This guy is really coming up with some neat stuff

[MILES]

http://kotaku.com/gaming/clip/excite-your-office-colleagues-with-a-wii-whiteboard-marker-332252.php

Mark Dygert

Thats pretty neat, I like that it tracks 4 lights at once (I SEE FOOUR LIGHTS!). Too bad its not pressure sensitive, someone call Wacom and get that hammered out.

Joshua Stubbles

That's pretty damn swanky. Though I'm wondering how the data gets from the Wiimote to the project/PC? He didn't explain that, so I don't understand how the tracking data gets delivered.

Mark Dygert

On his website he links to a tutorial on how to pick up the BlueTooth signal coming from the Wii-mote.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/
The cool thing is you do not need a Wii, just the mote.

Slum

vassago: there are api's and libraries for the wiimote. remember the Wiimote Hl2?

Ged

sawweeeet my friends a big wii fan hes gonna love this.

pliang

That was friggin' amazing.

Joshua Stubbles

slum - never saw that HL2 stuff with the Wiimote. That's cool that it's bluetooth though. Didn't know that, either.

Emil Mujanovic

Genius! So simple, so cheap, I'll have to get a bluetooth receiver for my PC. Cheap hack Cintiq anyone?
I'm going to have to try and get something like implemented here in the office during boardroom meetings.

-caseyjones

Mark Dygert

Casey, too bad it is NOT pressure sensitive. =/
With the right pen design I bet you could get some nice sensitivity out of it though.

But it could be cool for people with kids who like to color on the walls hahaha.

Justin Meisse

Hey guyz, I'm going to make a few pens and try it out at work. I wanted to pick up some IR LEDs today but the local Radioshack doesn't carry components anymore.

JKMakowka

One could link the strength of the light to the pressure by a simple analog button and let the wiimote pick that up. Probably easier to do than having the pen transmit the strength itself.
Could be pretty error prone though

Edit: The 3D tracking he seems to have planned sounds like a cool thing too. Too bad the Wii mote can only track 4 points at once (I think) thus low cost full body motion capturing seems unlikely

Edit2: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/thesis/
This work with projectors by the same guy is really cool also!

Mark Dygert

I'm not sure the Wii mote can make a distinction in signal strength either, its pretty crappy tech really. I wonder if a Laser pointer would work? That could lead to some fun meetings

Meeting Leader: "Ha ha ha, very funny... Ok which one of you wisenheimers wrote 'I'm a dumbass' with an arrow pointed right at my head? No one is going to lunch until I find out who!"

JKMakowka

Sure, take the infrared laser out of your old CD-R writer, refit it into a laser pointer and you are good to go

But you are probably right about the pressure sensitivity idea

Vailias

better idea: If you can rig the pressure on the pen to control the speed at which the light blinks on and off, (talking miliseconds here) you could have the number of blinks per second be interpreted as stroke strength, depending on how sensitive the wii receiver is.

JKMakowka

Well that could work.
But the other video shows a way to project an image right onto a wacom (without a Wii mote), which is probably the only really feasable way

ElysiumGX

Gee golly I can't wait to give powerpoint presentations with this. You guys are easily excitable.

With a simple series of LEDs (easy to find info on how to make a small USB powered strip), a bluetooth dongle, and GlovePIE, you can use the Wiimote as a pointer (no projector required). Then you can give presentations without having to stand in front of them, blocking the projection. And play games. Something practical.

rooster

man, you've seen it all ely. go set it up and make a tutorial and us simpletons will be stunned with awe
I think the dude is f'in cool

Mark Dygert

[ QUOTE ]
Then you can give presentations without having to stand in front of them, blocking the projection. And play games. Something practical.

[/ QUOTE ]pifft...
I made a perpetual motion machine last weekend out of string and a potato, what else ya got?
All projectors should have a "reverse projection" feature. Project it onto a screen (or bed sheet if you're cheap) from behind, so you're technically standing behind the projection.

Cool suggestion tho...

hobodactyl

It'll be great when the technology catches up with these ideas, and we have stuff like unfoldable interactive maps, with plenty of other applications. I'm just thinking about maps because I'm planning a trip right now :P