Usual stuff with unusual interfaces – by Michael Aldridge
- Wii Gesture Project – version 3
“There is a problem with this method of data collection and that is that a complete gesture must fall perfectly within each group of 8 movements.”
Well, not anymore! The method of populating the array has been modified slightly so that the oldest of the 8 movements is pushed off the back of the array [...]
- LEDs, Camera, Tilt!
Whilst all the tilting is happening with the 3d model on the computer monitor, the Wiimote is also providing feedback to the user. Every one of the 9 positions (8 tilts and 1 ‘idle’ position) has a different light sequence. I’m particularly happy with the way the LEDs zoom left and right when [...]
- Wii Gesture Project – version 2
…one step further to having some gesture recognition!
Have a look at the video.
(Once again, if the video quality is too iffy for you, go here)
You will see that the application records the user’s gestures in groups of 8. The movements, each direction represented by a number, are stored in an array (or ‘list’ as [...]
- Wii Gesture Project – version 1
Here is the first iteration of an application that will hopefully be able to recognise a gesture made with a Nintendo Wii Remote. So far, the program can mimic the rotational movement of the Wiimote and therefore, can determine which direction the Wiimote is pointing.
Watch the video above (if you haven’t already!) to see [...]
- Movement purely on accelerometers!
Finally back on track after months of mucking about…!
Today, I altered my Wiimote program in Director to make a 3D object move around based on the data gathered from the Wii Remote’s accelerometers. The control is actually pretty accurate. So far, you have to hold the remote in a fairly ‘wooden’ fashion. [...]
- How the axes work on the Wii Remote
If you move the Wii Remote along each of these axes then the values from the accelerometer along each axis will vary.
So moving the remote rapidly from side to side will cause change in the ‘x’ axis.
The sensitivity of the accelerometer in the remote (and indeed the Wii Nunchuck – they’re the same [...]
- Squeezii Schmiizii Diizii "Wiigee"
Ohhhhh, yes, the titles can and shall get worse than that…
In my quest for all things interactive and Wii, I stumbled apon this rather nice gesture-recognition library based in Java called Wiigee. It’s being developed by several German university students and from the demo video it looks amazing.
I compiled all the code using Eclipse [...]
- Using the Wii Remote with Director
Proof Of Concept time folks!
Using an example from my module for 3D graphics using Director and the example code for the Wii Remote Director Xtra, I’ve managed to demonstrate how it is indeed possible for the Wii Remote to change variables in Macromedia Director MX (note: the Xtra only seems to work for MX, those [...]
- Wii & Director MX
Well, the software I’m using to make my project has changed since the hazy summer days when Flash seemed like the ideal option.
There are a few reasons for this!
One – Director MX has an Xtra that you can download for free that enables seamless integration between the Wii Remote and Director using very [...]
- Individual Project Proposal – Wiiiiiiii
Oh, it’s been a while again…
Here’s my project proposal – it’s not the greatest prose in the history of English but it sort of does the job!
My project will centre around researching intuitive methods of interacting with a computer – be it a workstation, laptop or another bespoke computer system such as a games console [...]
- Project Idea #1
It’s been a while again, but here’s a semi-decent idea for a project! So, point by point below…
1. ‘Rez in Flash’2. …but in a faux-3D world.3. The player flies into the screen.4. Exclusively uses a Nintendo Wii Remote as a means of control.5. Move the player left and right [...]
- Another Dose Of Wii – asblabs.wiimote
(yeh, the awful puns continue…)
Found an incredibly useful set of classes from here:
http://www.asb-labs.com/blog/flash-gaming-classes-wiimote-wiiflash/
Amongst other fun things you can:
1. Point the Wii Remote at the screen and use it to move a cursor object around the stage.2. Control individual LEDs on the Wii Remote – a bit pointless, but very very fun I suppose.3. Register if [...]
- 3 Shades Of Wii… and Johnny Lee
(that’s pun #2 up there… guaranteed to get much worse as this project progresses)
Below is a list – which I shall build up – of all the software that I’ve found, and will subsequently fiddle with and document in a fair amount of detail… but very briefly -
(note: if the software is for use with [...]
