http://nuigroup.com/index.php/site/index/ en naturalui@gmail.com Copyright 2010 2010-01-26T01:50:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/gsoc_20091/ http://nuigroup.com/log/gsoc_20091/#When:02:50:00Z Google Summer of Code has again been a huge success for the NUI Group Community in 2009 as it was in 2008. All 7 out of 7 projects were finished successfully. Thanks to all students and mentors for their great work and contributions. Below is a quick overview of all the projects completed in 2009: Argos Interface Builder Argos is a drag-and-drop GUI builder built in openFrameworks, dealing specifically with creating musically-oriented interfaces for multi-touch interaction. Argos is currently in active development and is maintained by Dimitri Diakopoulos and was mentored by Seth Sandler. Language: C++ Project Blog  |   Project Overview  |   Project Proposal  |   Get the Source CCV - Hand Tracking Module This project focuses on the addition of Blob, Hand and Finger Recognition, Tracking and Association as core functionality to the CCV for use with DI/DSI multi-touch setups. Project mentored by Laurence Muller and established by Thiago de Freitas Oliveira Araújo. Language: C++ Project Blog  |   Project Overview  |   Project Proposal  |   Get the Source Gesture Models for Multitouch This project from Sashikanth Damaraju and Stjepan Rajko as mentor, is aimed at creating a language / framework independent Gesture Recognition toolkit that takes OSC messages formatted with TUIO specification as input and outputs recognized gestures via OSC protocol. Language: C++ Project Blog  |   Project Overview  |   Project Proposal  |   Get the Source HCI Framework for Java A component-based UI framework for Java which allows developers to create interfaces for their Java applications that support a variety of advanced forms of human-computer interaction (HCI). Project founder is Ori Rawlings and mentored by Christian Moore. Language: Java Project Blog  |   Project Overview  |   Project Proposal  |   Get the Source MPX X.Org TUIO Driver This project creates an X.org multitouch driver for TUIO trackers. MPX + Xinput2 are not in a release version of X.org yet, so at the moment a custom build is required. Mentored by Martin Kaltenbrunner and proposed by Ryan Huffman. Language: C++ Project Blog  |   Project Overview  |   Project Proposal  |   Get the Source Multi-touch Google SketchUp This project from Anirudh Sharma and mentored by Pawel Solyga, is a addon to allow for multi-touch interaction in Google SketchUp including pinch zoom and translation gesturing. Language: Ruby Project Blog  |   Project Overview  |   Project Proposal  |   Get the Source NUI Paint - Python The focus of this project to explore new interactions & developing UI widgets for PyMT framework which would be reusable for other applications. This project was found by Sharath Patali and mentored by: Mathieu Virbel/Thomas Hansen. Language: Python Project Blog  |   Project Overview  |   Project Proposal  |   Get the Source Community, Projects 2010-01-26T02:50:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/porta_touch/ http://nuigroup.com/log/porta_touch/#When:03:08:00Z Community member portatouch, a sound-designer/engineer and composer from little Switzerland brings us a very well designed portable MT solution. As the video above showcases the construction is easily broken down and reassembled and uses a Apple Mac Mini providing a full package device. Here are some device details: Specs: - Benq 2410 HD LCD Panel (1920 x 1080 Pixel) - 8mm Endlighten XL Plexiglas (Touch Panel Frame) - IR-Led-Ribbon 850nm with 160 Led’s - 8 mm Endlighten XL Plexiglas (for the Backlight) - 2 Original Backlight Tubes from the Benq 2410 HD Panel - Unibrain Fire-i Firewire Camera, 30fps, 640x480 Pixel, 81° Wide Lens - 850nm Acrylic IR-Longpass-Filter - MacMini Core 2Duo 2.66 Ghz running OS X Leopard, CCV 1.2, ReacTIVision 1.4 and Quarz Composer - Fiducial (with ReacTIVision) and finger recognition (with CCV 1.2 / 5 ms response latency) - Mounted Dimensions: 75cm x 45cm x 35cm (W x D x H) - Mounting Time: 3 min. with 12 Screws, few cables - Boxed Dimensions in Flightcase: 75cm x 45cm x 15cm (W x D x H) Layers: - 8mm Endlighten Touch Panel Frame with IR-Led-Ribbon - Benq 24” LCD Panel - 8mm Endlighten with Backlight Tubes on the long sides - 3mm Plexiglas on Aluminium Frame as Mounting Surface - Fire-i Camera mounted 30cm under Touch Panel Join the Discussion  |   Members Page Community, Projects 2010-01-25T03:08:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/the_unituio_project/ http://nuigroup.com/log/the_unituio_project/#When:11:45:00Z NUI Group members are always eager to find better ways to produce amazing content. The UniTuio team, Ben Britten & Sandor Rozsa offers us uniTUIO. A novel approach that bridges together TUIO with Unity 3D. Unity 3D is a powerful multiplatform game development tool, designed from the start to ease creation. UNITY 3D + TUIO = uniTUIO So the basic idea behind uniTUIO is to have a set of scripts to allow you to easily implement TUIO into any Unity3d application. XTUIO says: " Now you can build your own Multitouch application with little to no coding experience in just a few minutes." uniTUIO is free and opensource under GPL with a community oriented approach. You will find some tutorials and some cool demo applications on their project site. Let us know how easy is to jump in uniTUIO: Join the Discussion Community, Projects 2010-01-12T11:45:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/subcycles/ http://nuigroup.com/log/subcycles/#When:09:34:00Z Community member Christian Bannister explains the project: The big picture goal of this project is to bridge the gap between sound visualization and musical instrument. With multi-touch interaction it is possible to manipulate multiple characteristics of a sound—directly and visually. Right now a lot of electronic music involves staring at the back of the performers laptop. This is a shame because in many cases a lot of really interesting things are happening on the computer that the audience is completely unaware of. This project hopes to create a common visual language and experience for the electronic musician and the audience by enhancing the perception of sound and music on both sides. These sketches are built with Processing and Max/MSP networked with OSC on a single computer. The music side of things (the Max patch) has been in development for a very long time. The Processing aspect is all brand new. It is really exciting to pair the existing audio features with new visual features. It is really fascinating how the music starts to sound different when the techniques for performing it change. These tracks sound a lot different being performed on the multitouch screen than they did when I first started working them up in Logic. It is hard to explain but it makes you think differently about the music and forces to to respond in different ways. This is my third multitouch build. The build is a 40’’ x 30’’ acrylic on aluminum frame with a a four corner llp configuration. I am running Community Core Vision with a single PS3 eye camera. I am using Digiline Contrast film and an older Infocus DLP projector. The music is composed with Logic, Reaktor, Massive, electric guitar, electric bass and tons of samples. In the performance of electronic music it is fairly common that the audience is alienated from the process and performance of the musician. Join the Discussion  |   Member's Page   |   Project Page Community, Software 2009-10-12T09:34:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/ps3eye_multicam_ccv/ http://nuigroup.com/log/ps3eye_multicam_ccv/#When:10:28:00Z Community Core Vision v1.3a With over 120,000 downloads, Community Core Vision (CCV) is a proven computer vision solution with the best community support group arround. Throughly tested in both research and commercial environments, CCV is a great starting point for anyone to begin learning and implementing computer vision based sensing techniques. Expect more to come as the community continues to contribute to this pioneering opensource project; such as the recently developed Hand tracking module added during Google Summer of Code 2009. Check out the latest release which can be downloaded here with the following features: Cleaned codebase and Visual Studio project Fixed hanging on exit issues (known openframeworks bug) New source code redistribution package Migrated towards TUIO 1.1 protocol PS3Eye Multicamera integration on Windows (XP/Vista/7) High resolution/framerate tracking (1280x480@60FPS) Fluid video resizing and screen matching Advanced camera settings PS3Eye Multi-Camera Driver With nearly 750,000 downloads and counting the PS3Eye camera driver has been a big hit within our community! Recently a new version was released to allow for using multiple cameras at once. Multiple PS3Eye camera support (Dual support in CCV) Robust Multicamera API for Develpers Customizable video stitching and blending Optimized greyscale mode with upcoming color version for broader use Advanced fully configurable camera settings, sensor control, linear transforms and lens distortion correction Community Camera Preview Also currently in development is a community camera solution with the aims of providing group members with affordable camera kits which everyone can contribute to the development roadmaps... Here are some of the current features/goals: Affordable & accessible Built in infrared bandpass filter Compact design & dimensions (3x2x0.75") Customized for HCI & Computer Vision usage High performance and capturing resolution Standard mounting brackets (works with standard tripods) Open specifications and roadmap (community driven development) Accepts variety of standard m12 lenses Optional video sync for motion capture Download CCV  |   Download Driver  |   Join the discussion Community, Software 2009-10-02T10:28:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/the_moadtouch_project1/ http://nuigroup.com/log/the_moadtouch_project1/#When:14:02:00Z Open your mind. Relax your brain muscles. This will take a little creativity. Rewind to the 1968. Douglas Engelbart is about to put on The Mother of All Demos (MOAD). This time, though, instead of inventing and demoing the first computer mouse, he invents a touch (or even multi-touch) screen and shows off an interface that has more in common with Surface or iPhone than Windows or OS X. Pretend that mice were never invented. What would today’s computer interfaces look like with 41 years of research and evolution and industry focus on multi-touch interfaces? Recently, there have been several articles that show touch in a negative light, with conclusions like these: “Touch is Dead On Arrival” and “[multi-touch] adds little of value.” Those types of comments come about because when some people think of touch on a PC, they visualize a GUI (mouse + keyboard) application and then add some touch to it, and see that touch is redundant or unnecessary. Well of course it is! I agree! Who would want to use an application or OS designed for a mouse pointer with +- 5 pixel precision with their fat fingers with +- 30 pixel precision?  