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Open-Source Multitouch Display

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday May 02, @09:24PM
from the yes-she-knows-it's-a-multipass dept.
Input Devices Displays Hardware Hacking Technology
shankar writes "Engineers at Eyebeam, an art and technology center based in New York, have created a scaled-down open-source version of Surface, called Cubit. By sharing the Cubit's hardware schematics and software source code, the engineers are significantly reducing the cost of owning a multitouch table. 'Multitouch displays are not new technology; in fact, they've been built in research labs for decades. Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs created an iconic multitouch table called DiamondTouch; more recently, Jeff Han, founder of Perceptive Pixel, based in New York, developed wall-sized multitouch screens that he sells to corporations and major government agencies. But because of the falling costs of many touch-screen components, such as infrared light sources and small cameras and projectors, it's now becoming feasible for people without access to a lab or venture-capital money to make their own multitouch displays.'"

Related Stories

[+] Apple: Multitouch Gesture Patents Could Prevent Standardization 210 comments
ozmanjusri brings us a Wired report on Apple's efforts to patent the multitouch gestures used on their laptops, smartphones, and tablets. The article discusses concerns over how this could affect the standardization of certain gestures in developing multitouch technology. We've previously discussed the patent applications themselves. Quoting Wired: "If Apple's patent applications are successful, other manufacturers may have no choice but to implement multitouch gestures of their own. The upshot: You might pinch to zoom on your phone, swirl your finger around to zoom on your notebook, and triple-tap to zoom on the web-browsing remote control in your home theater. That's an outcome many in the industry would like to avoid. Synaptics, a company that by most estimates supplies 65 to 70 percent of the notebook industry with its touchpad technology, is working on its own set of universal touch gestures that it hopes will become a standard. These gestures include scrolling by making a circular motion, moving pictures or documents with a flip of the finger, and zooming in or out by making, yes, a pinching gesture."
Firehose:Open-Source, Multitouch Display by memshankar (1118157)
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  • Don't forget Reactrix... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by HaeMaker (221642) on Friday May 02, @09:43PM (#23281622) Homepage
    http://reactrix.com/ [reactrix.com]
  • but the ways that it is being used are. With more powerful processors being smaller and cooler, now devices like the iPhone and the Surface can be built. In addition, these devices have only really become applicable in a time where people are already linke
    • Surface's syncronization power really isn't that special, though. It is essentially over Bluetooth, using "placing the device on the Surface" as a sort of trigger for the wireless connection to be initiated. It is a completely arbitrary thought, given that

      • Automatic synchronisation is pretty trivial. I used to have a script on my PowerBook that was triggered whenever my phone entered range and ran iSync if it hadn't sync'd for more than 24 hours.

        The nice thing about a multitough table is that it can exte

    • Exactly. Not every multi-touch device is a copy of the Surface. The Microsoft Surface [what-is-what.com] (disclosure: that's my site) has the ability to connect wirelessly with devices on the table, and even identify their location on the table itself. There is no language i

  • Cubit Websites (Score:3, Informative)

    by crf00 (1048098) on Friday May 02, @10:34PM (#23281812) Homepage
    Here are Cubit's project websites:

    http://nortd.com/cubit/ [nortd.com]
    http://eyebeam.org/project/cubit [eyebeam.org]

  • mr. lee (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    johnny chung lee's had it down for years: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/
  • Seriously. Even if they just get the fire/water effects of compiz going with a device like this, it would be much more awesome than the demo videos. Could have a small table like this as an input device, and a larger screen to show all the compiz coolness. I don't have the requisite skills, but I hope someone in the community hears me :)
  • I researched multi-touch homebrews a couple of years ago after seeing this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peWX0hcqGdc [youtube.com]

    Figured it was frustrated total internal reflection at work and managed to find out that the concept is pretty much unpatentable due

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by zappepcs (820751)
      I think the answer that you are looking for is that it allows joe sixpack (joe bloggs) to use a computer in a more natural fashion. Personally I manage to type at about 45-50 wpm and keyboard shortcuts as well as some mouse effects make me quite a bit more
      • I'm a little skeptical at this point that a multitouch display will be faster than a keyboard and mouse for most tasks. I've used touch screens, and they are faster than a mouse for certain tasks, but they are also frustrating and often cumbersome.

        I type
        • No, you are right on target. That is why I said that the people it will help the most are the ones least able to afford it.

          Whether it is for multiple people or not, it does change the interface for the computer to a more 'natural' environment. You and I an

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Peganthyrus (713645)
          Maybe the problems it can solve are just not ones you ever have?

          I'm an artist. When I do art in the real world I'm working on a big surface. When I do art in the computer I'm squinting at it through the lens of my laptop screen. I would much rather spend a
      • Personally I manage to type at about 45-50 wpm ...

        As a side note, I'd wager that you never learned to type properly. Put another way, there is no reason why someone who can type at 45 wpm shouldn't be typing at 65 wpm minimum comfortably and with increase
        • DUDE! you are SOOOO wrong.
          In high school I was the ONLY guy in the typing class. I took it because I figured some how, some way, I'd be working with computers some day.

          Yes, back then I could hit 60wpm pretty good. Now, I'm just a little lazy really. If I w
      • I think the answer that you are looking for is that it allows joe sixpack (joe bloggs) to use a computer in a more natural fashion.

        Is there a "natural fashion" to use a computer?

        As a drafting table-trained draftsman (back 25 years or so ago) I had to
    • One neat application for a touchscreen table would be for a gaming table with the equivalent of board games running on it. You could have a regular coffee table when it's off, and have an assortment of games when company comes over. You wouldn't have to wo

    • I don't want to sound like a hater here, but what are the benefits other than saying it looks nifty? A keyboard is nice in that anyone can interact, but does it have to enable simultaneous keypresses? Do multiple people need to navigate on the same compute
    • Most people have more than one finger. Multitouch is important for intuitive gestures. Gestures are pretty critical for touch screens.
      • Personally I don't find it intuitive at all to use more than one finger in gestures. eg. the iphone - I used the pinch thing once and abandoned it (the double click action is much better).. it's just feels like a totally unnatural thing to do.. Same wit

      • In short, I think that multi-touch is a much better approach to computational collaboration that the single node per user approach... but one has to realize that it's still in its infantile state (for a typical, off-the-street user).

        Indeed, and I think before it matures we're going to have to figure out what "a much better approach to computational collaboration that the single node per user approach" means.
    • And he used a Mac. Much cooler.

      Uuuuh? You think that someone who's attempting to do something is cooler than someone with an actual finished product, that you can build yourself right now as the designer's have published the software & hardware schemat

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