Gesture based controls are starting to change the way users interact with computer applications - as seen, for example, with the Wiimote a remote control used with the Wii games console.

Wouldn’t it be great if the system could detect what was happening by interpreting movement and gestures directly without  the need for any input device?

In order to do this, technology is required that can build up a 3-Dimensional picture of the scene or environment where the user is placed. Movement and gestures within this 3D enviroment can then be used by the system to determine what the user is trying to do.

The ZCam^TM is a video camera that can capture depth information (which is used to build the 3D model) along with video and is produced by 3DV Systems.

http://www.3dvsystems.com/

The technology is based on the Time of Flight principle. In this technique, 3D depth data is generated by sending pulses of infra-red light  into the scene and detecting the light reflected from the surfaces of objects in the scene. Using the time taken for a light pulse to travel to the target and back, the distance can be calculated and used to build up 3D depth information for all objects in the scene. 

The technology performs superior depth imaging (depth resolution of millimeters) in real-time (60 fps or more), using little or no CPU.

The latest ZCam^TM is based on the DeepC^TM technology which is a chipset that incoporates the sensing technology.

There are a number of related publications which describe the technology in greater detail and can be found at

http://www.3dvsystems.com/technology/tech.html

Creating an intuitive mechanism to replace the keyboard and/or mouse has been an aspiration for many people ever since Tom Cruise in “Minority Report” looked so cool moving files around with his fingers.

Perhaps this technology can be used in helping to achieve those aims.  

I was interested to come across this media player, from PASEN which can be shaken (but not stirred), to shuffle through pictures, music and menu items.

In addition to the usual features expected in todays media player devices, the ShakeIT uses a motion sensor that detects the “shake” that allows you to select menu items etc..

I’m not sure whether this would work well while jogging, so perhaps this is why it can also be used as a pedometer which will incorporate a program to calculate the distance you’ve travelled and how many calories you’ve used.

All the details at

http://en.pasen.it/news.php

It started me wondering what would be the most innovative use for a motion sensor or acclerometer device?

Attended the presentation of a paper entitled Interactive Decal Compositing with Discrete Exponential Maps

Abstract
A method is described for texturing surfaces using decals, images placed on the surface using local parameterizations. Decal parameterizations are generated with a novel O(N logN) discrete approximation to the exponential map which requires only a single additional step in Dijkstra’s graph-distance algorithm. Decals are dynamically composited in an interface that addresses many limitations of previous work. Tools for image processing, deformation/feature-matching, and vector graphics are implemented using direct surface interaction. Exponential map decals can contain holes and can also be combined with conformal parameterization to reduce distortion. The exponential map approximation can be computed on any point set, including meshes and sampled implicit surfaces, and is relatively stable under resampling. The decals stick to the surface as it is interactively deformed, allowing the texture to be preserved even if the surface changes topology. These properties make exponential map decals a suitable approach for texturing animated implicit surfaces.

The full paper is available here

http://kf12.com/blogs/uploads/expmapsiggraph06.pdf

About the author: Ryan Michael Schmidt is currently an Master’s student in the Computer Science Department of the Unviersity of Calgary, being supervised by Dr. Brian Wyvill. He does research in computer graphics, particularly shape modeling with Implicit Surfaces and is due to commence a PhD at the University of Toronto (Summer 06)

Other Items
Possibly of equal interest were references to

ShapeShop

ShapeShop is a tool for creating 3D models using sketches. It incorporates much recent work in interactive implicit surface modeling, implicit sweep surfaces, and sketch-based modeling.

http://unknownroad.com/shapeshop/

There is a paper available ShapeShop: Sketch-Based Solid Modeling with BlobTrees which was presented at EuroGraphics 2005. Read it here

http://kf12.com/blogs/uploads/shapeshop_hires.pdf

and CrossY

CrossY is a crossing-based drawing application where instead of point-and-click “crossing” is used as an interaction method.

http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/crossy/

To trigger an action a target is crossed instead of being clicked on. Additional information is available in the following paper CrossY: A Crossing-Based Drawing Application

http://kf12.com/blogs/uploads/crossy_finale.pdf

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