Fancy new Multitouch base

I found a reasonable container in a 50 gallon trash can. Theres a little bit of cardboard to make a platform at the bottom for the projector. And the camera is taped to the bottom next to the projector. I cut a hold in the side for the cables to come out. Also, there's a good amount of head coming out the hole too.

First Multitouch prototype working

I've successfully gotten my first prototype working.

I mounted the lasers by drilling holes in the plexiglass and strapping them down using cable ties. I put a little electrical tape on the lasers to give them friction to keep them from rotating by accident.

The initial housing for the camera is simply cardboard made into a 2 ft cube. It's too short for my projector to focus fully or fill the area, but it is useable to show that things are working.

To make the projection surface I simply took 180 sandpaper lightly to the back side of the plexi. It seems to work just fine like that. The projector is bright, and the camera can see the fingers just fine as well.

Here are some pictures of the setup

Welcome

If you're reading this I hope it will be useful. This blog will be a place to keep a journal of things I work on that other's might find useful. However I am trying to keep a list of resources and collecting research on a related website at http://sites.google.com/site/tullyfoote/projects/

My current project is a multi touch screen. I was inspired by a maximpc article. I've started to try to collect useful information onto my site. And I'll keep updates here on my own work.

Successful conversion of webcam to IR

This weekend I successfully converted a Microsoft VX-5000 to view infrared. I followed the directions posted by Joel here http://codecube.net/2009/02/converting-a-lifecam-vx-5000-to-see-ir/

His instructions were right on.

1. Remove the silver ring on the front of the camera. It’s stuck on using a small amount of adhesive so you just kind of have to pry it off.
2. Unscrew the two screws keeping the surrounding lens cover and remove it.
3. Unscrew the 3 screws and remove the entire front face. The live messenger button on top will also fall off once you remove it.
4. Unscrew the lens, it had a small amount of some sort of adhesive, which I just had to scratch off with a knife.
5. Remove the screws from the circuit board and remove it from the bottom casing.
6. Unscrew the additional lens housing from the bottom of the board. This is what’s covering the IR filter.
7. Once you remove that, you’ll have to remove the IR filter (it looks like it reflects redish light). It was glued on so I ended up having to kind of crack the ir filter to remove it piece by piece.
8. Install the IR-Pass filter … of course, this is where everyone seems to hack it, since lots of guides online tend to suggest using unexposed slide film. I cut out two pieces and put them in place of the IR filter.
9. With that done, rebuild everything you’ve just taken apart until the camera is put back together.

There are a few comments I would make. Step 4 is unnecessary. I ended up trying out two different IR filter's (black and white exposed film does not pass IR light!) and I realized that I did not need to unmount the lens from the lens backing. I agree with the consensus that two layers of unexposed slide film work well.

And I've also got some pictures of the process below