2. Heres an idea, how about a car with three steering wheels to go with it...
seriously though, what in gods name could you do with 7 track points that you couldn't just do with one or two and a couple of shift keys?
basically, the only advantage I can think of of this thing over a wiimote would be having both a joystick and a gyro controller in the same package, the other track points are just a waste of space.
Posted at 12:19AM on Dec 24th 2007 by Wolf
3. Wolf,
I can't think of any either. But just because we lack imagination doesn't mean it's not worth his trying something new.
What if he comes up with an ubercool application for it? Perhaps a half-dozen context-sensitive menus, one related to printing, one to editing, one to emailing, etc?
Or how about zooming and painting? Picture this device wired into Photoshop or Illustrator. Zooming, rotating, selecting, cropping, color selection, each could be assigned its own button. I know I'd like to be able to control both horizontal and vertical scrolling while I'm in the middle of a left-click-drag operation and still need to navigate to the far side of the image. Perhaps this will be the tool to solve that problem.
Or maybe 3D games will take advantage of this? Forget 2D input devices like joysticks and trackpads. How about controlling a fleet instead of a ship? Camera controls for shoot-'em-ups? Fast weapon selection and targeting?
No, you're right. I can't think of a single thing to do with a whole bunch of trackpoints.
Posted at 12:49AM on Dec 24th 2007 by jaded
4. I think the idea is great. In terms of using a circular menu, the muscle memory is much faster than having to read through a menu. I could see using the different trackpoint for different menu types (for example using one trackpoint to open the main windows menu displaying My Computer, Control Panel, etc). Anyway I applaud the effort to use circular HCI, very cool.
Posted at 2:02AM on Dec 24th 2007 by patrick
5. Maybe it could be used for people with handicaps (I dont speak english well, sorry for the bad grammar) you know, quadraplegics or whatever they are called..... Is it me or it just looks like a fancy nunchuk (wiimote's nunchuck)
Posted at 4:06AM on Dec 24th 2007 by Topolo
6. seven buttons, five fingers, kind of a lopsided formula. I think combining a gyroscopic function with a single hand keyboard strapped to your wrist would work ok. or even better, combining it with a virtual keyboard controlled by muscle movement like in http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2007/03/musclecontrol_gaming_for_mobil.php
or http://www.mim.maschinenbau.tu-darmstadt.de/Downloads/Publikationen/CSUN05.pdf
Posted at 7:32AM on Dec 24th 2007 by aztraph
8. Gaming, or something like Second Life... If you could interface it with an sl client, it'd be cool.
Posted at 9:13AM on Dec 24th 2007 by Skyler Orlando
9. gotta go with the 7 buttons 5 fingers?!!? thing... but i am wondering how it would work as just a little board.. maybe give it a hill shape so that not all of the track points were at the exact same position but yea... and then set it on your desk and try that...
*goes back to sleep*
Posted at 9:20AM on Dec 24th 2007 by zat
10. Wow! I cannot say how surprised I was to find my pad on the main page. I still can't believe it!
Check out the wikis:
www.sf7.scribblewiki.com/JediPad
www.jpad.wikispaces.com
theyre about as tidy as my room, but theres a lot of stuff there
Kudos to Will for the article! and you guys for some great comments - some of you are really on the ball.. let me try to answer..
#3 - Jaded: thanks for reading my mind. wana dev? :p
#5: good point - I have made a couple of prototypes for this. sure - the technology can be recombined to give effective computer access to people with limited movements.
#6: thanks for the links - I have been trying this approach as well but gave up trying to get the noise out of the electrode signals. great to see someone has taken this up.
#7: I did all the code in C# using Visual Studio 2005. I lifted some really great code from codeproject.com, including the magnifier. I had to adapt it to do variable zoom and a few other things.
#8: unfortunately my code chews up too much CPU to make it a realistic games Controller. so give it a year and yes, irkn it'll make a kickass games controller!
#6 & #9: OK, the 'five fingers seven buttons' people: hello? how many keys does the keyboard have? and 6 TrackPoints are beneath the thumb anyway.
