Taking the Wii Controller to the Next Level

funfail writes "It's a Wii without the $250 console. It's virtual Pong and so much more. Any object is now an input device, even your fingers. Camspace is a pure software solution that allows nearly any ordinary PC webcam (95% are supported) to track up to four objects — even as small as 5mm — in real-time and with very high accuracy and reliability (Windows only). Techcrunch has an in-depth article and a video." Very neat idea, but it appears that it is in a limited beta only, and source doesn't appear likely.

Comments

Taking the wii controller tothe next level

[antirelic]

Sweet! At the next level my Wii controller gets henchmen and has a ThAC0 of 11, and 98 Hit points! I think we will be ready to defeat the Play station which is only level 3!

Re:Taking the wii controller tothe next level

[Culture20]

360 (XBOX MS Neu Cha) 0 killed by a red ring, while helpless

Re:Taking the wii controller tothe next level

[Sabz5150]

Powerlevel it by having it fight some TV screens.

Re:Taking the wii controller tothe next level

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

Wait, were you just pointing out that a /.er is out of date? Not me.....

I just upgraded my Commodore 64 modem to one of those new 9600 baud models. I'm surfing Slashdot faster than ever now. Eat your heart out everyone!!!

Its Multitouch for the masses!

[Anonymous Coward]

set one of these up pointing at your computer screen... and have it track your fingers.

Re:Its Multitouch for the masses!

[morgan_greywolf]

What? Multitouch without lining the pockets of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? Blasphemer! Communist! Why, that's downright un-American! Put him in Gitmo! ;)

The question is: okay, so we know it will be free as in beer, and that they will have Windows first, then Mac and Linux later. But what about free as in speech? This is all in software -- so will they be releasing this under an open source license? And if not, why?

Re:Its Multitouch for the masses!

[gyepi]

This should be combined with the head-tracking solution by Johnny Chung Lee (your head is the object which is recognized) - low cost 3D first person shooters!

Re:Its Multitouch for the masses!

[morgan_greywolf]

6 ???
7 Massive Debt!!!!

Posting AC because I'm 100% offtopic...

[Anonymous Coward]

...but /. is running ads for Russian mail-order dating sites now? Seriously? I realize we're all nerds here and not exactly smoove with the ladies, but is this how low we've sunk? Damn. That just peed all over my morning.

Re:Posting AC because I'm 100% offtopic...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hans Reiser is the new ad exec for Slashdot

Nice tech, but latency?

[J-F Mammet]

This certainly seems to be a very nice software, but the main issue with using webcams as input devices is the latency. Your average webcam can take quite some time between what it's filming and what the PC is actually getting at the other end. And this is a very bad thing when it comes to gaming. You can even see the latency in their video at around 1:30 when they have the players and the PC screen in the same frame.
Nice for simple games I guess, but for serious gaming it would require special cameras with low latency.

Re:Nice tech, but latency?

[JustKidding]

I can see some applications for this in 3D modeling, where latency isn't really an issue. The solitaire game at 2:10 has some scary similarities with Minority Report.

Re:Nice tech, but latency?

[pherthyl]

Yeah the video is hard to believe. I've done lots of work with image processing using webcams and they're usually pretty crap. You can get 30fps max, and then usually only at 320x240. If the lighting conditions aren't good, your framerate will drop (or everything goes unusably dark if you disable the automatic aperture adjustment).

They show some latency, but overall the motion is incredibly smooth. Based on my experience that's impossible, but I'd love to be proven wrong. Gotta try that out.

Clever

[Idimmu Xul]

People have been writing webcam tracking software for ages, some is actually open source and there's even phonecam tracking software but this the first hopeful sign I've seen for something more fun than some stupid logitech wobbly eyebrowes and a moustache!

--
Free Playstation 3, XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii

Re:WIndows Only

[stormguard2099]

they say osx support and linux support are in the works to follow pretty soon right there on the website

There's been a few programs like this...

