Automatic Door

After programming the game controls and the FPS camera to the game. (Credits to Riyuzakisan for the script - http://riyuzakisan.weebly.com/mouselook-script.html) 

So now we can move dynamically around the world, jump, and look around using the mouse. 

We are happy because this is another big step in this project! 

I am now working on program the logic of the game, to atomically open the entrance doors to the lobby.

And this is how it looks now when we are closer to the doors:

Designing the city

Today i am working city design, this city will be composed by high raise buildings as work places buildings and residential. Will be very help full to give more reality to the scene because the building will serve as height comparison objects for the patient when taking the therapy session.

Here is a blender screen shot:

And here a is screen capture about how it will looks after rendering.

Working on..

After finish the design of the building and its components, now i am working on getting some knowledge on Python programming language to start programming some events,  like open the lobby doors automatic when the patient is close to. And start programming the first person camera, and movements.

View from inside the elevator

View from inside the elevator 

At this point the patient should be verbally prepared to start the therapy, because at this point is where the patient will front the acrophobia. The elevator have a panoramic view so he can view through the glass and initially he are on the lobby so he will be looking to the parking. I was thinking on put some objects on this scene that have some height to give the feel to the patient that he is gaining height when the elevator start up, so i decided to design a city with different buildings and heights. 

Elevators area

Elevators area

On this screen shot i am showing how the elevators area looks, this area is located at the left side of the front desk and is composed by two elevators, some laps and two plants to decorate the area. When the therapy specialist is close to the door an press the button the elevators open and the specialist enters the patient to the elevator to start up.

The wait area

The wait area

The wait area is composed by five furniture pieces, four red fashion seats and one table with a glass top.

Inside the building

Inside the building

 Inside the building i decided to make it as a hotel lobby, where the first front view will show the reception with four computers on the front desk, the floor as been designed as a marble floor with reflections to give more reality to the scene, and also i decided to design a wait area on the right side and the elevators to the left. This lobby also have illumination and lamps and also shadow fx's.

Building Design

Blender Screenshot 

This is a view from outside the building, this screenshot as been taken from the blender work place, so this is not how it will finally look because the image is not rendered; below is the rendered version.

Render View

This is the first scene that the patient will see when start the therapy, here the specialist can take the patient to all the scenario outside the building and talk with him to get the patient prepared before enter the building and start the gaining height inside the panoramic elevator. This is very important because we are working with the emotions and health of the people, so we need to first prepare him verbally before start the hardest part that is start gaining height inside the panoramic elevator and  looking around. 

Blender (3D Modeling software and game engine)

For the development of the virtual reality environment i will be using Blender 3D 2.63 for Mac OS. This software is an open source (free) 3D modeling software and game engine that is used for visual fx's , 3D animations and video games. This platform as been released on 1995 and use Python as the main programming language for scripting. Blender is very convenient for this project because have all the tools that i need to design and develop the scenario needed to make this software works for a patient!

Design Concept

            The virtual therapy software will run on a dedicated computer that will be controlled by the specialist. The participant will use a 3D glasses to give more realistic sensation, the specialist will have a monitor that will be showing exactly the same image as the participant and he will control the participant camera in order to get the therapy, also the participant heart beat will be monitored with an external heart beat monitor device and the measured value will be displayed to the specialist every time.
     

          To give good simulation of a real world environment we decided to use Blender 3D software. Our design concept is to design an environment that uses first person view to give more reality and feeling to the participant. The design consists on a 3D world where the patient will see plants, sun or lights, landscape, parking slots and a building with panoramic elevator. At the initial state of the therapy the patient will see the landscape and the building from the parking, this will help in the mental preparation of the patient before start gaining height inside the panoramic elevator, also, the patient can move inside the virtual world and look what is around. The main object on the design is the elevator that will make the patient confront the phobia in a safety way.

Virtual Reallity

Virtual reality (VR) is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds. Most current virtual reality environments are primarily visual experiences, displayed either on a computer screen or through special stereoscopic displays, but some simulations include additional sensory information, such as sound through speakers or headphones.

Virtual reality is often used to describe a wide variety of applications commonly associated with immersive, highly visual, 3D environments. The development of CAD software, graphics hardware acceleration, head mounted displays, database gloves, and miniaturization has helped popularize the notion. In the book The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality by Michael R. Heim, seven different concepts of virtual reality are identified: simulation, interaction, artificiality, immersion, telepresence, full-body immersion, and network communication. People often identify VR with head mounted displays and data suits. 

Previous work

           On the previous semester i was working with my partner Emmanuel Claudio making research about this kind of phobia.

          To archive virtual reality that a patient that is going to take a therapy session can feel the sensation of reality of the real world virtually. We contact through our mentor Prof. Alcides Alvear with the Department of Phycology in Universidad del Turabo to have a recommendations with professionals that bring therapy sessions to patients with problems with phobias. During the meeting we talk with the Director of physiological clinic Dra. Jessica Velasquez and Dr. Jorge Berrios both are professors in the university. The recommendations that they gave us are the following:

• ·      Make the virtual reality with an option of pause.
• ·      Use motivational effects like applause, voices, cheers, etc.
• ·      Read the heartbeat to measure the stress.

In that meeting we ask what would be the help to their work. If the virtual reality therapy can be an effective tool to use. Both says that this is a very new concept but they are certain that this kind of tool really works and can be used for their patients to test it.