Multi-touch 29 posts
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26 February 2012
SXSW Interactive 2012
I am excited to have the opportunity to attend SXSW Interactive 2012. Follow me on Twitter: @fgarofalo
Last year was my first time attending where I was able to learn best-practices from others, network with others in the tech industry, and make some friends.
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6 February 2012
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20 July 2010
Adobe AIR and Multi-touch for Multi-user Collaboration
Below is an article I wrote for the Adobe Developer Connection
(Education Category). The full article, published July 2010, can be found at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/edu/articles/frank_garofalo.html
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"Multi-touch" technology has generated a large amount of buzz in the past several months. Some of the buzz is about
mobile/handheld devices, and some has come from broadcast media's adoption of touch devices for their programs (such as CNN's "Magic Wall,"
NBC's Saturday Night Live, and ESPN). This has resulted in the term "multi-touch" being used to describe a broad range of interaction types,
interfaces, and devices. Most of the uses for touch interfaces that I've seen have involved a single user interface allowing only one or two
touch points at a time through tapping the screen or through gestures. However, the true capabilities of a "multi-touch" interface can
accommodate multiple users interacting through any number of taps or gestures on the screen at the same time.
Multi-user
Multi-touch
For the purpose of this article I do not refer to "multi-touch" to
describe a smart-phone or hand-held device that
can recognize only one
or two points of touch simultaneously, such as a Motorola DROID; I refer
to larger devices like the Microsoft
Surface product that can
accommodate multiple users and recognize points of touch from several
users simultaneously (at least three
simultaneous points of touch).
The research conducted as part of my graduate studies in the
Department of Computer
Graphics Technology at Purdue University (www.tech.purdue.edu/cgt/)
has been
a qualitative examination of multi-user collaboration with
multi-touch devices. The study explored the experience of users
performing a
common task in a shared environment (in this case the
shared environment is the single display screen of the multi-touch
device). For
more details about this research study visit www.multiusermultitouch.com.
Digitally Replicating a
Six Sigma Brainstorming Exercise
For my research, I designed and built my own multi-touch table (which
is currently pending a U.S. Patent) that could showcase the interface I
developed with the Adobe Flash Platform.
For the hardware, I used an open-source software package called
Community Core Vision (CCV), created by the NUI Group, to serve as a
liaison between the hardware components and the Adobe Flash Player. I
developed an Adobe AIR application to recreate a brainstorming
exercise
used within Six Sigma, known as both "Affinity Diagrams" and "KJ
Analysis." Typically in Affinity Diagram exercises,
participants
anonymously record and submit individual ideas or concepts on separate
sticky notes. Then the participants sort through
the sticky notes,
grouping and categorizing them by moving them physically. Through this
process, unforeseen relationships between the
ideas can emerge. Since
this activity requires participants to interact in a shared work
environment in the physical world, I chose to
replicate it in a
multi-touch environment to explore the implications for a multi-user
interface.
Exploring the Multi-user Interface
A moderator with Six Sigma Green-Belt certification and
experience
working with both corporations and universities served as a facilitator
for the exercises performed during user testing. I
selected Adobe AIR as
the client since the application could run natively on a laptop
computer connected to the multi-touch table, and
chose the Adobe Flash
Platform to capture the experience of multiple users simultaneously
interacting with multi-touch interface and
hardware. In the AIR
application, users were able to move virtual sticky notes on the
multi-touch table, and perform the same grouping
and categorizing
exercises that people do with physical sticky notes in an Affinity
Diagram exercise.
While both the hardware and software of the multi-touch device
created a few challenges for the participants on
various levels,
including occasional software failures, they were able to complete the
exercises. That benefited not only this study,
aimed at collecting
qualitative data from the participants, but also the participants
themselves, who were able to take the results of
the Affinity Diagram
exercises back to their respective organizations on the Purdue campus.
