get a more natural looking movement. I’ve also added weights, which means I can add a penalty to moving on different surfaces, which the AI will take into account when finding a path.

For example if there is puddle of mud between the unit and its target location (and walking through mud slows the units speed), it will figure out if its better to walk around the mud or walk through it. Another example as shown in the GIF, the grass has a small movement penalty, making the AI prefer to walk along the road instead of straight to the target, despite the path being longer.