Minority Report Technology NOW?My Jaw is On the Floor...

[greatmagnet]

Make sure you let the quicktime movie in the upper right load and then hit play.

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/


I don't even know where to begin. I knew that this technology would really happen but it seems like they've already gone waaay beyond theoretical right here and now. How awesome was that stuff with the photo library? And the maps. And the music waveforms? I mean, just in terms of music production: I of course already have a "virtual mixer" that I mix with on my computer screen as all computer-based musicians and engineers do now, but if you want to "lay hands" on it you have to buy an external device with automated knobs and faders. It seems like you could easily destroy that clunky extra level of interfacing by simply making all the on-screen knobs and faders touch-sensitive. You'd just need one huge cinema display and your hands-on mixer and your computer screen are one-in-the-same!

Goes without saying that the benefits to Graphic Designers go just as far out.

Adam

[John Jeffers]

That's the coolest thing I've seen in a very long time. Thanks for the link.

[marc]

I remember seeing something like that two or so years ago, but I thought it was at MIT. hm. Still totally rad. Have you seen the Lemur? It's first-gen technology and so obviously a little clunky, but you can design the interface to have whatever you need on it, and it's got multi-finger response. The downside to it? First-gen technology carries a hefty price tag, that deal's about $2500, and it's just a controller.

[greatmagnet]

God I can hardly wait for this stuff to go mainstream.

[dirty]

Holy crap! How do I get one?!

[Professor]

Well of course the technology seems pretty straightforward except of course for the fact that it's been increased to allow multiple fingers on the system. I've been seriously considering replacing the 19" LCD panel in the studio with an identical model that includes a touchscreen overlay. The Planar PT-191. It retails at just over a grand and the output is standard USB and shows up like any other mouse (though I'm not sure about multi-monitor considerations). I would already have it except that it only has drivers for PC and the ProTools rig is presently running on a Mac. But even if I only can use one finger at a time, it would still be cool to have a touchscreen controller for all the existing PT windows - and the beauty is that I wouldn't have to do any special coding or programming because it just acts like a second mouse hanging on the system.
I also seem to recall an article in a magazine or something from maybe 8 years ago that described a company building a custom mixing console (or at least control surface) that used 4 plasma screens setup with touchscreen overlays. They called it the "Glass Console" though I wasn't able to track down a current website that referred to it, just some references to articles in mix and maybe the studio "digital sound & picture" but no photos or anything.

Either way, yes, that multi-touch thing is quite cool.

-Jeremy

[greatmagnet]

Well of course the technology seems pretty straightforward except of course for the fact that it's been increased to allow multiple fingers on the system. I've been seriously considering replacing the 19" LCD panel in the studio with an identical model that includes a touchscreen overlay. The Planar PT-191. It retails at just over a grand and the output is standard USB and shows up like any other mouse (though I'm not sure about multi-monitor considerations). I would already have it except that it only has drivers for PC and the ProTools rig is presently running on a Mac. But even if I only can use one finger at a time, it would still be cool to have a touchscreen controller for all the existing PT windows - and the beauty is that I wouldn't have to do any special coding or programming because it just acts like a second mouse hanging on the system.
I also seem to recall an article in a magazine or something from maybe 8 years ago that described a company building a custom mixing console (or at least control surface) that used 4 plasma screens setup with touchscreen overlays. They called it the "Glass Console" though I wasn't able to track down a current website that referred to it, just some references to articles in mix and maybe the studio "digital sound & picture" but no photos or anything.

Either way, yes, that multi-touch thing is quite cool.

-Jeremy

So Jeremy, with the Planar PT overlaid on your standard screen, you can use your finger just as you would a mouse to shove faders around and so-forth? That would be SO cool.

[eeldip]

the high dollar price tag for the lemur is mostly due to it being "the perfect size" as a live performance tool.

the jazzmutant folks could have made it cheaper if they made it either bigger or smaller, but they decided that they wanted it to have a nice laptop sized footprint and they are paying a lot of money for the 12" touchscreen.

and yea, i work for the people who sell these in the US... so if y'all got any questions...

but anyway, point is that for those of us who dont have $2500 around, a cheaper one should be around in a few years.

[bickle]

So, I just dug this up after hearing seeing Bjork use the lemur live and then hearing Thom Yorke name-check it (ever so briefly) on all songs considered. Oh yeah, saw Daft Punk using it on the Grammys, too, again to great visual effect.

Pretty amazing; I wasn't really sure if it was real or just a part of Bjork's show, and I had no idea what it was called until the Yorke mention (which was confusing itself, since the name is so arbitrary). So what's up with it getting even more expensive since 2006 (it's now $3000!), and how was this thing around for so long before I ever heard about it?

[Knights Who Say Neve]

gorilla arm: n.

The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a mainstream input technology despite a promising start in the early 1980s. It seems the designers of all those spiffy touch-menu systems failed to notice that humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of their faces making small motions. After more than a very few selections, the arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and oversized ? the operator looks like a gorilla while using the touch screen and feels like one afterwards. This is now considered a classic cautionary tale to human-factors designers; ?Remember the gorilla arm!? is shorthand for ?How is this going to fly in real use??.

[fossiltooth]

Gorilla arm?

Get a bigger screen, interact with it by looking downwards at the monitor, and wear gloves if you're really self-conscious.

Problem solved.

Ergonomics takes trial and error. Just because some computer engineers didn't get it right the first time, doesn't mean the technology doesn't have a chance.

I for one would love the challenge of developing an interface and mixing an album that way!

...unfortunately I don't understand a lick of code.

[Knights Who Say Neve]

Gorilla arm?

Get a bigger screen, interact with it by looking downwards at the monitor, and wear gloves if you're really self-conscious.

Problem solved.

Ergonomics takes trial and error. Just because some computer engineers didn't get it right the first time

Wow, you're either a genius, or incredibly arrogant.

[RefD]

Gorilla arm?

Get a bigger screen, interact with it by looking downwards at the monitor, and wear gloves if you're really self-conscious.

Problem solved.

Ergonomics takes trial and error. Just because some computer engineers didn't get it right the first time

Wow, you're either a genius, or incredibly arrogant.

most geniuses are both.

[inverseroom]

Dammit, I thought this thread was going to be about how we can now throw Celine Dion in prison before she records another album.

[AstroDan]

I thought it was about robot spiders.

"Go move the microphone around, Robot Spider."