Technologies of DIY Multi-Touch
Research for the technologies behind the concept start by looking at what the end product will be. What does the fully realised ‘thing’ need to be like, what traits does it need and then how can that be replicated on a smaller scale?
The fully realised concept is not just a technology but a complete overhaul of how people use and interact with their environment. The overall ‘design’ phase of the project is in the capable hands of Russell Smith with some inevitable crossovers when user testing and UI details become the focus, the technologies are what is being discussed here.
The sketch shows the layers needed to create a flexible OLED display with capacitive touch capabilities similar to the iPhone. The concept is an extrapolation of the multi-touch technology involved in the iPhone [here] and the technology involved in flexible OLED screens [here].
This means that existing walls could be ‘wallpapered’ with this new material and adopt all of the UI, connectivity and touch attributes that the concept aims to produce. Whether or not the technology is feasible is another question, the information is there more of a ‘what if’ than a concrete answer.
The type of technology used in the testing MT is ‘Front Diffusion Illumination’ meaning infra-red light (sun light or environmental light in this case) is diffused through (a diffuser oddly enough) and the contrast between the shadow generated by touching is amplified and tracked.
The benefits of this are the fact that it is very easy to set up as you don’t need specific infra-red LEDs as the environmental light is enough. A major con is the fact the camera needs to be in a contained environment to stop any extraneous light and creating ‘false blobs’ on the tracking surface.
Other techniques can be found at http://nuigroup.com/ which are complete with diagrams.
4th February
This is the first of weekly blog entry’s regarding progress within the group and individual commitment.
On the 14th of January, concept ideas were bullet pointed on a notepad for the collaborative project including:
• Physical digital tagging
• Sand
• Moods
• Lighting
• Network – Bluetooth/Internet
• Headphones as a network device
• Graffiti
• Freerunning
• Staplers
• Biometrics
• Equalizer
• Photos
• On screen, expanding outside
• Fire creating an image
• Grid system
By the 21st January the group decided on a concept and presented the idea to the class. To summarize, the idea is an interactive wall for the home including unique gesture interaction, which is what will differentiate this from other projects. Feedback was given from the lectures and where to go from here but the group was mostly left up to their own devices and carried on developing the concept. Some secondary research was gathered on main priorities such as high risk problems such as projection onto a screen which is also picking up gestures, lighting and possible scripting issues that will undoubtedly creep up. But also presentation qualities and perspective issues will need to be tightened up for the final presentation.
Here are the links mentioned:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=NcAm3KihFho
• http://www.aiburn.com/article/create_a_vector_home_cinema_design
• http://www.teamgt.com/forum/cubes01.htm
• http://www.teamgt.com/forum/cubes02.htm
• http://www.teamgt.com/forum/cubes03.htm
27th January consisted of the group typing the draft brief and proposal that will include the “full” idea and what will need to be accomplished. This can be found here:
• 20080127-brief1
• 20080127-proposal
The day after, a list of currently known jobs was bullet pointed and it was decided to assign individual strengths to certain jobs. Craig would be concentrating more on the technical side of the project, were as Russell would look into the creative side regards to presentation and usability although both areas will be over looked by each other.
• Create blob tracking prototype
• Create template for documents
• Sketch storyboards
• Touch up storyboards
• Primary interviews
• Brief and proposal touch up
• Technology research
• Room photos for ideas on space
• Sketch interface proposal
February 3rd started with creating the multi-touch prototype. Both members got involved and following the instructions of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQpr3W-YmcQ, documented the process with Craig’s camera including a video. A number of problems raised such as the webcams light was reflecting off the surface of perspec, webcam display needed to be mirrored, tBeta program was picking up the wrong webcam and the reliability of third party programs was skeptical. Some issues are still unsolved but as time goes on, the group is confident these will be resolved.
A number of sketches were created to get an idea on how the prototype would ultimately look on the 11th March and included a short storyboard to compliment it. A list of questions was needed to get a perspective on where to start and what the priorities of the project are. So these were jotted down with some extra secondary research.
• How do we want it to look?
• Usability
• Does it start with default objects?
• How would you choose between a radio and television?
• Is a list the answer?
• Colour schemes?
• Consistency
• Personalize for different users?
• Intuitive
• Feeling/touch
• Is it convenient?
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=166&t=226083
On the 4th February a number of sketches for the final concept and addition proposals relating to what the final device would look like and feel like were sketched down. Today also involved creating the progress map/milestone excel document which was completed and put aside. Finally the group decided to give the project a name and with little debate, “0 Wallpaper” was chosen and an additional logo was created.
Prototyping a Mini-MT
In order to be able to test any of the programming with real user-input gestures there needs to be some kind of device that is easily transportable, cost effective and simple to create. The answer is a Mini-MT (Mini Multi-Touch) device.
The process is simplified and all links needed are at the end of the post.
There are a number of sites that show intersting ways of developing DIY touch interfaces and there has been much sifting though them. Below are a list of the links that have been used in the development thur far.
Hello World!
Welcome to the 0 Wallpaper blog. (Pronounced zero-wallpaper)
This is designed to track the progress of the collaborative third year project for Craig Dennis & Russell Smith at Ravensbourne College For Design & Communication.
The project is based on Multi-Touch technologies and convergence of digital devices in the home and environment.