Affirming
Research Assumptions
My goal was to determine whether a multi-touch interface and
device can be a practical
shared environment for a team of individuals
to complete a common task. The participants indicated that for
completing an Affinity
Diagram exercise, the multi-touch device proved
to be a useful tool and believe that it improved collaboration. The
moderator for the
Affinity Diagram exercise was surprised at the speed
with which the participants in both rounds completed the tasks, despite a
learning
curve for them to become familiar with the multi-touch device.
She remarked that she has "not done one on paper that quickly."
Furthermore, participants in the study expressed appreciation for the
usefulness the multi-touch device provided. It allowed them to
see all
the data in front of them at once, and to see most of the actions of
their fellow participants.
About the author
Frank Garofalo is a creative developer/technical
designer for online media. His
professional experience includes
operating his own web & interactive multimedia firm named Cyber View
(www.cyberviewsites.com)
since 1999. In 2002 he began designing and developing with Adobe
Flash.
He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Computer Graphics
Technology in 2008. Additional professional experience
includes
employment with the Walt Disney Company and Bank of America. To date his
graduate studies at Purdue University have focused on
multi-touch
device interfaces built on the Adobe Flash Platform and he has examined
multi-user collaboration facilitated by multi-touch
devices. His blog
and portfolio can be found at www.frankgarofalo.com.
-
13 July 2010
Semi-Finalist in Adobe Design Achievement Awards
The submission of the Adobe AIR application I developed as the user-interface for my graduate research project has been
selected as a semi-finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Below are my submission details:
- Submission Category:
Non-Browser-Based Design
- Submission #: 484
- Entry title: Multi-user Collaboration
- Number of Pieces:
1
For more details about the Adobe Design Achievement Awards, visit: https://adaa.adobe.com/us/content/adaaLive
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12 July 2010
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11 July 2010
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16 June 2010
Data Analysis
I've completed transcribing the audio recordings of the 8 1-on-1 interviews and 1 of the 2 focus group
sessions. Now it's time to start the data analysis...
From all 8 interviews there were 5,846 words transcribed, but to get a visual
of the most frequent spoken words from my testing participants (plus filtering out 'common English words') below is the result - thanks to Wordle:
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24 May 2010
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1 May 2010
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29 April 2010
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20 April 2010
User Testing - Part 1
Yesterday (April 19th 2010), I started part 1 of the user testing for my research project regarding
the multi-touch device and software application I've been developing. The software application is based on the Six Sigma Affinity Diagram (aka
KJ Analysis) exercise. This is typically used to sort through qualitative data (such as ideas from a brainstorming session) to find unforeseen
relationships between the the data items / ideas by grouping them into categories.
I was granted permission by Dr. Mary Sadowski,
Associate Dean for the College of Technology at Purdue University, to ask faculty members from a committee within the College of Technology to
use my multi-touch device and software application to aide them in sorting through some ideas/outcomes regarding a project they are working
on.
Image 1 - Doing a run-through prior to user
testing during
set-up.
Image 2 - User
Testing.
During the user testing the software application unfortunately crashed twice. Each time the users had to restart the
Affinity Diagram from the beginning. After the second crash, I went into the code and quickly made some alterations. The problem was occurring
with an open-source class written in ActionScript 3.0 which processes data received from Community Core Vision (the open-source software which
interprets the images received from the camera component of the device's hardware). I added some "try / catch" statements. This seemed to
resolve the issue since the software application didn't crash after the modifications.
Overall, the user testing proved to be
successful. Excellent data was collected both regarding the interaction of user-to-user and user-to-interface. Also, notes for improvements to
the software application.
-
7 April 2010
Finally, creating multi-colored post-it notes
I originally hoped to use the ColorPicker component in Flash but I was
having too many problems trying to modify the code behind the component to get it to recognize the Touch Events from CCV and TUIO. For the sake
of time and meeting my approaching deadline, I decided to ditch that idea and just make a set number of colors that will automatically be
selected as groups/categories are created.
Below is an example of what I've come up with so far.
Still more to come, next is the ability to vote on the
priority of categories/groups.
-
23 March 2010
Making Slow Progress... but progress
I've made progress on my multi-touch software. I can now have multiple assets
displayed on the device being touched (selected) at the same time and have events respond respectively to each individual asset selected.
