[OLPC-GSoC] Gsoc Digest, Vol 4, Issue 10

[Nirav Patel]

Greg,

Adding support for other cameras and formats is actually pretty easy
once the v4l2 stuff is in place, and it was a requirement to get it
included in pygame.  I would rather it be included in pygame than
maintaining an OLPC specific pygame branch.  That way it can be used
for non-OLPC purposes too, which still benefits OLPC because pygame
games made by anyone using the camera module could then be ported back
to the XO.

I'll keep the special effects stuff in mind.  That does sound like
something kids would enjoy.  I'm not sure the XO has the processing
power to do it real time to video though.  To images, certainly.

I'll package it up what I have so far with pygame as an .rpm and turn
some of my testing/demo scripts into .xo files.

Nirav

On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 3:57 AM, Greg Smith <gregsmitholpc at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Nirav,
>
> A few off the cuff suggestions.
>
> Only design it for the built in camera. That's all 99% of the kids will
> have.
>
> I can't tell where your performance bottle neck is from this e-mail but
> one suggestion is to pick one format and optimize for it and only it.
> YUV420 is my favorite but whatever gives the best peformance you only
> need one.
>
> Make a sample/demo application. Build it all the way to .XO format and
> post it to the supported activities page.
>
> Image recognition and that kind of processing is interesting but its
> very tough to get right and hard to understand what its doing.
>
> Image processing where you modify what you see in the screen is easier
> and may be more fun for the kids. e.g. sepia, color, black and white,
> swirl, "special effects" in general. I'm not sure if that falls in your
> area but I think the kids will really enjoy that if you can do it.
>
> If you can save those effects to file or modify files in that way you
> are getting close to video editing. Which I think would be super useful!
>
> That's my 2 cents. Get me an installable activity to show what your are
> talking about and I'll invite some teachers and kids to try it out make
> suggestions on what else they would like to see...
>
> HTHs
>
> Thanks,
>
> Greg S
>