A few months ago, I wrote a post about multi-touch "NuMTyPYsics". Here is an update:
Below is a video that shows how two use two single-touch Nokia Internet tablets to provide an emulation of multi-touch input for NuMTyPYsics, a drawing game that based on Numpty Physics:
Here's the description from Perlinet's YouTube channel: "Using two single-touch tablets and a laptop running NuMTyPYsics, it's possible to emulate multi-touch input (max. 2 cursors - one from each tablet). This allows for precise input control and testing multi-touch applications. More info: http://thpinfo.com/2009/mt/"
The Urbanization Explorer Touch Tableat UNC-Charlotte (Pictures from the RENCI blog) I wish this multi-touch table was around when I last took a class at UNC-C! With help from the RENCI Europa team, this table that was only a dream was finally built.
The following information was posted on the RENCI Vis Group Multi-Touch Blog: "Jason Coposky and Warren Ginn from RENCI Europa delivered UNC-Charlotte’s Multi-touch Table to the Charlotte Visualization Center last week. Dubbed the Urbanization Explorer Touch Table, the device’s first role will be to display the Urban Growth Model, developed by the Center for Applied Geographic Information Science (CAGIS) and UNC-Charlotte’s Urban Institute. By accessing historical patterns of growth in the region, this application will provide forecasts on how much growth is expected to take place based on these historical patterns. Using satellite imagery for the 24-county region around Mecklenburg, for four time periods: 1976, 1985, 1996 and 2006, the Urban Growth Model tracks the advance of impervious surfaces, a key indicator of development, in expansion across the area since 1976, and estimates the extent of urbanization through 2030. With interfaces developed by collaborators at the Charlotte Visualization Center, multiple users will be able to select areas of interest, zoom, pan, and navigate the colorful, large-format maps using only their fingertips and on-screen digital tools."
"First introduced at North Carolina State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues annual forum this past Februrary, this multi-touch table represents the next leap in performance in touch tracking. As opposed to the previous Direct Illumination (DI) technique employed in the original table, this table employs Diffused Surface Illumination (DSI). By employing a sheet of Cyro Acrylite EndLighten with polished edges and LED Edge-View Ribbon Flex from Environmental Lights, we’ve been able to distribute the IR illumination more evenly."
"Infrared LEDs on a trip from Environmental Lights is applied to the inside perimeter of the frame where the polished Endlighten acrylic sheet will be installed."
I want one to try out my touch-screen experiments!
I've seen a few displays place right on the shelf with the food items over the past few months. The ones I've seen at Wal-Mart are tastefully done and are not too intrusive, but they are not interactive.
In my opinion,it would be much more useful if the screens were touch-enabled, so I could quickly access the information I needed. Who wants to stand in front of the Pringles while a video cycles through information that may not be what is needed?
Here is another example of an "interactive" display positioned at shelf-level: I was in the cheese aisle at the supermarket the other day, and thought I heard something, but I wasn't sure what it was. I walked right by the source, and I was searching for it. Can you find it in the picture below?
(Picture taken by cellphone)
If you watch the video clip below, you can see that the "user experience" design behind this scenario needs quite a bit of improvement. I thought I might get a coupon from this display, but I was mistaken, disappointed, and unsure how to explain the situation to the cashier.
I was also disappointed because I know that there is much better technology available than this little...box!
(Video taken with cell phone)
The display says "SmartSource". SmartSource is a company that rents digital signage equipment, such as plasma video walls, waystation kiosks, and so forth. They work withPopstar Networks, a company that provides customized digital media marketing and communication solutions.
Popstar Networks now offers mobile digital advertising via Bluetooth-enabled digital media displays. Popstar Networks also provides 3D content as a holographic image. According to information from the Popstar Networks website, the 3D experience is provided through Philips 3D WOWvx technology.
You can watch a videoclip of 3D action from the Popstar Networks website: 3DTV I suppose that the cheese aisle at the supermarket is not yet worthy of an interactive 3D "solution" : {
Below is the video from Future Instruments, a company formed throughGeneva's Conservatory of Musicand the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland. It is worth watching the entire video clip. The following information was posted in the NUI-Group Forum: "The research group at Geneva’s Conservatory of Music presents the Surface Editor and Surface Tracker software applications for turning ordinary surfaces into multi-touch musical instruments. The Surface Editor allows users to custom design interfaces by dragging and dropping components, such as buttons, sliders, keyboards, and many others, onto the interface. The surface can then be used to control digital audio workstations, virtual instruments, hardware synthesizers and samplers, VJ software, and other applications, via either the MIDI or OSC protocol. The Surface Tracker is a multi-touch tracking application created for tracking movements on a surface using high speed infrared OptiTrack cameras. These cameras have on-board image processing, which allows them to process 100 frames/sec while sparing the host computer’s CPU. The applications are available at http://www.surface-editor.com."
Here are more details from the Future Instruments website: Surface Tracker
"The Surface Tracker is an open source application for low latency multi-touch finger tracking. It was designed initially for our Multi-Touch Everywhere system (MUTE), but it should work more generally as well to track fingers which have been illuminated using the laser light plane method. It only supports low latency OptiTrack cameras; these cameras have frame rates of 100 frames per second, but due to their onboard image processing, these cameras only consume 3-5% of your computer's CPU (depending on your processor)."
"The Surface Tracker is a standalone application, which sends Open Sound Control messages to any connected client application at a user defineable IP address and port. It implements the TUIO protocol, which was specially designed for transmitting multi-touch events on a table surface."
"The Surface Tracker is currently only available on Windows. This is due to the fact that the driver for OptiTrack camera's is currently only available on Windows. We are, however, currently having discussions with the makers of the OptiTrack camera about extending support of their cameras to OS-X."
You can download the Surface Tracker from the Future Instruments download page.
I wish this system was around when I was taking a computer music technology class!
I came across an interesting video clip while researching haptic and tactile interfaces.
Chris Harrison , a Ph.D. student, and Scott E. Hudson, his advisor, are researchers at Carnegie-Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. They've been working on a variety of methods to provide tactile properties for visual displays
The paper can be accessed on Chris Harrison's website.
This work was also highlighted in a recent article in Popular Science:
I'm not very fond of buttons, but if something like this could be configured for my remote control, I could control my TV effortlessly while viewing in the dark!
