The long awaited Multitouch Technologies book authored by members of NUI Group (http://www.nuigroup.com) has officially found it’s first release! As one of the co-authors of the book, I am proud to see a final initial version come to fruition. The book, which consolidates articles from the NUI Group Wiki, includes sections on how to build Multi-touch devices, multitouch software resources, a glossary of terms and more. I  believe, as the book develops further, this will be the best resource for multitouch information on both the web and in print.

If you’re unfamiliar with NUI Group, I suggest reading the about page http://nuigroup.com/log/about/. NUI Group is currently the single best resource for multitouch technology and hopefully will become the largest database for Natural User Interfaces and emerging technology. If you’re interested in do-it-yourself hardware/software, HCI, or multitouch interaction, NUI Group is the place to be.

If you like the book, leave some feedback below! If you’d like to contribute to future sections of the book, you can get involved here: http://nuicode.com/projects/wiki-book

Download the Book |  Submit Feedback |  Join the Discussion

Well, it’s about time I released another application right? If anyone has ever played Bloom on the iphone, I’m sure you’ll recognize my port from iphone to table.

If you’re not familiar with bloom, it’s a very simple music creation application. Press anywhere on the screen to create circles that grow and ‘bloom.’ As they fade out and re-appear, they play a note. The note is based on the x-axis. As you move right, the notes go higher.

Click the above image to play

How to use:

-Press on screen (mouse, touch, multi-touch)
-Rollover/touch/click already created circles to remove them and their sound
-Press the upper left ‘clear’ button to clear all circles and sounds on screen.

Downloads:

Source Code: 

Bloom Source Code bloom_src.zip Version: 1

Author:	Seth Sandler
Date:	November 18, 2009
MD5 Hash:	37030ba99feb9663b98f0c755061bcca

1.2 MiB 21861 Downloads Details...

Binary Application:

Bloom Application bloom.zip Version: 1

Author:	Seth Sandler
Date:	November 18, 2009
MD5 Hash:	d4302be06f674dd3f68b7d38c52256d6

1.9 MiB 21020 Downloads Details...

The source folder should include everything you need to run the application. You don’t need to copy anything into your current AS3 directory. I’ve commented the Main.as file very well and it should give a good look into making simple applications with the AS3 Touch API.

Thanks to Christian for the background color tweening effect.

Check out my Bloom thread I started here: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3867/

Check out olo:idea video below that shows the Bloom running on a large multitouch display.

Check out bassmang5 video below that shows the Bloom and my other applications running on his MTmini! You can see his post on NUIGroup here: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/3911/

Pictures from when my table was on display for a few days. I have larger pictures if you want specific ones. This post has a lot of pictures, so if they don’t all load, you may need to refresh this page.

New video of the new system that loads and unloads applications. Also, the desktop is now sending out OSC message to PureData to create some sounds based on finger number and position on screen.

Well, I haven’t been able to post everything leading up to this point yet, but I wanted to get the finished images up. I’ll be writing about the process up to this point soon so that there are no gaps in the “how to” of building my table.

New video showcasing the final table at work. The software is all a work in progress and new releases will be coming soon of all applications as well as new ones. If you like the video, please pass it on. If you don’t like the video, please pass it on anyway. Enjoy!

I finally have everything up and running decently enough to make some videos. So here’s a couple videos of the software I’m currently working on. I combined both the multiKey and Musical Squares applications into one canvas. A user can move the canvas, or the individual applications around, rotate, resize them as well as some subtle extras.

Enjoy! Hopefully I’ll have some better quality videos up soon.

I took some pictures of the projector projecting on 3 different types of materials. I’m using a Casio XJ-S30 Projector which has 2000 lumens and 1800:1 contrast.

The following images consist of Rosco Grey Projection Screen (left), tracing paper (middle), and Rosco Black Projection Screen (right).

Here’s one picture with the lights on with Rosco Black (left), and Rosco Grey (right). In the picture the Rosco Black may look slightly better, but in person the Rosco Grey is the clear winner.

It’s really hard to get an accurate picture of what these projections look like in person. The camera seems to make white areas look washed out when really they are clear and bright. In person, the tracing paper has the best brightness and clarity. The Rosco Grey also has nice brightness and overall clarity, but the tracing paper is slightly better (in person). The Rosco Black seems to dull the colors too much. Maybe a brighter projector would bring out the best in the Rosco Black, but with my tests it’s just not an option for use.

The winner in viewing tests:

1. Tracing Paper
2. Rosco Grey
3. Rosco Black

Conclusion:

The tracing paper only has a slight advantage and since Rosco projection screens have the bonus of blocking outside infrared light, the Rosco Grey is the best option and therefore Rosco Grey will be what I’m using (for now at least).