Senior Project - Bubbles

AgentSheets, Inc. emerged from over a decade of intensive research in end-user programming, human-computer interaction and simulation environments. The AgentSheets software environment and tool sets have become the simulation development tool of choice for a worldwide collection of researchers, teachers, students and private individuals. This software environment lets non-programmers create, combine, and modify sophisticated interactive simulations and computer models. AgentSheets is currently in the process of transitioning from a 2D to a 3D simulation environment called AgentCubes, an emerging, next-generation 3D game-authoring tool based on AgentSheets. This 3D environment will, of course, require 3D objects.

Most 3D modeling software available today is expensive and/or difficult to learn. The goal of this project was to provide kids with a tool that allows them to easily create 3D objects from .png images. The software converts .png images into 3D objects by "inflating" them. The 3D objects are then rendered using OpenGL and can be used in AgentCubes.

The software, which will be delivered as an AgentCubes plug-in, provides basic image editing capabilities such as draw and erase tools. The 2D images (which consist of an array of pixels) are converted into 3D geometry by creating a 3D vertex at the corner of each pixel and by adjusting the altitude of that vertex based on a diffusion equation. The user can modify the parameters of the diffusion equation with slider bars and see the results in real-time. Once the image has been inflated to the user's satisfaction, a 3D object can be saved. The software was implemented in Common Lisp.