Meh.

1. Surely it should be able to auto-calibrate?
2. Not really ‘touch’ is it? It just tracks the coloured pucks.
3. There’s a pre-written opencv function for tracking colour patches (check out ‘camshiftdemo’).

Looks like about a day’s work!

Posted at 6:01 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by Tim

Looks like this video from MS Research, which has been out for a few years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtmwQnUlEmc

Posted at 7:05 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by ryan

Wow! Thanks Ryan for that new link! It’s nice to go straight to the originator (plus he explains it.) But too bad about lame interviewer (and the lack of annoying music.)

Posted at 7:38 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by RussWill

Nice work! I will make you a functional 3d display for your technology.

Posted at 8:09 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by jim slipper

johnny lee did some amazing work before with a wii controller. I think johnnys idea is more practical especially since you have the option to click with the press of a button.

http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

However good work though. judos

Posted at 8:39 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by renter

johnny lee is truly amazing with his creativity!

Posted at 11:28 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by RussWill

this is cool its not relly multitouch since u track the pucks but i wanna try this is there a link for a download of the software?

Posted at 6:33 am on Jun 27th, 2009 by jason g

ps another cool thing ive seen is webcam tracks a laser dot and u use it to move pointer and click

Posted at 6:37 am on Jun 27th, 2009 by jason g

Hmm, looks cool to experiment with once the software is released :)

Posted at 6:42 am on Jun 27th, 2009 by darkblackcorner

Hi,

Thanks a lot for the post and thanks a lot for the comments! :)

———–

>1. Surely it should be able to auto-calibrate?

Yeah, auto calibration can be implemented.

>2. Not really ‘touch’ is it? It just tracks the coloured pucks.

It tracks the circular tangible objects.

>3. There’s a pre-written opencv function for tracking colour patches (check out ‘camshiftdemo’).

Well it’s not tracking colours and not using camshift. It is using a custom background subtraction method tht implemented by myself to extract the foreground objects. And after identifying the 2D position it captures the colour info. Since I’m using a normal webcam the displaying image is visible (not like using an IR camera), so removing the background is challenging.

>Looks like about a day’s work!

It’s really great if you can do it within a day. :)

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

-Lahiru.

Posted at 7:15 am on Jun 27th, 2009 by Lahiru

iHate this trend….

Posted at 7:38 am on Jun 27th, 2009 by poopsniff

So why exactly is he tweaking its nipples in that youtube thumbnail?

Posted at 10:09 am on Jun 27th, 2009 by nubie

This looks like something that could benefit the disabled with poor motor skills. A cheap and effective way for them to use a computer. Fine tuned of course.

Great work, none-the-less.

Posted at 7:46 am on Jun 28th, 2009 by TMH

oh btw. I understand what you were going for, but the music was horrible. lol

Posted at 7:47 am on Jun 28th, 2009 by TMH

hehe yeah! should find a better music track. ;)

Posted at 7:54 am on Jun 28th, 2009 by Lahiru

I saw this post on openframeworks and want to let you know that there I also http://www.openframeworks.info which I use to write articles on some programming techniques.

Posted at 11:36 am on Jun 28th, 2009 by roxlu

so…U could exchange the coloured pucks for gloves with colour leds on the tips (activated when U touch the surface)?

Posted at 2:57 pm on Jun 28th, 2009 by Jordan

@Jordan:

Yeah, that’s possible. But I’m trying to allow more natural interactions… using bare hands. :D

———-

@roxlu:

http://www.openframeworks.info is really cool! :)

Posted at 8:32 am on Jun 29th, 2009 by Lahiru

i can see some interesting applications for this.. for instance, mounting a small webcam, like the ones that are installed in most laptops, on the bezel by the touchpad. adjusting the angle via software wouldn’t be too bad, just more precise control. this would make for a more portable approach and put us budget hampered folks a step closer to turning our ancient laptops into multitouch ones :)

Posted at 11:04 am on Jul 1st, 2009 by uzerzero

Out of curiosity, and I know I am late, would it be possible to have the software calculate a “touch” by watching how much the hand diffuses? Because the ambient light turns the hand into a “blob” to the camera and removes a lot of detail, would it not be possible for it to see the thinning hand/finger/other pointing object and asses when it has made contact with the screen?

Posted at 1:05 am on Jul 17th, 2009 by Jon

Can I use my webcam and my normal LCD screen with this kind of software ? if I can then where I can download this software ?

Posted at 5:38 am on Sep 16th, 2009 by Quest12

This website needs more comments haha!! Greetz from Denmark

Posted at 7:30 am on Nov 4th, 2009 by Webcam Girl

This is bullshit, copied from MS Research! many users have request the software for try this but no answer, This is called “Open source” right? why are you afraid if you don’t have anything to hide?

Posted at 9:41 pm on Nov 11th, 2009 by Mitchel Reugt

Hi Mitchel Reugt,

Thanks for the comment!

I need to clean-up the code base before publishing it as a opensource project. it’s my own research and the code is kinda messy. :)

Anyway since the higher demand. I’ll publish it this month. And please notice that I have nothing to be afraid of. :P

Thanks!
-Lahiru

Posted at 10:36 pm on Nov 11th, 2009 by Lahiru