[Soc-2012-dev] Multitouch Weekly Report

[Nick Rishel]

Week 7 Multitouch Development:

   - Basic touch library started  (more placeholders than functioning code)
   - Set up a follow up meeting with BlenderTUIO developers
   - Committing basic grammatical/formatting issues I notice while
   researching
      - In both source code and Wiki
      - Going to let these build a little more in the future before
      committing.
      - Realized that Python will play a larger part in this project that I
   originally foresaw
   - I realized that researching a couple issues distracted me from getting
   functional work accomplished
      - Fixing this trend is rather simple now that I realize what I'm
      doing wrong (very similar to writer's block)

Big issues coming up:

   - Possibly getting correct context information for touch points beyond
   the first finger
   - Registering relevant context information, e.g. area types, region
   types(?), via Python to the touch library


http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:PrototypeNM1/Weekly_Report#Week_7
Week 7 Friday

This week, too much of my time was spent on reading/rereading documentation
and source code, not enough on actual coding. This is leading to indecision
and lack of real work getting done. As I step back and reflect on it now, I
realized this does not make sense as, working on a library now, the
information is abstracted enough to work on a basis even if the specifics
need to be rewritten later. With this realization in mind, this evening I
began writing the library code to get my project heading in a better
direction.

Since I have been reading through a lot of code, I've been trying to
correct formatting and comment spelling as I go along. In realization that
these little commits might become obnoxious, I'm going to start
accumulating them before committing to trunk.

After reviewing Python's usage in Blender, I am realizing it will have a
larger role to play in my project. since context information is handled
between C and Python. Creating expressions was already going to be handled
in Python for the UI, in addition I believe it would be best to handle
operators from and registering possible contexts to the touch manager via
the Python API. Handling Regex state logic and system input will still
occur in C++.

Two main things kept me distracted from making real progress this week.

1. I wanted to have established where Blender would register context
information, which is necessary for BGE and Blender to have unified touch
code. I now believe this should be via the Python API populating known
contexts in Blender with a startup script, and possibly populated by the
game designer in BGE. I am not sure how the embedded BGE in Blender will
handle this, but I believe it is as simple as re-interpreting the touch
events given it being provided from the Window Manager into BGE readable
form based on code I bumped into while reading how the BGE and Window
Manager relate.

2. I wanted to understand how to best integrate this library into blender,
which is still an open issue. I believe my existing code in the Window
Manager is probably the best place to look at this moment. This is an issue
that needs to be solved soon, since it could lead to disconnect due to
library code being untestable (NOT GOOD, BUG PRONE!). Once this issue is
worked through, any code I have working in the library will just need GHOST
related additions to work dependent on platform.

An issue I see looming on the horizon is that relates to the multicursor
nature of Blender. I believe Blender will only take the first touch point
into consideration when determining context. This is an issue as
interpreting touch based on context is quite important to this project. I
am set to talk with BlenderTUIO developers next week, and will ask how they
dealt with this.
Next Week

Continuing from my (late) work on library code this week, I will start
writing the basic functions I know I will need once I am able to hook in my
library, while figuring out a good way to implement problem 1. above. I
believe I already know where to look for problem 2., so I will also try to
have that done as soon as possible, just to work it out of the code I need
focus on.
Next week is also the beginning of midterm evaluations. I will set aside
Wednesday afternoon to work on this.
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