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Revolutionary

#1
I don't know about anyone else, but I think Josh may be on the cusp of revolutionizing modern user interfaces.
If his node-based interface is half as intuitive as he makes it sound it could (dare I say should?) be the future of file browser interfaces.

Josh, once we get passed the release date, as soon as you have the time to spare, you NEED to put out a white paper (is that the thing?) on your interface.
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Re: Revolutionary

#2
May I suggest a title?

"Stochastic Transgression of the Privileged Textual: Toward a Renormative Hermeneutics of Digital Expressivity"

Hmm. That needs work; it's almost comprehensible....

(Less facetiously, between the node editor and the AI I suspect Josh -- should he wish to do so -- will be able to write and present any number of truly useful papers by the time he's done with Limit Theory.)
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Re: Revolutionary

#4
This node-based interface is just a form of Zooming UI which is known from early 90s. I totally agree that this type of UI is awesome, but it's not a new idea at all.

About file-browsing: you can download a program called Eagle Mode right now for free and try it. It's kinda cool, but doesn't have enough functionality to use it on a regular basis.
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Re: Revolutionary

#5
Hey, just adding to what tossha said.
What Josh calls a node-based interface has been done before, in Neverwinter Nights at least.

Here's a clip of it in action in NWN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFevVjeawaY
Apologies for the title and music; it was the only clip on YouTube I found on NWN's radial menu.

I'm surprised more games have not used the radial menu -- it's a good way to present a hierarchical structure while focusing on a local node and anything relevant to it.

Granted, Josh's nodes are in 3D and NWN's is in 2, but I suspect 3D nodes work only in space games where much of the screen is nothingness or a monochromatic nebula.
Having a 3D radial menu in games like NWN where there are plenty of things in the background could be disorienting since the higher and lower level nodes could blend
with objects or the background colours.

Also, "node-based" isn't particularly descriptive -- plain old linear interfaces comprise nodes as well, just that the links between nodes are presented in a more
linear fashion much like Windows' Start Menu.
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Re: Revolutionary

#6
"Fire? Pfft. Ogg in next cave over saw lightning make fire other week. That old tech."

:)

To be fair, I said something similar about the idea of computer-aided software engineering when Josh was talking about using a node-based editor to visualize and manage code and data. Tools to get away from text-based coding have been tried before, but here we are, years later, still coding with words and arcane symbols.

Even so, I'm still for trying again. VR went down like a lead balloon when it was first tried, but I hear this Oculus Rift thing seems to be getting serious attention now. Sometimes the world needs to catch up to the tech.

Even if Josh's node-based editor doesn't set the world on fire, it's still pretty darn slick. I'm looking forward to seeing what it can really do.
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Re: Revolutionary

#7
I didn't mean to say that just because the tech has been done before, there isn't any point in implementing it or improving on it.

I was specifically addressing the tech being labelled "revolutionary" and deserving its own paper. Of course, it's likely that in my attempt to provide a measured response I missed the humour or deliberate hyperbole (woosh!) and if that is the case, I apologise ;)

Again, I'm not trying to take any of the gloss off what Josh has accomplished so beautifully; it definitely looks awesome to me. Just pointing out that at its core, without any negativity intended, the tech is still merely a (superb) visualisation of a simple tree structure and probably isn't going to show up in siggraph and that previous incarnations did not change the look of graphical file managers -- addressed specifically to it being revolutionary.
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Re: Revolutionary

#8
You may be right, bipaular. Maybe "revolutionary" does put it too strongly for the node interface. I personally suspect the AI Josh is developing, if engine-ized and marketed, could be commercially successful in game design circles.

On the other hand, a better way to write software -- for which the interface is a particularly pretty front end -- has the potential to reach a lot more people. And if I understand correctly, while the interface is getting the attention (and I certainly like how it looks!), it's the visual coding metaphor that is the real point.

That's what might be paper-worthy, I think, even based only on what's been shown so far.

But hey, maybe I've just been mesmerized by Josh's coding magic into believing whatever he says when he gets enthusiastic. :)
Last edited by Flatfingers on Fri Dec 06, 2013 1:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Revolutionary

#9
Flatfingers wrote:But hey, maybe I've just been mesmerized by Josh's coding magic into believing whatever he says when he gets enthusiastic. :)
I never claimed any of it was revolutionary, just for the record :3 (at least..I don't think I did?)

I've no doubt all of this has been done before. At this point in time it's incredibly unlikely to discover something new. I just put the pieces together in pretty ways :D
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ~ Henry Ford
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Re: Revolutionary

#11
Commander McLane wrote:
Flatfingers wrote:VR went down like a lead balloon …
Never underestimate a lead balloon.
Not quite the small balloon made of solid lead that inspired the metaphor, but fair enough.

Actually, for many years I've loved Buckminster Fuller's idea that a large enough "tensegrity sphere" would, if the air in it were heated, become lighter than the surrounding air and fly.

Now that would be revolutionary.

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