Need qualified (or opinionated) help designing a unique/historic GUI

[Anonymous]

For complete background info, see a post below.

I wish the designers of the GUI for 3ds Max were around to help me. However, I am sure that there are people reading this who have good/excellent/two cent ideas on how to implement solutions of the pervasive 2D to 3D problem.

I hired a small web design group and I gave them this screenshot:

Named After Dr. Randy RobertsonNote: The web page by them attempted is a mock up, just the look and feel of a future tool that should get many users addicted. After all, this simple device should solve forever "The Subject That Never Dies". More than 2,000 books -and counting- have been written about the problem that Autodesk (you guys rock!!) and myself are on the verge of cracking open.

The task given to the user couldn't be simpler:
  (1) Click Mouse Button
  (2) Drag
  (3) Release Button

When the button is released (during dragging, too) these 3 things will happen:

(a) A red line will be drawn in the quadrant most convenient, chosen by the user. Bird's view will be a favorite.

(b) More red lines will be drawn in the N-1 quadrants/displays. In this case N=4.

(c) The magnitude and angle (both made up, dummy results) of the vector defined by the operation will be shown.

I am sure that we all agree in this: (a) is trivially easy while (b) ranges between very hard and impossible.

Remember: this is a mock up, almost anything will do BUT eventually the user/computer interactivity will be coded and implemented.

[To be continued}

TIA,

-Ramon F. Herrera

JFK Numbers

ramon@jfknumbers.org

ps: Stay safe, everyone!

[Anonymous]

-Ramon F Herrera
JFK Numbers

[Anonymous]

This is what the enterprising young people have delivered, after more than a week spent scratching their heads:

This solution is suboptimal - Will never work 

Logistic Note: You cannot use Firefox for that webpage. Chrome and Edge are fine. Just narrow the window until the 4-row by 1-column display becomes what God intended: 2 rows by 2 columns.

I told the web designers (they use Javascript): "This is NOT a real 3D environment, just "make believe". However, they found some 3D gizmo and probably said: "Aha! This cool problem is solved!". Sigh: ignorance is bliss.

Let's use the top left quadrant, to make this easier: 2 points in that view generate a plane, limited by coordinates 'A' and 'B'; and by the ground and the screen. Let's say we know that the height to the TSBD building is 100 ft (there we no shooters in helicopters). In order to make this even more solvable, we instruct the user: Point 'A' must be higher or the same as point 'B'. That still leaves with a plane segment. We need a 3D line.

-Ramon
JFK Numbers

[10DSpace · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

If I understand your question properly and if your Max scene is to made to scale, you can have your “3D" line as follows:

1. User places/snaps Dummies on the points of interest in the Max 3D Scene. You can use the Snap function to place the dummies on specific vertices etc of geometry or place by hand. 
2. User then snaps a line to the pivot points of the Dummies and enables rendering in viewport to make it visible (adjust thickness to taste)
3. If you want measurements you can use the LiveMeasure script available here:

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/livemeasure

1. The angle can be derived using trigonometry based on the measurements shown above.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

---

@10DSpace wrote:

Hi @Anonymous 

If I understand your question properly and if your Max scene is to made to scale, you can have your “3D" line as follows:

1. The angle can be derived using trigonometry based on the measurements shown above.

Hope this helps.

---

There is a small problem. The web designers don't even know that there is something known as 3ds Max.

They were provided with 1 screenshot. All I gave them was this PNG file:

One PNG file is the only input

There is nothing to "measure" right now. There will be as soon as I have the point cloud digested.

The only tools that the web designers can possibly use are:

(1) HTML coding
(2) The flat PNG image seen above
(3) Javascript to draw red lines.

This will be used by thousands (Millions? Tens of millions?  : -) of users. I cannot possibly have them running 3ds Max in the background.

As you can see in the YouTube video, my GUI could look completely different (that is a Rhino plugin, Mike McCormick the creator told me). However, I chose to "borrow" (wink, wink) the coolest GUI ever.

Thanks!

-Ramon

JFK Numbers

[Anonymous]

Now that I think about it, I will post this in the "3ds Max Programming" and other SDK/API forums.

This problem needs all the help it can get.

-Ramon
JFK Numbers

[10DSpace]

@Anonymous 

If you are trying to use a 2d image like a png, then your solution will have to involve photogrametry which is not a trivial programming exercise.  Whole programs are devoted to that alone and generally multiple 2d photos from various angles are required for a 3d solution.  But if you have some type of point cloud data that is a start.  However as far as I know, based on current technology a single 2d image cannot provide accurate information about 3d geometry.  You can fake 3d appearance from it, but won't get the type of forensic info you seem to want from a single photo.  

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

---

@10DSpace wrote:

@Anonymous 

If you are trying to use a 2d image like a png, then your solution will have to involve photogrametry which is not a trivial programming exercise.

---

There are 2 steps:

No. 1: A fake web tool. They charge me $140. That is my total budget. See project here:

Two Interactive Web Pages, Prototypes of Fancy Future Features  

The web designers have no access to the photo. They simply paste it as the background image seen on the desktops of Windows and Mac.

I could put there the poster of Farrah Fawcett (best seller in history) and the web designers' program cannot tell the difference. It will draw 3 red lines across her beautiful face.

The question is: How do you inform the computer what you want? How can the computer help faking results

No. 2: The real thing. We will cross that bridge when we get to it.

-Ramon
JFK Numbers