Multi-Touch Gaming

2011-12-10T19:36:00.001-08:00

Below you'll find some of the last-round designs for our multi-touch screen enclosures. We should have designs finalized by the end of next week! While later than I'd hoped this has afforded us the opportunity to experiment with several touch frame technologies. The final verdict is to use the X3 Series frames from ZaagTech. It was a hard choice between the ZaagTech product and the PQLabs product, but in the end the consistency of the ZaagTech products performance won out.

I'm working on a product comparison in my spare time right now. As soon as that is complete I'll post it to this blog and to the NUI Group forums.

Preview of the multitouch television enclosure.

The surface of the screen is water resistant.

The design accounts for adequate ventilation and space for cabling

We sell things!

2011-12-07T19:56:00.001-08:00

Two major advancements in the category of selling multi-touch kit. One, the Locus is now fully on-line with Geek Chic. The full listing is available here. I'm very excited about where this is going. I should mention that the images on the site are of housings designed for the vision based systems which this blog has been highlighting, however, the base products are using the IR frame technologies which I've grown to love.

That being said, the second bit of news is that I've opened up my own Web store. Some of you may already know that I started a company based around multi-touch and that I've had plans for a Web store for a bit. Well, she's finally live (here)!

The store is fairly one dimensional at the moment. The only product offering I've listed is for the multi-touch frames from ZaagTech which I'm using for my projects and for Locus construction. I have plans to expand the store to include various cameras, lenses, mirrors, and other supplies for the DIY vision and frame based multi-touch-ers out there. Additionally, we are working on a super secret project which should allow for those less mechanically inclined to enter the world of multi-touch. And, because I'm no good at secrets, the super secret is a fully self contained multi-touch display line ranging from 40-inch 1080p 16:9 screens to 65-inch 1080p 16:9 screens.

I'm very excited about the direction all of this work is taking.

For those of you who read this, thanks for sticking around!

Breaking Radio Silence

2011-11-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

September and October have been very insightful for me. I had been hoping to post an announcement regarding the immediate sale of our completed multitouch standalone table products in addition to the Geek Chic integrated solutions, oh, lets say, at the end of September.

The reality is that this stuff takes time. I've been working with a group of Solidworks (CAD) folk who have been burning the midnight oil to produce enclosures for our table products. This is extremely exciting but taking a little longer than I'd anticipated.

The good news is that we're looking at Nov. ETA's for our CAD designs, and then we can work with local fabricators to get ETA's for the prototype enclosures. Then, we'll be in a position to post new work related to these touch frame based units. I'm very excited to produce these and look forward to seeing where we can take this technology.

In the meant time! We've got a show this week where MindGene is presenting their game table software, d20Pro, on our tables at the convention. They'll be running events from the touch screen as well! Very exciting. (d20Pro press release)

I'll be back soon. And I hope to have lovely photos and videos to share of the new enclosures!

Some videos from PAX West 2011

2011-08-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

PAX West 2011 -- Mission Accomplished.

2011-08-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

After the poor showing we provided at GenCon this year, we moved to a surface level touch system (IR MT Frame) for PAX. The results were stunning. Let me explain:

This was the view from standing behind the table

This was early in the day to boot. The sun traced a path over the table the entire time we were demo'ing at the convention. We had absolutely zero incidents of false touches or in ability to touch the screen -- amazing!

This was shot at the Geek Chic HQ in WA. We dragged the table over to the bay to test in direct/indirect sunlight.

And here she is at the booth at PAX West 2011. This is show with no flash.

An "action" shot!

The new tech allows for using virtually anything as a touch device, including spears apparently!

Most common question? "Where's the projectors?" Answer: "We don't need no stinking projectors!"

Another fully body shot. The canopy was added for use with the vision based system. We liked it so much we included it this build as well.

One Red-Eye later, sleep is imminent.

quick post with previews for PAX Prime

2011-08-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

I've been working on an LCD based screen which is, currently, only touch based with a max of 32 simultaneous events.

Here's two videos showing the table in action. I'll post some true multitouch samples this week. The first one is just cute...

here's a still of the table sitting on top of the 40" Locus Developer build

GenCon complete.

2011-08-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

I'll post a real update shortly with information on the how the con went in detail and what kind of cool things are in the works officially now.

But to be brief (and get some sleep); The 'Con went wonderfully. The tables were a big successes despite a pile of technical difficulties. The flights to and from were terrible. I was due to arrive yesterday evening, but instead I'm just now getting home today (the next day).

For a teaser...

