Device software is ready
I’m done with the software for my “Linear Camera” Device.
The first picture shows the device booting up with my University logo (TU-Sofia), the second one is the main menu, the third one shows the linear sensor output. Notice the three icons on top. The first one (the emoticon 
) shows that the device is calibrated or not. The second one (the lamp) shows that the “flash light” is activated and the third one shows how much battery we have left. The last image shows the results of the measurements. It’s only in Cyrillic – no latin alphabet because I wanted to free some space for the logo
I’ll have to present this as my Bachelor thesis in Friday (9th of July). I hope everything will go as planed
“Linear Camera ” – PCB and assembly
I just received my PCBs:
And this is how they look after I have soldered the elements.
It’s my first time soldering SMD components but I think I’ve made it. I now have to find a programmer and hope that everything is OK and that the device will run properly
“Linear Camera” progress
I have some progress on my USB device - now defined as a "Linear Camera". It's going to be my thesis for my Bachelor degree. I've currently developed the board and I'm waiting for it to be produced so I can assemble it.
I was able to drive a Nokia 3310 LCD, to display some text and graphics from the sensor.
3D Adventure Dev Kit – Preview 1
Long time ago I promised the first preview version of the new interface of 3D Adventure Dev Kit I’m working on. So finally here it is:
It’s not much and you most probably will be disappointed a bit as it looks like a step back in terms of functionality compared to the old version.
The good news is that I got inspired these days and finished a lot things that require much coding time. So I’m quickly approaching Preview 2.
Here’s what I’ve done for Preview 2:
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A finished properties inspector with custom editors
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Game properties dialog.
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Bug fixes
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Other non visible things include bug fixing and BG translations.
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In terms of functionality I’ve written the “Project Manager” that is responsible for handling project files. This means that New, Open, Save, Save as… now works.
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A special file format was implemented to allow better backwards and forward compatibility of projects when a new version arrives. This means that when a new version is out there you’ll be able to open your old projects as easy as possible.
Stay tuned as the new Preview 2 version will also have Scene Manager, the ability to add new objects and perhaps more.
Communicating with TSL202R
Last time I talked about my USB device that I’m creating. I’ve connected the TSL202R Linear Array Photodiode sensor. It has 128 photodiodes(pixels) that tells us how much light there is on each one of them. This is very useful. It can be used for example for OCR, measuring the angle of a light source etc. I’m interesting in measuring the dimensions of object. It’s actually a simple method. Take a look at this figure:
We have a source of light then an optic system and the sensor. When we put an object in front of the light we get his shadow on the sensor. By measuring the size of the shadow we can calculate the size of the object.
Here’s how the sensor looks like and a simple result of it’s output in my application:
USB HID Device
This weekend I've managed to create my first USB device. It's a simple board with the PIC18F4550 microcontroller. It gets detected from Windows as HID device and works properly. I can send data to it and read information back. Tried the ADC and it works fine. I still have to make some test on the speed of the transfer but for my needs it's more than enough. I used the Microchip USB Bootloader and modified it a bit to work with the free version of C18 compiler. And so the device is able to update/program it's firmware/memory using the PC thought USB. So no need for my programmer for now. There is a design fault in the pictures below. The big capacitor over there under the LED is too big and the device was not working properly. I have now changed it with a 100nF capacitor and everything is fine.
So here are some pics:
3D Adventure Dev Kit progress…
Hey did I mention that I've started porting 3D Adventure Dev Kit to C++ and Irrlicht 3D Engine. This once again is going to slow developement down. But for good. With C++ and Irrlicht now we have more speed and features. The new program will run on Windows, Linux and maybe sometime at MacOS. It won't have many editors like the previous versions. It'll be more object oriented. This means that everything in the game will be constructed from objects. For example the terrain will be an object. When you place it you'll be able to access several properties or even an object editor. Events could be assigned to objects. For example: On Use, On Pick Up etc... I'm still in a design phase but for now it's going on very good and the new interface looks very proffesional. Fear not proffesional look doesn't mean harder to use . It does however meens more flexible and more feature
Take a look at this screenshot:
3D Adventure Dev Kit Preview 1
There will be a Technology preview 1 very soon, so check frequently at www.game2make.com for this version.
Random numbers in C++
int GetRandomNumber() {
return 4; //chosen by fair dice roll. guaranteed to be random.
}
A holiday in Vratsa
Last weekend I was on a trip to town of Vratsa. We stayed at Chaika Hotel. The town is located in northwestern Bulgaria, at the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The landscape around is woderfull. The hotel is outsite the town but it's 5 minutes away by car and 20 minutes away from the cave "Ledenika". There is a nice lake next to the hotel and a small river right infront of it. From the rooms windows one can see the magnificent mountains. It was cloudy and rainy but I've had a wonderful time.
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- Me and my brother
“Union makes strength”
National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria
I just made a picture of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria I want to share. I had to enter a building in front of it in order to make take a photo in this view. The quality is not perfect because it's taken with my phone. The text on the building says: "Union makes strength". That's the Motto of Republic of Bulgaria.
PS: I just wanted to post something as I haven't done so in a long time