Unifeye Viewer Shockwave Xtra and Unifeye PC

The architecture overview of Figure 3 shows that the Unifeye Viewer Shockwave Xtra can be compared to the Unifeye TrackingDLL. It handles the access to the camera interface as well as the tracking tasks. The rendering/visualization is not part of the Unifeye Viewer or the TrackingDLL. In case of the Unifeye Viewer, the Shockwave Rendering engine will usually be used for visualization. The provided standard application as well as any application combines the output of the Unifeye Viewer Xtra (camera image and tracking information) with the Shockwave Rendering engine and your own application logic.

Regarding configuration files (like tracking configuration) the Unifeye Viewer uses the same configuration files like the Unifeye TrackingDLL or SDK. Given this compatibility the Unifeye SDK/Design can support the creation of AR applications for the Unifeye Viewer platform. Configuration and calibration tasks can be performed using the available tools and functionalities of the Unifeye SDK. The resulting configuration and calibration files can then be used for Shockwave AR scenarios using the Unifeye Viewer.

Figure 1: Layer comparison Unifeye Viewer (left) and Unifeye Tracking DLL PC (right)

Portability of configuration files

The Unifeye Viewer is based on the same configuration files as the Unifeye SDK. This includes

• Tracking configuration files (for planar markerless tracking)
• Scene files (.scef) for AR scenes including
  • Configuration,
  • Model data and corresponding translation/rotation/scaling values as well as coordinate system bindings,
  • Application configuration information for animations and sounds.

In order to create an application configuration, the tools of Unifeye SDK PC can be used.

• Use the Unifeye GUI Planar Markerless Configuration tool to create a tracking configuration for your Unifeye Viewer Shockwave application.
• [Optional:] Use the Unifeye GUI to create a scene file for your models (please note 4.2) including
  • binding to desired coordinate system
  • translation/rotation/scale
• [Optional:] Application configuration nodes can be included in the scene file. Currently, they still have to be included manually. A graphical user interface is planned for the future.

Portability of 3D models

The model format to be used in Shockwave applications is w3d which is different from the model formats supported by the Unifeye SDK. Please see sections 7.1, 9.2 and 10 for more details regarding the content preparation process.

Portability of code

As mentioned above, the interfaces of Unifeye Viewer Shockwave Xtra and the Unifeye TrackingDLL are very similar. Therefore, anyone with programming experience for Unifeye TrackingDLL can easily switch to Unifeye Viewer development. Even people without any Unifeye programming experience can create Shockwave applications with the Unifeye Viewer Xtra very quickly, as the number of supported functions is very limited but sufficient for creating AR applications (see 11) and there are elaborate examples available (see section 7.5 and section 8).

Overview of the configuration and deployment process

This section provides an overview of the configuration and deployment process for Unifeye Viewer Shockwave applications including an overview of the process for AR development based on the standard application (without programming) and AR development based on the Unifeye Viewer Xtra and Shockwave (including programming).

Development based on the standard application

The Unifeye Viewer is shipped with a standard application which allows easy configuration of online Shockwave AR applications. In addition to that you can use Unifeye SDK/Unifeye Design configuration tools (like the planar markerless tracking configurator). The application can be configured and tested in a local environment (e.g. on a private web server) using the development version of the Unifeye Viewer Shockwave Xtra, which requires the WIBU license dongle. After successful testing, the application can be deployed to a public server, using the deployment version of the Unifeye Viewer Shockwave Xtra and an encrypted tracking data file. The deployment version of the Unifeye Viewer Xtra runs without a WIBU license dongle.

The development and deployment process is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Creation process when using the standard application

More details on the process of Shockwave application development based on the standard application can be found in section 9.

Development based on the Unifeye Viewer Xtra and Shockwave/Director

If you need your own program logic the Shockwave application programming can be done directly inside Adobe Director using the Unifeye Viewer Xtra. Again during development you use the Unifeye Viewer development Xtra and potentially configuration tools of Unifeye SDK/Design. For deployment you publish the compiled Shockwave application/movie to a public server and use an encrypted tracking data file in conjunction with the deployment version of the Unifeye Viewer Xtra.

More details regarding the general development and deployment process can be found in 7.

-- SupportMetaio - 2010-07-15