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authorBenjamin Chausse <benjamin@chausse.xyz>2024-02-14 12:44:45 -0500
committerBenjamin Chausse <benjamin@chausse.xyz>2024-02-14 12:44:45 -0500
commit4ad767fcc40b13427d5b09060814d047f0eabc5a (patch)
tree9cafd0b60effefdeff53c80ad5c149adf07e63a0
parent8bd3be35bccd742bfa91793851443724d279824e (diff)
update guitar hero project
-rw-r--r--content/projects/guitar-hero/index.md196
1 files changed, 163 insertions, 33 deletions
diff --git a/content/projects/guitar-hero/index.md b/content/projects/guitar-hero/index.md
index 4603a4b..b364350 100644
--- a/content/projects/guitar-hero/index.md
+++ b/content/projects/guitar-hero/index.md
@@ -12,44 +12,179 @@ Hero* using C++ and QT.
The goal of this class was to teach Computer Science students about GUI design
as well as teach electrical engineers about PCB design. Both type of students
-would also get to learn about software and hardware integration. On the
-hardware side, the requirements were quite simple:
+would also get to learn about software and hardware integration. Each team
+was composed of 6 people of both engineering discipline.
+
+# Requirements
+
+On the hardware side, the requirements were quite simple:
- The designed PCB needed to be less then or equal to 10x15cm
- A minimum of 5 switches were needed
- A joystick as well as an accelerometer had to get integrated
- We could choose wether to integrate a 5 segment or a bar graph display
-{{<mermaid>}}
-classDiagram
- Animal <|-- Duck
- Animal <|-- Fish
- Animal <|-- Zebra
- Animal : +int age
- Animal : +String gender
- Animal: +isMammal()
- Animal: +mate()
- class Duck{
- +String beakColor
- +swim()
- +quack()
- }
- class Fish{
- -int sizeInFeet
- -canEat()
- }
- class Zebra{
- +bool is_wild
- +run()
- }
-{{</mermaid>}}
-
After a little back and forth with our teachers, we came to an agreement that
we could configure some of our switches outside the pcb and mount them directly
to the guitar. This way, the pcb itself could be located at the base of a guitar
and host the strumming mechanism. We also convinced them it would be best for our
usecase to also mount the accelerometer on a guitar shaft and configure it as some
-sort of trigger for a bonus streak. In the end, this is what we came up with:
+sort of trigger for a bonus streak.
+
+On the software side of things, requirements were even simpler. All we
+needed was to use the QT C++ library without any QML or QSS. It took very
+little convincing to get my team on board with the *Guitar Hero* clone idea.
+
+With those imposed constraints, we set ourselves a few targets of ourselves.
+
+- Basic compatibility with songs create for [Clone Hero][1]
+- Functional strumming mechanism
+- Satisfying fret buttons
+- Good input and visual latency
+
+# PCB and Guitar Design
+
+# File Parsing & Structure
+
+*Clone Hero* is a popular game inspired by *Guitar Hero* where
+players can download and play community developed songs. It uses
+a games specific `.chart` file format to store data necessary
+to play songs. Here is a small excerpt such a file:
+
+```toml
+[Song]
+{
+ Name = "Rock Is Too Heavy"
+ Artist = "Owane"
+ Charter = "GuitarZero132"
+ Album = "Yeah Whatever"
+ Year = ", 2018"
+ Offset = 0
+ Resolution = 192 # Only Mandatory
+ Player2 = bass
+ Difficulty = 6
+ PreviewStart = 0
+ PreviewEnd = 0
+ Genre = "Jazz Fusion"
+ MediaType = "cd"
+ MusicStream = "song.ogg"
+ GuitarStream = "drumbsdfklj.ogg"
+}
+[SyncTrack]
+{
+ 0 = TS 4
+ 0 = B 161000
+ 1152 = B 162000
+ 1536 = B 160000
+ 21504 = TS 3
+ 22080 = TS 4
+ ...
+ 69888 = TS 4
+ 71424 = TS 7 3
+ 72096 = TS 4
+ 73632 = TS 7 3
+ 74304 = TS 4
+ 75840 = TS 7 3
+ 76512 = TS 4
+ 84960 = TS 3
+ 85536 = TS 5
+ 86496 = TS 4
+ 89568 = TS 3
+ 90144 = TS 5
+ 91104 = TS 4
+}
+[ExpertSingle]
+{
+ 1536 = N 2 0
+ 1536 = N 4 0
+ 1632 = N 2 256
+ 1632 = N 4 256
+ 1920 = N 2 0
+ 2016 = N 2 0
+ 2208 = N 0 0
+ 2304 = N 1 0
+ 2304 = N 5 0
+ ...
+ 151008 = N 3 160
+ 151200 = N 2 0
+ 151296 = N 1 0
+ 151328 = N 0 128
+ 151488 = N 2 0
+ 151584 = N 0 0
+ 151680 = N 1 0
+ 151776 = N 3 256
+ 152064 = N 2 0
+ 152064 = N 5 0
+ 152112 = N 1 0
+ 152160 = N 0 0
+ 152352 = E soloend
+}
+```
+
+Most of the `Song` section is fairly explanatory but the **Resolution** field
+merits some explanation. In music, songs have a pulse measured in BPMs (beats
+per minute). For extra precision for note timing, *Clone Hero* decided to split
+each note into smaller units called ticks determined by the resolution. Using
+easy numbers, if a 60 BPM song (1 beat lasts 1 second) had a resolution of
+1000, each tick would have a duration of 1 millisecond.
+
+Up to now, this concept seems elegant. But the format gets much uglier when you
+take into account that many songs accelerate, slow down and/or have small non
+musical intermissions. So how can ticks remain reliable if the tempo of a song
+isn't always the same? The file spec requires a `[SyncTrack]` section
+
+
+{{<mermaid>}}
+classDiagram
+ direction RL
+
+ class Song {
+ -title : string
+ -artist : string
+ -album : string
+ -year : string
+ -charter : string
+ +easy : Chord[]
+ +medium : Chord[]
+ +hard : Chord[]
+ +expert : Chord[]
+ }
+
+ class Chord {
+ +notes : *notes[5]
+ -duration : int
+ -start : int
+ -end : int
+ -rushStart : int
+ -dragStart : int
+ -rushRelease : int
+ -dragRelease : int
+ -spawnTime : int
+ -noteNB : int
+ }
+
+ class Note {
+ -Fret : int
+ }
+
+ Note "1..5" o-- Chord
+ Chord o-- Song
+{{</mermaid>}}
+
+
+
+
+# GUI Design
+
+# Results
+
+Here's a small playlist showcasing what we managed to achieve after a semesters
+worth of work, both hardware and software wise:
+
+{{< youtubepl PLGcbRdKslprBkKg2NyGtS4AGuB2Ng_22e >}}
+
+
+
<!-- Integration https://youtu.be/FKOd6nEcEC8 -->
<!-- Song https://youtu.be/G2GX4o7dhNY -->
@@ -61,9 +196,4 @@ sort of trigger for a bonus streak. In the end, this is what we came up with:
<!-- Demo2 https://youtu.be/69InfsTlqqA -->
-On the software side of things, requirements were even more forgiving. All we
-needed was to use the QT C++ library without any QML or QSS. It took very
-little convincing to get my team on board with the *Guitar Hero* clone idea.
-
-
-{{< youtubepl PLGcbRdKslprBkKg2NyGtS4AGuB2Ng_22e >}}
+[1]: https://clonehero.net/