I am trying to illustrate how the thumb can be better used. motor control of the thumb occupies a bigger volume of the cortex than the fingers combined. This prototype serves to demonstrate that the thumb can easily reach any of six TrackPoints in an instant without looking. considering also that each could easily operate an 8- directional piemenu, that is 42 commands that are a single movement away. the thumb has two degrees of movement so it is perfect for operating piemenus. current interfaces ( mice and keyboards ) are crazy - two thumbs for one space bar?!!?!
to be honest I just stuck them with the intention of mapping them later - gotta start somewhere. overkill? Yes massively - unfortunately I am stuck with this prototype until I get more thermoplastic, and TrackPoint units. my next prototype will only have one or two TrackPoints, together with some push buttons under the fingers. I am going to look at chording possibilities.
keep the comments flowing!
Samu
11. you should look into using it with blacktree.com software like Quicksilver, Constellation, and Abracadabra. they are open source which really could make this fly!! good luck to you!
Posted at 11:37AM on Dec 24th 2007 by krobinson5
12. I think it would really go well with constellation! that is if your a mac dev.
http://lifehacker.com/software/exclusive-lifehacker-interview/quicksilvers-creator-on-the-future-of-qs-330548.php
Posted at 11:40AM on Dec 24th 2007 by krobinson5
13. Did someone just seriously say 5 fingers 7 buttons??
Every console gaming system out there has more buttons than we have fingers plus gyro control.
By that logic we'd still be playing games with the first nintendo controller. Not that I mind because I personally like less buttons than I have fingers.
Posted at 11:50AM on Dec 24th 2007 by wang191
14. jaded-
What I mean is theres no real point to having multiple thumb track points because anything you could do with them (including all the functions you mentioned) could be done more easily with a single track point that's function can be changed by holding down various shift buttons. Since you only have one thumb, theres no point in being able to perform multiple functions simultaneously, so you could cut it down to only one track point per controlling finger without loosing any functionality
does that make sense?
(if you still don't get it, try playing assassins creed some time; you'll see what I mean)
Posted at 11:58AM on Dec 24th 2007 by Wolf
15. Wolf: you're right of course - I will make a chording version as soon as I get more thermoplastic. I wanted to create a prototype that would let me play around with different combinations and possibilities. this is by no means a final version.
there is maybe some benefit ( muscle memory ) of using different controls in different places. it would allow grouping of related functions.
there are so many ways to combine these simple controls ... it will take a lot of playing around before something optimal is found
my next prototype will probably have one or two TrackPoints, and three buttons under the first and second fingers.
16. Samu-
It's definitely a worth while experiment.
Posted at 2:07PM on Dec 24th 2007 by Wolf
17. what about 3D modeling...
the more complex a modeled figure the more operators you need when you are doing 3D animation... awesome!
wolf- you are right anything you can do with 6 points you can do with 1 point+function keys... but you'd have to use another hand to hit the function keys...
this lets you do it all with one hand!
freeing up the other (if there is one) to either input info or do any number of other tasks...
I like it
Posted at 2:22PM on Dec 24th 2007 by xshawk
18. How about an instrument, 6 of the 7 trackpoints could map to notes (as a standard guitar) varying y location of the mouse for frets. (a home-brew midi app would be a little difficult to code, but less tear on the fingers compared to a standard guitar. (not to mention the expandability of such a project) Good work sam! hope you find use for all your trackpoints.
Posted at 5:39PM on Dec 24th 2007 by despot
19. #17 - xshawk: Actually you can chord with your fingers. Check out near the end of the vid, or check out the other vid. yes, other hand u could have another one, or a pen, or leave it free
#18 - despot: sure! you might want a trackpoint under each digit for a music one, then you could map the analogs to controls in (eg) Reason and make crazy sounds. id map the gyro y axis to the pitch i think..
20. I have been waiting to see if anyone picks up on RSI. possibly the greatest benefit of this approach is that it encourages healthy movement by allowing the tendons to pass through the carpal tunnel in a straight line.
also it can be used with the body in a relaxed state. keyboard forces the body into a state of tension, creating a lot of physiological problems. I plan to map all the common keyboard keys across. but not the letters/numbers: I want to integrate voice recognition to take care of this.
I have bad RSI - so this project has been pretty tough for me to make, and why development is so slow. but that is why I made it in the first place. I cannot even type a paragraph without pain - I am using voice recognition for all my correspondence.
if you are interested in bringing it to the next level, get in touch!!! http://sf7.scribblewiki.com/JediPad_Resources
Here's the various things that need doing!
Samu
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1. Seems a little over-complicated, but a good start none the less. I'd be interested to see what becomes of this.
Posted at 12:09AM on Dec 24th 2007 by digitalFX