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Taking the Wii Controller to the Next Level

Posted by CmdrTaco on Mon Jun 16, 2008 09:40 AM
from the stuff-to-play-with dept.
Input Devices Entertainment Games
funfail writes "It's a Wii without the $250 console. It's virtual Pong and so much more. Any object is now an input device, even your fingers. Camspace is a pure software solution that allows nearly any ordinary PC webcam (95% are supported) to track up to four objects — even as small as 5mm — in real-time and with very high accuracy and reliability (Windows only). Techcrunch has an in-depth article and a video." Very neat idea, but it appears that it is in a limited beta only, and source doesn't appear likely.
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Submission: A Wii Controller for Everyone by funfail (970288)
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Taking the Wii Controller to the Next Level 50 Comments More /

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  • Sweet! At the next level my Wii controller gets henchmen and has a ThAC0 of 11, and 98 Hit points! I think we will be ready to defeat the Play station which is only level 3!

  • Its Multitouch for the masses! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16 2008, @09:46AM (#23810627)
    set one of these up pointing at your computer screen... and have it track your fingers.

  • Posting AC because I'm 100% offtopic... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16 2008, @09:49AM (#23810673)
    ...but /. is running ads for Russian mail-order dating sites now? Seriously? I realize we're all nerds here and not exactly smoove with the ladies, but is this how low we've sunk? Damn. That just peed all over my morning.

  • Nice tech, but latency? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by J-F Mammet (769) on Monday June 16 2008, @09:49AM (#23810677) Homepage
    This certainly seems to be a very nice software, but the main issue with using webcams as input devices is the latency. Your average webcam can take quite some time between what it's filming and what the PC is actually getting at the other end. And this is a very bad thing when it comes to gaming. You can even see the latency in their video at around 1:30 when they have the players and the PC screen in the same frame.
    Nice for simple games I guess, but for serious gaming it would require special cameras with low latency.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by JustKidding (591117)
      I can see some applications for this in 3D modeling, where latency isn't really an issue. The solitaire game at 2:10 has some scary similarities with Minority Report.

    • Re:Nice tech, but latency? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by pherthyl (445706) on Monday June 16 2008, @10:50AM (#23811523)
      Yeah the video is hard to believe. I've done lots of work with image processing using webcams and they're usually pretty crap. You can get 30fps max, and then usually only at 320x240. If the lighting conditions aren't good, your framerate will drop (or everything goes unusably dark if you disable the automatic aperture adjustment).

      They show some latency, but overall the motion is incredibly smooth. Based on my experience that's impossible, but I'd love to be proven wrong. Gotta try that out.
    • Besides, the webcam may have a hard time tracking Z-axis direction, pitch, and acceleration in the same manner that the Wii provides. Perhaps if they let you track Wiimotes with this device it could yield greater accuracy, but then you are right about the latency issue. A neat trick, but for hard core games it won't do the trick.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Chris Burke (6130)
        Perhaps if they let you track Wiimotes with this device it could yield greater accuracy, but then you are right about the latency issue.

        Well the genius of the wiimote is that it puts the camera in the controller, and the things the camera tracks are fixed points. This makes measuring Z-axis easy (distance between the points) as well as pitch (apparent angle), using only the small wiimote.

        Whereas to measure tilt or Z, this method basically requires you to hold a sensor-bar-sized object (the steering wheels

  • Clever (Score:4, Informative)

    by Idimmu Xul (204345) on Monday June 16 2008, @09:53AM (#23810729) Homepage
    People have been writing webcam tracking software for ages, some is actually open source [gnome.org] and there's even phonecam tracking software [gizmodo.com] but this the first hopeful sign I've seen for something more fun than some stupid logitech wobbly eyebrowes and a moustache [gizmodo.com]!

    --
    Free Playstation 3, XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii [free-toys.co.uk]
  • But, man, this one has the best user interface I've seen, by far. And the other ones are either specific motion tracking games or are otherwise specific to some small part of the problem... plugins for particular applications, and the like.

    I suspect there will be an open source clone out within six months though... possibly based on Intel's open source computer vision library.

  • 3d telemetry? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by apodyopsis (1048476) on Monday June 16 2008, @09:58AM (#23810809)
    interesting.

    my first thought was a black jumper, black glove, bright, UV dots at key joints and fingers with four of those webcams and some clever software, and hey presto - instant real time telemetry system.

    hook it up to a remote arm and you have one nifty method of control. (seen the movie FX2?)

  • Source (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Archangel Michael (180766) on Monday June 16 2008, @09:59AM (#23810827) Journal

    source doesn't appear likely.
    So, if the source isn't available, we whine!

    This is one of those very annoying parts of the whole Open Source Movement, the whining. Good Idea, no source = whine.

    Code it yourself, and give your work away. Stop whining, please. It doesn't do the community any good when you whine.

    Seriously, if the code isn't open and it isn't going to be, start your own, and stop whining. It would be so much better if we stopped whining and posting the whines to slashdot and started to code.

    One of the side benefits of this (coding a good idea like this) would be that no company would dare release beta code, if it knew that the OSS version was on the way.

    Now, get back to coding!

    • thank you. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16 2008, @10:08AM (#23810959)
      As a guy who likes the open source movement, I'm well aware how those who think they love freedom really want to push rules onto other people.

      Open source = good
      close source = good

      freedom = good

      being forced to open or close one's source = bad

      • I don't really see what people are griping about in terms of source, but I suppose it depends on what they're looking for. Having the software open-source would be great (but unlikely). What I'd really like to see though would be an openly available SDK so that people can take advantage of the software.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by mecenday (1080691)
      Hrm... wow, how exactly is that whining? The comment is mentioning limitations, and no source is a limitation if you're sitting on a linux box. At worst he's suggesting the same thing you are: "Let's clone this" sort of follows from "good idea, no source."