Getting this to work was a major accomplishment. Thank goodness for error catching.
Now I've run into another problem trying to save over an existing
XML file with updated data. Spent about 3 hours this evening trying to figure it out without much success. I've searched Google to see what
other people have tried but I've yet to find a working solution... slightly frustrating. If I find one, I'll post about it.
-
16 March 2010
Adobe AIR & Multi-touch?
It is possible to
create an Adobe AIR app for a multi-touch device. Using TUIO and Community Core Vision (CCV), I've been able to create an AIR app to run on
the multi-touch device I've built.
In my case, the AIR app has to be developed to specifically recognize TouchEvents from TUIO and
CCV. More details coming soon!
-
15 March 2010
Device & Software Update
So now that the hardware of the multi-touch device is essentially done (there are some things I
could probably do to further improve it), I've moved on to the software development side. I've been working in Adobe Flash CS4 with
ActionScript 3.0. It's been a lot of trial and error testing code as I go. However, I'm making progress - just slow progress.
One
of the major hurtles was a problem I ran into with embedFont = true; making the dynamic textfields
disappear. But I found a solution and blogged about it - link.
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2 February 2010
I've created a multi-touch monster
The multi-touch device I've been building since June is finally working now. There
can be some tweaking and calibrating to improve its performance, but at least now its working.
Above pictures are using demo apps from the NUI Group.
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16 January 2010
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22 October 2009
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22 October 2009
DSI Multi-touch with Enlightened Acrylic
My sincerest thanks to Mark Miller from Miller & Associates. I met Mark at the Adobe MAX 2009 conference in Los
Angeles, California. His company had teamed up with Adobe to build a multi-touch device for the conference to showcase using Adobe Flash for
multi-touch devices. He was generous enough to provide me with a sheet of enlightened acrylic outfitted with an aluminum track and infrared
LEDs. At Adobe MAX you truely can "connect, discover, and inspire." Here are some pictures of the enlightened acrylic with CCV running:
Thanks again Mark for supporting a graduate student.
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16 October 2009
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12 October 2009
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12 October 2009
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1 October 2009
Multi-touch Device Progress
Some progress was made with the multi-touch device I've been building. Using the CCV
software and some demo Flash apps provided on the CCV web site, here are some pictures and a video:
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27 September 2009
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24 September 2009
New Silicone sheet on Acrylic - Attempt 2
Ok, so attempt 1 was a learning process. Now here we go with attempt 2.
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24 September 2009
Removing Silicone
I decided to try to remove the silicone layer on the acrylic. I purchased a plastic scrapper, similar
to that used for removing decals from vehicles. The instructions for the scrapper stated to use water or a solvent. I tried both and only was
able to get up small fragments. After talking to the maintenance staff at my work location, they said that the silicone has most likely set on
the acrylic and its not going to come off easily without damaging the acrylic (which the acrylic would need to remain unscratched and
transparent).
I gave up the idea of removing the
silicone and decided to purchase a new piece of acrylic.
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16 September 2009
Possible issue with silicone layer
I think there is a possible issue with the silicone layer of my multi-touch device. I
had tried to do the method described by Tickerman on the NUI Group Forum (http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/2197/P0/; YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEgoVBfF68Y&feature=player_embedde
d). Tickerman calls it the "siliconed vellum" method.
I was unable to get the silicone completely smooth and it seems that the
infrared camera I have is having difficulty distinguishing the blobs created by fingers in contact with the mt surface and the
impurities/imperfections of the silicone.
Screen capture of
CCV without contact to the MT surface
Screen capture of CCV with five fingers in contact on the MT surface
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16 September 2009
Building a Multi-touch Device
I've started building my own multi-touch device after reading several posts of blogs and
forums through the NUI Group web site (www.nuigroup.com). I complied a list of commonly mentioned components and ordered them on-line. If
anyone wants the list I can post that on here.
