No, Microsoft is not getting into the car-wash business. But it is releasing “Touchless,” multitouch software from Microsoft Office Labs that uses a regular Web camera and everyday objects as input. You can think of this as a low-end version of its Touchwall technology, which uses more precise lasers to detect movement and objects. The software developer kit is available now under an open-source Microsoft Public License. The SDK only works on Windows (what did you expect?).
Like Microsoft Surface and Touchwall, the Touchless software makes it possible to create applications that turn hand gestures and physical objects into an input device like a mouse. Touchless detects both the size and location of “color markers” (which can be fingers, toys, pens, M&Ms) as they move through space. Microsoft engineer Mike Wasserman s Ian Sands and Chris Pratley have created four demos to showcase the technology:
- Snake – where you control a snake with a marker.
- Defender – up to 4 player version of a pong-like game.
- Map – where you can rotate, zoom, and move a map using 2 markers.
- Draw – the marker is used to guess what…. draw!
Try it out. Free TechCrunch T-shirt to whoever creates the coolest Touchless app and uploads a video in comments.
It would be amazing to control video as well with the program. Maybe even going so far as linking the program to VJ software (see: Jitter), then being able to manipulate images with a webcam + objects. But alas, I am not a developer.
“Touchless” was actually the nickname I gave my ex-wife. But seriously folks, I’m impressed by this idea. We’ve reached the point that we need an alternative to the tiny keyboards on mobile devices and the only real solution is projecting the keyboard onto an exterior surface. In 5-10 years, many of us will be wearing glasses that project our computer display directly onto our eyes (the floating monitor) and we’ll need ways to input data without a physical keyboard. Microsoft, uncharacteristically, seems to be prescient.
nice, can’t wait to play with this.
http://gatesand...s.blogspot.com/
What we need is a Touchmore Developer Kit :0)
Here is an idea, developing motion trackers for game developers, to capture animation for their characters.
why the hell can’t they release a mac version of the SDK as well?
Know what…screw them…I’ll make a whole new one myself >:)
I’ve heard they’ll release the mac version on the same day Apple releases the iPhone SDK for windows.
really why cant de release the mac.. really its pathetic
@sachin and @aman
It open source, so why don’t you take it, port the code to mac and then close it up as Jobs would do?
Apple people, always about them. Hey guess what it is a different operating system, you have to build your own stuff. Or get an easy to develop for Windows Machine and get off the little kid stuff you normally use.
http://www.torque-motion.com/ check that out.
Great idea and exciting application. Great work Microsoft!
The blog below already mentioned “touchless” a few months ago related to Microsoft: Touchless Computing as in Minority Report
http://disrupti...inority-report/
The post also includes a video. Can I get a TechCrunch T-shirt for it?
I can see some similarities between Touchless and a Wiimote hack done by an independent researcher Johnny Lee. http://www.ted....mote_hacks.html
Isn’t this just a ripoff of the work that Israeli guy did? The one that allowed you to use any object captured by a web cam as an input device. He had a video clip of him using a pop bottle as a steering wheel. I’m sure it was here on TC, but damned if I can find it. Anyone remember it?
yeah, it’s a rip-off of Cam-Trax http://www.camspace.com
Typicall of microsoft…
Just for Fun.
说起来，就算是垃圾东西，就算1美元我也不会用，游戏而已。
@ Erick Schonfeld
“The SDK only works on Windows (what did you expect?)”
Ha .. and you were born in Mars and ported to Earth .. you fuckin moron ..
Don’t worry, Apple fanbois… I’m sure Steve already has his evil minions hard at work ripping it off.
Take heart, you should know by now that once the rest of the world has realized the value of a technology, Apple will steal it, put a lame i in front of the name, and claim in a huge false advertising campaign that they invented it. That has been their M.O. since 1984.
I know, Apple is so dumb. I can’t believe they copied Microsoft’s Zune. Oh wait…
And I can’t believe they stole the style of vista to make OSX. Oh wait…
It’s not like they were the first commercial operating system to use a mouse and microsoft copied THEM or anything. Oh wait…
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