Arrived at GenCon

2011-08-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Last year I came to GenCon and trusted the airlines to help me transport my screen technology to my chagrin.

Everything turned out okay last year, but this year we sent the core of our tables via FedEx to the hotel. This lead to a very nice welcome as our packages checked in for us and they selected an awesome room!

So, here's the first pictures of the "tables" from this years GenCon -- more to follow!

Yes, these are boxes! This is the camera's, cables, computers, and objects. Screen's, projectors and enclosures are in a truck arriving tonight!

Computers and IR Light bars (in a computer box) Also pictured are some backup diffusers for the prototype table that MindGene/D20Pro will be sporting.

Mini's, Fids, Mini-fids! These are some sample fids on an acrylic sample pack from Evonik. Oh, and some tagged mini's.

Same as above just showing the tag on the Giant.

Quick preview post of the new locus in "action"

2011-07-31T23:52:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick link to a self shot, one handed, Fruit Ninja experience. I'll try for some decent footage, during and after GenCon!

And here are a couple of stills of the mock-up table running Dave's Mapper.

The "curtain" is some roscoe-grey I use as a light baffle on the working side of the table.

This build is using Diffused Illumination entirely. The sides are less important to the over all experience, however, the production units will certainly have wooden sides. The baffle around the screen is bamboo and the frame itself is walnut. When Geek Chic makes a mock-up table from scraps, it reminds me how nice the wood they use for their production products is!

This build uses two cameras on some nice metal slide mounts.

Additionally, the IR light bars seen here are diffused using some stick on diffuser materials from Environmental Lights. I found that to a double layer was as good as using florescent tube diffusers (which I'd been using previously). Again, I'd like to stress that this is my dev table so I rarely attach anything in a permanent fashion. Thus, the strewn light bars.

GenCon and Beyond

2011-07-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

GenCon is around the corner. I've been working my day job and then working on final build for the two tables we'll be showing at the 'Con this year. We'll have a Locus MKII and "Spartacus" at the Geek Chic booth. We'll also have the original Locus over at the D20Pro booth!

This is the first time we're going to be accepting pre-orders for our tables. This makes be both nervous and excited. I've been working in technologies and computers for almost 20 years professionally. The sale of these tables means the inevitable "Support" demand will return in full force. To account for a lot of this type of concern, I've attached 2 year warranties on all of the internal parts, but that only covers the hardware.

Tables, and other technologies, of these sorts are certainly a hardware quagmire, however, like most hardware, without software it is just a pile of electronics. So software is the key to making these things go and to accommodate this we've gotten together a pretty slick introductory package. I'm still hashing out the licensing for including some of it properly, but that is just formalities and legalese.

[ DETAILS ]
Our current software bundle is designed to appeal to the casual video gamer, table top gamer and/or developers out there. We're shipping the table with a handful of single person games/cooperative games such as Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds and Torchlight to name a few. We're working with developers current to supply a handful of fun multitouch games ranging from simply Air Hockey to board games. For table top gamers we are including D20Pro with a GM and small pack of guest licenses. RPTools is also available for use on the tables for answering the needs for groups not using a D20Pro compatible system.

Developers get a slew of options for building their own applications. MT4j and Eclipse come installed and ready for use. Kivy the Python based multi-touch development environment. Each of these will have a handful of demonstration/sample applications available as well. To be honest, some of my favorite applications are demos in the MT4j shell collection.

The NUIT tables are also compatible with Surface 2.0 and Surface 1.0 content. The Surface 2.0 SDK comes pre-installed for Windows developers wishing to play around with multi-touch.

The tables themselves will be running Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit). Currently the hardware underneath is using the AMD A8 Lliano APU technology. I've done some side by side testing with NVidia/Intel i3/i5/i7 technologies and have found the A8's to be extremely performant in comparison. Additionally, the A8's produce significantly less heat!

Currently the tables are not running the touch libraries as a service, but this is just a matter of time before we're to that point. This means that we still need the wireless keyboard/mouse handy for initial login. However, once logged in and services are started, the keyboard can be put aside in exchange for a straight forward touch experience.

We're using a Shell application supplied by a friend/developer from the NUIGroup Forums as an application launcher. This works rather well, but we are still working on customizing the look and feel of the shell itself.

All in all I feel we will have a strong showing for GenCon and PAX Prime a couple of weeks afterward!

Lots of news

2011-05-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

There have been a handful of exciting developments recently. As I mentioned before, we're in the process of developing a larger table for War gaming and such. The prototype of this new table is due to arrive at my shop next weekend!

