Sizing Armor App

[RobotChicken]

Wouldn't it be very cool if somebody developed a sizing app for iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc.?

From a menu you'd select the armor type (linked from the official 405th database, of course). Then from a second menu select the armor piece, then enter appropriate body measurements into conditionally-displayed fields for the selected armor piece using on-screen instructions (for example, elbow to wrist for gauntlet, shoulder span for torso, etc), and presto - the app computes Height, Width, Depth, and Scale for you (based on the size of the pep file in the database). Granted, it probably isn't as easy as a single measurement for each piece, so maybe multiple measurements are entered and the algorithm returns values for recommended sizing.

This would alleviate a common problem with several users in building the pep files so they fit properly. I know how to program, but I don't really know how to develop a smartphone app. If somebody here does know how and created one, and it worked reliably, I'm sure it would be used a lot by members here.

Just thought I'd share that idea with y'all.

 

[RedGhost]

I am an app developer and I could surely do that. However, you'll need an developers account wich takes 90 dollar per year. So I can only do it by donations. If there are developers without expired profiles here, maybecwe can work together?

 

[Carpathia]

Moved to General Discussion since this does not belong in the Creation Discussion forum.

 

[RobotChicken]

Moved to General Discussion since this does not belong in the Creation Discussion forum.

Sorry, didn't know. You're right, I should have put the thread here.

I am an app developer and I could surely do that. However, you'll need an developers account wich takes 90 dollar per year. So I can only do it by donations. If there are developers without expired profiles here, maybecwe can work together?

The sizing algorithm for each piece should be pretty straightforward, as many people are already doing this individually for their own builds. And since we already know the size of pep models in the database (at a scale of 1.0) then the conversion is actually pretty easy. To me, the unknown "obstacle" would be interfacing with the 405th database to display the piece listings (so it's dynamic whenever new files are added), and extracting the scale information from the .pdo file (not sure if the file format lends itself to parsing). Otherwise, armor lists and scales could just be hardcoded into the app (since files in the database aren't directly editable anyway) and then the app is simply updated whenever new .pdo files are added.

 

[Carpathia]

You've got to be careful when you start talking about scale with regards to Pepakura. Two Mk VI helmets modeled by two modelers might be the same size, but the scale could be different (based on how the modelers went about creating the models).

I see potential in an app, but it'd be a heck of a lot of work.

 

[RedGhost]

The last thing you said, robotChicken, is what I thought. There is no real way to look up the dimensions from an Pdo file, at least, it'll take the app 22 minutes or so lol! However, How about an menu of game(halo 1, halo 2) then one for the role(marine, spartan) then one of the kind(shin, helmet) and then an list of them all with the creators name. When you click on it you'll get an screenshot and the blueprint, and maybe an print button??? And ofcourse, an scale calculator, or maybe set your info in the settings and the scale would be automaticly applied to the information? The print button is probay gonna be an pain because there is no real way tocscale the blueprint exept of scaling down.

And yes. The app will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it!

Oh!!! What if we also put pictured well wxplained tutorials in it?!

Edit: about the files: 1000+ files is a lot -.-. So let's prevent 5 of the same files and only keep an hd and an sd of good quility? Hmmm, maybe a little unfair trough...

 

[Carpathia]

The print button is probay gonna be an pain because there is no real way tocscale the blueprint exept of scaling down.

What do you mean by this?

 

[RedGhost]

What do you mean by this?

The Iphone would have an png file of the blueprints. You can not scale those up without an larger paper, because it would just be an png file. You can however print it smaller. In that way only downscaling with the print burton is possible. Maybe an shorted download like that you can type in the pc would be better...

 

[Carpathia]

I was assuming that this app would just help you figure out what scale to print the file at; not contain png files of all the models in the database.

 

[RYNO 666]

I think this is a terrific idea I'm a member on the XDA Developers site. I think if somebody could reach out to them over on that forum this could easily happen.http://www.xda-developers.com/
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2

 

[RedGhost]

I was assuming that this app would just help you figure out what scale to print the file at; not contain png files of all the models in the database.

I think that was robotChickens intention, but I think a lot of people like me are on their phone at a public place and thinking: Hmm, what would be the best odst helmet, only to come home to find 1000 files that they need to download individually.

Now coming to this: how about an toughness to craft factor? XD

 

[RedGhost]

I think this is a terrific idea I'm a member on the XDA Developers site. I think if somebody could reach out to them over on that forum this could easily happen.http://www.xda-developers.com/
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2

What are your arguments?

 

[RobotChicken]

Two Mk VI helmets modeled by two modelers might be the same size, but the scale could be different (based on how the modelers went about creating the models).

I see potential in an app, but it'd be a heck of a lot of work.

That's why each model file would have its own associated set of inputs (scaling a torso requires different inputs than scaling a thigh), and also why each model needs its own initial scale stored either in the app or in a data file stored on a server and accessible by the app. It would only be a lot of work in compiling the list of "official" files and setting a scale ratio for each one. I write thousands of lines of code each day and it's a lot of work but not extremely difficult. (Coming up with the algorithms - that's hard sometimes.) Once a size ratio is established for armor vs human, the data is just stored in a table. People who have already pepped the files and nailed the size could help out by providing the scale they used and the body measurement for each piece.

The last thing you said, robotChicken, is what I thought. There is no real way to look up the dimensions from an Pdo file, at least, it'll take the app 22 minutes or so lol! However, How about an menu of game(halo 1, halo 2) then one for the role(marine, spartan) then one of the kind(shin, helmet) and then an list of them all with the creators name. When you click on it you'll get an screenshot and the blueprint, and maybe an print button??? And ofcourse, an scale calculator, or maybe set your info in the settings and the scale would be automaticly applied to the information? The print button is probay gonna be an pain because there is no real way tocscale the blueprint exept of scaling down.

