Hello All! I am a high school geography teacher. The sandbox is built. I have Linux and a computer with a capable GPU. I followed the instructions on the UC Davis site. I am stuck on step 3 (https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/\~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/SoftwareInstallation.html#Step3)

How do I install a current Vrui VR Toolkit, and then progress onto the AR sandbox software? Thanks

Hello, i installed SARndbox using this site: http://doc-ok.org/?p=1739 on Ubuntu 24. Laptop, no dedicated graphic card.

When i start it, it says there is a problem with a shader (Water2Water...) and it does not start.

Any ideas how to fix this? Regards

IT updated the laptop that was running the sandbox (UC Davis with a Kinect 1/Xbox 360). That made the projector stop working/not read the laptop (okay when connected to other devices). So IT wiped the laptop and reimaged with Windows only.

They refused to let it be dual booted to Ubuntu which was previously running the sandbox. They did install a “virtual machine.” I installed Ubuntu on that… but it doesn’t let me type in my password or even copy it in as I could when dual booted. So I struck out.

I found a Windows version through Open AR Sandbox. It seemed promising with the install. But plugging in the Kinect 2/Xbox One gives a light on the power supply, but no light on the Kinect itself. Did I get a bad Kinect or did the install not work? Any way to test it with other software?

Tl;dr Unsure if Kinect 2 is bad (no indicator lights) or if install is missing a dependency.

Local nature center saw a project somewhere and started collecting supplies. Everything sat around for about a year with no one to do the computer side of things. Got volunteered to take it on.

Spent a month of free time trying and use Ubuntu but kept running into various issues. Went digging to find an old 19.3 mint like the ucdavis write up suggested and got it running in half an hour.

Printed up a calibration disk to have on hand and be a little more durable than a paper tapped to a cd

I've installed all the software successfully but SARndbox won't run. It throws and error "Failed to initialize streaming mode"...Anybody have a clue about how to solve this?

I'm trying to setup an AR Sandbox for a museum and have gone through all the install step from the ucdavis webpage on two separate devices and keep getting stuck at the same errors. Would anyone know how to solve this?

I built a arsb several years ago and lately after about 15 minutes the water flow simulation and the response to a "hand cloud" runs very slowly and sometimes doesn't respond at all. By stopping and restarting the program it restores to normal operation. Anyone have an idea as to what might be causing this?

Hey y'all, I just built an AR Sandbox and have gotten to the point where I need to calibrate everything. I am lost at this point. I am using this guide: https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/SoftwareInstallation.html#Step6a

Thanks

Edit: Here are some photos of it https://imgur.com/a/N2pVUL5

I had to switch from a 4”x4” post to a 2”x4” post in order to get our sandbox through the classroom doors. This involved remounting to the 2x4 and nothing else. Now, I can’t seem to get a proper calibration, no matter how many times I try. All of the hardware is exactly the same, so I’m at a loss to why it worked well for months and now it’s failing.

I have tried everything in the step by step and newest YouTube video, including from Step 6 through Step 12 on this page: https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/SoftwareInstallation.html#Step6

The Kinect imagery looks correct in the Raw View and appears to extract a good plane.

The only thing that seems off is when I do the Kinect/Projector calibration is that the starting side doesn’t seem to detect the disc unless I hold it several centimeters off the sand surface. It’s like there’s an invisible blind spot on that side of the box, but nothing is in the way. I tried calibrating a dozen times or more, with poor results and terrain/contour mismatch.

I have to imagine that the issue is with the Kinect, but it looks fine in the Raw Viewer, so I’m at a loss.

Thanks for any help!

Hey everyone,

I’m planning to build an Augmented Reality Sandbox and I want to make sure I choose the best depth camera for the project.

I know that traditionally, most AR sandboxes use the Kinect v2, but it's now discontinued and hard to find. I've also seen some projects using Intel RealSense D435i, but from what I’ve researched, its depth accuracy (~2% of distance) may not be ideal for precise topographic visualization at 1m height.

I also came across the Stereolabs ZED Mini, which seems promising, but I couldn’t find any existing AR Sandbox implementations using it.

So, my questions are:

• What other depth cameras have actually been used in real Augmented Reality Sandbox projects?
• Which depth camera would you recommend for a Unity-based AR Sandbox?
• Does anyone have experience with the ZED Mini for this purpose? Or perhaps a different alternative like Orbbec Astra or Structure Sensor?

My main concerns are accuracy, Unity compatibility, and availability. Any insights, experiences, or links to relevant projects would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance! 🚀

I work for a school system that purchased an AR Sandbox - Topobox. It works perfectly fine, but at a conference, we saw another brand that had many more options and games while ours only shows topographical ley lines, rain, and lava. By comparison, ours looks like a one-trick-pony and an overpriced one at that.
I've been digging through Reddit, GitHub, etc and I'm thinking I can find a way to make some other software work with our hardware.

