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Is controlling your home with a smartphone too exhausting for you? Rejoice, then, as PointGrab is planning to launch PointSwitch, …
A few years ago we took a look at Pranav Mistry’s Mouseless, a prototype for a camera-based pointing device. Now, a startup called Haptix Touch is raising money on Kickstarter for a very similar – and possibly better – product. It’s called the Haptix, and I would love to trade my mouse for it.
Haptix turns any surface into a multitouch interface. It connects to computers via USB and uses two CMOS image sensors and a patent-pending algorithm. Like Mouseless, Haptix also has an infrared tracking mode for low light situations. In my brief chat with Haptix Touch Co-Founder Darren Lim, he said that the Haptix can track and assign different functions to up to 10 objects. For example, you can map your index finger to the mouse cursor, your thumb for left click, and so on. You can even tell it to ignore an object. This means you can use your table or desk as a touchpad, use a pen to draw or sketch in an image editing program or – my favorite – use your keyboard as your mouse.
Pledge at least $65 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Haptix controller as a reward. The current version of Haptix works with Windows 8 and other touch-optimized programs out of the box. Lim said it will support Android and OS X devices by the time it’s commercially available, which is hopefully near the end of 2013. Lim also said they will release the developer API and dev kits after Haptix is launched.
If you had your eye on Ubi Interactive’s multitouch software, you’ll be glad to now that it’s now on sale. For those unfamiliar with the product, sit back and relax. I’ll take you to a world where any surface can become a touchscreen. As long as you have a computer that runs Windows 8. And a projector. And a Kinect. For Windows.
The Ubi program allows you to interact with Windows 8 programs from a projected display, as if your wall or canvas were a giant touchscreen. It uses Kinect for Windows – which is different from the one that works with the Xbox 360 – to map your fingers or hand and register their input.
Ubi Interactive says that Ubi will work with any projector as long as it has a “high enough intensity for the image to be visible in your lighting conditions.” The computer running Ubi doesn’t have to have a touchscreen itself. It just has to run Windows 8 and the resolution of the display being projected should be at least 720p. Its biggest restriction is that it will only work with Windows apps that have been optimized for touchscreens.
You can order Ubi from Ubi Interactive’s website; it costs between $149 to $1499 (USD) depending on the version you want. The Kinect isn’t included with the software, but then again the total cost of a Ubi setup is less than what you’d shell out for an actual wall-sized touchscreen.
[via CNET]
The researchers behind Shape-It-Up call it a “Hand Gesture Based Creative Expression of 3D Shapes Using Intelligent Generalized Cylinders”, but it’s totally a pottery simulator. Decades from now, if – when? – Paramount Pictures decides to remake Ghost, the characters will be using Shape-It-Up while a dubstep remix of Unchained Melody plays in the background. Oh, my WUB WUB WUB WUUUUUB…
Shape-It-Up is a project by Purdue University Engineering students Vinayak, Sundar Murugappan, HaiRong Liu and Karthik Ramanilets. It lets users manipulate a virtual cylinder by using simple hand gestures, which are tracked using a Kinect. Skip to around 1:28 in the video below to see it in action.
I guess you could say that was… righteous. YEEEEA- I’m old. The researchers think of Shape-It-Up as a way for designers to start their sketches in an easier and more intuitive manner, not as a way to create a polished model. But if you pair it with a 3D printer, I think it can also be used as a way to teach kids about the basics of CAD and 3D printing. Now get off my lawn and head to Purdue University’s website for the project’s abstract.
[via Gajitz]
Earlier this year we saw AirHarp, a virtual harp that uses the Leap gesture controller, letting the user make music by playing an imaginary harp. The developer behind the AirHarp recently introduced a similar program but for a more popular instrument. The AirBeats will actually make air drummers productive. Or at least expose them for the frauds they are.
The AirBeats is very intuitive to use. The instruments you’ve chosen are displayed on the screen. All you have to do is tap in midair as if those instruments were arranged in front of you. You can also record and replace instruments just by pointing and swiping in midair. It is incredibly responsive, whether you use your hands or a pair of drumsticks or even pencils.
Developer Handwavy said AirBeats will be available on Airspace – that’s Leap’s app store – on July 22, 2013. I love how it’s a more physical way of making digital music. Maybe artists can even use it live so their audience can “play” along with them.
[via UniqueDaily]