In addition, a friend turned me on to a new set of IR light bars from PyxLED. These bars are extra bright and can be ordered in custom sizes. For testing, I've ordered a batch of these bars in .5 meter lengths.

I've done some initial testing using the light bars with the existing Locus build. The bars are extremely responsive. The result is clean touch events from corner to corner. Very exciting.

Finally, I have been doing experimentation with additional screen materials. I've tested GlassVU, ICE HoloContra, and ProLight Films. The GlassVU dark grey material is slick, but lacks the angle of view required for horizontal installations. The HoloContra is lovely stuff, the material gives an excellent contrast with the black being slightly grey. The horizontal usage of the HoloContra product is good, but not perfect -- good enough for most uses however.

The ProLight Films however, show stunning results in the horizontal mounting department. Additionally, the ProLight dark grey gives blacker blacks and richer colors. As a result, this is the material I'm currently planning to use for our two test builds.

Which brings me to the next topic. In addition to the large format table using our NUIT touch interface, we're working on the final designs of the Locus touch tables.
As soon as I've received the two table prototypes I'll post photos.

Sneak Peek from the "Lab"

2011-04-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

PAX East - Complete

2011-03-14T05:08:00.001-07:00

Day 3 was a complete success from my stand point. We ran again for the entire show with only a bit of a hiccup when I pushed the currently underpowered CPU to it's limits.

As I'd been telling people at the show, the device I had on hand was my development hardware which is purposely underpowered CPU wise. This is to assist in our load testing process. Unfortunately, I can get a bit excited about how much we _can_ do on the underpowered box. The result is that I was running UniTUIO's Detonator, Torchlight, MT4j Shell, PyMT Shell, D20Pro _and_ MapTools on the poor thing. The graphics driver game up the ghost for a moment, which required an embarrassed pause on my part, followed by a the system picking up it's pieces and returning to a fully functional state.

From a purely developer standpoint, this was a great result. The application load I was presenting on the little guy was way over the top for most low end systems. Despite that the system continue to function as a touch interface until OpenGL froze.

This is the type of problem which wouldn't even be relevant to a production build where the touch layer runs a service. CCV froze along with the rest due to the graphic driver dropping out.

The rest of the event was lovely. I had lots of company throughout the day and plenty of happy people who were excited by seeing D20Pro and MapTools running on our Multitouch table.

PAX East -- Day 2

2011-03-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

We ran the table for the entire show time today without any real hitch. I have one section of the table (a corner) which is not responding as well as I would like. I should be able to adjust that section in the am before the event floor opens.

Other than that I was very pleased with the turn out for and interest for the table. I met some friends who I met through PAX Prime. Very nice to see everyone again.

I'm in "the alley" behind the booth due to giant sodium lights which are apparently brighter than the sun. We've created a "Secret" passage from the main booth to the Locus. It's interesting the number of visitors I've received at my tucked away location.

I'll take some photos tomorrow and show the results of our funky space and what our current developer build looks like. We've nearly completed our physical housing build design. As soon as that's sorted I hope to post pictures of the completed system. Probably by GenCon.

Time to recharge the batteries. Oh, day 2 -- success (I survived)

PAX East - Day 1

2011-03-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

We're showing the Locus at the Geek Chic booth at PAX East this year.

The Locus is the result of the Multitouch work I've done thus far to develop a coffee table Rear Projection DSI system.

I was happily surprised to find out that there were a fair number of people who'd heard of the table already and were eager to get their hands on it.

The final verdict? Day 1 was a success.

Worst blogger, ever.

2011-01-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

Since my last post was in October, I've decided I'm the worst blogger ever.

Despite this, many interesting developments have kept me busy. I'm deeply in broiled in a project to monetize my Touch Table work. In an effort to drop cost and ensure a top notch product, I've been doing a lot of testing and development with cameras, illumination and lenses. Unfortunately, I can't post this information quite yet.

However, if you're reading this, you're probably hoping for the camera summary I promised back in October. I'm more than happy to share my findings, the results just aren't in a happy, postable document currently.

I will say this, resolution to frame rate are certainly key. I'm not done with the HD camera market, however, I'm using a 640x480 camera with a 100fps framerate for my build these days. This is primarily a place holder till a higher resolution camera can fill its shoes. My ideal is a 1024x1024 (or greater in either dimension) 100fps camera operating over usb3.0. Point Grey and Natural Point both have future offerings which may fill this need. It will be a different world for those of us who are looking to handle small objects in addition to solid finger/gesture tracking.

