Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hpw Too: Make a Cheap Multitouch Pad - MTmini



So what is it? i hear you cry, well its a dirt cheap touch pad for your PC (er basically) or to be more precise its a table interface for your comp until you can afford that fancy Table PC.

Now this guide is for the most simple and basic version using a piece of plate glass a cardboard box and a cheap web cam but if your willing to put in a little work and build a wooden black box and place a little plastic membrane over your paper touch pad you can make something truly amazing.

Remember folks this will function almost exactly the same as a touch pad on any normal Laptop's touch mouse, but if you tune in next week i'll try to get you a video how to on the visual tactile interface (the one where it looks like your touching the screen) but if your going to attempt that (incredibly difficult) build i suggest you try this one first.

GUIDE:

-Software and Getting Started Guide-
---------------------------------------- -----------------------------------
* MTmini Software (Touchlib) and Updates: http://ssandler.wordpress.com/MTmini


-MTmini Help and Discussion-
---------------------------------------- -----------------------------------
* MTmini Hardware Help: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread...
* MTmini Software Help: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread...

-How's it Work?-
---------------------------------------- -----------------------------------
For this to work, all you need is a room with (at least) some light. The results will be best when the room lighting is even (no bright lights shinning from one direction onto the multitouch pad).

When you place you fingers on the surface, shadows are created where your fingers are. The webcam sees these shadows and sends the image to the tracking software which tracks the shadows as they move across the paper.


-Want to Build a Multitouch Pad with Projection?-
---------------------------------------- -----------------------------------
*DIY Multitouch Community: http://www.NUIGroup.com

Powered By Blogger