Yesterday I tried to run my multi-touch device with the Community Core Vision (formerly tBeta) software from the NUI Group. However the
software wasn't detecting the blobs created by the fingers in contact with the surface of the device. It seemed that it was picking up too
much heat reflecting off the backside of the acrylic/Plexiglas. I also tried to use a mirror to bounce the projector's image to the backside
of the multi-touch device with the infrared camera next to the mirror to see if this would help with the situation. However, there wasn't a
noticeable difference. Back to the grindstone to figure out what's wrong and why it isn't working correctly.
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16 April 2009
SXSW Interactive 2012
I am excited to have the opportunity to attend SXSW Interactive 2012. Follow me on Twitter: @fgarofalo
Last year was my first time attending where I was able to learn best-practices from others, network with others in the tech industry, and make some friends.
I am excited to have the opportunity to attend SXSW Interactive 2012. Follow me on Twitter: @fgarofalo
Last year was my first time attending where I was able to learn best-practices from others, network with others in the tech industry, and make some friends.
Adobe AIR and Multi-touch for Multi-user Collaboration
Below is an article I wrote for the Adobe Developer Connection
(Education Category). The full article, published July 2010, can be found at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/edu/articles/frank_garofalo.html
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
"Multi-touch" technology has generated a large amount of buzz in the past several months. Some of the buzz is about
mobile/handheld devices, and some has come from broadcast media's adoption of touch devices for their programs (such as CNN's "Magic Wall,"
NBC's Saturday Night Live, and ESPN). This has resulted in the term "multi-touch" being used to describe a broad range of interaction types,
interfaces, and devices. Most of the uses for touch interfaces that I've seen have involved a single user interface allowing only one or two
touch points at a time through tapping the screen or through gestures. However, the true capabilities of a "multi-touch" interface can
accommodate multiple users interacting through any number of taps or gestures on the screen at the same time.
Multi-user
Multi-touch
For the purpose of this article I do not refer to "multi-touch" to
describe a smart-phone or hand-held device that
can recognize only one
or two points of touch simultaneously, such as a Motorola DROID; I refer
to larger devices like the Microsoft
Surface product that can
accommodate multiple users and recognize points of touch from several
users simultaneously (at least three
simultaneous points of touch).
The research conducted as part of my graduate studies in the
Department of Computer
Graphics Technology at Purdue University (www.tech.purdue.edu/cgt/)
has been
a qualitative examination of multi-user collaboration with
multi-touch devices. The study explored the experience of users
performing a
common task in a shared environment (in this case the
shared environment is the single display screen of the multi-touch
device). For
more details about this research study visit www.multiusermultitouch.com.
Digitally Replicating a
Six Sigma Brainstorming Exercise
For my research, I designed and built my own multi-touch table (which
is currently pending a U.S. Patent) that could showcase the interface I
developed with the Adobe Flash Platform.
For the hardware, I used an open-source software package called
Community Core Vision (CCV), created by the NUI Group, to serve as a
liaison between the hardware components and the Adobe Flash Player. I
developed an Adobe AIR application to recreate a brainstorming
exercise
used within Six Sigma, known as both "Affinity Diagrams" and "KJ
Analysis." Typically in Affinity Diagram exercises,
participants
anonymously record and submit individual ideas or concepts on separate
sticky notes. Then the participants sort through
the sticky notes,
grouping and categorizing them by moving them physically. Through this
process, unforeseen relationships between the
ideas can emerge. Since
this activity requires participants to interact in a shared work
environment in the physical world, I chose to
replicate it in a
multi-touch environment to explore the implications for a multi-user
interface.
Exploring the Multi-user Interface
A moderator with Six Sigma Green-Belt certification and
experience
working with both corporations and universities served as a facilitator
for the exercises performed during user testing. I
selected Adobe AIR as
the client since the application could run natively on a laptop
computer connected to the multi-touch table, and
chose the Adobe Flash
Platform to capture the experience of multiple users simultaneously
interacting with multi-touch interface and
hardware. In the AIR
application, users were able to move virtual sticky notes on the
multi-touch table, and perform the same grouping
and categorizing
exercises that people do with physical sticky notes in an Affinity
Diagram exercise.
