For Techies and the Tech Curious: Multi-Touch/Gesture from the NUI-Group

If you are a new visitor to this blog and interested in interactive multimedia, you'll need to know more about the NUI-Group. Natural User Interface or ~ NUI Group is an interactive media group researching and creating open source machine sensing techniques to benefit artistic and educational applications.
(For related information, please read my recent post, Usability, Accessibility, and User Experience in a Win7 Environment.)

Seth Sandler, of the NUI-Group, sent out a great email with links and resources for people who are interested in multi-touch/gesture interaction, hardware, and/or software development. The list of NUI-Group members who have completed projects is listed below, with links to project websites as well as related threads on the NUI-Group forum.

(The information can be found on the NUI-Group Wiki, which boasts a nice icon based front-page)

Thanks, Seth, for organizing this wealth of information!

The following projects are divided up by type. (Links to information about the various types of multi-touch and gesture systems can be found near the end of this message.)

FTIR - Frustrated Total Internal Reflection

Name: Seth (cerupcat)
Project Name: AudioTouch
Project Website: http://ssandler.wordpress.com
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/1352/ http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/2309/

Name: bassmang5
Project Name: Æ-table
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3144/

Name: Daniel (Zin)
Project Name: Prometheus
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/2612/
Name: Carsten (carschdn)
Project Name : aTRACKtive
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3223/
LLP Laser Light Plane



Name: Denis Santelli(dsan)
Project Website: http://www.touchwall.fr/
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3051/

LED-LP Light-Emitting Diode Laser Plane

Name: Nolan - (PeauProductions)
Project Name: PeauProductions (LCD)
Project Website: http://peauproductions.blogspot.com/
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3291/

DI - Diffused Illumination

Name: Seth (cerupcat)
Project Name: MTmini
Project Website: http://ssandler.wordpress.com/MTmini
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/1731/

Name: Fairlane
Project Name: ORION v2
Project Website: http://orionmultitouch.blogspot.com/
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/1709/

Name: Abdullah (EfeNDy)
Project Name: EfeNDy’s Diffused Illumination MT
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3176/

Name: Sandor
Project Name: EXPO REAL 2008
Project Website: http://vimeo.com/2240537
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3576/

Name: Matthew (MatthewW)
Project Name: Design Garage
Project Website: http://www.gotuasciencecenter.org/
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3730/

Touchless

Name: Jimi Hertz
Project Name: Touchless Wall
Project Website: http://sassexperience.org/projettouchwall.html
(try: http://sassexperience.org/multitouch/inprogress.html )
Project Thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/2414/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCFbWPf37jw

Other Types:
DSI Diffused Screen Illumination




RELATED LINKS

Tips for Success

• Read the FAQ
• Know Your Terminology
• Understand the Techniques
• Start Small
• Study Completed Community Projects
• Plan, plan, plan

Resources

• NUI Group Tools

• NUI Group Wiki
• Play a Part - Contribute
• Frameworks and Libraries
• Multitouch Business Directory

Thanks to all NUI-Group members who have been working so hard at this mission!

I'll end this post with a YouTube video created by Jimi Hertz, a NUI-Group member. "MULTI-TOUCHLESS WALL HOW TO?"

I especially like the music!

Lyrics to Demand, Suply Rap and Link to Chapter 1 of Professor Mankiw's Econ Textbook (Cross-Post)

One of the popular posts on the Economic Sounds and Sights blog contains this link to the "Demand, Supply" rap, created by Rhythm, Rhyme, Results, an educational music company located in Cambridge, M.A.

Joyce Santos was kind enough to post the lyrics to the rap, which I've posted below. The rap is was inspired by Harvard professor Greg Mankiw's ten principles of economics. These principles can be downloaded from the following link:

Chapter 1: Ten Principles of Economics (pdf)
Principles of Economics, Fourth Edition N.Greg Mankiw

Lyrics to Demand, Supply Rap, by Rhythm, Rhyme, Results
Via Joyce Santos


RELATED
Music to Teach Core Academic Concepts: A Look at Rhythm, Rhyme, Results

Hand Dance Actualization Machine Inspired by Rave Glowsticking, by Nicholas Rubin (NYU), via Doug Fox

This is a great video of Nicholas Rubin's Physical Computing project, in which he built a volumetric interface and projection surface. Rubin is a graduate student at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications program.


Cosmic Hand Dance Actualization Machine - HD from Nicholas Rubin on Vimeo.

The following quote from the video was posted by Doug Fox, of Great Dance/Kinetic Interface:

"In building this object I used as my theoretical foundation a practice called "glowsticking" that exists predominantly in rave and underground electronic music culture. Glowstickers, at least the talented ones, have cultivated the unique ability to twirl their glowsticks in mid-air and actually generate continuous, dynamic, 3D imagery in space. This is then observed by other party-goers whom might be near them. It usually happens spontaneously on the dance floor as opposed to being strictly a performance activity."

Wow!

