Beautiful Modeler is a software program that enables Gestural Sculpting using a multi-touch controller such as the iPad.
Fingers are used to move touch points in the model. The view of the model can be changed and controlled by moving the iPad.
Details at
http://www.interactivefabrication.com/projects/beautiful-modeler/
The Kinect appears to incorporate PrimeSensor Reference Design technology from PrimeSense.
The technology enables a computer to perceive the world in 3D using Light Coding.
This works by coding the scene volume with near IR light and uses a sensor to read the coded light back from the scene ultimately producing a depth image of the scene. The process is immune to ambient light.
The PrimeSensor also allows for additional inputs including audio (2 microphones and up to 4 additional audio inputs) and a color (RGB) image.
More details about this technology is available at
http://www.primesense.com/?p=514
I thought it wasn’t available yet (at least in the UK 
due to get one on the 10th though), but here is a look at what goes together to make the Microsoft Kinect a peripheral for the Xbox 360 that provides a controller-free experience for playing games.
The Kinect is a horizontal bar of sensors connected to a small base with a motorized pivot, and is designed to be positioned lengthwise below the video display.
As usual, iFxit provides full details of the Microsoft Kinect teardown at
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft-Kinect-Teardown/4066/1
Leonar3Do is an interactive desktop VR system that consists of a spatial input device with 6 degrees of freedom, 3D glasses and monitor mounted sensors.
With Leonar3Do, you are able to control how you move within space – you can create and pull objects out from the monitor with the cursor.
To enjoy the benefits of virtual reality with Leonar3Do, you really only need desktop space for the palm-sized control box, a few cables and connectors. Beyond that you need some extra space for the glasses and the bird to put them down when they are out of use. That’s all.
More details at
Other videos can be found from user 3DForAll on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/user/3DforAll
Here’s something that Harry Potter could find useful for replacing his remote control(s).
The Kymera Wand is a device that you can program to replace the remote control used by your TV, DVD player or Hi-Fi etc.
Use a gesture of the wand to send an infra-red signal to your device. It uses a 3-axis accelerometer to detect motion and can remember up to 13 gestures which are each related to a specific infra-red command.
Learn more in an article at
and visit the web-site at
http://www.thewandcompany.com/
I thought I’d already written about this but cannot find a reference to it anywhere.
Bonfire is a project that uses 2 micro projectors to project an interactive display image on either side of a laptop keyboard. Cameras are used to enable hand gesture tracking and object recognition within the projected display area.
Presented in a paper at UIST 2009, if you have access to ACM documents, you can read more at
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1622176.1622202
The Dell S300wi is a short throw projector that will provide an image at a size of 24.5 ft from a distance of 10.8 ft (or a size of 5 ft from a distance of 2.2ft away) at a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.
The projector provides wifi (b/g/n) in addition to the normal wired connections for VGA, HDMI , S-Video and composite inputs.
It also comes with a wireless pen that can work as a pen, mouse or pointing device. The pen has 3 buttons equivalent to a Left Mouse button, Right Mouse button and a 3rd button to switch between different interactive modes and a retractable nib that allows a user to “draw” on the projected image surface. It is powered by 2 AA batteries that provide up to 50 hours of usage time.
Watch it in action in the following video
and if that’s not enough …
… the S300wi is 3D ready, which actually means that it is 3D DLP-Link compatible, and with a pair of suitable active shutter glasses you can view the projected image in glorious 3D.
Scheduled for general availability in late May at a price to be announced…
Researchers from the MIT Computer Science and Artifical Intelligence Lab have designed a system that can recognise gestures made with a multi-coloured gloved hand.
You can see the accuracy and latency of the tracking in the following video
One feature of the system is an algorithm which was developed to rapidly search graphics data in a database.
A webcam is used to capture an image of the glove. The image is reduced in size to 40 x 40 pixels and used to search a database containing digital models of a gloved hand in a range of different positions. If a match is found, the corresponding hand position is determined directly, thus eliminating the need to perform complex calculations to determine the relative positions of the hand and fingers.
Calibration, for different users, has been simplified so that the user only has to place their hand on an 8.5×11 inch piece of paper on a flat surface in front of the webcam.
More details at
http://people.csail.mit.edu/rywang/hand
and from MIT news at
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/gesture-computing-0520.html
Recent Comments