While both the hardware and software of the multi-touch device
created a few challenges for the participants on
various levels,
including occasional software failures, they were able to complete the
exercises. That benefited not only this study,
aimed at collecting
qualitative data from the participants, but also the participants
themselves, who were able to take the results of
the Affinity Diagram
exercises back to their respective organizations on the Purdue campus.
Affirming
Research Assumptions
My goal was to determine whether a multi-touch interface and
device can be a practical
shared environment for a team of individuals
to complete a common task. The participants indicated that for
completing an Affinity
Diagram exercise, the multi-touch device proved
to be a useful tool and believe that it improved collaboration. The
moderator for the
Affinity Diagram exercise was surprised at the speed
with which the participants in both rounds completed the tasks, despite a
learning
curve for them to become familiar with the multi-touch device.
She remarked that she has "not done one on paper that quickly."
Furthermore, participants in the study expressed appreciation for the
usefulness the multi-touch device provided. It allowed them to
see all
the data in front of them at once, and to see most of the actions of
their fellow participants.
About the author
Frank Garofalo is a creative developer/technical
designer for online media. His
professional experience includes
operating his own web & interactive multimedia firm named Cyber View
(www.cyberviewsites.com)
since 1999. In 2002 he began designing and developing with Adobe
Flash.
He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Computer Graphics
Technology in 2008. Additional professional experience
includes
employment with the Walt Disney Company and Bank of America. To date his
graduate studies at Purdue University have focused on
multi-touch
device interfaces built on the Adobe Flash Platform and he has examined
multi-user collaboration facilitated by multi-touch
devices. His blog
and portfolio can be found at www.frankgarofalo.com.
Below is an article I wrote for the Adobe Developer Connection (Education Category). The full article, published July 2010, can be found at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/edu/articles/frank_garofalo.html
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Multi-touch" technology has generated a large amount of buzz in the past several months. Some of the buzz is about mobile/handheld devices, and some has come from broadcast media's adoption of touch devices for their programs (such as CNN's "Magic Wall," NBC's Saturday Night Live, and ESPN). This has resulted in the term "multi-touch" being used to describe a broad range of interaction types, interfaces, and devices. Most of the uses for touch interfaces that I've seen have involved a single user interface allowing only one or two touch points at a time through tapping the screen or through gestures. However, the true capabilities of a "multi-touch" interface can accommodate multiple users interacting through any number of taps or gestures on the screen at the same time.
Multi-user Multi-touch
For the purpose of this article I do not refer to "multi-touch" to describe a smart-phone or hand-held device that can recognize only one or two points of touch simultaneously, such as a Motorola DROID; I refer to larger devices like the Microsoft Surface product that can accommodate multiple users and recognize points of touch from several users simultaneously (at least three simultaneous points of touch).
The research conducted as part of my graduate studies in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University (www.tech.purdue.edu/cgt/) has been a qualitative examination of multi-user collaboration with multi-touch devices. The study explored the experience of users performing a common task in a shared environment (in this case the shared environment is the single display screen of the multi-touch device). For more details about this research study visit www.multiusermultitouch.com.
Digitally Replicating a Six Sigma Brainstorming Exercise
For my research, I designed and built my own multi-touch table (which is currently pending a U.S. Patent) that could showcase the interface I developed with the Adobe Flash Platform.
For the hardware, I used an open-source software package called Community Core Vision (CCV), created by the NUI Group, to serve as a liaison between the hardware components and the Adobe Flash Player. I developed an Adobe AIR application to recreate a brainstorming exercise used within Six Sigma, known as both "Affinity Diagrams" and "KJ Analysis." Typically in Affinity Diagram exercises, participants anonymously record and submit individual ideas or concepts on separate sticky notes. Then the participants sort through the sticky notes, grouping and categorizing them by moving them physically. Through this process, unforeseen relationships between the ideas can emerge. Since this activity requires participants to interact in a shared work environment in the physical world, I chose to replicate it in a multi-touch environment to explore the implications for a multi-user interface.
