Class 10: Monocular Depth Cues

Here are examples of the 6 different types of monocular depth cues we read about in Professor Walsh's text:

Size Differences:
In this landscape, we can see the difference in size of palm trees.  The nearest palm trees give a good idea how actually large they are.  However, in the distance, the palm trees look smaller (where I have circled).  These trees are not, in fact, any smaller than the ones nearby.

Occlusion:
In this particular screenshot, we are at a beach where different beach garb and trinkets are being sold. There are 12 or so separate little piles, if you will, of things for sale.  I have circled one of the closest piles.  We can clearly see, through occlusion, that the pile is in front of the other piles, and is relatively close to us.

Lighting and Shading:
As we see in these 2 screenshots, it is a sunny day.  When inside, the light looks almost like a laser beam shining in through the ceiling (circled in first shot).  So in the second screenshot, we can tell that the lighter side of the building is nearby, and the building stretches back quite a ways towards the left side of the frame. The lighting and shading make it possible to tell this even with just one eye.

Texture Density:
As something gets further away, it looks more dense, especially when it comes to patterns, like bricks.  When we are right on top of a brick walkway, the bricks directly under us look more spaced apart then the ones further.  This is texture density.  As something gets more distant, it gives an illusion of being more dense (where I circled).

Linear Perspective:
In this example, we see a set of train tracks.  They are equidistant from each other the entire length of it, however, as the tracks get more and more distant, they appear to be getting closer and closer together, until finally they appear to converge at what's called a "vanishing point"(circled).

Atmospheric Perspective:
Things up close look sharp.  As things get farther away, they lose this sharpness and begin to look almost fuzzy.  This happens because the eyes are seeing through significantly more atmosphere when something is farther away.  The more atmosphere the image travels through, the less clear it will seem, as I circled in the distance of this screenshot.  The willow tree in the distance looks fuzzy almost, when, up close, it is actually not.

CLASS 9, Exploring Second Life

I, admittedly, found myself running around in circles for a good hour and a half just enjoying the scenery in this 3D environment.  Then I realized that I could teleport to different places.  The following are all of my screenshots that I took while exploring:

The following two pictures are just screenshots of me setting up the account.  This type of thing is foreign to me, so I figured I would document it.

Here I am with the avatar I picked from the welcome screen.  Just getting my feet wet here.

 I tried to customize my avatar to look as much like me as I could.  So I picked this guy:

 Here I am, still just getting my feet wet.  I just walked and walked before I realized I could teleport.

 I sat on a raft in the water

 I looked for the keys to this beautiful boat!

 Then I climbed a little hill and on the other side, lo and behold, there was a volcano

 Here is the first area that I teleported to

 Here is the second area... looked pretty dismal

 Here is the third area.  This was called "Winter Wonderland".  I don't know if I was doing something wrong, as we were advised to stay in the public, safe for class areas, but there was one avatar in particular that kept getting right up in my face and I kept getting alerts like this:

 Here I am in a cannon

 And here I am underwater just roaming

 This was the path that I followed to see the volcano

 Here is another environment I teleported to. It was called "Italy."  Again, I, by accident, walked into what I thought was a restaurant, but ended up being a hosiery store

FINAL PROJECT STEP 1: IMMERSIVE LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

Here is what I got from reading an article from the Journal of Immersive Education, through the course I am taking at Boston College.  As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am not typically computer-inclined, however, some of the things I've been learning in this class, whether a simple thing like using a program such as GIMP, or getting as technical as learning how to process html code, I have learned that these tools can be useful in so many ways.  So here is a link to the article I will be referring to and taking screen shots of throughout this post: http://JiED.org

This mission statement, to the common eye, may seem mundane.  However, it is the exact opposite of that.  Through immersive education, people who could otherwise never be able to see things like The Louvre, The Pyramids, or even just a pond with different ecosystems and animals can actually SEE these things and experience them with their own eyes.

Here is the overview statement from the article:

I did not grow up in a family with a lot of money.  Gradually, I saw my father working longer and longer hours to provide for my brother, mother and me.  And in 2001, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Villa el Salvador, Peru for a missionary trip with our church.  While there, I saw what being "dirt poor" really means.  However, the kids I met, some young, some my age, some older, all had one common goal: LEARNING. No matter if you come from means, or if you are in a community where you have five gallons of "clean" water being delivered once a week to your "home," with a tarp for a roof, everyone wants to better themselves, and nobody should be deprived of that. This part of the article struck a chord for me:

Imagine being able to, at free will, correspond with other students across the GLOBE and share a smile.  We all grew up with a penpal in elementary school.  How long did that take to hear back (if you heard back at all)?  The immersive education movement cuts out all the grunt work and allows anyone, anywhere, to SEE and HEAR anyone they care to at the click of a mousepad.  This is a remarkable tool that could potentially change the way we learn for generations to come.  

In closing, I would just like to throw out a question for my fellow classmates (and professor).  How do you think your upbringing could have been different had this technology been around when we were little kids?  I, for one, know that my trip to Peru changed my life, but imagine being able to speak to those impoverished people via any single one of the tools offered by immersive education.  I really don't think there is any doubt that words cannot describe the value of it.

Class 9 Big Boom

I stuck 25 TNT squares around my structure and needless to say, blew it to smithereens.  Here are some before, during, and after screenshots.

Class 9: Bigger Blocket

Here, in minecraft, I built a hollow, multi-leveled, multi-colored rocket.  I used everything under the sun from purple moss, gold, glass, dirt, to even TNT.  Here are a few pictures.

Class 9: Blowing up my "Blocket"

I placed 2 boxes of TNT next to one side of my blocket, place a lever right next to them, and poof, gonezo.

Minecraft Rocket

Here is my primitive rocket... 4 wings and a nose basically.