This blog is officially closed
My diplomathesis is over, right now i’m working as a freelancer developing touchinterfaces. New projects will be posted on my webpage www.amelie-knura.com
Diplomathesis
Finally i found a nice thesis for my diploma! It’ll be about geoinformations on MT’s for students from 17-20 yrs and i will work together with some guys from GiAtSchool. Lucky me i don’t need to set up a new table my own, one of our team members will build a real nice and professinal DI-Setup. As i am studying Mediadesign my main focus will be on the concept and less on the programming and implementation. In best case we will have a nice prototype or at least a dummy.
Some pictures
I will add some fans+filters into the new box and i need to find a way to arrange the cables. Scotch tapes aren’t the solution. 🙂 The MS webcam works with 30fps which causes the image to slide behind the finger if you move an item on the screen. It might be better to use the Sony PS3 Eye instead. I found out that the more the webcam is shaded, the better the blobs and the less you need to press. I’ve added an ir-layer for common windows in front of the projector. The mirror still creates some reflextions on the screen. The box itself isn’t quite ergonomic. While testing i figured out that it’s uncomfortable to stand ducked across the screen. The new box will have the shape of a readers desk. This i guess will also remove the relections from the mirror.
The ir lamps needed to be covered otherwise the users arms are tracked. The projection surface is still a problem.
I did it!
Finally i had the money to afford an Optoma ES520 projector. Everything is set up and the blobs are pretty good. There are still some things i need to change. The projection surface isn’t quite perfect because i rolled the silicon onto the architecture paper and it’s difficult to read fonds and the edges aren’t displayed sharp enough. For the next MT i will use a wide angle webcam for it’s nicer to have the whole screen captured. The box is still a prototype and it’s quite ugly.  I will post some pics asap.
Designing Gestural Interfaces
O’Reilly released a book about MT. Here’s the first chapter, i’ve already added it on our library wish list. In case it’s not working out, i will ask Johannes who also offered me to borrow his beamer. I guess i need to bake some more cookies. 🙂
Good blobs
I’ve tested it for only 5 minutes but it works pretty good. The transparent paper+silicon ist prepared using the »Tinkerman method«. It’s really difficult to navigate without a beamer (can’t affort one right now). It kinda looked like this (without interferences on the bottomright):
Putting all together
The electricity works but the webcam can’t capture the whole screen, it’s way too big. Making the box higher won’t solve the problem proper. I think i need a wide-angle camera.
My blobs are weak (i have no blobs at all) but i guess it’s because i rolled the silicon directly onto the screen. A good method is to coat the transparent paper with silicon (without a thinner) and place it onto the acrylic. Am holding thumbs for it will work this time.
Parallel Array
I don’t know why the wizards recommended to use a power supply of 12V and 1ohm 1/4 watt resistors because the resistors even melt with 33ohm 1/2watt.
This is how it finally works.
FTIR Multitouch Project 