DIY Multi-Touch Tabletop "Surface PC"

notthatwillsmith writes "We've all seen the nifty demos of Microsoft's Surface PC. Now Maximum PC details how you can put together your own multi-touch tabletop PC. The article shows how you can build the cabinet and combine that with a standard PC, a decent projector, about $350 worth of assorted hardware (cameras, lenses, mirrors, and screens), and a handful of free apps to build your own Surface-like PC — without giving Microsoft $10,000."

Comments

Sensitivity to fingerprints and dirt?

[Anonymous Coward]

Given that the system uses frustrated total internal reflection, I imagine it would be quite sensitive to grease from the fingers and any other dirt that changes the refractive index at the surface of the acrylic?

It's a nice idea though. I wonder if it could be retrofitted to a standard glass topped coffee table or desk?

Re:Sensitivity to fingerprints and dirt?

[minsk]

I imagine it would be quite sensitive to grease from the fingers and any other dirt that changes the refractive index at the surface of the acrylic?

That would be one of the reasons they put material over the acrylic, rather than touching it directly.

Will be interesting to see how that design ages. My group experimented with textured silicone rubber. However, after a few months of use it had flattened out and bonded to the acrylic. Painting a clear layer onto the acrylic seems to survive better, though it limits the selection of projection materials.

What about 2 mice?

[Peeet]

I've seen a lot of multitouch demos and have always wanted to mess around with the applications side of it, has anyone seen any software that allows you to plug in 2 usb mice and use that as at least a 2 point "multitouch" system? Windows 7 beta seems like it might possibly have the capability to do so with some sort of "TouchVista" add on, but other than that I can't seem to find anything for Linux or XP.

Any multitouch software I have found uses complicated algorithms to process an image from a webcam to try and deduce points from a blurry low rez low fps infrared image of fingertips. It seems like the first step (to just test out apps without complex hardware) would have been to make a driver for multiple mice, but I can't find that seemingly trivial interstitial step anywhere.

Re:What about 2 mice?

[minsk]

I would be hesitant to sink much work into multiple mice. You would be stuck with a very small number of touches, and probably wind up using buttons to emulate multi-finger gestures. Without good guidelines for designing applications on large touch-sensitive surfaces, you're going to have trust the 'feel' of the application. Not sure how that would play out with mice.

The reacTIVision folks have an input simulator that might be a good place to start. The TUIO protocol is common enough that you wouldn't be committed to a single toolkit down the road, though it does focus on individual touches. I heard some discussion of multi-touch-and-pressure-sensitive tablets (about a foot square) last year, but don't know if it has developed into actual products yet.

Re:Will not replace the mouse / keyboard for a whi

[minsk]

Considering we're not even agreed on what gestures a user *should* do to zoom and resize things, there is definitely work to be done :)

However, building these digital tabletops with a few hundred dollars and a projector makes them accessible to the dozens of research groups and hundreds (or thousands) of varied hackers who might have good ideas. Gestures are chronically tricky things to make natural and detect reliably, so we're going to need both the bazaar and the cathedrals chewing on it.

Bad LED design

[S-100]

In TFA they connect 8 LEDs in series directly to a 12V rail with no bias resistor(s). This is a bogus design and they should have known better.