Just got back from the U.S. after presenting the paper “YVision: A General Purpose Software Composition Framework” at the HCII2009 conference.

Many of natural user interfaces (NUI) use cameras to detect the presence of people, objects, markers, etc. This type of applications are very complex as it may include many computer science subjects like, computer vision, real-time 3D graphics, real-time physics simulation, artificial inteligence and multi-threading.

There are many libraries like OpenCV, OGRE and ODE, that resolve some of these problems but, how can we integrate all them into an easy to develop and easy to customize environment.

YVision is a platform developed by YDreams’ R&D group (YLabs) and used by YDreams’ production for the last 3 years. Many dozens of applications for our customers have been developed on it and we recently released version 3.0.

It is fully developed in C# and fully integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (project and item templates, code snippets, IntelliSense, reference documentation) making it very productive for the developers.

Although the platform was primarily developed for NUI applications, it was kept open enough to be used on many other scenarios. We are currently using it to simulate and control robots. This is why we call it “general purpose”.

HCII2009 is a conference dedicated to several aspects of human-computer interaction. The paper was reviewed, accepted for the Rapid User Interface Prototyping (RUIP) session and published on “Human-Computer Interaction. New Trends”.

The presentation slides can be found at SlideShare.

YDreams will be presenting its YVision platform at HCI International 2009 in San Diego California on the 22nd of July in the conference’s “Rapid User Interface Prototyping” session.

YVision, developed in-house by YLabs, our R&D center, is an advanced programming platform that creates powerful interactive multimedia applications that combine technologies such as 3D, physics simulation, computer graphics and gesture interaction, in a stable and efficient environment.

YVision has enabled us to come up with some pretty cool apps like Playing in an Augmented World (which won an Honorable Mention at the Mix09 Showoff contest) and this one featuring promising tennis hopeful Patricia Martins in some one on one with YVision.

Text by José Carlos Danado, Afonso Tavares and Paulo Ricca

These wise words recorded by John Lennon, back in the seventies, inspired past and present generations to fight against different barriers and limitations, and still inspire us to tear some digital walls down. As mobile devices became ubiquitous, everyone’s pockets became incredibly rich with processing power but poor on real possibilities.

Mobile world is a promise and YLabs (YDreams’ in-house R&D lab) is following its trends. In the past YDreams has developed well-known ground breaking games for mobile devices such as Undercover, Spooks, or Cristiano Ronaldo Underworld Football,. Recent YLabs projects are improving this incredible legacy by gathering ideas from the folks that matter – the users - to come up with something both useful and unique!

We are all carrying devices more powerful than the computer that took Neil Armstrong to the Moon but the most advanced possibilities available to most of us are taking blurry pictures and sharing our meal menus on twitter. Mobile device communication and processing capabilities make them the preferred tool for engaging users in an interactive experience at home, work or when on the go. Read the rest of this entry »