IKEA's Interactive Dancing and Musical Website "Welcome to the Closet", via Kinetic Interface

Doug Fox, of the Kinetic Interface blog (part of Great Dance), shared IKEA's new promotional site that allows for tons of multimedia interaction. The website features a series of rooms to highlight various products.

Visit Come into the Closet!
IKEA Interactive Multimedia Game

Unlike most static, or even flash-based websites, the user has control over many dimensions of experience:

• Simply watch the dancers and listen to the music, navigating from room to room
• Control the dancers by tapping on your computer's keyboard
• Control the dancers by clapping, singing, or making other noises
• Combine tapping your keys while watching and listening
• Upload your own Mp3's and watch the dancers dance

According to Duncan, of the The Inspiration Room Daily, the site won an award at the Epica Awards.



Here is a video preview of some of the dance interaction in the site:







Duncan, of the Inspiration Room, also posted credit information regarding the IKEA website:

The following credits were posted by Duncan on the Inspiration Room Daily:

"The site was developed at Forsman Bodenfors, Sweden by web director Mathias Appelblad, copywriter Fredrik Jansson, art director Anders Eklind, designers Anton Robsarve and Christoffer Persson, agency producers Peter Gaudiano, Charlotte Most, Asa Jansson, account director Philip Mascher."

"An earlier version of the site was developed in 2006, winning a Yellow Pencil at the DandDs, and can be viewed online at Forsman Bodenfors."

"Web development was done at Kokokaka, Gothenburg."

"Filming was shot by director Amir Chamdin via Chamdin & Stöhr, Stockholm, with director of photography Gosta Reiland."

"Music is by Dead Mono."

Phenom's All-in One Touch-Screen Watch Phone: A perfect observational research tool !?

Note: Other pictures from the Phenom site gave a message, "Sorry, Our Photos are Copyrighted", so this is the only photo I was able to obtain. You can see more photos on Phenom's online photo-gallery.

I might have found the ultimate HCI - ubicomp research tool! The Phenom Watch-Phone. It might also come in handy when I'm conducting observations "across settings" in my job as a school psychologist. (Maybe Phenom will give me one for free to test out for a while...I'd be happy to develop some apps for it if it works out for me.)




I was delighted with some of the user-friendly marketing features on the Phenom website. I didn't have to dig and get lost and dig some more to find what I needed. The above videoclip is featured on the home page of the site, which gives gives a good info-tease about the advantages of the watch. The FAQ section is fairly extensive and easy to navigate.

When you explore to the "Gadget Freaks" page, you are provided with an audio presentation, with musical accompaniment, as you view pictures and prices. (You can turn the web page audio if you don't want to listen to the blurb, or turn it on and listen to it again, if you missed something.)

When you click on the picture of the "SpecialOPS Black" version of the watchphone, you are taken to another page where you can inspect different features more closely as you move your mouse around the photo. (Since I have an HP TouchSmart PC, I just moved my finger around the photo- a great effect!)

Here is the description of the SpecialOps phone, taken from the Phenom website:

"The ultimate watch phone for those who like to live on the edge. The SpecialOps is a fully functional GSM cell phone that has a touch screen and an external key pad. The SpecialOps has an MP3&MP4, built-in microphone and speakers, digital and video camera, MicroSD slot and built-in Bluetooth. You can even take notes with your convenient and compact stylus or record your thoughts on the run. See full list of features for more details."

More info from the Phenom website:

Features
-External keypad
-LCD: 1.3 inch TFT260k Pixels
-Touch Screen
-Language: English
-Ring tone: 64 Polyphonic, Supported Formats: Mp3, MIDI, Wave
-Music Format: MP4, Full Screen
-Camera: 130 Pixels
-T-Flash Supported
-Built-in Bluetooth
-Picture Format: JPG, GIF

Basic Functions
-Notebook: 250 Groups
-SMS and MMS Messaging
-User-defined on-off switch
-Game: Picture Mosaic
-Other Function: MP3, MP4, Built-in Speakerphone, Group Messaging MMS, Call Barring

Basic Parameters:
-Network: GSM, GPRS, WAP
-Frequencies: 900/1800/1900MHZ
-Call Time: 2 hours (estimated - per battery)
-Standby Time: 120 hours (estimated - per battery)

Accessories Included
-256MG Micro SD Memory Card
-Data Wire
-Battery
-USB Charger
-Stylus

More about Phenom

Play a flute by blowing on your iPhone!

Smule's Ocarina application: Play a flute by blowing on your iPhone!

I meant to post about this a while ago- here is a group of people playing a relaxing version of "Stairway to Heaven" on their iPhones:



"How To" Video:



Picture via Brothersoft Editor's Blog:


"- Blow into your microphone to generate music
- Hold down combinations of the holes to change your pitch
- Tilt your phone from front to back to change the vibrato depth
- Tilt your phone from side to side to change the vibrato rate"

You can connect with other Ocarina players around the world via your iPhone.

Video of Smule's Zephyr application:


Take some time and explore the other applications developed by Smule.