I'll be back and post more. It just may be awhile.

Reposting some camera data I sent to NUIGroup today

2010-10-27T08:53:00.001-07:00

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. I’ll just outline in brief some of the camera tests I’ve been running in the last month:

Prosumer webcams:
Logitech C910
Logitech C600
Agama V-2025

Consumer:
PS3Eye
GearHead WCF2600HD

Professional:
Firefly FMVU-13S2C-CS
Firefly FMVU-03MTM

Of the cameras listed above the Firefly 03MTM and the Logitech C910 are certainly the frame rate and field of view kings. Both the C910 and the Firefly cameras (color and BW) have larger sensors then the PS3eye. This means a wider field of view is possible with a smaller distortion. Even with this, I suggest a low to no distortion lens. I’m currently arranging to evaluate a handful of low/no distortion lenses with the above cameras. When that is done I’ll post a write up on all of the cameras and the CS/M12 mount lenses tested on each.

However, to remain true to why I’m posting in this thread. All of the cameras, including the Firefly suffer significant frame rate drops when used with CCV versus reacTIVision and TouchLib. I’m not sure why this is loss is so high in CCV.

With the C910 I was able to manage 1280x960 @ 15fps via settings. This translated to roughly 3 - 7 fps in CCV. I tested with 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. In the other two processing packages I was getting 15 - 30 fps with the C910.

With the Firefly BW (still debugging some driver issues with the color cam) I was able to get a very solid 30 fps at 640x480. This has little advantage over the PS3eye other then a larger sensor so wider FOV and the image was significantly crisper.

The Agama and GearHead cameras were underwhelming.

Again, it is worth stating the current the Color High Res Firefly MV is not responding in CCV. I’m working with the Point Grey dev team to fix this issue.

Quick note about the new CCV 1.4 release!

2010-10-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

The new version is available for download. The key update points are separate slider configs for Fingers versus Fiducials. Read more about it on the NUIGroup blog.

More fiducial tracking tests with MT4j

2010-09-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

The following three videos show fiducial objects from the reactivision default library being read by CCV 1.4 from nuigroup. The demo application is MT4j with a couple of non-standard demo's running in the shell interface. The application I run for the fid-test is the fiducial tracker demo application from the advanced examples section. Enjoy!

(note: I did not trim the ambient audio out of these videos like the previous videos)

PAX Prime 2010 (Photos)

2010-09-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Below are a handful of photos from PAX Prime. This shows the table build we demoed as well as the lighting we were under.

The new table design does fantastic under bright, indirect sunlight. The only time we encountered a real issue was when the sun was setting on Friday and we had these lovely golden rays casting patterns across my demo surface. Interestingly, after a lot of tweaking on Friday night, we did not have a single moment on Saturday or Sunday where the performance changed due to lighting. I did make minor adjustments to the CCV threshold value around noon, but literally, the change was from a value of 54 to 64 -- already high.

We were on Sky Bridge which meant that we were on a large bridge platform under an arch of glass and steel. This meant great lighting for showing off hardwood furniture, and what should have been horrible lighting for an IR multitouch table. However, the most recent version of CCV (1.4a; thanks Amit!) meant a reconfiguration of my settings. The new settings worked so ridiculously well that I only mentioned light sensitivity as something to watch out for if you took one home.


This was our (Geek Chic) very well lit booth

Here is where the Locus sat. Well lit, with some filtering.

Look Ma, no flash. The natural light had me nervous at first.


On Friday, we moved the blind around to block the sunset. We did not need do this on Saturday or Sunday after I reconfigured the sensitivity.

Unfortunately the customer facing side got a lot of glare from the Atrium overhead. As possible I had the customers pop around for a look at what a normal view would be like.

PAX Prime 2010 (Videos)

2010-09-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

Wow and wow. PAX Prime was very different then PAX East. I was an attendee at PAX East and this time an exhibitor attached to Geek Chic, but even with the obvious differences in role, PAX Prime was vast and spacious and had the level of good feeling that I'd hoped to have found at PAX East.

I meet a lot of great people and showed the table to as many of them as I could. The technology and the over all design were very well received with the (quickly becoming) usual question of alternate form factor was asked many a time.

I was surprised to see how many people didn't touch the system. Even after learning that the system was a multitouch display, they were awed and asked lots of questions which I explained or demoed, but few felt that they should just reach in and touch the table.

This was not true of the other exhibitors. They were not shy at all and the following videos are of the Runic Games folk playing their own game on the table.

And our second! A full blown interview no less.