In our imagined alternate MOAD touch demo world, though, every application would be designed to work well with gestures, multi-touch, and fluid, high-frequency touch interaction. I’m proposing the MOADtouch project: Let’s help people imagine what a NUI world would look like. Take your favorite GUI application, throw out the GUI, and totally reinvent it as a NUI. Pretend touch was only acceptable input device to the mass market. Forget the Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers. Forget the rectangles. Start with your finger tips and design out from there. I want everyone to participate, regardless of individual skills. Write blogs, create wireframes, mock up screenshots, mock up videos or even code up prototype interactions. Describe or show the experience. Do not throw out any possible application just because someone else doesn’t think it would work with touch. Recreate the interface so that it does work. I want this to be viral. Send this to all your friends and colleagues. Get them all to create and post something simple, even a snippet of an idea. “It’d be cool if XYZ was like this: ...” Twitter it. Blog it. Flickr it. Tag everything: MOADtouch. Remember: Open your mind. Relax your brain muscles. This will take a little creativity. Join the discussion  |   From: Deconstructing the NUI Community, Interface 2009-09-25T14:02:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/multi_point_tuio/ http://nuigroup.com/log/multi_point_tuio/#When:20:47:00Z MultiPoint TUIO is a tool for developers to test applications that make use of Multi-touch trackers that broadcast data using the TUIO protocol. The application is built for Windows XP/Vista using the Microsoft Multipoint SDK. This enables the user to interact with the application using multiple pointer devices, similar to the Microsoft Surface SDK. This tool eases the process of building TUIO applications as it removes the need for testing your application using a true Multi-touch device. Take a look at the video below for a demonstration. Get the latest Multipoint TUIO  |   Project Page Join the Discussion  |   Member's Profile Community, Software 2009-07-31T20:47:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/multitouch_musical_instruments_surface_editor/ http://nuigroup.com/log/multitouch_musical_instruments_surface_editor/#When:21:16:01Z Imagine a tool for transforming ordinary surfaces into a multi touch tabletop and that your camera is handling all the tracking. That you can play music with it, control any DMX to change the ambient light and the best part : you can program everything without a single line of codes ...."drum roll ..." The research group at Geneva’s Conservatory of Music presents the Surface Editor and Surface Tracker software applications for turning ordinary surfaces into multi-touch musical instruments. The Surface Editor allows users to custom design interfaces by dragging and dropping components, such as buttons, sliders, keyboards, and many others, onto the interface. The surface can then be used to control digital audio workstations, virtual instruments, hardware synthesizers and samplers, VJ software, and other applications, via either the MIDI or OSC protocol. The Surface Tracker is a multi-touch tracking application created for tracking movements on a surface using high speed infrared OptiTrack cameras. These cameras have on-board image processing, which allows them to process 100 frames/sec while sparing the host computer’s CPU. The applications are available at http://www.surface-editor.com. Those innovations led the team to found the Future Instruments company Join the Discussion  |   Member's Profile  |   Project Page 2009-07-27T21:16:01-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/multitouch_media_application_pro_v3/ http://nuigroup.com/log/multitouch_media_application_pro_v3/#When:00:14:00Z Changelog for v3: Fixed compatibility issue with Adobe AIR 1.5 (Fullscreen bug) This version should autodetect your screensize to support any screen resolution. Added a Google Maps object Added support for adding pictures on the fly (for example if you want send a picture from your cellphone with bluetooth, read the readme.txt for the instructions) Added a exit-button, reset view-button, canvaslock and displaylock buttons. Temporary removed DCIM support due to slowdowns Download it now: Multitouch Media Application Pro v3 [2.25 MB] Make sure to read the install instructions in readme.txt (and download the latest Adobe AIR 1.5.x). Note: If you want to try out the bluetooth feature, I recommend installing BlueSoleil to handle the pairing of the devices and file transfers. Join the Discussion  |   Member's Profile  |   Member's Blog Community, Software 2009-07-13T00:14:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/community_donations_and_faq/ http://nuigroup.com/log/community_donations_and_faq/#When:15:45:00Z Fellow NUI Group Members, We have just finished up working on the community FAQs page which have been long overdue and aims to clarify several key issues our community faces: A call to action for defining the "natural user interface" term. Introduction to community and foundation with future goals and roles. Legal challenges such as protecting member's rights and IP. Donations information and getting involved as a member. How to participate in the community and the areas we need help. Existing and future community project outlines. NUI Group Community FAQ  |  Join the Discussion Community, News 2009-07-07T15:45:00-05:00