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Multitouch Without Touch Using Wiimote
owlgorithm writes to mention that Gizmodo has a neat hack for the multitouch Holy Grail — multitouch without the touch. This hack turns the Wiimote into a receiver for IR light reflected from an emitter off of your fingers using reflective tape.
That we'd get our first glimpse of those cool minority report interfaces from a game console. I always figured it would be thanks to porn.
i'd like a video showing how to get a wii - and i'm not talking about buying a $400 bundle.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
(oblig.) I love the Power Glove. It's so bad.
This could be really awesome. I can see this as a great way to bring good strategy games to consoles. It might even be better than a mouse. Supreme Commander with your fingers on a Wii? Nevermind that the Wii would gag on the graphics load, but the gameplay is intriguing.
I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
At the end he makes a very good point. Your arms get tired after a while. As cool as the interface in minority report might be....it isn't very practical. Keyboard and mouse interfaces have lasted for so long because they are VERY VERY good....a mouse is a perfect way of interacting with your monitor...you're using a 2d surface to interface with another 2d surface (not to mention the fact that you can let go of a mouse, and it stays in the same place....unlike a wacom tablet, or this thing). If we ever get to a point where monitors truly are 3d (which seems rather pointless to me, albeit cool)...then something like this MIGHT make sense....that is if you tracked it in all 3 dimensions.
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
Nintendo has said more than twice that supply will be about twice as big during the holiday season.
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
But software will only take you so far. There's a lot of unique PC to human interactions that are possible, but this world needs more hardware hackers.
In any case, this is a neat demo. People have been doing this on a much bigger, 3D, expensive $$$ scale with something called a Vicon Motion Capture System. They basically take a whole bunch of those cameras, and a whole bunch of LED arrays, and strobe them so that they get a picture of little reflective points from many different angles. They then use some trigonometry to figure out where, in 3D space, a particular point is. Cool stuff -- good to see it's being brought closer to everyone's homes, rather than the tens of thousands of dollars that Vicon charges.
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Educational microcontroller kits for the digital generation.
ok, i appreciate the true geekitude of taping your fingers with reflective stuff to air-type, but editing the video to 4:04 is just over the top nerdiness.
damn.
I think not...(*poof*)
Not really, if he posted just the end result, it would be a bunch of "BS" or "Not Real" comments, you really have to show everything unless you want the MythBusters knocking at your door.
No glove...no love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awjPUkBXOU
I have successfully purchased two they are not that hard to get. You just need to know when to look for them. 95% of stores that carry them get them saturday night or sunday morning. So if you want one go right as the store opens on sunday and you have a good chance to score one.
I know this is the case with Walmart, Best Buy, Target & Game Stop.
-FataL
The "Holy Grail" of multitouch without the touch is a pretty old problem. I've been working on something at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for a while called the HI-Space table, and it was around before I came to the lab. It uses infrared and a camera and detects multiple inputs simultaneously, as well as object placed on the table. It doesn't require touching at all and works fairly well, detecting not only single fingers but each of the fingers, allowing the user to do different things with different arrangements of fingers. It understands motions as well, and can detect a swipe, circle, etc. Objects aren't tagged with anything special; they're just cardboard shapes.
Here's a video of the HI-Space table in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFBoq1i81V4
Here's an old link to some of the work: http://infoviz.pnl.gov/hces/
Seems to me we always seem to be building technology to make old ideas into a reality. I've always felt that all these hands-free interface ideas look like wizards waving their hands around in the air. If they had eye-glass headsup displays, they'd look like they're casting spells or something.
Its not that it is indistinguishable from magic, its that were TRYING to make it look like that.
Just a thought.
meh
Actually, you make a good point. This could be a way to build a very cheap motion capture set. All you'd need are a bunch of IR leds, a few wiimotes and some reflective tape ... and the appropriate software.
"DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day."-C.Doctorow
are just like his, they're made of skin.:)
I would be careful making very bright infrared light. Because your eyes do not pick them up, your pupils will not know to shrink in bright infrared light.
I would suggest doing this in a very well lit room, and NEVER in the dark, or you will likely seriously damage your eyes.
I just wonder what if I can play with my penis ... Super Mario P3rn III
Now Mr. Bimble can play video games on his own.
Am I the only one somewhat uneased by the though of having an array of 30-40 relatively high-power leds shining in your eyes without ones pupil contracting? Or might it be that the wavelength of the IR leds happens to be absorbed by water in the eye? Anyone with some knowledge?
I'm sorry for the awful picture you will get in your mind if you continue reading.
But it occured to me that you could use a penis instead of a finger (giving it another use beside: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/03/21 )
(Why, oh why this thought came to me...)
I think he was making a joke about 4:04 = 404 Page not found.
I hope I'm wrong though, cause that wouldn't be that funny.
I'm no doctor, but it can't be good to flood your eyes with infrared light.
http://www.google.com/search?q=infrared+light+damage+eyes
I fear the Y2038 bug
While this was an impressive video, it leaves me wondering how to try it out at home. I assume there are more than a few web pages talking about grabbing wiimote data via bluetooth, but what software could you use to display multi-touch inputs on a PC screen?
This is actually a little closer to how a multi touch "surface" does it.
This would merely require - as many DIY multitouch sites mention - removing the IR filter from your Webcam - and perhaps even replacing it with a visible light filter, as to pass IR only.
Since wiimotes are cheap and they seem to be sensitive enough and the bluetooth is usefull, can these IR camera setups be used in say a group of minimum of 3 but the more the merrier of course to build a mocap rig? Of course some good softwares will be needed but I am sure the community will provide me with that.
Balderdash!
No need to even solder a single wire if you point two Wiimotes at the screen and use their relative positions to do stuff.
Just in case anyone wanted to try something like these. You can make a similar interface with a webcam and lighted fingers and surf google earth with it. Intructions are here: http://atlasgloves.org/
I play the violin in my spare time. I don't play more than a couple of hours at a time, but I certainly don't feel much worse for it. Build up some muscles, it's not hard and won't kill you.
Consciousness is a myth. Trust me.
er...it was 4:06,
to Quote Duglas Adams:
"nobody jokes in base 13, it's just not funny."
--meh--
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I vaguely recall seeing a article about the MPAA shooting infrared light from behind movie screens into the crowd to determine if anyone was using a camcorder to copy live movies.
Ninjas don't carry tic tacs
As cool as this is, I don't see it being useful anywhere for one simple reason: if the wiimote is up on the tv, you don't get buttons. Wonderful for pointing at stuff, or even just for kicks and giggles, but you couldnt even make a mii with this hack.