[argent]

But, man, this one has the best user interface I've seen, by far. And the other ones are either specific motion tracking games or are otherwise specific to some small part of the problem... plugins for particular applications, and the like.

I suspect there will be an open source clone out within six months though... possibly based on Intel's open source computer vision library.

3d telemetry?

[apodyopsis]

interesting.

my first thought was a black jumper, black glove, bright, UV dots at key joints and fingers with four of those webcams and some clever software, and hey presto - instant real time telemetry system.

hook it up to a remote arm and you have one nifty method of control. (seen the movie FX2?)

Source

[Archangel Michael]

source doesn't appear likely. So, if the source isn't available, we whine!

This is one of those very annoying parts of the whole Open Source Movement, the whining. Good Idea, no source = whine.

Code it yourself, and give your work away. Stop whining, please. It doesn't do the community any good when you whine.

Seriously, if the code isn't open and it isn't going to be, start your own, and stop whining. It would be so much better if we stopped whining and posting the whines to slashdot and started to code.

One of the side benefits of this (coding a good idea like this) would be that no company would dare release beta code, if it knew that the OSS version was on the way.

Now, get back to coding!

Re:Source

[mecenday]

Hrm... wow, how exactly is that whining? The comment is mentioning limitations, and no source is a limitation if you're sitting on a linux box. At worst he's suggesting the same thing you are: "Let's clone this" sort of follows from "good idea, no source."

Anyways, you're hearing whining where there is none... maybe your cubemate is a whiny linux user or something and you got some interference this morning. =)

Re:Source

[xZgf6xHx2uhoAj9D]

Man, I'd hate to live with you if you think that's whining. AM's roommate: uh oh, looks like it's going to rain soon. AM: STOP FUCKING WHINING! I CAN'T TAKE IT!

Re:Source

[Archangel Michael]

The "no source" comment is a whine. It means "I want the code for free", and "I'm too lazy or incompetent to code it myself".

If what he meant to say was "wow, this is a great idea, who's got open source version?" then that's what he should have said, as it is much less ambiguous and actually would promote Open Source Coding. Someone (or a few) versions might come to light and those that were interested could pool resources and actually get to work on improving what exists.

It is better to promote what IS open than it is whine about what isn't. The best way to win for OSS is for it to actually compete with better software.

If we, the OSS community, can out-compete those developing proprietary, they'll eventually release it Open Source without us even asking (whining) for it to be open, or at least know that they will be doomed eventually to a freer and more open version.

Re:Source

[Archangel Michael]

Or, you know, just abandon and eventually lose the source code. So what? You never had the code in the first place, and if you'd develop open code originally you wouldn't care in the second place.

The code isn't yours, so why should you care if if disappears, especially since you never had access to it in the first place?

Your whole whine is nothing short of exactly what I'm talking about originally. Typical of many who want to decide what others can and can't do.

I don't whine about closed source software. It is pointless to whine about it being closed, because it isn't my code. Freedom also means free to keep things closed, or else it is meaningless.

Re: Taking the wii controller to the next level

[hypergreatthing]

So... this has nothing to do with the Wii or a controller for that matter. It's video recognition software.

GJ.

Patent infringement ?

[DrYak]

"one of these" isn't anything but a webcam. That's the problem too...

Massive lawsuits coming from Sony for infringement of all patents they managed to get granted regarding the Eye Toy in :
5 seconds...
4...
3...
2...
1...
Take of every lawyer !
For Great Justice !

Re:Patent infringement ?

[L4t3r4lu5]

The eyeToy doesn't work on the PC, so there's no loss of market share.

If their patents cover all of these style of input devices, and not just PlayStation versions, then the patent office has a serious case of cranio-rectal inversion.

Re:Patent infringement ?

[stoolpigeon]

If their patents cover all of these style of input devices, and not just PlayStation versions, then the patent office has a serious case of cranio-rectal inversion.
 
Have you been paying attention? This question has been settled for some time. Hence the gp's high level of confidence.

Re:Patent infringement ?

