Woot woot!

Ok, so I powered on the table and the lasers were at the correct power.... so figured I would shoot some video.

I calibrated... and knocked the screen resolution down a bit so it would fit a little better till I can adjust the throw.
First up... Globe!

Notice the pinch to zoom and three finger rotate

Second... me playing with photos (matt and I in a speedo!)

Third... me surfing the web (using on screen keyboard!)

So after the videos I played around a bit and its fun. Table is a little shaky but not bad at all!

Lastly... me playing retard DJ! lol the program isnt made for multitouch and I havent installed the midi controller yet so its just rudimentary messing around.

Frame done

So this weekend I was finally able to complete the frame for the pedestal surface.

Frame was built from steel and welded. The mirror and projector mounts are both adjustable. I did find that the throw was too long however and seems to make the desktop too big (just slightly) and so I have to either extend the projector towards the mirror or raise the mirror up higher to shrink it just slightly.

Test video output was good to show the projection size on the surface

Couple of issues however were found once everything was buttoned up.

1) The 2 lasers I was having trouble with before are truly bad. Ive tested power and they both are getting full power but they fade in and out of useable laser strength. The other 2 lasers work perfect. I have submitted for an RMA from PeauProductions where I bought them from.

2) The projector flicks on and off at times. I am wondering if it is a heat issue because the unit does get pretty warm when on bright settings. I may have to come up with a cooling solution for it as well.

3) The afformentioned display size being too large.

Here are some pics of the unit, ignore the messy area....

Progress!!

So tonight I got a bit trashed, and after a days worth of messing around.... I got it to actually work!

Its not as accurate.... but once I mount it in a frame it will be (lasers adjusted)...

but here are som teasers...

Projector arrived!

So the projector arrived... unfortunately my laptop's HDMI out is not working due to a video card issue. I still put a vid on a micro SD card and set things up with a diffuser. Once again the video looks worse than in person, simply because the way the camera overexposes. I cannot see much of a light halo which is good.

Here is a pic

Pic of the projector in comparison to a ps3 controller. It literally is about the size of 3 of my cell phones stacked on top of each other.... its perfect!

Some mount pics

Here are some pics of the mounts I made for the lasers in the acrylic...

Table...

Ok... so for a proof of concept we are doing a pedestal style. I picked up some 24"x48" plexi, a bunch of misc parts and stuff and made the laser mounts, wired them up to a power supply, mounted them to the board and aligned them. Everything went well except one laser fluctuates on power while another is just low power. The other 2 are just fine... so I am thinking it might be my soldering job. Im going to pull them apart and re-solder them to test... and if that still doesnt work I will have to send them back as faulty lasers.

Matt posted up the vid I sent him.... lasers do really well with the camera filter. I also ordered some new lenses as I am not really impressed with the 2.1mm fisheye. Its offcentered and just not pleasing. It would better work in an enclosed wide box and not an open frame. New lenses should get here this thursday.

And Corey has made some huge steps!

Just thought a quick post with Corey's ability to get the laser lights working. Although he is having some power issues that may be solved with a different power supply or isolating the currents.

Here is a video from him today.

Table design change

So after discussing it with Matt.... the output from the dual projectors is perfect however it becomes too costly for our first table. We decided to get a used LCD from craigslist and strip it down and use it for the video display instead. It should give us a clearer picture anyways with higher resolution and a shallower table design. Looks like it will take a little more time to complete the table...


New design will be LLP LCD...

[Lasers]----->[Thin Acrylic surface]<-----[Lasers]

[LCD Screen]

[Thick acrylic for supporting the LCD and Diffuser]

[Backlight][camera][backlight]

Camera... done

Ok.. so last night I dismantled the Playstation camera and got the new lense and filter installed. Ran the test and it saw IR light just fine from my TV remote control. I set it behind my glass surface/diffuser and tried to get CCV to see it, but I think the filter is filtering too much of it out and it didnt see anything from the surface. It would see the dots when just in front of the camera, but not from the surface.
I picked up a power supply today from the office and will be wiring up the lasers to give them a go. Now I can atleast test them with the camera to really test out the diffuser..... even though we are changing table designs...

Mirror mirror on the wall.... or in the box... whatever

Ok... so i spent the last hour or so figuring out the mirror placements, dimensions, angles and required space for the existing glass (Glass1). One thing I had thought of was that with a single projector, we gain table height in order to achieve the desired surface height (perspectively from you to away from you). On a normal vertical screen this would be the measurement from the bottom of the screen to the top. The reason is that you have to have the projection farther from you in order to make the image larger.... thus increasing the total table height. Adding a second mirror helps reduce that number, but not by much. If you went for a reasonable table height, you end up with a screen image that is only 16 inches tall and 22 inches wide. Thats not horrible if you are talking about a desktop monitor, but when you are talking about a coffee table touch display... its very tiny. With just using the minimum table height to achieve a full screen height, you end up with a screen that is about 20" tall by 26" wide. Its a decent screen size to play with... but the height of the table hurts its ability to live in a home setting.

So... here is what my mind came up with (with a little help reading other people's solutions to their problems and mixtures of the like).

Dual projectors!

Pro's:
Increase display size
Decrease height required

Cons:
Extra building cost
Extra heat
Need video card with multiple outputs using MultiMon to stitch images into a single desktop

Glass1 dimensions: 20"*44"=50.8cm*111.8cm

Single Mirror, Single Projector, Glass1 surface = Screen size 20"H*26"W
So... currently the Glass1 table at a single projector would have a required height (inside dimensions of the box) of 25.6H*26.1L*27.3W (or in metric cm 65H*66.21L*69.24W) which is very square and essentially too tall for a coffee table. Perhaps more suited for an end table or a pedestal.
Here are the shots:

Dual Mirror, Single Projector, Glass1 surface = screen size 20"H*26"W
So, by using a second mirror as the previous blog post shows... we end up with a bit smaller dimensions (for height) but we still end up with something too tall for a coffee table. Its not a "horrid" height, but still too tall to enjoy as a coffee table. The display is still
Inside box dimensions:

Metric 53.45H*77.32L*72.33W
Imperial 21H*30.4L*28.5W

Ok.... so what this has shown is that by using a single projector, we keep good screen "height and width" but we lose with a taller surface. Coffee tables at a minimum would be apx 2 ft tall total framed (24") which is about 4" taller than ideal height.