2010-08-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the ball has been rolling and here's the skinny. My wife, a close friend of ours, and I have started a company to surround the work on the table. We are called Mesa Mundi Inc. (website to come), and are working toward selling completed MT builds using both projectors and/or LCD screens. Currently we are finishing our dev cycle for the first iteration of the product as well as resolving final pricing.

The video below took place before the formation of Mesa Mundi. At the time (last week) I was planning to simply place these screen systems into Geek Chic products and bill them as such. Now this is mostly still the plan. Geek Chic makes awesome heirloom quality, hand crafted wooden furniture. The Locus is a housing for the MT stuff I've been working on and together we have an amazing gaming product. So, without further adieu (or caveats), I present to you the video by Third Orange:

And the first of the videos has come in...

2010-08-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'll admit to getting a little punchy after several days of demoing. This is an excellent example. Of course I'm not actually showing multi-touch here, just single touch events to show lighting effects and movement based in Map Tools.

However, this is a good example of the lighting quality of the screen after I realized the brightness on the projector was turned -all- the way down for the first 3 days of the Con. Ugh!

Images from Gencon

2010-08-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

I was so busy at Gencon demoing that I forgot to take video and barely took any photos. Below are my only samples from the table as presented. I'll finish my Gencon narrative as soon as possible.


Steam Punk and Multi-Touch Gaming Tables --- Oh! My!

The kids loved playing with the screen saver on the table. I was running MS Surface Lagoon.

This was taken quickly while the crowd was still at bay talking to a Felicia Day cos-player.

As expected, someone in the (Do you want to date my) Avatar costume drew more of a crowd then a multi-touch gaming surface! Her staff actually had a plasma ball at the top, it was awesome!

Return from Gencon 2010

2010-08-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

I've just gotten back from Gencon 2010 and all I can really say is wow! The response from the community to my multi-touch table was amazing.

I presented my multi-touch screen and software pack with Geek Chic from their booth. They built a lovely enclosure (all of Geek Chic's tables are super awesome) and we put the whole thing together on Wednesday before the show.

I'll admit to severe nervousness regarding the table actually fitting the enclosure prior to the show. The owner of Geek Chic and I had been talking on and off for a couple of months about build and specs, but I was concerned that I might have gotten something wrong or sent the wrong info. And when I saw the box the Locus (the awesome name they came up with for the combined table) shipped in, I was even more concerned. It was thin. To thin.

Fortunately, Geek Chic knows exactly what they're doing and we took out the parts from the box, assembled the table and had roughly 1/2 and inch of extra room for guts of the table. This lead to some confusion at first because the projection was too large. After determining the source of the problem I grabbed some scrap and we propped up the projector resulting in much success.

The next hurdle was getting the darn thing to aligned right. There was some damage to my mirror assembly by AirTran's baggage personnel. This led to a twist in the video which I had to untwist by adjusting the mirror placement.

Finally, with all the initial kinks worked out, I was able to present the table at in all it's 42" of multi-touch goodness.

Then the convention center turned up the lights in the Dealer Room. Oh Noes!

Actually the table did wonderfully under the super bright lights. We had some heating problems but a kind fellow from another booth (Thanks Adrian and thank you to your lovely wife who's name I have forgotten, as well) lent us the use of a fan!

The single fan worked perfectly. We were able to keep the whole setup cool with only the occasional overheat here or there afterward. Sunday, I moved the fan into a better position and survived the whole day without incident.

-- More to come tomorrow --

Another long pause.

2010-06-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

I'm linking to a design document which I put together for a project I'm working on with GeekChic, a really cool game table designer and fabricator.

Please feel free to check it out and comment.

Table improvements

2010-05-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Recently I purchased a new projector as part of the plan to make a clean, professional and ultimately marketable product. The new projector has a ridiculously short throw distance for a forward facing projector (traditional lenses in front type).

The purchase of the projector is exciting because, in the end, I'm a technophile. But in all project related seriousness. This new kit is vastly reducing the required height of my table design. While not the slim line concept we'll be seeing in the not so distant future. it is small enough in depth from surface that the large screen can be placed easily inside of most table top type setups; i.e. coffee table, work desk, formal table.

Anyway, as I finalize my design, as always, I'll post more data!

Images!

2010-05-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

To go along with my recent video post. Here are some diagrams I whipped up in Lightwave. The only thing not listed in these diagrams are mirror angles (these are mock-ups) and camera placements. I'm currently running two PS3Eye cams on either side of the bottom mirror. This configuration is pending more work on the object recognition side of the table.