Exploring the Multi-user Interface
A moderator with Six Sigma Green-Belt certification and experience working with both corporations and universities served as a facilitator for the exercises performed during user testing. I selected Adobe AIR as the client since the application could run natively on a laptop computer connected to the multi-touch table, and chose the Adobe Flash Platform to capture the experience of multiple users simultaneously interacting with multi-touch interface and hardware. In the AIR application, users were able to move virtual sticky notes on the multi-touch table, and perform the same grouping and categorizing exercises that people do with physical sticky notes in an Affinity Diagram exercise.
While both the hardware and software of the multi-touch device created a few challenges for the participants on various levels, including occasional software failures, they were able to complete the exercises. That benefited not only this study, aimed at collecting qualitative data from the participants, but also the participants themselves, who were able to take the results of the Affinity Diagram exercises back to their respective organizations on the Purdue campus.
Affirming Research Assumptions
My goal was to determine whether a multi-touch interface and device can be a practical shared environment for a team of individuals to complete a common task. The participants indicated that for completing an Affinity Diagram exercise, the multi-touch device proved to be a useful tool and believe that it improved collaboration. The moderator for the Affinity Diagram exercise was surprised at the speed with which the participants in both rounds completed the tasks, despite a learning curve for them to become familiar with the multi-touch device. She remarked that she has "not done one on paper that quickly." Furthermore, participants in the study expressed appreciation for the usefulness the multi-touch device provided. It allowed them to see all the data in front of them at once, and to see most of the actions of their fellow participants.
About the author
Frank Garofalo is a creative developer/technical designer for online media. His professional experience includes operating his own web & interactive multimedia firm named Cyber View (www.cyberviewsites.com) since 1999. In 2002 he began designing and developing with Adobe Flash. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Computer Graphics Technology in 2008. Additional professional experience includes employment with the Walt Disney Company and Bank of America. To date his graduate studies at Purdue University have focused on multi-touch device interfaces built on the Adobe Flash Platform and he has examined multi-user collaboration facilitated by multi-touch devices. His blog and portfolio can be found at www.frankgarofalo.com.
Semi-Finalist in Adobe Design Achievement Awards
The submission of the Adobe AIR application I developed as the user-interface for my graduate research project has been
selected as a semi-finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Below are my submission details:
- Submission Category:
Non-Browser-Based Design
- Submission #: 484
- Entry title: Multi-user Collaboration
- Number of Pieces:
1
For more details about the Adobe Design Achievement Awards, visit: https://adaa.adobe.com/us/content/adaaLive
The submission of the Adobe AIR application I developed as the user-interface for my graduate research project has been
selected as a semi-finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Below are my submission details:
- Submission Category: Non-Browser-Based Design
- Submission #: 484
- Entry title: Multi-user Collaboration
- Number of Pieces: 1
For more details about the Adobe Design Achievement Awards, visit: https://adaa.adobe.com/us/content/adaaLive
Data Analysis
I've completed transcribing the audio recordings of the 8 1-on-1 interviews and 1 of the 2 focus group
sessions. Now it's time to start the data analysis...
From all 8 interviews there were 5,846 words transcribed, but to get a visual
of the most frequent spoken words from my testing participants (plus filtering out 'common English words') below is the result - thanks to Wordle:
From all 8 interviews there were 5,846 words transcribed, but to get a visual of the most frequent spoken words from my testing participants (plus filtering out 'common English words') below is the result - thanks to Wordle:
User Testing - Part 1
Yesterday (April 19th 2010), I started part 1 of the user testing for my research project regarding
the multi-touch device and software application I've been developing. The software application is based on the Six Sigma Affinity Diagram (aka
KJ Analysis) exercise. This is typically used to sort through qualitative data (such as ideas from a brainstorming session) to find unforeseen
relationships between the the data items / ideas by grouping them into categories.
I was granted permission by Dr. Mary Sadowski,
Associate Dean for the College of Technology at Purdue University, to ask faculty members from a committee within the College of Technology to
use my multi-touch device and software application to aide them in sorting through some ideas/outcomes regarding a project they are working
on.