And yes. The app will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it!

Oh!!! What if we also put pictured well wxplained tutorials in it?!

Edit: about the files: 1000+ files is a lot -.-. So let's prevent 5 of the same files and only keep an hd and an sd of good quility? Hmmm, maybe a little unfair trough...

I was thinking 1st menu = name of game, 2nd menu = character/role, 3rd menu = armor piece. This hierarchy is already set up in the 4shared database, so I would just copy it so there's correlation between how you download your pep file and how you size with the app. I wouldn't mess with screenshots, blueprints, or printing. Keep it simple and focus on just the scaling, since that's why somebody would have downloaded the app in the first place. To me, screenshots belong within a database index document in the 4shared folder, and scaling and printing should be done from Pepakura. You wouldn't be providing an alternative to downloading and printing the files - you'd be making a digital assistant for "recommended" scaling (with the disclaimer that "recommended" doesn't necessarily apply for all people).

As for the number of files, start with the most popular builds first and then progressively add on from there. But again, I'd keep this simple and just a ratio calculator. For any given piece of armor, it has a model size, a human body part size correlating with the model size, and the actual size of the builder's body part. Simple algebra solves for the scaled model size.

 

[RobotChicken]

I was assuming that this app would just help you figure out what scale to print the file at; not contain png files of all the models in the database.

Correct. The idea is for just a scale calculator.

 

[RedGhost]

That's why each model file would have its own associated set of inputs (scaling a torso requires different inputs than scaling a thigh), and also why each model needs its own initial scale stored either in the app or in a data file stored on a server and accessible by the app. It would only be a lot of work in compiling the list of "official" files and setting a scale ratio for each one. I write thousands of lines of code each day and it's a lot of work but not extremely difficult. (Coming up with the algorithms - that's hard sometimes.) Once a size ratio is established for armor vs human, the data is just stored in a table. People who have already pepped the files and nailed the size could help out by providing the scale they used and the body measurement for each piece.



I was thinking 1st menu = name of game, 2nd menu = character/role, 3rd menu = armor piece. This hierarchy is already set up in the 4shared database, so I would just copy it so there's correlation between how you download your pep file and how you size with the app. I wouldn't mess with screenshots, blueprints, or printing. Keep it simple and focus on just the scaling, since that's why somebody would have downloaded the app in the first place. To me, screenshots belong within a database index document in the 4shared folder, and scaling and printing should be done from Pepakura. You wouldn't be providing an alternative to downloading and printing the files - you'd be making a digital assistant for "recommended" scaling (with the disclaimer that "recommended" doesn't necessarily apply for all people).

As for the number of files, start with the most popular builds first and then progressively add on from there. But again, I'd keep this simple and just a ratio calculator. For any given piece of armor, it has a model size, a human body part size correlating with the model size, and the actual size of the builder's body part. Simple algebra solves for the scaled[] ok. That could be arranged. Anything special you would like to add?

 

[RobotChicken]

I think that was robotChickens intention, but I think a lot of people like me are on their phone at a public place and thinking: Hmm, what would be the best odst helmet, only to come home to find 1000 files that they need to download individually.

Now coming to this: how about an toughness to craft factor? XD

This is what we refer to at work as "feature creep". You don't want to add in a bunch of stuff that doesn't really belong in a SCALING app. If you're looking for an ODST helmet, then you should be in your web browser, not in a scaling app, and be looking at photos of ODST characters or browsing the 4shared database. AFTER you've selected the model you plan to pep, THEN you enter body measurements into the app to get help with scaling. If your armor is one that happens to not be in the app yet, tap on a button to send a request to the app developer for adding it.

Make it too big and complicated and people won't use it. KISS: Keep It Simple, Spartan

1. Select game
2. Select character
3. Select model
4. Enter requested body measurements for selected model
5. Enter returned scaling information into Pepakura Designer
6. Arrange and print the parts and rejoice in how well it fits

 

[RobotChicken]

Anything special you would like to add?

No, I don't really see this as my project. I just wanted to toss out this idea I've had for the last month to the community where at least one app developer might be reading and think "hey, that's a cool idea - I could do that!". As a software developer, you want to keep your target audience in mind at all times, making the user-interface easy to navigate and results that are reliable. Sleek, streamlined, does one task and does it well, and you'll have people standing in line to download your app. Maybe even make it a $1 download rather than free. Think - how many people would pay $1 to have their armor scaled for them? (Some people might pay more.) But it's not about making a profit - it's about helping out people who pep the same model 5 times and still haven't got the scale figured out right.

Now that I've voiced the idea - go ahead and make something wonderful with it.

 

[Carpathia]

Think - how many people would pay $1 to have their armor scaled for them?

I wouldn't; and I know quite a few people who wouldn't either. But that's not everyone.

 

[RobotChicken]

I wouldn't; and I know quite a few people who wouldn't either. But that's not everyone.

In my defense, I did say "maybe". I also said it's not about making money, it's about helping people. I meant it as a cost comparison. $1 for an app that will scale all the armor in the database is small compared to the time and materials used in pepping a model at the wrong size. Excluding materials costs, my time itself is worth more than $1/hour, and it takes me several hours to pep just one model. But I do agree, the .pdo files are free, Pepakura is free, and so the app should be free as well (assuming one were to even get developed).

 

[Spartan 420]

I was really hoping there was actually an app for scaling when I saw the thread title. Anyway it's a good idea and I'd use it, but with so many pieces and suits of armour it'd require a dedicated few to get it going, not to mention keep it up to date with new files.