Random thoughts: The BYOAC Virtual Arcade

[TopJimmyCooks]

Chuck, gotta say, that Mala layout is awesome and really caps off the bartop, Dog.  Good lookin' out.

[end Randy Jackson impression]

[Le Chuck]

Chuck, gotta say, that Mala layout is awesome and really caps off the bartop, Dog.  Good lookin' out.

[end Randy Jackson impression]

  Thanks bro.  I keep forgetting to get over to the MALA site and post the layout.  Gotta get that done this weakend.   

[kahlid74]

OpenQwaq looks pretty cool.  The server install is a ---smurfette--- but straight forward.  I'll stand up a CentOS box in the farm when I get home tonight and see if I can get it running. 

I could see a setup where there would be a hallway and two rooms.  The one on the left has the classics built by manufacturers so people could go back and look at them to get inspiration.  The room on the right would have all home built/reworked cabs.

Can you guys post some 3d drawings here or somewhere I can download them to see if I can import them in?  .KMZ export preferably as this looks to be the wanted export/import for OpenQwaq.

[alfonzotan]

OpenQwaq looks pretty cool.  The server install is a ---smurfette--- but straight forward.  I'll stand up a CentOS box in the farm when I get home tonight and see if I can get it running.  

I could see a setup where there would be a hallway and two rooms.  The one on the left has the classics built by manufacturers so people could go back and look at them to get inspiration.  The room on the right would have all home built/reworked cabs.

Can you guys post some 3d drawings here or somewhere I can download them to see if I can import them in?  .KMZ export preferably as this looks to be the wanted export/import for OpenQwaq.

Here ya go, and thanks:  http://www.mediafire.com/?tup5ef6f70q84i3

As the noted Western philosopher Butt-head often noted, "This is gonna be cool."

[05SRT4]

Just started reading, This would be a great idea!! Ill have to start sketching my cab.

[Uncle Monkey]

I'm down, does anyone have a UAII model for sketchup? That's all I need.....

[kahlid74]

Well, I lost time due to Mass Effect 3 but now that's finished so I installed OpenQwaq only to realize that I did the whole shindig on x64 which isn't supported.  Stupid entangled 32bit DSN libraries.  So reinstalling on 32bit.  Hopefully I'll have something up by end of the weekend.

[SammyWI]

Well, I've found at least a couple of possible free to try options to convert Solidworks to SketchUp so I'll have to update my Solidworks assembly to my as built condition. I'll report back if I get something to work. 

I've also seen some mentions that OpenQwaq supports PDF.  Any idea if it supports 3D PDFs?  Solidworks can directly export to that format.

[kahlid74]

Well, I've found at least a couple of possible free to try options to convert Solidworks to SketchUp so I'll have to update my Solidworks assembly to my as built condition. I'll report back if I get something to work. 

I've also seen some mentions that OpenQwaq supports PDF.  Any idea if it supports 3D PDFs?  Solidworks can directly export to that format.

Give me a link, I'll download them and import them, see if it works.

[kahlid74]

Alright so OpenQwaq is fully setup.  It's pretty cool but a lot to manage.  I imported alfonzotan's design and then I went on Sketchup's repository and grabbed two of Gozer's sketches.  I then converted them to KMZ.  They all imported pretty well.  Before I open up the bazillion firewalls and configure my loadbalancer, I've attached the video below.  Is this what we're looking for?  If it is I'll grant access and let you all log in to the system and add cabinets, experience it first hand.

Also, this DOES require a client from everything I can see.  So I don't think it's as easy and browsing a webpage.

[alfonzotan]

That's pretty cool.  Of course, to get the proper arcade ambiance, it'll need lower lights and a soundtrack by, say, The Cars...

What kind of client would be needed for viewing?  Something OS-independent, hopefully...

[Uncle Monkey]

And of course background noise from Arcade Ambience http://arcade.hofle.com/

[kahlid74]

That's pretty cool.  Of course, to get the proper arcade ambiance, it'll need lower lights and a soundtrack by, say, The Cars...

What kind of client would be needed for viewing?  Something OS-independent, hopefully...

Client appears to be for Windows, Linux and Mac, so it's all golden there. - http://code.google.com/p/openqwaq/downloads/list

[TopJimmyCooks]

Kahlid74:
At one point alfonzotan's Tron had more photo textures than just the marquee.  did something happen with quak or did you get the model that way?  just curious. 

[kahlid74]

Kahlid74:
At one point alfonzotan's Tron had more photo textures than just the marquee.  did something happen with quak or did you get the model that way?  just curious. 

Great question.  That I assume was the import process from OpenQwaq.  I looked originally at the inner-workings of the import process because I wanted to understand it but I couldn't really find any documentation.

The import process is really just a point and click.  So maybe there's a client side setting that lets me see more?  Or maybe there's an advanced Import process.  I've yet to find any really good documentation on the OpenQwaq system aside from the server install instructions which are well detailed.

[EightBySix]

I might be able to help here, I've built some open qwaq environments before.
Success of kmz imports can depend on how the setup was built, using logical groups of components helps.
You can explode the models after import into those components and set properties etc.


We're not limited to the template environments supplied, we could make our own arcade building. Anyone got a sketch up mOdell of something that would do? Maybe we could tweak something from google warehouse...

Pm me if I can help at all...

[TopJimmyCooks]

I didn't do any cleanup on that model, like make the textured surfaces components, or make the whole thing a component.  I'm surprised that one texture came through but not others.  Might need some experimentation to figure out what needs to be done for a clean export.


on modeling the arcade building, easy enough to do.  I've modeled plenty more buildings than arcade machines.  we could even model the outside so you could go outside and loiter!  We could use google earth to locate the model in Saint's backyard.  many possibilities. 

[alfonzotan]

I might be able to help here, I've built some open qwaq environments before.
Success of kmz imports can depend on how the setup was built, using logical groups of components helps.
You can explode the models after import into those components and set properties etc.


We're not limited to the template environments supplied, we could make our own arcade building. Anyone got a sketch up mOdell of something that would do? Maybe we could tweak something from google warehouse...

Pm me if I can help at all...

This is one obvious choice, of course...

[kahlid74]

Well here's the question, is this what we want?  If it is, I'll create the environment and get it up and then I'll get you access EightBySix and everyone else and you can start experimenting with it.  My video was really just a "Is this what we want before I spend my time opening up my five firewalls and creating my loadbalancer environment because I'm stupid crazy when it comes to my home network"question.

[alfonzotan]

Kahlid74:
At one point alfonzotan's Tron had more photo textures than just the marquee.  did something happen with quak or did you get the model that way?  just curious. 

I think saving as a .kmz may have wiped out some of the detailed texturing.  Can't quite tell one way or the other, but I'll tinker with it a bit.

[EightBySix]

Well here's the question, is this what we want?  If it is, I'll create the environment and get it up and then I'll get you access EightBySix and everyone else and you can start experimenting with it.  My video was really just a "Is this what we want before I spend my time opening up my five firewalls and creating my loadbalancer environment because I'm stupid crazy when it comes to my home network"question.

It's pretty network friendly - everything goes over a single connection on an http port. That's why we ended up using it. Products such as second life need allsorts of stuff opening in both directions, which is why it never flew in a corporate environment (well - one of the reasons anyway)

Kudos to you Kahlid for setting this up so far.

btw, look what I found on google sketchup warehouse... Just saying....

[kahlid74]

I started brainstorming about this last night and I'm not sure I want to set it up in my farm locally just because of the amount of traffic we may see.  So instead, I'll look to stand it up in my rack at the hosting company.  I'll provision a machine for this and get it up for the next few days. 

Once it's up I'll get you guys access and you can start building an environment and testing the import process.  Then you can get a feel for whether it makes sense long time.

I've got some hurdles to cross Server wise because the install instructions allow for a large reach of security than I feel comfortable with this user.  I also want to build a backup script so that as this Virtual BYOAC grows, if disaster occurs, we can bring it back with a minimal amount of work.