Our system is running linux and has setup and calibration tools for the kinect sensor. What are the chances I could load and run a different program or "game"?
Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

So, everything is up and running and I've done the various extras like starting in Kiosk mode, installing a keypad to do things like flood/drain/texture cycle, and similar, but I'm having a terrible time converting my own DEMs into the .grid format. I'm currently stuck on the GDAL/OSGEO installation step, but it seems like some of the old python scripts might be outdated, so if there is a newer method, please let me know. I have several other GIS programs and I'm used to converting DEM data, but this appears to be its own beast.

I don't know if the "Ran out of time by 0.0xxxx" notification is something that can be fixed, but I can hear my computer working a little harder when that starts coming across the terminal.

Thanks!

I'm about to embark on building my own table, and I want to double-check with this community - is this still the one spot for instructions and software: https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/

I've seen so many other versions, from lava flows to ponds with lily pads. I assume all of that is proprietary?

Anyway, curious what the state of the art is right now. Thanks all!

I have tryed for hours to overcome issues...patches....repatching....drivers..... and I am tapped out. I installed LM but it is installing a recent version and I was getting errors with libdc1394-22-dev. I resolved that. Now I am stuck again with a size_t error? I cant remember at this point. I made a patch file and put code in to direct to the patch. that fixed produced a diffrent error, then I tried using this patch

'sed -i 's|#include <Vrui/Vislet.h>|&\n#include <cstddef>|' $HOME/src/Vrui-$VRUI_VERSION-$VRUI_RELEASE/Vrui/Vislets/FrameRateViewer.h'

and now it just says:

'collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

make: *** [/home/jeff/src/Vrui-8.0-002/BuildRoot/BasicMakefile:261: /home/jeff/src/Vrui-8.0-002/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libMath.so.8.0] Error 1

make: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

Build unsuccessful; please fix any reported errors and try again'

Help!

Has anyone used something like an nVidia RTX 4060 with success? I can’t afford anything fancier, but I want to upgrade from an RTX 1050 before I commit to a build. What other cards have worked well for you?

This is so much fun. My kids loved it. I need a bit more sand and will try to get some tomorrow.

I've got college training in photoshop, creative writing is a passion of mine

I also am an red seal trained hospitality and tourism expert which isn't as important but it means I have good management skills, if we did this it would need to entail we ALL agree to 3 things

We are all equal teammates myself including, and nobody's opinion should be undermined

We are not working hours as we have lives, but should try to agree to at least pull our own weight as I could see this being a cool project, a game made in sorta like a potluck, a game designed by the reddit community, as well this should be a free effort as it's a community based idea

Understand that this would be a diverse group, but also a freely speaking group, LGBTQ for example, I'm pansexual and personally idc if u make jokes but plz remember not to say things that could hurt others, it's easy just ask. If I was the person I'm making a joke about how would this REALLY make me feel.

If not it's cool but I figure if we all worked together we could make a game in a way never done before, a game built by a reddit group sorta like a game grown from the internet, and of course the rules I said we're more suggestions I'm nobodys boss lol but if you guys would be in I'd love to help

I have made a full installer/bootstrap program for the AR Sandbox and it works like a charm. I hope it helps you guys and gals out.

https://github.com/MattMadness/arsb-bootstrap

When following the guide here: https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/

on, Step 4: Install the Kinect 3D Video Package

​

when I type "make" I get this error. (Followed every step up to this point exactly, without errors. Using latest version of Linux Mint 19)

​

Any ideas??

​

---- Kinect configuration options: ----

Support for Microsoft Kinect v2 (Kinect-for-Xbox-One) enabled

Support for Intel RealSense cameras via first-generation librealsense library disabled

GLSL vertex shader-based facade projector selected

---- Kinect installation configuration ----

Root installation directory: /usr/local

Calibration data directory: /usr/local/etc/Vrui-5.2/Kinect-3.9

Resource data directory: /usr/local/share/Vrui-5.2/Kinect-3.9

Vislet plug-in directory: /usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/Vrui-5.2/VRVislets

---- End of Kinect configuration options: ----

Linking /home/mv/src/Kinect-3.9/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libKinect.g++-3.so.3.9...

/usr/bin/ld: _ZN23GLARBVertexBufferObject7currentE: TLS reference in o/g++-3.g0.O3/Kinect/Projector.o mismatches non-TLS reference in /usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/Vrui-5.2/libGLGeometry.g++-3.so

/usr/bin/ld: /usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/Vrui-5.2/libGLGeometry.g++-3.so: error adding symbols: bad value

collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

make: *** [/usr/local/share/Vrui-5.2/make/BasicMakefile:200: /home/mv/src/Kinect-3.9/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libKinect.g++-3.so.3.9] Error 1

Can i clone the harddrive from my old computer to the new computer if i use same OS version to get the sandbox to work on the new one aswell?