Week 2: Additions to the lab
Week 2 and Hanan and I are still working on the 3D cube GUI. Through hours of research of tutorials and resources that gave the basics of how to draw a 3D figure to a canvas, we have figured out how to render a 3D cube to the screen, how to control the texture and lighting. After some testing and manipulation of certain lines of code in our project (such as the translate function), we were able to figure out how to control the size of the cube.
Finally, we're done (thanks to my partner Hanan and Eve)! We have one more tutorial left which was the most relevant one to the dance tool, the shapes applet. Our shapes applet we be able to have the same manipulations as the 3D cube GUI, except this time, the user will be using drag and drop controls to drag shapes from one panel and drop it in the other. Once the 2D figure was dropped into the panel, the 3D version of the shape was shown in the canvas. If we can understand the drag and drop controls in this assignment, the new found knowledge will assist us in the dance tool project which one of its basic operations is drag and drop.
This was also the week that the REU students arrived in the lab. After all of the REU students arrived and divided into their labs, there was a tour of all the different research labs in Woodward (the research building that I will be working in over the summer) and demonstrations of some of the research projects that each lab is working on.
Hanan, Michelle, and I also had the opportunity to meet the REU students that were going to spend the rest of the summer in the lab with us. The students include Katie, Drew, Kent, and Sean. Katie and Drew were also working with a grad assistant (Amanda) under Dr. Barnes. They are working on a game that teaches recursion.
Kent and Sean are working on a 3D game that can help the local fire departments under the guidance of Dr. Youngblood.
Besides working on research projects, there were ice breakers that allowed all of the REU and CRA-W DMP participants to get to know each other. The ice breakers were suppose to teach us important concepts related to working on research projects such as teamwork, communication, planning, organization, leadership skills, and delegating responsibilities. The ice breakers were so much fun that we almost forgot the lessons that we learned.
Overall, this was a fun week. The halls of Laurel are not empty anymore and it’s great talking to returning REU students about their past research experiences. I also have a new roommate name Lauren which I met this past weekend. Now the apartment isn’t so lonely anymore! She was here before I arrived UNCC, but she decided to visit family and friends during the first weekend.
Even though there were more arrivals in the world this week, Hanan, Michelle and I still have to do presentations this week. This week, I discuss my completion of the 3D cube GUI and explain our new project, the shapes applet. My literature review was on the research paper titled “How to Build Serious Games”. This paper discusses some of the important components of building a serious and effective game by explaining the design process of a serious game that teaches the basics of biology and innate immunology. To see the presentation for this week, click here.