The Stem » Multi-touch

Multi-touch Crop

Brettf — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:09:59 +0000

I have recently changed the final student project in my OOP class to a multi-touch app. One of the briefs I gave to students was to do a non-destructive crop on the multi-touch. Two students, Jae-Ho Yoo and Morgan Roddick made a short video of it in action and I thought I would share. Check it out and give them some feedback, I am sure they would appreciate it.
A demo of a multi-touch photo app from Jae-Ho Yoo on Vimeo.

Multi-touch Holly Grail, 60fps

Brettf — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:00:26 +0000

Having been involved in DIY multi-touch for over a year now I am still shocked that the 60fps barrier stands. I can’t really complain because I am not a C++ programmer which prevents me from doing it myself but it’s still surprising. Most of the demos of home brew multi-touch displays get slammed for their lag from the arm chair critics. Part of the problem is touchlib, the blob tracker most of the DIY multi-touch community is using. Don’t get me wrong without touchlib most of us wouldn’t have working multi-touch setups. But it does have some serious stability issues, no binary socket support (not an issue if your not a flash developer) and no support for 60fps. Granted not everyone has a firefly MV or similar camera which shots 60fps but it can’t be that hard to integrate a native driver.

But this isn’t a post just to rant. I have decided to start the process of building a new and robust blob tracker that can shoot at 60fps. Below are the first screen shots and some processing times. Lots more to come. Post a comment if you are interested in knowing more.

Mutli-point Graffiti Window Report – 100+”

Brettf — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:40:32 +0000

Who knew people would spend over 10 hours painting on Richmond City Hall if given the chance. Below you can see a half scale test of the screen by graffiti artist Jeff Jerevan and the fill size window being used by Bill Ede.

Graffiti Wall from Alex Beim on Vimeo.

Graffiti Wall Final from Alex Beim on Vimeo.

Multi-touch window test

Brettf — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:19:56 +0000

Here is a quick time-lapse video showing a large DI multi-touch window test. This screen is about 1m square. Drafting mylar is being used for the projection surface.

DI Multi-touch Window Test from Brett Forsyth on Vimeo.

Speaking at FITC 08 in Toronto

Brettf — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:34:59 +0000

It’s official, I will be presenting at FITC ’08. This will be a great opportunity to show off the work we have been doing at VFS with multi-touch interfaces (Being in April we will even have some stuff to show). I have been silent about the multi-touch lately, not because it isn’t progressing, but I want to have a great update when I do post more info. Also on the radar is the possibility of doing a multi-touch wall which would be kick ass. My goal is to post a large update over the holidays.

Touchlib v74 Binaries

Brettf — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:16:46 +0000

Since no one else seems to be building the touchlib binaries anymore I decided maybe I should. I had lots of problems with the build that is on the nuigroup site (I think it mostly had to do with the camera driver) but this new version works great. Use at your own risk and I won’t be providing any support for this build as I just followed a great tutorial to do it.

Touchlib v74

Multi-touch

Brettf — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 01:39:47 +0000

I have been building a multi-touch display for the Digital Design department where I teach. We are approaching the end of the build phase after getting the last vital part. You can follow the progress over at the Digital Design blog.