Vaspra

Project Details

Codename : Maya

Coding Language : C\C++

Coding Platform : Windows

Description : 3d Engine cum artificial reality

This project aims to create a 3d-engine that can display large worlds at an optimum frame rate. Rather than working like other 3d engines this one will be designed to change display algorithms based on the scene to be displayed .( for example when indoor scenes have to be rendered , a Doom like algorithm will be utilized ) . This'll enable maximum performance output. Later the 3d reality of this engine can be enhanced by adding special effects like gravity and weather effects .

This project is named so because 'Maya' in Hindu philosophy means that this world in which we live is not true and is only an imaginary entity. Likewise the 3d engine will try to replicate this imaginary world by creating another one!!

Author : Prashanth Ellina

Project Head : Prashanth Ellina

Origin of idea :

The author was impressed by the concept of an imaginary world inside another when he came across the movie "Matrix" . Additionally he was motivated by the Hindu philosophical concept that talks about maya. But these were only reminders to him . he was basically interested in working on this project for a long time. The final purpose of this project is , of course , to make human computer interaction a breeze.

Project initiation date : 6 months approx before the creation of this document

Document creation date : Sunday, 14 October, 2001 ( Time : 13:06:42 IST )

Project Phases

This project has been divided into phases owing to its enormity . The deadline has not been set yet.

PHASE 1 : Creation of 3d engine

PHASE 2 : Optimization of 3d engine

PHASE 3 : Porting 3d Engine to linux and modifying linux to fit the 3d engines configuration

PHASE 4 : addition of natural communication sub system

PHASE 5 : Addition of general purpose neural network

PHASE 6 : Proper Integration of all subsytems.

Objectives of this project (what the project is for) :

As we have already seen in "origin of idea" , the main objective of the project is to enable human computer interaction at highly intuitive levels. The following are the basic objectives of the project

  • create a 3d working environment in which the user will exist
  • create natural communication sub systems
  • The 3d engine and its sub systems will replace the shell of the operating system.
  • built a general neural network that can be used by the application running under the 3d engine shell
  • other objectives will be added when necessary

Explanation of project objectives :

Many 3d engines are available , but each 3d engine specializes in displaying one category of scenes thereby achieving maximum performance . This 3d engine should strive to achieve max performance by incorporating various display algorithms based on the scene to be displayed . Using a hardware scene renderer will help a lot in increasing the frame rate.

Human computer interaction has continuously been improving over the past few decades. we have come from unfriendly blinking lights and cold consoles to command line interface and finally graphics user interfaces. The next step is to allow the user to interact with the computer as he would with his colleague . Natural communication systems like speech synthesis , text - to - speech , gesture analysis and natural language processing ought to be included in the next generation user interface.

Since the creation of an operating system is an enormous project in itself , it will not be a good idea to do the same in this project . Instead a stripped down version of an already established operating system acting as the base would do much good. Since Windows is a commercial operating system ,getting permission to modify it and use it for our purposes is unlikely. So the best choice is Linux , which can be stripped of its extra functionality. The shell can then replace the existing one or infact work as a sub shell.

Often we feel that the computer is too dumb , to an extent this is true . The computer today has to be spoon fed like a baby . It cannot suggest solutions , it can only solve problems using a preset solving method. To make the computer more intelligent it is necessary to equip it with some. Using a general purpose neural network combined with a database of common sense , we can make the computer more productive.