Enjoy.

Videos!

2010-05-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

Some new developments

2010-05-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

I've been quite for a while due to spending my time working on running the game this table was conceived of to support. Now that we're moving along and I'm planned far enough ahead that I have some down time, I've returned to the table design work and began the process of looking for a housing.

Recently, I attended PAXE. While at this wondrous if not line ridden event, I encountered a company which specializes in making furniture for gamers. I've since begun a dialog with them to create a housing for my large format MT table. Due to this recent development I'm going to be mum for a bit as I work out the legal details of what might be a business deal for making more of these toys.

So enough about that for now. Here's the tech developments from the last 24 hours of work.

Reconfigured my mirror array using a front surface mirror acquired from an old projection TV. This new configuration resolves a fair amount of the screen "blur" (ghosting) which was there with the plexi-rear faced mirror.
Adjusted placement of the mirror and projector slightly to maximize the total display dimension. I've not got a solid 46" diagonal 16:9 screen showing 100% horizontally and 98% vertically. This means there is some cut off of the desktop environment in the vertical direction.
Tested fiducial with CCV 1.2 (fiducial) using two PS3 Eye cams and 3.6 mm lenses. This worked out quite well. I was able to track positive images (white background with black lines) but not negative images. Interesting. The downside to this test was the loss of a fair amount of screen real-estate. The 3.6m lenses lead to loss of approx. 4" from the perimeter of the screen. For a taller build this wouldn't be a problem as the cameras could be lower, but with my coffee table and projector choose it is not possible to diminish the screen size any more then I have.
Swapping the 3.6mm lenses for my 2.1mm lenses without moving the camera bodies actually resolved my stitching problem! With the new placement I now have full screen touch from corner to shiny corner!
Shot some video of RPTools and Fiducials in action. I'll be posting this video as soon as I get a chance to compress it into a reasonable size for sharing (from an HD camera).

Fiducials work -- sort of.

2010-04-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

The good news is that fiducials work. Every method of CCV with fiducial support that I tried worked like a champ. With some caveats.

The bad news is that the dimensions of the table I've built and the surface area to camera resolution are not going to support fiducials. This isn't to say that I won't get it working for the table properly, but it does mean that I'll have to run a second instance of CCV or reactivision to handle fiducials using a second set of cameras.

Fortunately I have a couple of HD cams sitting around from an earlier venture into the realm of moding auto focus cameras. I'll do more testing with these this weekend and hopefully take some photos for those visually minded readers (out of the three of you).

Back in action!

2010-04-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

I recently recovered from taking an evening class. Grabbed the new cameras and dug into the table again.

Success if pretty much how I'd describe it. Very quickly I was able to get nearly full screen width coverage of touch which was previously unattainable with the lesser camera. I have two ps3Eye cams now, but only one of them is in use for touch. My plan is to try to use the second camera for object and shape recognition.

Using CCV 1.2 with the fiducial tracker I was able to see the shape but the software failed to detect it.

Will have to tweak this more when I get a moment. For now? Sleep!

Camera's abound and vacation

2010-03-05T05:18:00.000-08:00

Last month I acquired a second camera and purchased some housings from Peau. Good stuff but I also picked up about 3 different horrid illnesses (the last of which was the Noro virus) and have done little to advance the project.

I did build up the table surface by roughly an inch and half. This has resolved some of my focus issues as I have a bit more play room for the InFocus XS1. Additionally, I started crafting the actual box. Currently the surface support, i.e. Top, is made of Poplar arranged using lap joints.

I'm still trying to find just the right mirror arrangement to maximize the view on the screen while still maintaining good blobs. Currently my blobs are quite weak and I'm just not satisfied with that.

I'll post some pictures when I've got the time to scale them for posting.

Continued Refinement

2010-02-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

Below is a collection of images of the table running at the improved scale.
The operating resolution is set to 1280x720. With a max resolution of 1400x1080 or some such. I've run it at max res and it looks good. The InFocus XS1 does a good job of scaling resolutions over it's native 1024x768. It is also worth nothing that the machine I'm using to drive this table is a Toshiba M200 which does not have digital output. Using DVI I could probably get higher fidelity of image. Still, I'm not about to start complaining!

Worth noting, the image projected is still blurred due to the double reflection of rear faced mirrors compounded by using two of them. I'm waiting till I'm completely done testing to attempt the task of removing the protective coating from the rear face of the mirror due to the delicate nature of the then unprotected mirrors.

When in use, I added rigid cardboard along the long edges to minimize the camera seeing a passer by.