[DrgnDancer]

Optical tracking has been around forever. I work in a VR lab, there is no way Sony has a patent on the idea.

Re:Patent infringement ?

[BlackPignouf]

You might be right, but the sad fact is that it doesn't exactly matter in today's world.

PS2's EyeToy anyone ?

[Vapula]

What this is doing is basically the same than the PS2 EyeToy... Maybe with a better accuracy (but, well, the hardware is more recent).

I wonder What Sony will think about that... I guess their patent lawyers will be ready to jump on the case...

For Information, EyeToy Antigrav tracks
- both arms for character's arms movements
- head movements for the character direction change
- jump/duck to make the character do the same things...

Oxymoron

[Anonymous Coward]

I concluded this was a hoax as soon as they said it was reliable AND runs on Windows.

thank you.

[Anonymous Coward]

As a guy who likes the open source movement, I'm well aware how those who think they love freedom really want to push rules onto other people.

Open source = good
close source = good

freedom = good

being forced to open or close one's source = bad

does it run on linux?

[mehemiah]

does it run on linux? mac? no? well, I'll just continue playing my Wii.

Re:It's..

[angus_rg]

It won't work in real people's houses, because people will walk past and curtains will flutter in the wind! If it works as said, it tracks object motion, no motion. Technology is out there for facial recognition. Tracking wouldn't be that hard, assuming it doesn't kill the CPU.

It will never get any decent games! It's a glorified Key mapper, no one needs to support it:
Users can then program the emulation based on the game they want to control and the object(s) they want to control the game with.

Re: Taking the wii controller to the next level

[galoise]

actually, it's the same thing, only you use the camera as the controller.

Add a couple accelerometers and bluetooth to any regular webcam, and you got yourself a wiimote.

Oh stop whining

[msaver]

CmdrTaco wasn't whining that the source isn't available, but he seemed disappointed the code won't be freely available. He wasn't accusing the author of immoral licensing practices.

And why shouldn't he be disappointed? it'd be fun to play with.

My first thought was "neat... can I play with this code?" and I'm sure my reaction wasn't unique.

Lolcat

[Stavr0]

If this thing can track my cat, I want to make a desktop toy out of it ...

Pitch, acceleration, etc

[HalAtWork]

Besides, the webcam may have a hard time tracking Z-axis direction, pitch, and acceleration in the same manner that the Wii provides. Perhaps if they let you track Wiimotes with this device it could yield greater accuracy, but then you are right about the latency issue. A neat trick, but for hard core games it won't do the trick.

Re:Pitch, acceleration, etc

[Chris Burke]

Perhaps if they let you track Wiimotes with this device it could yield greater accuracy, but then you are right about the latency issue.

Well the genius of the wiimote is that it puts the camera in the controller, and the things the camera tracks are fixed points. This makes measuring Z-axis easy (distance between the points) as well as pitch (apparent angle), using only the small wiimote.

Whereas to measure tilt or Z, this method basically requires you to hold a sensor-bar-sized object (the steering wheels with the painted bar). In fact, you could play a lot of Wii games this way (ones that don't need the accelerometers), by holding the sensor bar in your hand and putting the wiimote on your TV. I think it's obvious why this is an inferior method.

On the other hand, what is cool about this is that you can use just about anything as a sensor, and it's use of a cheap webcam.

help us defeat russian mail orders

[Hemos]

hey,

we've gotten a few reports of this and one screen shot. if anyone does see an ad for a mail order bride, please send me a screen shot if ya can, but also paste me the click-thru URL.

thanks - address to send it to is hemos @ well, the website you're on.org

OpenCV, anyone?

[schweini]

ages ago, Intel was nice enough to opensource their rather impressive computer vision library called OpenCV, which AFAIK would do the heavy lifting for programs like these. What i find strange is that i have yet to see a neat open source program that uses OpenCV - even though i think there's even a python binding to the library (but sadly no perl bindings). Anyone know of a neat biometrics software package, or computer vision in general, that is open source?