versatile multi touch input device that is, hehe…

seriously,

after playing around with my quickhack mtmini, i came to the conclusion that it is pretty useless.YET.

so in this thread i want to gather ideas to enhance the mtmini.

i think it would make sense to make some kind of standard which include:

hardware ( webcams > 100fps, inexpensive)
sizes of the box
material of touch surface
size (standard letter/a4 to print out interface)

if we have this we could make a standard, standalone driver with plugin interface to connect appz
such as synthies, samplers, photo appz, mediaplayers etc…
maybe even with fidus on the backside of the input sheet

this is only interesting if the max delay is not to much (hence at least 100fps from the cam, resolution not very important)

a first solution for the cam would be the Sony eye camera ps3

i think the hardware could be found

what worries me more: how can we enhance the contrast of the picture given we want to be able to have a printed out piece of paper
on the top. (putting some household oil on the paper or using vellum is the simplest method i think)

edit: maybe its obsolete if we can find a easy way to do a inductive grid with interpolation on an uC.

First of all if you wanna have a “usefull” multitouch trackpad , buy a new Macbook. The mtMini is basicaly a demo of what multitouch is all about , for people that have not yet come to grasp on how easy it is to build a table.
If you want to improve your mtMini go ahead , the fireflyMV does 100fps , it’s only 400$ , if you based your “100fps camera” on the PS3 Eye then sorry , but that project is no where mature enough , and also will not provide 100fps.
I really don’t understand why you would wanna improve the mini , it’s really useless as it is , adding more components to it will not solve anything.
I sugest you go out and buy a projector , some acrylic and those new ir led stripes you can find on the forums seeing how no soldering is required with them , and you sould be on your way to a nice multitouch table.

Cheers.

Vlado, please be more empathetic to others.

While the MTmini was ORIGINALLY meant for quick prototyping and getting new people introduced to the idea of multitouch, I see no reason that this can’t be expanded. I’ve heard many ideas from others that would actually bring MORE use to the device. Just because someone doesn’t want to use the device as originally intended, doesn’t mean they’re not entitled to their thoughts or trying out new things (whether you believe their useless or not).

I believe the current MTmini is far from useless. It’s more about what is it used for. Certain things it is entirley useless for, while others things it’s more than capable of being a device that’s used on a daily experience.

Not everyone on the forum is here to build multitouch tables with projections, we must respect these people in order to gain a broader community.

I never implied that it’s useless , tought it has a purpose , it’s a quick test rig , it’s not intended as a permanent setup.
Be it as it may , I was out of line , sorry.

No worries, my friend.

@nemster: I don’t get this sentence “what worries me more: how can we enhance the contrast of the picture given we want to be able to have a printed out piece of paper on the top. (putting some household oil on the paper or using vellum is the simplest method i think).” I’m not sure what picture you’re talking about getting more contrast on.

I’m not sure there will be a standard for MTmini since so many people have different uses for it. Many just want to build one before they build their full table while others just want to play around. A capacitive grid wouldn’t make MTmini obsolete since building a capacitive grid versus building a MTmini are at different extremes. The MTmini can be built in minutes, while a capacitive grid weeks (and requires the knowledge to make).

We’re all for any type of advances you’d like to do to MTmini though.