Apparently Rosco Grey suffers from hot spots fairly significantly. Unless viewed straight on, the image is very muted into the far distance. The photos below actually do not show the level of muting which is visible to the naked eye.

Happy Accidents

2010-02-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

As I've stated numerous times in previous posts, mirror placement has been a complete bear. Well, for various reasons I found myself needing to move the test table temporarily. This process was slow and involved as the parts are not fastened down in a solid way.

The table moved, cleaning of the space commenced and I hear that there was an accident involving a vacuum cleaner being shoved into the projector side of the case repeatedly. Egads!

When I got home the signs were there that tampering with the delicate parts of the table had occurred. The IR Ribbon power cable which I'd reinforced was protruding at a very unattractive, freightening angle. Fearing the worse I rolled out the support cables and powered the bad boy on.

My first shock was in discovering that the projector wasn't displaying. Opening the case I was greeted with the sight of the projector resting on it's lense pressed heavily on one of the mirrors! Oh noes!

I gently tilted the projector back into place cursing my not having crafted an upper latch yet, and inspected the mirror for damage. Since the projector hadn't been on for too long there were no signs of heat damage and there were no new scuffs in the already scuffed section of mirror I've been using for testing. Whew.

Next I plugged my laptop/control computer back into system and fired it up for real. The first thing I noticed as an even blur across the image. Ugh, the projector mishap had messed up my focus. Grumbling I reopened the case and adjusted the focus. Close, check, open, adjust, close, check, good.

The second thing of note wasn't apparent until after I'd logged into windows. The focus was nearly completely even. I could easily read text in both the near and far height of the screen. Sweet!

This test was with a different laptop, as I'd left my normal machine at work, I quickly jumped in to the display properties and set it for my normal 16:9 1280x720. This produced the third most significant discovery. The screen now contained 98% of the actual display being presented. Roughly 5 pixels along the bottom edge (start bar) and maybe 2 pixels across the top edge (ui cruft) were clipped by the screen edges!

Tonight I will be spending some, very delicate, time measuring the mirror placements and recording angles.

Finally, I feel confident that I can begin planning and working on the final hardwood coffee table/case.

Here's a pre-party photo of my son playing on the table... literally.

Party Time!

2010-02-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a party in which the table mock-up was setup. Fun times! It survived a number of under 10-year old's as well as their parents. Thanks to the fire flash demo (the party was fire themed), it was a big success and the various mirror placement problems were not evident.

Multi-Touch Success at last!

2010-01-28T06:43:00.000-08:00

Crude but working!  Now it's refinement time, then on to final build.  Decided on Maple for the primary wood for the final box/coffee table last night as well.  Maple for the framing and major portions with Birch ply for the paneling.

Screen layering as follows:

======= 10mm Endlighten
------- Rosco Grey (saggy but working)

The camera for this setup is still the GigaWare 640x480 cam with a 160 degree fish-eye lense. It certainly looses quality at the edges of my screen.

I've gotten two 720P camera's for use but need to desolder the autofocus elements and remove the ir-filters. Then solder the focus mechanism back into place -- ugh.

Gaming on the Mock Up

2010-01-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

Over last weekend my gaming group actually got a chance to use the mock up in non-touch mode. At the time I was still waiting on my camera and lense for the setup. The camera arrived today, so hopefully I'll have something to show with full touch in the next day or so.

But back to the gaming! Even in low tech, no special reveal during exploration the group loved using the table. I was able to quickly illustrate large section of world maps and tactical areas without the players having to guess at what my hasty symbology was going to mean. The down side is that when running games in the future, I might actually have to prep my maps in advance. Still, this is absolutely the bed I'm planning to make for myself I better get used to sleeping in it (or not sleeping as the case may be).

The images I've included in this post do not show the actual setup we used. Silly, tired self didn't take any photos of the game in session. In the images attached I'm just demoing the screen with paper for a projection surface. For the session I used a cut of my Rosco grey stapled to the wooden frame.

For stretching the Rosco I've actually found stapling to be quite effective. Using a large gauge staple gun staple similarly to stretching canvas. I left the Rosco on for a 4 days of constant touch and test usage without any snags or distortion in the material.

Important note: Rosco grey blocks IR. Yes this is information that is posted in the nuigroup's forums. No, I hadn't found it in the forums when I switched from an FTIR to DSI setup. As to the FTIR effect using the Endlighten + Rosco Grey -- excellent but required much pressure, so much in fact that I was concerned for the safty of the Endlighten.

