The default scene for EDEN

Inspiration

What inspired us to create this project was our desire to learn how to create software using OpenGL. Specifically, we were curious on how the games we love were made and what kind of software people in the industry would use; so, we created EDEN, the Environment Design Engine via Natural language. EDEN is a proof of concept piece of software that was made to help us understand the underlying technologies used in 3D software and how in the future it could be meshed together with AI.

What it does

EDEN will create scenes specified by a user's prompt by trying to place preloaded assets (not generated by AI) into a 3D environment. The AI will place these objects into a world in a natural manner in order to spark inspiration into those using it.

How we built it

We built EDEN using C++ and Python. C++ was used with OpenGL and GLFW to create our own, made in house, 3D renderer to help visualize the creation that EDEN provides. We also used Python alongside OpenAI to provide the scenes that would be rendered.

Challenges we ran into

Many of us were new to C++ and OpenGL when we first entered this hackathon. The first couple of hours were filled with frustration, errors, seg faults, and confusion. Many of us were also new to using CMake as a build system and that also caused many headaches. Lastly, the hardest hurdle was us trying to shape OpenAI to create the proper output we wanted. However as time went on we slowly got the hang of things and things started to pick up in pace.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating a 3D renderer would be the biggest accomplishment for us as before we even entered the hackathon this would have been a very daunting task. We are also proud about learning C++ for the first time and being able to put it to use.

What we learned

We learned alot on the importance of team work in a software development environment not only technology wise but communication as well. We learned how to plan effectively in the relatively short amount of time we had for this project.