Image 1 - Doing a run-through prior to user
testing during
set-up.
Image 2 - User
Testing.
During the user testing the software application unfortunately crashed twice. Each time the users had to restart the
Affinity Diagram from the beginning. After the second crash, I went into the code and quickly made some alterations. The problem was occurring
with an open-source class written in ActionScript 3.0 which processes data received from Community Core Vision (the open-source software which
interprets the images received from the camera component of the device's hardware). I added some "try / catch" statements. This seemed to
resolve the issue since the software application didn't crash after the modifications.
Overall, the user testing proved to be
successful. Excellent data was collected both regarding the interaction of user-to-user and user-to-interface. Also, notes for improvements to
the software application.
I was granted permission by Dr. Mary Sadowski, Associate Dean for the College of Technology at Purdue University, to ask faculty members from a committee within the College of Technology to use my multi-touch device and software application to aide them in sorting through some ideas/outcomes regarding a project they are working on.
Image 1 - Doing a run-through prior to user testing during set-up.
Image 2 - User Testing.
During the user testing the software application unfortunately crashed twice. Each time the users had to restart the Affinity Diagram from the beginning. After the second crash, I went into the code and quickly made some alterations. The problem was occurring with an open-source class written in ActionScript 3.0 which processes data received from Community Core Vision (the open-source software which interprets the images received from the camera component of the device's hardware). I added some "try / catch" statements. This seemed to resolve the issue since the software application didn't crash after the modifications.
Overall, the user testing proved to be successful. Excellent data was collected both regarding the interaction of user-to-user and user-to-interface. Also, notes for improvements to the software application.
Finally, creating multi-colored post-it notes
I originally hoped to use the ColorPicker component in Flash but I was
having too many problems trying to modify the code behind the component to get it to recognize the Touch Events from CCV and TUIO. For the sake
of time and meeting my approaching deadline, I decided to ditch that idea and just make a set number of colors that will automatically be
selected as groups/categories are created.
Below is an example of what I've come up with so far.
Still more to come, next is the ability to vote on the
priority of categories/groups.
Below is an example of what I've come up with so far.
Still more to come, next is the ability to vote on the priority of categories/groups.
Making Slow Progress... but progress
I've made progress on my multi-touch software. I can now have multiple assets
displayed on the device being touched (selected) at the same time and have events respond respectively to each individual asset selected.
Getting this to work was a major accomplishment. Thank goodness for error catching.
Now I've run into another problem trying to save over an existing
XML file with updated data. Spent about 3 hours this evening trying to figure it out without much success. I've searched Google to see what
other people have tried but I've yet to find a working solution... slightly frustrating. If I find one, I'll post about it.
Now I've run into another problem trying to save over an existing XML file with updated data. Spent about 3 hours this evening trying to figure it out without much success. I've searched Google to see what other people have tried but I've yet to find a working solution... slightly frustrating. If I find one, I'll post about it.
Adobe AIR & Multi-touch?
It is possible to
create an Adobe AIR app for a multi-touch device. Using TUIO and Community Core Vision (CCV), I've been able to create an AIR app to run on
the multi-touch device I've built.
In my case, the AIR app has to be developed to specifically recognize TouchEvents from TUIO and
CCV. More details coming soon!
It is possible to
create an Adobe AIR app for a multi-touch device. Using TUIO and Community Core Vision (CCV), I've been able to create an AIR app to run on
the multi-touch device I've built. In my case, the AIR app has to be developed to specifically recognize TouchEvents from TUIO and CCV. More details coming soon!
Device & Software Update
So now that the hardware of the multi-touch device is essentially done (there are some things I
could probably do to further improve it), I've moved on to the software development side. I've been working in Adobe Flash CS4 with
ActionScript 3.0. It's been a lot of trial and error testing code as I go. However, I'm making progress - just slow progress.
One
of the major hurtles was a problem I ran into with embedFont = true; making the dynamic textfields
disappear. But I found a solution and blogged about it - link.
One of the major hurtles was a problem I ran into with embedFont = true; making the dynamic textfields disappear. But I found a solution and blogged about it - link.