The Framing

2010-01-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

Initially, I designed the table for a minimal number of relfections.  Using one mirror I'd planned on having the measure roughly 36" across.  After creating the mock up inner frame, I decided that while 36" would be ideal for a game table, it was simply too wide for my space.

The final design I've settled on is 26" - 27" wide and 45" long.  This version uses 2 mirrors and has the projector at a jaunty angle.  Currently my mirrors are acrylic rear face jobs which I plan on using a DIY method I found on-line to remove the protective coating.  There is an interesting link in the comments to the article about an alternate product.  I'm probably going to try both depending on what I can get my hands on tonight.  Additionally, nuigroup has a post linking to lumenlab with a procedure very similar to the instructable.

[diagram]

In both cases the total height to projection surface is 19".

This is excluding the convertible I was considering.  A table top which rotated and maintained aspect ratio through magic.  Reality finally caught hold and I had to ditch the idea for its geometric reality was greater then I.

Building the Screen

2010-01-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

This first image is of the endlighten, L brackets, Foil tape and IR Ribbon -- exciting!

Here we have the first length of ribbon added to an L bracket. The depth of the shot really gives you an idea of how long this bar really is.

And put together, no tape yet:

Before taping, I tested the IR with my phone's camera...

I tacked the frame to the screen with small sections of foil tape and reinforced the power connector area from the IR reel with foil tape as well. The flexibility of the connectors contacts made me rather nervous. I insulated the connector with small pieces of electrical tape first. Tacking the frame on allowed me to make sure that all of my edges lined up as I'd hoped.

Once I was satisified with my arrangement I applied a layer of foil tape around the entirty of the frame.

And then I apparently over wrote the image files for the remaining steps I took to create the the prototype I've been using. How sad...

The story so far

2010-01-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

A year ago I started the process of building a DI rig roughly 18"x12".  Nothing every came of this setup.  I tried to build my own illuminators and found that soldering is less fun after the 100th LED.  Especially when it's the placement of that 100th LED which burns out the previous 99.  Rather then invest in a better soldering gun and setting up sort of staging holding rig for the LED's I started the stalling/planning stage of project two. 

My next build was a 19"x24" free standing screen using IR Pens crafted loving from old  stinky Expo I markers.  This build was great for testing as well as for use as a drafting table in my  shop.  I still use the pens as well.

This screen is made up of the following layers:

=======  1/8" Acrylic 

-------  Rosco Grey

=======  3/4" Acrylic (buffed and polished for future FTIR use)

Testing the screen without projection met with much success!

Percission was somewhat lacking due to the cheap webcam I was using.  This wasn't the end of the world however as it was a proof of concept.

Then I added projection.  At the time I had (have) an old Sony  LCD projector with a _huge_ (read Long) throw distance.  This was nice for projecting 100"+ art  installations.  However, it required most of my shop and a large spinning mirror to vaporize... err.. wait, wrong project.  The throw distance requirement was extremely  disheartening.  A quick search for front face mirrors led me to the purchase of some mylar-like mirror stuffs.  Very nice, have used in other projects since.  However, I've yet to use it as an actual mirror due to the difficult in stretching the material in such a way as to get a truly flat mirror.  To the credit of the material, I have not tried the clamp method the vendor suggested simply because it would add unacceptable additional size to the projects foot print.  Certainly not usable for a coffee table design.

As a result this table has become a fixture of the basement/shop's space. It's fate is still undetermined.

The difficulties with the Mirrors led me to a bit of a slump.  I still talked about the project and still puttered with it yet I made no real progress.

Finally, this past December (2009), my wife who has been very supportive of the project (read expensive hobby) thus far and perhaps was tired of seeing me moping around, presented me with a flexible budget and a reel of IR ribbon.  Thus was born the coffee table gaming surface which I've begun to create in earnest.

 Price       Product
------------------------------------------------------------------

$240.00  --  1 Spool of 850nm IR Ribbon + powersupply from
               Environmental Lighting
$230.00  --  1 pc. 43"x24" Endlighten Acrylic
$840.00  --  1 Projector, InFocus XS1 Moderate-Short-Throw
               projector 2'2" for a 49" diag according to
               projectorcentral.com
 $20.00  --  1 Gigaware (Radio Shack) WebCam 
 $50.00  --  1 Roscoe Grey (oops, I'll get back to that)
  $2.50  --  1 roll of foil tape
  $8.50  --  2 L shaped aluminum 'bars' from Home Depot
-------  --  1 Pile of Scrap wood

Through all of this the nuigroup has been immensely helpful! 