I had to return the beamer today and tried if I could arrange it so that I could borrow it for the rest of the project. Unfortunatly school couldn't approve to that request and so my quest started in finding a company that could sponsor me a beamer, preferably short-throw, so I don't have to use a mirror. I am still looking.
The current state is that I have no beamer and therefor I can't finish my setup. I decided to investigate into how to write a class for Adobe Flash that can retrieve the data that is being send using the TUIO protocol and to process the data for easy use for my game experiments.
The class will be written in such a way that it will fire events for a finger press, release and drag and will give access to information like finger position, pressure and delta. I will continue developing this in the upcomming days.
dinsdag 25 maart 2008
zaterdag 22 maart 2008
Working setup
Wow it has been more then three days that I have posted something. This doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything related to the multi-touch assignment. On wednesday I had to go to school to borrow a beamer and to talk to a teacher called Willem-Jan who kindly helped me putting some perspective into my research. He told me that writing is a dynamic proces, that I could change everything at anytime.
Also I tried, with help, to figure out what it is I am exactly fascinated by, what I want to do research on and why I should bother. Why would you want to play boardgame type of games on a multi-touch device while the traditional board games already show that they are working and fun? Anyway I got the assignment to make a table with on one side the traditional boardgames and it's uniqueness comparing to a multi-touch version, mostly focussing on the restrictments. On the other side I would have the multi-touch version with it's added value.
The most important thing I have to do research on is a thing I call the 'Casino Effect' in boardgames. Let me give an example to explain, imagin you just won 200 points on the slots, instead of immediatly adding those points to the total score, you let it add the points over a certain amount of time with maybe even some sound that goes louder the closer it get's to the new amount of points. The whole illusion is that those 200 points in this way, feel a lot more.
Some notes on benefits of a multi-touch table:
* Downloadable content
* The size of the board can be as large as you like
* You can play against the computer (together or alone)
* The ability to create your own map
* The ability to share your map with others
* Add-ons or modifications by others to the game can be shared as well
* Easy customization for theme
After this I used the beamer to finish the second prototype and had it soon fully operational. It worked!! And it worked well!! So after playing around with it, looking into how I can calibrate and tweak I talked to Erwin what would happend if you played catan realtime. Something I am going to develop and experiment with.
Also one major issue is, that I have to think clearly how I am going to test.
So on thursday I tweaked my screen a little bit and had to build the whole setup in my house, which was kinda hard because I want everything to be perfect and I didn't have the material. So I eventually fixed it with my coffee table on the side, which is balancing for 50% on my computer and the other 50% it's being pressed against the wall by a desk. Below the coffeetable I have a beamer pointing upwards and next to it the camera. I don't use a mirror because of three ghost images. I used towels to close the whole thing up. To make the blobs better and to fetch the tracing well I used oil on the screen.
Also I tried, with help, to figure out what it is I am exactly fascinated by, what I want to do research on and why I should bother. Why would you want to play boardgame type of games on a multi-touch device while the traditional board games already show that they are working and fun? Anyway I got the assignment to make a table with on one side the traditional boardgames and it's uniqueness comparing to a multi-touch version, mostly focussing on the restrictments. On the other side I would have the multi-touch version with it's added value.
The most important thing I have to do research on is a thing I call the 'Casino Effect' in boardgames. Let me give an example to explain, imagin you just won 200 points on the slots, instead of immediatly adding those points to the total score, you let it add the points over a certain amount of time with maybe even some sound that goes louder the closer it get's to the new amount of points. The whole illusion is that those 200 points in this way, feel a lot more.
Some notes on benefits of a multi-touch table:
* Downloadable content
* The size of the board can be as large as you like
* You can play against the computer (together or alone)
* The ability to create your own map
* The ability to share your map with others
* Add-ons or modifications by others to the game can be shared as well
* Easy customization for theme
After this I used the beamer to finish the second prototype and had it soon fully operational. It worked!! And it worked well!! So after playing around with it, looking into how I can calibrate and tweak I talked to Erwin what would happend if you played catan realtime. Something I am going to develop and experiment with.
Also one major issue is, that I have to think clearly how I am going to test.
So on thursday I tweaked my screen a little bit and had to build the whole setup in my house, which was kinda hard because I want everything to be perfect and I didn't have the material. So I eventually fixed it with my coffee table on the side, which is balancing for 50% on my computer and the other 50% it's being pressed against the wall by a desk. Below the coffeetable I have a beamer pointing upwards and next to it the camera. I don't use a mirror because of three ghost images. I used towels to close the whole thing up. To make the blobs better and to fetch the tracing well I used oil on the screen.
dinsdag 18 maart 2008
Playing with the second prototype: Part II
Today I had to look for duct tape to tape the edges where the infra red light could escape out of the frame and I had to look for some tracing paper to work as a diffuse material. I settle for coroplast PVC tape and patternpaper, which I didn't even know it existed and if it would work.
I placed all the wires and leds within the frame and taped it so I don't have to worry about accidently breaking the wires. After this was done I was glad to see that I didn't have to worry about hoovering hands anymore.
Next was the possition of the diffuse material, it appeared that if I put it in front my blobs didn't get through, that's probably why you need a small layer of silicon to make that work. I put it behind the acrylic, so at the bottom, and my blobs did went through.
Now I have a working multi-touch input device, but not yet a multi-touch screen. So tomorrow I will borrow a beamer to project the image on my screen and hopefully that will be it.
I know the picture below is a bit chaotic, but it does describe what it will look like tomorrow.
