I know that this has been covered before, but I don’t think anyone has really gone into the details and whether it is possible or not.

Ok, Jonny Lee built the code on the multitouch whiteboard app using this library for the wiimote: http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/archive/2007/03/14/1879033.aspx

Couldn’t you take the output from that library and port it into touchlib, then use touch lib to track the IR on the application?

Now I know the wiimote can only track up to four IR points, but honestly, that’s still two fingers per hand, or four fingers on one hand. That is plenty for almost any multitouch application.

I’m no programmer, so someone else would have to do the ground work on this, but as far as availability goes, the Wii is probably the least hardware intensive, and most easily implemented multitouch input device for under $100. Why not make Touchlib compatable?

Hi DataPhreak,

The wiimote has it’s own blob tracking inside the hardware and will send the information needed (x/y) to whatever applications needed.

Touchlib is an application that tracks and sends blob information (just like what’s inside the wiimote). There’s no reason to send blob information to touchlib since that’s not what it’s for.

I’m not exactly sure what you’re wanting to do.

DataPhreak - 09 July 2008 06:37 PM

Now I know the wiimote can only track up to four IR points, ...

Why 4? I know that everyone says this. But if you try to calibrate wiimote on wii, you can actualy see more then 4 points. I think it is possible to get more points from wiimote.

DataPhreak:
I’ve written an application called wiimotetuio a while back. It is based in his work, it will forward the recognized blobs by the wiimote in tuio messages. .allowing you to use it Multitouch applications that support TUIO messages (most flash apps)

Daniel:

The reports specification of the wiimote only specify 4 blobs, so i don’t see how you can get more then 4 blobs during calibration.  It does look that way in one of Johnny Chung Lee movie’s but thats because of the frequency differences of the camera/wiimote & the recording camera..

It does might appear if you have more then 4 blobs if they have almost the same brightness, due to the high frequency (100mhz) of the wiimote if can recognize 4 blobs in 1 pass, but the next pass it might recognize 4 blobs again, but 2 of them might be different ones, if your application works at 30fps you might see 6 blobs. Atleast thats how i think it can look, or the updates go faster then you can recognize and you only see 4 blobs at a time, but they keep swifting too fast for you to see thats its 2x 4

Helza,

too bad that the Mote is not sensitive enough to catch up IR-Blobs from behind the screen. Unfortunately not usable in a “boxed” situation with rear projection. Tested also from AlexP with his powerfull IR-Laser setup. Uwe Schmidt has integrated TUI in his WiiMoteWhiteboard (java and OSX - http://www.uweschmidt.org/wiimote-whiteboard) and also the ability to connect two Motes simultanously. Actualy the two Motes are tracking the same blobs and they are used only for a more relyable and precise trackin, but i guess that this could be solved with some calibration voodoo so that you could track (theoreticaly) 4, 8, 12, or 16 blobs… But since they are not so sensive you are limited to use them in the front of your screen/projection surface…

But if you are going for that: just take two IR-Lasers mounted on the surface of your fancy LC-screen, put a WiiMote in an angle of 45degree to your monitor and voila! You have a 4 blob MT-LCD… But wait! Is’nt that what MS is doing with LaserTouch

Cheers,

My app is still using an old version of the wiimotelib (1.2) i think that since then they figured out how to use the sensitivity report of the wiimote, maybe that wiimotelib 1.5 supports this? I know it atleast support multiple removed which 1.2 doesn’t..

I might be tempted to upgrade the application if 1.5 supports the sensitivity mode..

Helza: I’d love to see that app, and an updated version. Do you have a project page, or some other link?

Helza and Daniel: I know what you are talking about daniel. The IR camera output can see more than one IR input, but like Cerupcat said, the blob tracking is done inside the wiimote. Perhaps if you output the video from the IR camera, you could output it like a webcam into Touchlib and do the blob tracking from there.

Sandor: There is an upside to the wiimote that a lot of people are overlooking, That upside is that you can use the wiimote in front of the screen, as opposed to behind it. Therefore, it’s not necessary to build a box, you can use your regular monitor, or an LCD tv. That’s why I want to use the wiimote instead of building a table.

Cerupcat: I was mistaken. Apparently, what I was looking for was a way to incorporate the wiimote blob info into TUIO. Helza apparently already has this done.

Something else that might be interesting for all, since most of the setups rely on rear projection, Lumenlab.com has a lot of info on building your own projector using LCD panels. Something you might want to check out. It’s a lot easier to get the size and aspect ratio correct on a custom built projector than a prebuilt storebought one. (I’m a hardware nerd, not a programmer. =P)

You can find the project here, its coded lousy as its my first C# project
http://code.google.com/p/wiimotetuio/

It also has some annoying dependency’s buts that because its based on the WiiMote Whiteboard code

HAHA Helza i’ve writed one too :D
I called it Wiiexporter and it’s based on a version of libwiimote i modified to have max sensivity. I haven’t tried it on a MT yet and it’s freezing when using for a long time but it works.
I tried to make a calibration process to get more wiimote connected and spot more than 4 blobs but i didn’t get more time to handle this.
edit : It is c coded.

Allright boys, maybe i wrote too confusing Check out the mentioned link:  http://www.uweschmidt.org/wiimote-whiteboard. There is the application coded for OSX and JAVA (cross-plattform) compiled and as source. It does TUIO and uses 2 Motes… Hope this helps…

Cheers,

sandor - 11 July 2008 02:41 AM

Allright boys, maybe i wrote too confusing Check out the mentioned link:  http://www.uweschmidt.org/wiimote-whiteboard. There is the application coded for OSX and JAVA (cross-plattform) compiled and as source. It does TUIO and uses 2 Motes… Hope this helps…

Cheers,

brrrr… java…

Helza1 - 11 July 2008 04:00 AM

sandor - 11 July 2008 02:41 AM

Allright boys, maybe i wrote too confusing Check out the mentioned link:  http://www.uweschmidt.org/wiimote-whiteboard. There is the application coded for OSX and JAVA (cross-plattform) compiled and as source. It does TUIO and uses 2 Motes… Hope this helps…

Cheers,

brrrr… java...

Helza - LOL Truly NOT for you C/C# guys… But for us Non-Proggies a nice thingy to play with… (anyhow it’s compiled and it works quite well)....

I have found out how Wii sees more than 4 points. I have used remote controls. And they blink. That means Wiimote sees more than 4 points, but track only random 4 points. If the point dissapears wiimote starts to track next random point. If they all blink we can get coordinates of all points.
But I don’t know if wiimote will see IR light reflected from fingers.

Daniel D - 11 July 2008 12:46 PM

But I don’t know if wiimote will see IR light reflected from fingers.

I can verify that the WiiMote does indeed see IR light reflected from fingers. The range is somewhat limited but, taking into account a very strong IR array/illuminator and the use of fingers becomes much better. Failing that you can use reflective finger tips to amplify the reflected blob and increase range.

http://www.wiimoteproject.com for more information