Final version for GSoC 2008...

...to be found in repo. "Of course" not everything has been implemented as planned but basic starters for majority of functions have been introduced. So... there is muuuuch more to be done later - since I plan to slowly continue to develop more and more advanced options.

Main Menu

I decided to go ahead and introduce the Main Menu on application's area. It's going to be a tricky one since everything is tricky in case of multi-touch applications. This one can be in a few states:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.






1. idle (semitransparent)
2. "on-touch-over" (highlighted) - e.g. when some blob moved from outside
3. "on-touch-press" (highlighted and expanded) - new blob has been created within the button area
4. "on-touch-out" (expanded but not highlighted) - blob goes off the button or dies - after 3. took place
5. "on-touch-press" of first option ("Create a new rectangle"):

On state 5. - the other hand can draw a shape of rectangle which becomes a rectangular object in world of "physics". When 5. is released - the main menu goes to the state 1.

Tweener (caurina) is used for menu visual effects.

Vacations vs. updates...

... anyway, new code in repo. Fixed some problems with TUIO on box2D.

First tests...

... are demonstrating multi-touch coordinates transferred to Flash app. and visualized as circles and list of coordinates. The app. is using them as source of user's actions input. Some fine tuning is yet necessary like defining of unmovable objects etc.

Physics in Flash

What's used here is 2.0.1 version of Box2D - a C++ 2D physics engine for games which is bridged to Flash with Box2DFlashAS3.

Software part

The software part consist of Flash application which takes the touch coordinates from Flosc which is an open source communication gateway transforming all TUIO (OSC based) standarized UDP communication from e.g. Touchlib (which is a video-analysis software library for reading the touch coordinates on multitouch displays) or from TUIO Simulator to TCP-formatted data for Flash (via Flash's XMLSocket).

Code repository for Multi-Physics

Check here for updates:
http://code.google.com/p/multi-physics/

What is Multi-Physics?

The main goal of this project is to create a multi‐touch sensitive application for two‐dimensional graphic visualizations of a few basic concepts of physics (esp. mechanics). It is meant to be used by primary school pupils as a simple educational entertainment tool making them familiar with physics and allowing for certain extent of creativity. Young users can actively participate in the learning process by designing and testing their own simulations in a visually catchy cartoon‐style environment. Therefore the program will fulfill the idea of "learning by playing" and hopefully promote interest in science and technology among children.