Hi again,
I have a webcam that has an infrared detection mode (see things in the most deep darkness).
Do I have to remove the IR filter, or I can use this webCam as it is?

Thanks,

Point your tv’s remote at it and take a picture with the webcam and post it here , you’ll probably have to remove the filter.

Hi,
here you go, it is a simple movie (compressed in MPEG). I can see in the movie the Infrared of the remote command… when I press some button.

And this is the Webcam:
http://global.msi.eu/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=618&maincat_no=132&cat2_no=262&cat3_no=618

Thanks!

Nop , it’s not bright enough , when you point it at the camera the camera image should be almost fully white , that’s how intense the leds are whitout the filter.

But before modifying have you chosen the way you are gonna do this?
FTIR or DI? Are you going to atempt the LCD version or just the projector based one.

I am doing the LCD version, and FTIR.
Regarding the FTIR, as I need to iluminate the LCD, wouldn’t the lights or no infrared lights interfere with the IR or make it more difficult to track?
What do you suggest? I should go for FTIR or DI? I read the post you pointed me to… and I think FTIR should be the way to go, as it allows better contrast and nicer blobs…

Thanks again

Vlado, that link you provided was really informative.  Thank you!

After reading it, now I’m rethinking my whole rig now.  The contrast of the blobs in FTIR is clearly superior, however the wiring of the IR leds and the compliant surface is a little bit daunting.  It seems like the jury is somewhat out on what is the best compliant surface solution.  The only other decent option it seem is Rear DI, which appears to have an easier build but requires careful selection and configuration of IR Illuminators, etc.

Also, I’m seeing a lot of evidence that says projection is the way to go.  I’d really love to not have my rig get cracked in the event that I have to move it, and I think dealing with a projector might be the best solution.  Is there a way to calculate what a given projector’s throw distance is and what would be suitable for a given coffee table sized solution?

I’m going to do some strategic surfing around the forum to educate myself better, and I need to get going on that MTmini so I can play with the software a little… I wonder if I could do a similarly sized test system with the Rear DI and FTIR rigs to see how they “handle"… might be worth some thought.

Thanks!

Projector Central is the place to look up specs on your projector’s minimum and maximim throw distance:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/

Wiring LED arrays isn’t that hard really.
Here’s a cool wizard to help with that:
http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

...and I’ve just come with a compliant surface that can be projected on and made DIY for pretty cheap.
There’s a how-to video in this thread:
http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/2197/

Now go build that table!

I did remove the IR filter… it was pretty easy, and now, as you said… we see the IR leds much more, the screen is white when I point at the cam with the remote

Wow Tinkerman, I think that setup is genius!  Seems like its pretty attainable too, and you’re right… those are some pretty awesome results!  Thanks!

Dante , the compliant surface isn’t a necesary requirement , the table works just fine whitout one , you just need to apply a bit of pressure.
I’m curently in the same situation as you are , I’m in Romania so I can’t really find a decent projector second hand , and the new ones are just overpriced and underpowered.
Been thinking of doing the LCD based solution , just found my leds thanks to Tinkerman and gonna go buy a second hand 17” LCD tomorrow , they are really cheap , i could afford to break about 7 of them for the same price as a new projector ).
Will report my progress but I’m not in a hurry so don’t expect to see anything from me for a few months until I have my parts.

What are the hardware requirements ? I tried the touchlib setup with a Laptop (AMD 1,6 gh and 512 ram, with a Ati Radeon 9600 Mb) and just the SmokeDemo puts the CPU at 100% (it works, indeed, but my CPU is at 100%...:S)
Any comments on that?

Thanks!

I’m running on a P4 with 1GB of ram and a nvidia fx5200 (I know this rig sucks) and smoke.app runs at about 50-60% of the CPU , really responsive tough.
I’ve found it funny but I’ve just reinstalled my windows and defraggmented my hard drives and touchlib is alot more responsive and eats alot less more CPU cycles.

Your rig is kinda slow for this , most of your cpu in particular would be ocupied with the tracking part of the touchlib rather than the physical calculations the fluid dynamics in smoke app require.

Try the photo apps , paint etc.

Last night I ordered an Xbox Live Vision camera!  I’m going to do an MTmini so I can play with the software a bit and then mod that bad boy into an IR camera!  I wonder if there are any digital camera IR filters that would fit somehow over the eye of it… hmmm…

I’m pretty excited at this first step!  Thanks everyone for answering my questions and helping to get me underway!

Just open up a floppy diskett and remove the insides (the plastic looking black thing) , it works incredibly well for this kind of setup.

Hey Tinkerman, I’m looking into these LEDs that you mentioned on another thread and I’m running them through the wizard that you posted above.  I will likely place an order for a few hundred of them just to ensure I have enough laying around to mess with.

I’m a complete newbie to electronics stuff, but I think I’m using the correct values based on the spec sheet: 1.3 forward voltage, 50 mA forward current, and 12 volts for arguments sake in the Source Voltage category since I’m likely going to use a computer power supply.  Since I have limited experience with electronics, the mechanics of executing on that schematic are a little unclear.  I put in 36 LEDs for the number of LEDs, this part may change as my design shapes up (right now I’m toying with a 24” x 36” design, that # of LEDs would be for one long side but I plan to go around all four sides).

Do you (or anyone else) have any pictures/advice/tutorials on how to hook a computer power supply up to an LED series like this?  Any tips or tricks to soldering and wiring based on a schematic would be helpful as well.  I got hold of one of those Cool Heat soldering guns awhile ago, but I’ve never had a project to use it on yet.

I have found a few good threads on understanding the schematic diagram, but not too much on the actual process of soldering, laying out breadboard, hooking up a computer power supply to the LEDs etc.  That’s what I’m after with my questions on this one.

Thanks for the advice!