Analytics Engine: Creating Space with Light

Mod files: https://rapidshare.com/files/1767067841/z3376226_Exp2.zip



Entire flowgraph: 

Section of the flowgraph that controls the lights:





Section of the flowgraph that implements the xml file/data. The actual pachube feed is frozen so I had to make multiple xml files and change each of their values to simulate a live feed.

Marking Schedule

30 second light test

This is just a test to get the lights to turn on/off when an entity enters or leaves a specific area

I'm having great difficulty in trying to set/change the ColorMultiplier property from 0 (which would make the light entity dark/off) to any other number. At the moment I'm trying to create a light which progressively glows brighter as you stand in a certain area as opposed to the light flicking on to maximum brightness instantly. The only way I can figure out how to do this is to progressively change the 'ColorMultiplier' settings of the light entity from 0 upwards up to 10. The property value is a "Float" type and that is why the property name is listed as fColorMultiplier as opposed to just ColorMultiplier in the node. Despite the node having it's properties listed correctly (I've experimented with this kind of entity:SetProperty node before with great success), the light entity does nothing when activated in-game. The node/property in question is the two nodes on the far right of the screenshot.

Architectural form inside Crysis

Architectural form

This is the basic shape of the architecture I'll use within Crysis/Sandbox 2 to represent the pachube feed with. 

Research Assignment

Tutorial Information:


There are quite a number of 'explosive' demonstration videos around the internet for Crysis Sandbox 2 but none really explain how to achieve such an effect. An average user will know how to use basic entities within Sandbox 2 and how to use flowgraphs, but few are aware of the Sandbox 2 database library. My tutorial touches on the particle section of the database library and focuses on how to implement explosive particle effects in Sandbox 2. From the video, individuals can hope to expect an increased understanding of what the Sandbox 2 database is and how it works, how particle affects work and the numerous possibilities that can be had with 'particleeffect' entities.

The tutorial is useful for individuals wanting to increase the flashiness of their level and is also useful for setting a level 'theme' or message (shown here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exwxYIzio48&feature=player_embedded). This can be expanded to a variety of other applications / ideas regarding other particle effects as well (IE severe weather effects, expanding/contracting objects etc)

The tutorial is suitable for people with no assumed knowledge of Sandbox 2 editing at all, but is also for intermediate users as well. The tutorial guides the viewer step by step through each process of implementing a particle effect/explosion, and explains/expands on each process. Anyone who has access to the Sandbox 2 editor can easily learn the tutorial subject in under 10 minutes.

Third Experiment

Here are some infographics that can be related back to the Pachube concept!

This infograph represents the visual change of a various number of internet browsers since their beginnings up until now. As people continue to use internet browsers over the years, the browsers are modified and adapted to become cleaner and more modern. An idea here arises where a person within an architecture can see elements/shapes/spaces move around and/or manifest in front of them the longer they remain in that particular area. This could go hand in hand with lighting to make interesting spatial elements that could contrast one area of the interior with another.

This infograph represents the world population with the liquid inside the glass representing the population for a particular continent. The water dripping into the glass represents the number of births and the water dripping out represents the deaths. As the years go by, the number of births increase due to new technologies, better agriculture and research into medicine which overcomes/slows the death rate by a large amount (and thus increasing overall population). A Crysis concept relating to the pachube feed from this infograph can be seen as dimming/increasing lighting inside an architecture. The longer a person remains within a certain area, the longer the light will stay on once the person leaves. The average time that the person/s stays in a certain area could be recorded and be linked with a timer that is also linked with the brightness/material parameter of a light object.

This novel image shows a mug with a number of different shades of tea possible on the side. Matching up the colour of your tea to the shade is done by varying the amount of milk poured and mixed into the tea (which correlates to a specific type of tea eg "Milky", "Classic British"...). This image relates to 'concentration' in some ways. In Crysis I could modify the colour of a light depending on the concentration of people in a certain area. For instance, for a number of 1-3 people, the light remains white. But for 4-10 or so, the light will change to red, or blue, or some other colour.

Simple test of moving objects when player stands in a specific area/spot.

This is the flowgraph which controls the movement. It bugged up at the end of the video but theres not much I can do to rectify that...
The flowgraph is a little messy, I may have redundancies in there but I'm not too sure!