Now to show what we can do with dual mirrors...

Single Mirror, Dual Projector, Glass1 surface = Screen size 16.5"H *44"W
First up is Glass1 surface with a single mirror for each projector. This gives us a shorter screen "height" but a much longer screen "width". Essentially it "fills" the width of the glass surface giving more side to side room but limiting the screen height by just a little. Table dimensions end up being shorter than the single mirror single projector version by about 5".
Inside box dimensions (times 2 length)

Metric 56.24H*69.68L*55.92W (56.24H*139.36L*55.92W)
Imperial 22.1H*27.4L*22W (22.1H*54.8L*22W)

So total table height for a single mirror dual projector is still about 2 foot tall or about the same height as a dual mirror single projector. Just a few inches too tall for a standard table.

Now to get REALLY shallow... Hal..

Dual Mirror, Dual Projector, Glass1 surface = screen size 16.5"H*44"W
Now by adding the second mirror for each projector, we get to lower the table by quite a bit. We still end up with the really wide display but not we enter the correct height for a coffee table.
Inside box dimensions (times 2 length)

Metric 44.66H*69.01L*58.08W (44.66H*138.02L*58.08W)
Imperial 17.6H*27.2L*22.9W (17.6H*54.4L*22.9W)

At just over 17.5" required inside dimensions, a couple inches to the frame outside and we achieve perfect coffee table height.

So by adding the second projector... we do gain the height we are looking for and can maintain some good dimensions for a multitouch display coffee table.

If we wanted to use our Glass2 surface, we could achieve a larger display size with only adding on a couple 2 inches of height. This would still be almost ideal for a table height, with a larger screen size allowing for more desktop real estate.

Glass2 surface dimensions:
28"Hx52.5"L (71H*133.4W)
Display screen size = 19.7"H*52.5"W (50H*133.4W)
Inside Box dimensions for Dual Mirror, Dual Proj, Glass2 surface (times 2 length)

METRIC 49.50H*80.1L*66.78W (49.50H*160.2L*66.78W)
IMPERIAL 19.5H*31.5L*26.3W (19.5H*63L*26.3W)
With a frame Glass2 would be about 22" tall.

Incomming!

Ok, so didnt make much progress over the last couple days however I did do a bit of testing last night.

Lasers... recieved!
Filter... recieved!
Lense and mount... RECIEVED!

Havent done anything with them yet but can tonight. Thanks to PeauProductions for the super fast delivery!
Last night I tossed on a second layer of tracing paper and it did help diffuse it more. Definately the way to go when we buckle down and get this done.

However...

Just a bit of a setback since I finally got the remote to control the projector and really got to testing the setup with a mirror. Essentially the smallest size table we can do in order to fill out the projection space 20"(51cm) is about 30" (76cm). Dual mirrors brings it down to just over 21" (53.25cm). Add a couple inches for the frame and you get to something just a wee bit too tall for a coffee table. Ideal coffee table size wouldnt be taller than 20-21"

Diffuser

So last night I cleaned the projection surface of the glasstop and adhered the diffuser (tracing paper) to it with some superglue dots around the edge. I propped up the glass and put the projector to it just to test. The video I took shows a HUGE light halo, but in person it wasnt really bad, especially considering the source was directly in line with the surface. Tonight I may test a second layer of paper and tomorrow I should be able to test it from an angle. Ignore the messy house. :-D

My first touch screen table

So after having my interest sparked by a couple video's online... I decided to take the plunge with Matt and make one for ourselves. Ive been following the concept since Microsoft released "surface" back in 03... but never really got the drive to do it myself. After doing research on it, I found out how easy it is and my mind started going crazy with ideas!

First up... we are doing an LLP (laser light plane) technique. This involves shooting a laser beam just above a surface. The laser generates IR light which is invisible to the human eye and when you put your finger on the surface, the laser hits your finger and reflects down into the table where a camera with special filters see's the IR reflection as a "blob". Special software translates that blob into a "click" of sorts... or other actions depending on what you do.

Matt had an old glass top coffee table in his basement that was chewed up on one corner by his dog. I took the glass home to test and prepare. I had a PS3 camera sitting around being practically unused... so donated that to the cause along with a PLUS V3-131 projector that Matt had. After researching I ordered the lasers, camera filter and lense.

The 4 lasers are 850nm 5mW with 120 degreen line generators
2.1mm fisheye lense for the camera with an M12 mount and 850nm filter
Projector is a PLUS V3-131 short throw DLP projector
Surface is an old coffee table with a tinted glass top and wooden legs/frame
Diffuser is some tracing paper

Ill definately need a mirror in this setup so I will be hitting walmart for a reverse facing mirror and some aircraft paint stripper. There is a post up on the NUI forums that outline using the paint stripper to remove the backside of the mirror so that you can turn it into a front facing mirror. Front facing keeps you from getting "ghost" images and buying one outright is expensive as hell. The mirror size calculated out to be a 53cmX47cm square but I will probably get something bigger...
I have a couple ideas for mounting the projector and mirror, but I can't play with them until I can get the remote for the projector as well as a cable to hook up to a machine for testing.
So far the basic layout as a starter is: