EyePet

[tirminyl]

Seeing EyePet reminds me of the other pseye tech demos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBA1uWSDYjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNRfyQeFWSs&NR=1

My nephew will loves this game!

 

[betan]

It wasn't apparent in the trailer but EyePet software doesn't seem to have any clue where the light is coming from.

Besides that, seems to be working great.

I wonder how many people will be kicking their EyePets around and whether the software can detect and react to abuse, which should be really simple.

 

[Dregun]

The more I think of the EyePet the more facinated I am by it. I used to watch Star Trek TNG all the time when I was younger and the idea of the "Holodeck" was always facinating to me. The idea that "anything" could be created and interacted with always got my imagination going as a kid.

Honestly we are not that far off from having "Holodecks" ourselves. Here we are using a "Toy" (PS3) that is attached to a camera and using some code to create a fictional pet to interact with us. With more progress being made on hologram displayes the idea that we could eventually be able to step into a room that can produce 3d holograms that interact with us is not that far off.

I'm going to buy EyePet even if I don't use it very often because I find it facinating and I wan't to be the "old guy" who tells his son when he is older that "I remember the first time I used something like that".

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I wonder if you are able to pickup your Eye Pet? And hold it to your chest and pet it for example?

From the video's I've seen so far human-pet interaction appears to be fairly limited except when using the magic card.

I've seen petting and jumping over hand but little else. Perhaps I'm missing the ones that show extended interaction.

Regards,
SB

 

[obonicus]

I wonder if you are able to pickup your Eye Pet? And hold it to your chest and pet it for example?

From the video's I've seen so far human-pet interaction appears to be fairly limited except when using the magic card.

I've seen petting and jumping over hand but little else. Perhaps I'm missing the ones that show extended interaction.

Regards,
SB

I don't think you can hug it, but I think you can tell it to hop on your arm.

 

[patsu]

I wonder if you are able to pickup your Eye Pet? And hold it to your chest and pet it for example?

If it's standard PS Eye capability, then yes, you can pick it up with bare hands. Holding it may be less reliable (or not reliable): I assume the pet might escape or jump off you to handle these edge cases. Petting should be doable even with finger movement only (See trailer).

The game also provides you with a black card. You can bring out a toy (from the black card) to play with the pet. Presumably, they could also let the pet stand on the card as you hold it. This should be more reliable.

From the video's I've seen so far human-pet interaction appears to be fairly limited except when using the magic card.

I've seen petting and jumping over hand but little else. Perhaps I'm missing the ones that show extended interaction.

You play games with the pet (e.g., move the trampoline). Other toys may require different interaction (I have no idea).

Now, bringing in your real pet into the picture is something else. The PS Eye should be able to track the interaction between them too (It's just 2D moving images to the camera).

As for limited interaction, you are forgetting the brand new experience: Recognizing and transforming (templated) 2D drawing into 3D toy.

I don't know if they will allow us to create new templates (Probably not).

EDIT: Now that I read about the detailed, physics based Toriko animation. I really want them to put it in EyePet.

With the new controller, I think you can imagine all the tech demoes running here (including possibly tactile feedback from the pet).

 

[phat]

Without depth information, the eyepet graphics are simply overlaid as a separate layer on the camera image. With depth information like from Natal's zcam, you can do z-merging of the rendered pet and the live video! (Albeit, the 1cm z-resolution can cause lots of ugly z-jaggies.)

However, I think that even Natal will need real-life props to determine hand orientation for manipulation of the virtual items.

 

[patsu]

Yes ! (on the superimposed image part).

Actually I hope they also add letter + number recognition to detect kid's writing or voice (say... when the chalkboard toy is brought out). Would be useful for really young kids.

 

[patsu]

EyePet booth in E3:

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Eurogamer hands on. Haven't read it yet.

 

[Dregun]

There was some good information in that article.

I was wondering how drawing an object on the paper could be recognized by the system to recreate a workable 3d model of it. Since you have predefined elements that must be drawn to "create" these items it seems only plausible that future software upgrades could allow EyePet to recognize other items to interact with.

