http://nuigroup.com/index.php/site/index/ en naturalui@gmail.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-02T00:30:01-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/new_release_of_mt4j_java_framework/ http://nuigroup.com/log/new_release_of_mt4j_java_framework/#When:00:30:01Z a MT4j - Multitouch for Java - is an open source, cross platform Java development framework, created by community member: TherioN, for rapid and easy developement of graphically rich 2D and 3D applications and is designed to support various kinds of input devices with a special focus on multi-touch support. The input system is very flexible and extendable and now also supports the native Windows 7 Touch features as well as open standards like the TUIO protocol. Many multi-touch gestures are already built in and can be modularily attached to any MT4j component. New gestures can also be defined. By using the Processing toolkit in combination with the hardware accelerated OpenGL standard, the graphics achieve very good performance while the syntax is kept simple. The new version 0.9 features many new ready to use widgets and examples that make developing multi-touch applications both fast and easy. Here are some of the updates: - new version 0.9 released, now almost 50.000 lines of code - new windows 7 touch supported - many new examples, (mt-shell, air hockey, interactive water, 3D models..) - widgets (List, HUD Overlay..) - many bug fixes, memory leaks - physics engine integration with examples - Licensed under GPL - Source now on google code: http://code.google.com/p/mt4j/ Join the Discussion  |   Project Page  |   Download Page  |   Get the Source Community, Software 2010-03-02T00:30:01-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/ccv_13_installer_released/ http://nuigroup.com/log/ccv_13_installer_released/#When:19:06:00Z Hey guys we are happy to release CCV 1.3 which brings with it a much easier to use installer. We have worked on the tracking algorithm to provide much more smoother tracking, this includes a simple weighted low-pass filter and using floats instead of integers in our display mapping methods. Please let us know any feedback and have fun! Getting started with computer vision and multi-touch has never been so easy. Here are some of the changes: - Move to LGPL License - Fixed bug with acceleration value calculation - Added raw binary TCP protocol (sync-header for blob data packet) - Changed the color of buttons to red for better contrast - Added 1-exp(accel/x) adaptive filter coefficient (for tracking smoothing) - Fixed the blob count for blobs that are not sent ie. blob(0,0) - More optimization for PS3 Eye - Stopped using integers to for calibration mapping (CameraToScreenMap) - Fixed known logging issue. - See repository for full changelog Join the Discussion  |   Project Page  |   Download Page  |   Get the Source Community, Projects 2010-02-10T19:06:00-05:00 http://nuigroup.com/log/pymt_04/ http://nuigroup.com/log/pymt_04/#When:16:13:00Z A big thanks goes out to the PyMT team and all there hard work has proven some great results yet again. The new PyMT 0.4 has been released and is available now under a new license. Download the installer or get the source and start building your own Python based MT apps! PyMT is an open source library for developing multi-touch applications. It is completely cross platform (Linux/OSX/Win) and released under the terms of the GNU LGPL. It comes with native support for many multi-touch input devices, a growing library of multi-touch aware widgets, hardware accelerated OpenGL drawing, and an architecture that is designed to let you focus on building custom and highly interactive applications as quickly and easily as possible. Here are some of the framework details: * Move to LGPL License * Avoid usage of Pyglet * Backend splitting (Audio, Video, Text, Image, Camera...) * Switch to PyOpenGL (10% more performances) * Lot of speed improvements everywhere * Lot of bugfix in widgets and core * New animation framework * New widgets (coverflow, sidepanel, video, container) * New modules (keybinding, recordvideo, mjpegserver) * New input processor: retain touch (reuse the last “up” touch) * Designer App: text editor + pymt rendering (avoid slow loading) * New Developer’s Guide on wiki * Improved API documentation Join the Discussion  |   Project/Download Page  |   Get the Source Projects, Software 2010-02-09T16:13:00-05:00 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