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RSS >  Interactive Whiteboard / Computer screen, Using Freetrack and a DIY IR LED pen to draw on your monitor.
TheCrazyNoob #1 13/01/2008 - 12h44

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Hi,

Can something similar like what Johnny Chung Lee did with a WiiMote be done with Freetrack? (second project of this page: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/ )

The setup would look like this:
Posted Image

Right now, I can draw with a pen in the air when the camera is pointed at me and with Freetrack set up as one point mode and using absolute mouse movement. However, I can only move the mouse (no clicking) and putting the camera at an angle to the screen (like in the drawing) deforms the movement because of the perspective the camera sees (bottom part of drawing).
Is there a way to use a "four point calibration" like Johnny did with the WiiMote?

Also, is it possible to make the left mouse button "click" when tracking is working and make it "unclick" when tracking is lost (when the one point isn't on/visible). That way, you could make an IR LED pen with a button to switch the led on/off as a way of clicking the mouse button. Using the above setup, even if the mouse doesn't move (button unpressed), you still know where the mouse would be because wherever you point the pen on the screen, that's where the mouse will show up when tracking is back (button pushed, left mouse clicked).
Kestrel #2 13/01/2008 - 14h14

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TheCrazyNoob @ 13/01/2008 - 12h44 a dit:

Can something similar like what Johnny Chung Lee did with a WiiMote be done with Freetrack?



Someone has mentioned something similar:
http://forum.free-track.net/index.php?showtopic=277

Is there a way to use a "four point calibration" like Johnny did with the WiiMote?



Only if there is a will.  :)

A few notes:
*tracking would be more accurate on  the closer side of the screen than the far side.
*would account for perspective but not lens distortion.
*led position mismatch with pointing position
*how to left click and right click?


Also, is it possible to make the left mouse button "click" when tracking is working and make it "unclick" when tracking is lost (when the one point isn't on/visible). That way, you could make an IR LED pen with a button to switch the led on/off as a way of clicking the mouse button. Using the above setup, even if the mouse doesn't move (button unpressed), you still know where the mouse would be because wherever you point the pen on the screen, that's where the mouse will show up when tracking is back (button pushed, left mouse clicked).



I understand this is an issue with Johnny's method of only clicking and tracking when the led is visible but I suspect the reasoning behind it is that there is no guarantee the led remains visible. For example if something obstructs the led or the led is moved out of the field of view, the program would consider it to be a click, with unexpected results.
Deimos #3 14/01/2008 - 19h23

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It would sure be nice to have this feature in FT, since the hardest part - finding individual points on the image - is already done.
Lens distortion could probably be corrected by using more calibration points - four corners, and math for that shouldn't be much more harder than 6DOF point tracking).
For left/right click, it could be done like on PDA's: based on time the led is active. So for if for example led is active for less than half a second, it's a left click. If it goes on and remains on and stationary for longer than 2 seconds, it's a right click. If it moves around and is active longer than half a second, it's normal cursor motion. Unfortunately, this method would require some settings to be fine-tuned to make this work (single click time, right click emulation time, motion threshold for determining it point is stationary or not)
Another idea, using the fact that FT can already track multiple points is to use 2 points - one on the tip of the pen - this one always on, and another one on the back of the pen - activated by a button. The first point observed by the software is the tracked cursor. But if another point appears, it's position is ignored for movement tracking, but is considered a left click. When it disappears, we return to the start situation with only one point present. Right click could also be emulated based on click timing, like on PDA's

I guess that even some lens distortion and not very good accuracy would be a small price to pay for the ability to turn a LCD monitor to a touchscreen - just imagine how easy using all these cockpit switches in flight simulator would get :D Especially if you had two cameras and two instances of FT running - one for pen tracking, one for head tracking (i know, i know, that would be really CPU intensive, but still cool...) :D
TheCrazyNoob #4 14/01/2008 - 21h12

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Hmm, I've been searching the web some more and I found something called "Touchlib". It's still in the beta-stages, it seems to use a 16 point calibration and it's open source :) .
http://nuigroup.com/touchlib/
Kestrel #5 15/01/2008 - 10h57

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Deimos @ 14/01/2008 - 19h23 a dit:

(i know, i know, that would be really CPU intensive, but still cool...) :D



Isn't that why Nintendo made the Wii for us?  ;)
TheCrazyNoob #6 16/01/2008 - 18h04

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Deimos @ 14/01/2008 - 19h23 a dit:

(i know, i know, that would be really CPU intensive, but still cool...) :D


Isn't that why Intel made the QuadCore for us?  ;) :D
didja #7 17/01/2008 - 18h04

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I think one is cheaper than the other among them...  :rolleyes:  :pinch:

Rémy  :lol:
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rainabba #8 13/10/2008 - 21h41

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TheCrazyNoob @ 13/01/2008 - 13h44 a dit:

Hi,

Can something similar like what Johnny Chung Lee did with a WiiMote be done with Freetrack? (second project of this page: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/ )

The setup would look like this:
Posted Image

Right now, I can draw with a pen in the air when the camera is pointed at me and with Freetrack set up as one point mode and using absolute mouse movement. However, I can only move the mouse (no clicking) and putting the camera at an angle to the screen (like in the drawing) deforms the movement because of the perspective the camera sees (bottom part of drawing).
Is there a way to use a "four point calibration" like Johnny did with the WiiMote?

Also, is it possible to make the left mouse button "click" when tracking is working and make it "unclick" when tracking is lost (when the one point isn't on/visible). That way, you could make an IR LED pen with a button to switch the led on/off as a way of clicking the mouse button. Using the above setup, even if the mouse doesn't move (button unpressed), you still know where the mouse would be because wherever you point the pen on the screen, that's where the mouse will show up when tracking is back (button pushed, left mouse clicked).



I LOVE this idea.

I would be willing to contribute financially to see this working decently. I've got a 30" 2560x1600 LCD and I'm looking for new ways to interact. I currently own a TrackIR3, I'm playing with FreeTrack, and considering SmartNAV (expensive considering I already own TrackIR hardware).
Clutch #9 13/10/2008 - 23h58

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Why not just download Johnny Lee's whiteboard program, it's free? http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/
Edited by Clutch on 13/10/2008 at 23h58.
eyucel #10 14/10/2008 - 01h22

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Clutch is right. There are some free programs for the Johnny Lee's whiteboard project that work with a webcam, but the fps of the webcam is around 30 and is not better than wiimote.

Download Johnny Lee's program. Use one wiimote with the freetrack and the second one for touching the screen to interact with. It works nice.

Final answer, the click/unclick issue, I do not remember exactly, but search for wiimoteboard 4.6 sth like that. That program let's you use out out screen areas that you can define commands for different programs. When you activate your led on the left side of the screen, that would mean double click, etc. Sorry I have to go right now. I hope this clears the issue. Take care
eyucel #11 14/10/2008 - 09h25

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Wiimote Smoothboard 0.4.6 is the program I've mentioned in my post.
MIKEYMC #12 16/10/2008 - 12h05

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The things they are doing with camspace I'm sure its possible.

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