I wonder how complicated it would be for it to recognize the shape of a Cat or Dog and have that "other" pet interact with it.

This is something I'm going to end up getting that I will probably mess around with for a couple weeks and then it sits on my shelf...but. I'm going to get it anyways.

 

[patsu]

You can see another example here too:
http://kotaku.com/358978/playstation-eye-tank-war-demo-is-next-gen-tech

They did a tank with moving treads and rotating turret.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I was wondering how drawing an object on the paper could be recognized by the system to recreate a workable 3d model of it. Since you have predefined elements that must be drawn to "create" these items it seems only plausible that future software upgrades could allow EyePet to recognize other items to interact with.

From the vid clip Patsu posted, it looks like the type of item you are creating needs to be selected, and the components are determined from relative position. They definitely say the plane fusilage is in the centre of the page, the prop on the bottom, and wings on the top (or whatever it was). That gives polygon outlines to extrude into meshes with whatever default bevelling to make it look more modellish.

I thought the way the Critter copied the drawing was clever. Nothing comlicated once you've got the outline tracing algorithm, but a smart application to add some life to the pet. They've also vastly improved the image recogntion versus EOJ. The X-ray machine was following the card perfectly at full framerate.

 

[betan]

The ultimate question is how robust the software/hardware setup is with respect to environment, colors and lighting.
Too bad we don't get much info on that. This is after all, what will make or break the EyePet.

 

[patsu]

The demo man takes a piece of paper and a marker pen and separately sketches the component parts of a simple aeroplane - the wings, the body and the propeller. He writes "ELLIE" on the body. He then uses the magic card to select a material to make the plane out of. There are obvious options like wood, plastic, cardboard, newspaper and plastic, but you can also choose from fantasy materials like fruit.

He holds the paper up to the camera and three exclamation marks appear on-screen to signify the pet recognises the drawing. The pet produces his own sketchbook, sticks a pen in his mouth and starts drawing - specifically, replicating the shapes on the real-life piece of paper. The virtual shapes float upwards, turn 3D and come together to create the plane. It's not quite perfect - the propeller is a little off and "ELLIE" looks more like "FI IF" - but it's instantly recognisable as the plane our human friend just drew. The pet jumps in the cockpit and starts zooming around, controlled by the DualShock. The background changes to blue skies and fluffy clouds appear along with brightly coloured balloons, which the pet starts popping.

I think in the Tank demo video, the Sony guy commented that: best is to use white paper and dark marker. I'm keen to try it out myself. Too bad I was too tied up in E3 week.

I wonder if introducing letter recognition will screw up the entire process.

 

[patsu]

Engadget EyePet Hands-on:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/sonys-eyepet-beta-hands-on-its-probably-the-most-adorable-thi/

Link includes a new gameplay video

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That card tracking is superb! A huge advance from EOJ.

 

[Arwin]

That card tracking is superb! A huge advance from EOJ.

Yep, probably SPE library related to the new PSMC. Though that said, don't forget that this is a huge, black and white card, quite different from the much smaller markings on the smaller EoJ cards of which the camera also tries to track 9 at once, on a less ideal background.

Still, it looks good.

 

[DJ12]

http://play.tm/news/25884/eyepet-out-this-winter-for-ps3/

This could be the sleeper hit of the century if Sony really promote it. 4-12 year olds will love it as will there parents (secretly )

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Ah cool, so you pick what you want to draw out of a list then you draw the parts. I'd always wondered how they were going to do that. That certainly makes things manageable and probably easier for kids. As long as you can get them to draw the right parts in the right places on the paper.

What worries me though is that they are giving away a Eye Toy camera with each full priced boxed game.

I would hope that they would have a version without the camera also, but find it doubtful considering it's mentioned it's given for free due to cross promotion.

Seems incredibly wasteful to basically force people who already have a camera to get another one. Granted perhaps this is only a concern when you live in areas where you constantly hear about the city having trouble getting rid of trash and waste.

Definitely going to let my cousin know about this though, his kids will LOVE it. And I'm sure his wife will also if it keeps the kids out of her hair for a while.

Regards,
SB