      Anyways, you're hearing whining where there is none... maybe your cubemate is a whiny linux user or something and you got some interference this morning. =)
      • The "no source" comment is a whine. It means "I want the code for free", and "I'm too lazy or incompetent to code it myself".

        If what he meant to say was "wow, this is a great idea, who's got open source version?" then that's what he should have said, as it is much less ambiguous and actually would promote Open Source Coding. Someone (or a few) versions might come to light and those that were interested could pool resources and actually get to work on improving what exists.

        It is better to promote what IS ope

          • Or, you know, just abandon and eventually lose the source code.

            So what? You never had the code in the first place, and if you'd develop open code originally you wouldn't care in the second place.

            The code isn't yours, so why should you care if if disappears, especially since you never had access to it in the first place?

            Your whole whine is nothing short of exactly what I'm talking about originally. Typical of many who want to decide what others can and can't do.

            I don't whine about closed source software. It is pointless to whine about it being closed, because it isn't

    • Oh stop whining (Score:5, Interesting)

      by msaver (907214) on Monday June 16 2008, @10:23AM (#23811147)
      CmdrTaco wasn't whining that the source isn't available, but he seemed disappointed the code won't be freely available. He wasn't accusing the author of immoral licensing practices.

      And why shouldn't he be disappointed? it'd be fun to play with.

      My first thought was "neat... can I play with this code?" and I'm sure my reaction wasn't unique.

    • Re:Source (Score:4, Funny)

      by xZgf6xHx2uhoAj9D (1160707) on Monday June 16 2008, @10:30AM (#23811263)
      Man, I'd hate to live with you if you think that's whining. AM's roommate: uh oh, looks like it's going to rain soon. AM: STOP FUCKING WHINING! I CAN'T TAKE IT!
  • So... this has nothing to do with the Wii or a controller for that matter. It's video recognition software.

    GJ.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by galoise (977950)
        actually, it's the same thing, only you use the camera as the controller.

        Add a couple accelerometers and bluetooth to any regular webcam, and you got yourself a wiimote.

  • PS2's EyeToy anyone ? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Vapula (14703) on Monday June 16 2008, @10:04AM (#23810909)
    What this is doing is basically the same than the PS2 EyeToy... Maybe with a better accuracy (but, well, the hardware is more recent).

    I wonder What Sony will think about that... I guess their patent lawyers will be ready to jump on the case...

    For Information, EyeToy Antigrav tracks
    - both arms for character's arms movements
    - head movements for the character direction change
    - jump/duck to make the character do the same things...

  • Oxymoron (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16 2008, @10:04AM (#23810911)
    I concluded this was a hoax as soon as they said it was reliable AND runs on Windows.
  • I wanna see you play boxing with a 3 fps webcam.
  • Maybe it's just me, but when one looks closely at the video, it doesn't seem that the camera isn't even point at the objects that are being used as controls. Is it possible to down load the software? I'd like to try it for myself before getting to excited.
  • does it run on linux? mac? no? well, I'll just continue playing my Wii.

  • Lolcat (Score:3, Funny)

    by Stavr0 (35032) on Monday June 16 2008, @10:35AM (#23811325) Homepage Journal
    If this thing can track my cat, I want to make a desktop toy out of it ... [wikipedia.org]

  • help us defeat russian mail orders (Score:3, Informative)

    by Hemos (2) * on Monday June 16 2008, @01:41PM (#23813703) Homepage Journal
    hey,

    we've gotten a few reports of this and one screen shot. if anyone does see an ad for a mail order bride, please send me a screen shot if ya can, but also paste me the click-thru URL.

    thanks - address to send it to is hemos @ well, the website you're on.org

  • OpenCV, anyone? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by schweini (607711) on Monday June 16 2008, @04:02PM (#23815313)
    ages ago, Intel was nice enough to opensource their rather impressive computer vision library called OpenCV [wikipedia.org], which AFAIK would do the heavy lifting for programs like these. What i find strange is that i have yet to see a neat open source program that uses OpenCV - even though i think there's even a python binding to the library (but sadly no perl bindings). Anyone know of a neat biometrics software package, or computer vision in general, that is open source?

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by angus_rg (1063280)

      It won't work in real people's houses, because people will walk past and curtains will flutter in the wind!

      If it works as said, it tracks object motion, no motion. Technology is out there for facial recognition. Tracking wouldn't be that hard, assuming it doesn't kill the CPU.

      It will never get any decent games!

      It's a glorified Key mapper, no one needs to support it:
      Users can then program the emulation based on the game they want to control and the object(s) they want to control the game with.

      • Having played a few Playstation 2 to Wii conversions where button presses were mapped directly to gestures, I can tell you they are no fun, and don't work. This mainly seems to be because the timing of gestures isn't quite as accurate as the button pressing. Of course gestures add more than just a button press, but you lose that with this kind of mapping.

        This will be the same as when people used to play random games with DDR mats. It's great fun for about an hour or so, but if you actually want to finish

    • It's just 'eyetoy', which has been out on the Playstation for ages! It won't work in real people's houses, because people will walk past and curtains will flutter in the wind!

      Actually, think it through:

      Replace the sensor bar with a camera array. Put the infrared LEDs on the controller, and use a filter to cut out visible light, to avoid picking up irrelevant background events. Provide the console with the necessary computational resources to work out the complete 3D motion of the controller from this. I

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