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I/O Electronic Brush for Painting
karvind writes "BBC is running an interesting story about the I/O Brush developed by Kimiko Ryokai, researcher at the MIT Media Labs. The device allows a person to pick up colours and textures from their environment and paint with them on a large digital screen. At the tip of the brush is a tiny video camera enclosed by a ring-shaped brush. LEDs are used for illumination, and pressure sensors to trigger image capture. The camera captures one frame in the normal mode, and a few seconds of video in movie mode. The brush "paints" the captured image or movie onto a back-projected touch screen."
Well prototype/research versions often need to be much larger than a mass market product as you have to combine general components rather than creating an integrated version through dedicated manufacturing/lithography.
In any case while it does sound like lots of fun, and it could be great for doing studies of real objects (copy the color directly) I don't know (I'm genuienly unsure) if it would really be better at color picking in general. I mean are you really able to find color alot better in the real world than by looking at swatches on the computer (perhaps you are I'm curious).
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
That thing was featured in the Austrian Ars Electronica Festival from 2004.
More information about the Brush from this website
I use a Pda Phone with a Paint package to achieve a similar effect.
The phone has a camera built in so I can take a shot of where I am
Load this a background layer and then proceed to draw on a new layer
with the stylus on the touch screen.
Its a very natural way to draw. The alternatives such as a mouse or tablet
simply dont give the direct feedback drawing on a touch screen does.
the pda is pocket sized so makes drawing anywhere simple and discrete along with a battery life that will allow you to sit for hours drawing, its a great tool for anyone who likes to draw.
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