- Wii Things Amuse Wii Minds…
Phew! After a little while, I’m back with my account of my Wii little adventures (that’s pun #1…)
In the past, there have been many systems, gizmos and gadgets released that have incorporated some sort of pointing device. To cut to the chase, none have proven so sucessful, at least on such a widespread scale [...]
- Sensing stuff…
OK, here’s another set of methods of getting information into the computer, other than my webcam experiments.
A short while ago I read a very inspirational book by Brendan Dawes (http://www.brendandawes.com/) called ‘Analog In , Digital Out’ (at Amazon UK). He’s one of the gurus on Flash and all things multimedia. His book focusses [...]
- Jean Michel Jarre – An Introduction…
The first port of call for my research into unconventional user-interfaces begins with Jean Michel Jarre and his amazing laser harp! First, watch the video below…
For those who haven’t heard of Jean Michel Jarre, he is one of the most innovative electronic music producers of our time (well, in all fairness, ANY time as [...]
- Project Ideas
One of the aims of this blog is to document my work on my final year project for university… It’s a facility for me to write down all the interesting bits and pieces I happen to discovery along the way!
At the moment my ideas are still coming together for my project. I’ll be [...]
- Rez – Gameplay videos…
For those interested, the following links are complete gameplay videos, from Youtube – wish I was good enough to get past Area 3… C’est la vie…
Area 1“Buggie Running Beeps 01″ / Keiichi Sugiyamahttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7hh9fZkr1jk
Area 2“Protocol Rain” / misthttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EFNWe4mCc
Area 3“Creation The State Of Art (Part 1 – 6)” / Ken Ishiihttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yzoGoAo0ZMA
Area 4“Rock Is Sponge” / Joujoukahttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cCh6WlK027I
Area 5 [...]
- Rez
Rez is one of the only games centering around music that can truly get away with it’s abstract graphics. I suppose the developers got around having to explain the surreal graphics by saying it’s set inside a computer – where allegedly anything can happen
The blurb on the back of the PlayStation 2 (I [...]
- DJ Max Portable meets My Webcam – Mockup
This is roughly what I’m looking at making. I’ll be using code from my previous webcam examples and merging that with the beginnings of code that will judge whether the user (‘player’ is such a strong word at this stage!) has made a motion at the correct time and in the correct place on [...]
- DJ Max Portable on the PSP…
Well, here we have DJ Max Portable for the PSP. I’m not trying to write a review of the game, rather explain how it works.
The simple idea of the game is to press the correct buttons on the PSP in time to the music. The blocks falling down the screen (see the screenshots) [...]
- Summary: Games centering around music
Some of the most surreal and original computer games over the history of console and PC gaming have involved mixing musical elements with engaging visuals and/or artwork. I’m in the process of investigating a selection of games that involve the player with music in some way.
Some of the games have the player actually contributing [...]
- Detecting motion in certain areas…with a webcam – part deux
This example is similar to the other area detection example – however it’s more refined, uses ’slightly’ more sophisticated code to detect the certain areas, AND is more fun to play with.
When you start the example, you will see three blinking dots towards the bottom of your picture. These are the hitpoints where the [...]
- Detecting motion in certain areas…with a webcam
Next – it would be handy to detect motion in certain areas of the screen. The following example detects motion in each corner of the camera’s picture – like a 2×2 grid.
Each corner plays a different sound when you wave your hand in front of it. Now – it’s not the best sort [...]
- Simple motion detection using a webcam
Well, I want to make some kind of music-based program or even a game. I haven’t quite decided what I’d like to make though, however I’m going to be mucking around and experimenting with wild and wacky user interfaces. Using a webcam as an input device seems a good place to start – [...]
- Glide Labs’ new home!
This is the home of the news for Glide Labs – the nickname for my final year uni project!
Here will be all the research, programming experiments and all kinds of other things…
Back with ‘all kinds of other things’ in a moment…
MA
