alice-teacher Binocular depth perception in Alice

[Don Slater]

James,
Thank you for sharing this. This is really cool, and I am looking forward to testing this.

Let me also let everyone know that the Alice Project is preparing a release of Alice 3 (hopefully October) in which students will be able to export their projects into a file format (.a3w) which can then be used in a Alice Unity player, which will be released at the same time. If the player detects a VR rig, the students will be able to experience the project in VR. If not, the Alice project will run as if it is in the Alice environment, but through this player.

We demonstrated this capability at CSTA ’19 in Phoenix. The attached image shows a user experiencing an Alice project with the Oculus Rift setup. It is our intention that we will add all the hooks for all the VR rigs that are available, although all the hooks may not be there until the spring.

Let me also emphasize that this version is still Alice 3. If you remember the history of Alice, it started as a research tool for rapid prototyping of VR as part of Randy Pausch’s research and the Stage 3 research group. We are circling back to our roots.

We are excited to be sharing this with you.

All the best,
Don Slater

Alice Project




> On Jul 17, 2019, at 1:12 PM, Vanderhyde, James <vanderhyde at sxu.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hello, everyone. I had an idea to make a 3D video using Alice, where the user can actually view it in 3D, and it worked pretty well, so I thought I’d share. Unfortunately it’s a lot of steps, and I didn’t find a good way to automate the process, so I didn’t use it in class. Please take a look, and if you think of a way to automate this, it could be very cool.
> 
> The best way to view the resulting video is with Google Cardboard or similar device on a phone. You can find all the steps and the resulting video here:
> http://vanderhyde.us/~james/alice/ <http://vanderhyde.us/~james/alice/>
> 
> I’ll also paste the steps below in this email so you can take a look now. Enjoy!
> 
> James
> —
> James Vanderhyde
> Assistant Professor and Department Chair, Computer Science
> Saint Xavier University
> 3700 W. 103rd St.
> Chicago, IL 60655
> 773-298-3454
> 
> To make a 3D video in Alice, follow the steps below. I used Alice 2 on MacOS, but the instructions should be adaptable to other environments.
> 
> First, the movie window size in Alice needs be an 8:9 ratio, rather than the default 4:3, because we will use iMovie to make the final product, and iMovie creates 16:9 ratio videos (widescreen). We need two images side-by-side, so an 8:9 ratio will work perfectly (a little taller than wide). You can set this in Alice 2 in the viewing angles in "seldom used properties" on the camera. The vertical viewing angle should be changed to 0.75; leave the horizontal viewing angle at 0.67.
> Next, create your Alice movie as usual.
> At the very beginning of your movie, create a duration 0 visible change (e.g. turn light brightness to 0 and then to 1). We will need this to align the timing of the left and right clips. It serves the same purpose as a clapperboard in a regular movie.
> Move the camera 0.05 m left for the viewer's left eye.
> Play the movie, then start the video capture (command-shift-5 on Mac).
> Hit Restart on the Alice window. If you don't see the light black out, hit restart again. Sometimes it's not visible, so you have to keep restarting until you see the light blink.
> Stop the recording at the end of the movie.
> Move the camera 0.10 m right for the viewer's right eye.
> Record the movie again. Make sure you see the light black out at the beginning. When you save the recording, make sure you know which clip is right and which one is left.
> Trim each clip so it begins right after the light turns on. (You can use QuickTime Player on Mac).
> Create a new project in iMovie, and add both clips. Add the right clip first so you know which is which. The one you add first is considered the main clip. Add the left clip so it overlaps with the first clip.
> Line up both clips on the left. Trim the longer clip to the length of the shorter.
> Select the upper clip and choose Split Screen.
> Share the video to a file or whatever you want.
> You can watch the exported video in 3D using the "magic eye" trick if you make the window small. You can also watch the video using Google Cardboard or a similar device if you open the movie on your phone.
> 
> 
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