Skip to main content

YVision SDK: Serious Games As Missing Link Between Game Engines and NUIs


Via: YDreams YDreams Releases A Free Beta Version Of Its YVision SDK

Following my prior posts Serious Games Bringing Interactive Properties to Everyday Surfaces,  YDreams: Serious Games For Santander Brand Reinforcement, YDreams New Framework For "Serious Games" In Public Spaces, and quite a few others on YDreams breakthroughs, today YDreams’ Natural User Interfaces (NUI) division will officially release a free Beta version of its YVision software development kit (SDK).

YVision is the result of ten years of research and development in human-computer interaction. Created by the company division that focuses solely on NUI design and software architecture, this framework is behind many of YDreams’ interactive solutions and has been deployed in thousands of engaging and robust NUI applications.

According to Ivan Franco, YDreams’ Director of R&D, “Our framework is the missing link between traditional Game Engines and Natural User Interfaces. It promotes creativity and , by offloading the complex interoperability of the multiple technologies, which are indispensable to deliver state-of-the-art interactive products.”

YVision is a component-based framework that allows programmers to develop complex systems based on pre-built modules, which are operated by behavior trees. The .NET – based framework assures faster development, removes the need for complex resource handling and offers users multi-platform deployment for desktops, mobiles and consoles.

Background

YDreams has been working on Natural User Interfaces (NUI) for about 10 years. They have successfully deployed hundreds of applications, which can now be found in museums, stores, events venues and movie theaters.
In the beginning, each new application was a copy-paste of source from the previous projects plus the customization code and a few more features – therefore, maintenance was a nightmare.

From very early on, they felt the need to have a reusable development framework that would take less time developing the applications, make them more robust and leave them time to keep innovating.

The resulting framework allows us them share their knowledge across the entire development process.


The platform is used in almost every interactive application and was recently was on the robots they created for Santander. The platform allowed YDreams to have a 3D simulation of their behaviors even before they had the physical robots. The exact same code that was used in the simulator is now running in the robots themselves.

More information can be found in the below press release.

PRESS RELEASE

Lisbon, Portugal, July 6th, 2011 – Today, YDreams’ Natural User Interfaces (NUI) division will officially release a free Beta version of its YVision software development kit (SDK), via its dedicated website 
YVision is the result of ten years of research and development in human-computer interaction. Created by the company division that focuses solely on NUI design and software architecture, this framework is behind many of YDreams’ interactive solutions and has been deployed in thousands of engaging and robust NUI applications.

According to Ivan Franco, YDreams’ Director of R&D, “Our framework is the missing link between traditional Game Engines and Natural User Interfaces. It promotes creativity, by offloading the complex interoperability of the multiple technologies, which are indispensable to deliver state-of-the-art interactive products.”

YVision is a component-based framework that allows programmers to develop complex systems based on pre-built modules, which are operated by behavior trees. The .NET–based framework assures faster development, removes the need for complex resource handling and offers users multi-platform deployment for desktops, mobiles and consoles.

The SDK features a full abstraction layer for realtime 3D rendering and was also designed to support the upcoming Microsoft Silverlight 5, enabling users to build the next full 3D experience for the web browser. In addition, YVision offers state-of-the-art physics and computer vision. The creation of NUI applications also depends heavily on sensor acquisition and processing, so YVision is ready to process complex sensor data and manage several kinds of input devices.

“The current beta release is for PCs only. Because we want to offer the best possible experience, extensive testing is being carried out for the Mac and Silverlight platforms, and mobile platforms will soon follow”, explains Mr. Franco. “Stay tuned, because we intend to follow the ‘release often’ motto”.

About YDreams

YDreams is a global company that is redefining the concept of interactivity, with a focus on the exciting field of Augmented Reality. Over the last few years it has been developing full-scale interactive environments, products and intellectual property in interaction technology and design.

YDreams has developed over 500 projects for clients all over the world, such as Adidas, Vodafone, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Santander, BBC, JCDecaux, IDEO, among others.