I placed all the wires and leds within the frame and taped it so I don't have to worry about accidently breaking the wires. After this was done I was glad to see that I didn't have to worry about hoovering hands anymore.
Next was the possition of the diffuse material, it appeared that if I put it in front my blobs didn't get through, that's probably why you need a small layer of silicon to make that work. I put it behind the acrylic, so at the bottom, and my blobs did went through.
Now I have a working multi-touch input device, but not yet a multi-touch screen. So tomorrow I will borrow a beamer to project the image on my screen and hopefully that will be it.
I know the picture below is a bit chaotic, but it does describe what it will look like tomorrow.
maandag 17 maart 2008
Playing with the second prototype: Part I
The light of the leds were so strong that even when you hoovered with your hands from about 30 to 40 cm it would still detect your fingers. Meaning I had a hoovering multi-touch table, not quiet what I wanted. So I tried putting the adapter from 12V to 9V but that didn't make a very big difference.
After playing with it some more I came to the conclusion that the light could break free from small gaps between the acrylic and the aliminium, so now I have to buy some duct type to fill the gaps and hopefully it will work.
In the meantime I had to go to school to return the beamer and I have to come up with a structure for my research subject.
After playing with it some more I came to the conclusion that the light could break free from small gaps between the acrylic and the aliminium, so now I have to buy some duct type to fill the gaps and hopefully it will work.
In the meantime I had to go to school to return the beamer and I have to come up with a structure for my research subject.
zaterdag 15 maart 2008
Second prototype nearly done
Today I worked really hard to get the second prototype up and running. Paul soldered the last part of the leds together and I drilled holes in the aliminium so I could screw the L-shaped brackets in. After this was done, we tested the leds at Paul's place with his simple non-modified webcam. We were very nervouse due the fact we only had one chance, doing something wrong would mean that all the leds will burn and I would have to buy new leds. Luckely for us, everything worked like a charm.
With the frame and the leds I went home and had to do something really borring, namely tape every single led so we know for sure it won't break because it might hit the aliminium or something. After that I had to put it in the frame, which was harder then I thought because some of the holes were to large making the led constantly pop out. Next I could test and this is the first result (without the bandpass filter on the camera).
With the frame and the leds I went home and had to do something really borring, namely tape every single led so we know for sure it won't break because it might hit the aliminium or something. After that I had to put it in the frame, which was harder then I thought because some of the holes were to large making the led constantly pop out. Next I could test and this is the first result (without the bandpass filter on the camera).
vrijdag 14 maart 2008
Building second prototype
Alright instead of a story line, this time I'll post a sum of events. So on wednesday eve, I got the 30 IR Leds and with that I had all the equipment to start building the second prototype. I brought all the stuff from the shopping list to my good friend Paul van Dalen, who helped me putting it all together.
Unfortunatly we saw that the 10mm space in the H-shaped aliminium bar was including the thick edges and the acrylic of 8mm did NOT fit in. So we had to find another solution and so we decided to make the aliminium go all the way around the acrylic and let the L-shaped braces stick out a bit so that it can hold it.
It all cost more time then I expected and so at the end of the night we had the aliminium frame, with the holes and we had part of the soldering done. Then the next day, my unibrain firewire camera arrived with the lens and I was able to lend a beamer from school for the weekend.
Tomorrow, saturday, I will again go to my friend to finish the frame. I wish I could take photo's of the development, but unfortunatly I don't have a photo camera.
Tonight I will install and connect the unibrain camera to see it's speed and to see how it picks up infrared light.
Unfortunatly we saw that the 10mm space in the H-shaped aliminium bar was including the thick edges and the acrylic of 8mm did NOT fit in. So we had to find another solution and so we decided to make the aliminium go all the way around the acrylic and let the L-shaped braces stick out a bit so that it can hold it.
It all cost more time then I expected and so at the end of the night we had the aliminium frame, with the holes and we had part of the soldering done. Then the next day, my unibrain firewire camera arrived with the lens and I was able to lend a beamer from school for the weekend.
Tomorrow, saturday, I will again go to my friend to finish the frame. I wish I could take photo's of the development, but unfortunatly I don't have a photo camera.
Tonight I will install and connect the unibrain camera to see it's speed and to see how it picks up infrared light.
woensdag 12 maart 2008
Project proposal presentation
So the project proposal presentation was pretty exciting seen the fact that after the five minutes you got for giving your presentation you were told if you were allowed to continue your project or not. Luckely for me it was approved, however, I needed to remove the word properly in my research question. So for now, my research questions is going to be:
If you take a board game like cluedo, you could extract game solutions like the dice, the weapons, the pawns that represent the character, the cards that represent a character, weapon or room, the spaces on the board and the rooms. How can you put all these elements into a multi-touch screen and make the experience of that game even more fun.
As an example I will translate one traditional board game into a multi-touch edition, where I will describe my work progress in my supportive narrative, argumenting every decision I make.
"How can you translated a traditional
board game into a multi-touch edition?"
Also I had hard time phrasing that what I want to do, but I guess I can best describe it as finding multi-touch solutions for common game problems that have already been solved in someway for traditional board games. Like the die, that has been found to generate a random number.board game into a multi-touch edition?"
If you take a board game like cluedo, you could extract game solutions like the dice, the weapons, the pawns that represent the character, the cards that represent a character, weapon or room, the spaces on the board and the rooms. How can you put all these elements into a multi-touch screen and make the experience of that game even more fun.
As an example I will translate one traditional board game into a multi-touch edition, where I will describe my work progress in my supportive narrative, argumenting every decision I make.
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