I've created a multi-touch monster
The multi-touch device I've been building since June is finally working now. There
can be some tweaking and calibrating to improve its performance, but at least now its working.
Above pictures are using demo apps from the NUI Group.
Above pictures are using demo apps from the NUI Group.
DSI Multi-touch with Enlightened Acrylic
My sincerest thanks to Mark Miller from Miller & Associates. I met Mark at the Adobe MAX 2009 conference in Los
Angeles, California. His company had teamed up with Adobe to build a multi-touch device for the conference to showcase using Adobe Flash for
multi-touch devices. He was generous enough to provide me with a sheet of enlightened acrylic outfitted with an aluminum track and infrared
LEDs. At Adobe MAX you truely can "connect, discover, and inspire." Here are some pictures of the enlightened acrylic with CCV running:
Thanks again Mark for supporting a graduate student.
Thanks again Mark for supporting a graduate student.
Multi-touch Device Progress
Some progress was made with the multi-touch device I've been building. Using the CCV
software and some demo Flash apps provided on the CCV web site, here are some pictures and a video:
New Silicone sheet on Acrylic - Attempt 2
Ok, so attempt 1 was a learning process. Now here we go with attempt 2.
Removing Silicone
I decided to try to remove the silicone layer on the acrylic. I purchased a plastic scrapper, similar
to that used for removing decals from vehicles. The instructions for the scrapper stated to use water or a solvent. I tried both and only was
able to get up small fragments. After talking to the maintenance staff at my work location, they said that the silicone has most likely set on
the acrylic and its not going to come off easily without damaging the acrylic (which the acrylic would need to remain unscratched and
transparent).
I gave up the idea of removing the
silicone and decided to purchase a new piece of acrylic.
I gave up the idea of removing the silicone and decided to purchase a new piece of acrylic.
Possible issue with silicone layer
I think there is a possible issue with the silicone layer of my multi-touch device. I
had tried to do the method described by Tickerman on the NUI Group Forum (http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/2197/P0/; YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEgoVBfF68Y&feature=player_embedde
d). Tickerman calls it the "siliconed vellum" method.
I was unable to get the silicone completely smooth and it seems that the
infrared camera I have is having difficulty distinguishing the blobs created by fingers in contact with the mt surface and the
impurities/imperfections of the silicone.
Screen capture of
CCV without contact to the MT surface
Screen capture of CCV with five fingers in contact on the MT surface
I was unable to get the silicone completely smooth and it seems that the infrared camera I have is having difficulty distinguishing the blobs created by fingers in contact with the mt surface and the impurities/imperfections of the silicone.
Screen capture of CCV without contact to the MT surface
Screen capture of CCV with five fingers in contact on the MT surface
Building a Multi-touch Device
I've started building my own multi-touch device after reading several posts of blogs and
forums through the NUI Group web site (www.nuigroup.com). I complied a list of commonly mentioned components and ordered them on-line. If
anyone wants the list I can post that on here.
Yesterday I tried to run my multi-touch device with the Community Core Vision (formerly tBeta) software from the NUI Group. However the
software wasn't detecting the blobs created by the fingers in contact with the surface of the device. It seemed that it was picking up too
much heat reflecting off the backside of the acrylic/Plexiglas. I also tried to use a mirror to bounce the projector's image to the backside
of the multi-touch device with the infrared camera next to the mirror to see if this would help with the situation. However, there wasn't a
noticeable difference. Back to the grindstone to figure out what's wrong and why it isn't working correctly.
Yesterday I tried to run my multi-touch device with the Community Core Vision (formerly tBeta) software from the NUI Group. However the software wasn't detecting the blobs created by the fingers in contact with the surface of the device. It seemed that it was picking up too much heat reflecting off the backside of the acrylic/Plexiglas. I also tried to use a mirror to bounce the projector's image to the backside of the multi-touch device with the infrared camera next to the mirror to see if this would help with the situation. However, there wasn't a noticeable difference. Back to the grindstone to figure out what's wrong and why it isn't working correctly.
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