LaserGames

the YouTube link to the LaserGames vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJgzwW2C6DQ&fmt=18

LaserGames is a means of controlling games and applications on any scale using a laser pointer. I'm sure you've seen laser controlled bits of coolness in one form or another but I'd like to think I just raised the bar a bit - mouse emulation means you can play whatever you want to throw at it (versus using a dedicated app made in mxp or vvvv or whatevs). In this clip you see a 2000 lumens projector, and the laser pointer is of the typical 5mw red diode keychain variety. When I have some time, I'm going to get set up outdoors and let people on the street have some fun with it. I just got it working with simultaneous red and green pointers so we got multi-player action coming up.

This is patent pending, developed by Alpay Kasal of Lit Studios for use by Interference Inc.

I believe in democratizing DIY knowledge via the blogosphoid, I'm also supplying embed code here because youtube doesn't automatically offer up embeds for the HQ playback, which we all love, this code will give you the goods without requiring a click on the "watch high quality" button.

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Interactive Mirror
In an effort to dive deeper into HCI (Human Computer Interaction) by hacking together parts easily acquired, I set out to build something especially "non-computery" - introducing the Interactive Mirror. On paper, this construction looked lik Comments (2)

Weblog: Blog.LitStudios.com
Tracked: Oct 23, 02:10

free-ish Multitouch workshop NYC
This is my open letter of invitation to the NYCResistor group. I invite anyone to make contact if you're interested in coming over. Workshops are fun, multitouch and HCI is fun. if you like coffee and carbs, then you're in for a triplewammy!Read On...Gree Comments (2)

Weblog: Blog.LitStudios.com
Tracked: Nov 13, 11:59

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I like this idea...... keep it going.....
But I am more interested what was the first composition?

Comment (1)

#1 Bayr on 2008-09-22 10:47 (Reply)

Thanks for the reply and kind words... much appreciated... and, by composition, do you mean the music? here it is...

track 1 - Da Poet Intrumentals - Diz Coksun Fikrin - he's a beatmaker I found on myspace, his whole instrumental album is dope, www.myspace.com/dpdapoet

track 2 - Jedi Mind Tricks Instrumentals 2002 - Animal Rap (Micky Ward mix)

track 3 - Prefuse 73 - Choking You

Comments (4)

#1.1 Alpay Kasal (Homepage) on 2008-09-22 17:11 (Reply)

I love your wonderful idea very much. This technology is pretty wonderful! laser game is really a great opinion,

#1.2 Johney Yang (Homepage) on 2010-09-03 02:33 (Reply)

This has serious potential for use in police shoot/don't shoot simlulator training, as well as marksmanship work. What kind of hardware is required for detection of the laser? With the low cost of projectors, this could be of substantial use for small town departments with low training budgets.

#2 Paul Simer (Homepage) on 2008-09-22 13:54 (Reply)

That's a stellar application for this kind of tech... I'd love an opportunity to build that kind of system. When I started work on this, I was using a modified webcam as the "eyes" of the computer. I've since moved up to using a DV video camera as an input. Overall, i would say the cost of hardware and development is a bargain compared to the kinds of applications that could be built.

#2.1 Alpay Kasal (Homepage) on 2008-09-23 02:27 (Reply)

http://www.lasershot.com/

You're a couple years too late on the idea. And I'm pretty sure you have no grounds to patent an already very popular and utilized idea. Good luck though.

Comments (2)

#2.2 Curtis on 2008-10-03 10:50 (Reply)

Wow, that looks like a fun room... they're using thermal imaging cameras to see where a live (hot) round hits the wall, I especially enjoyed seeing how low-tech all theh software integration is, hit areas in windows media, and what is probably a scriptable 3d engine, I always thought of using the counterstrike or unreal engine in such a way since they're pretty easy to create environments and "game levels" for. my novel approach lies in my ability to distinguish laser colors for multi-player which would be a novel addition to that link you sent, I suppose. put 3 or 4 guys in the training simulation and I doubt you can tell kills/misses apart with just thermal imaging. by measuring laser wavelengths you'd have an ID on each shot, linking it to a specific shooter. thanks for the link, awesome stuff.

Comments (103)

#2.2.1 Anonymous on 2008-10-03 11:07 (Reply)

Sorry again, it's done with different laser frequencies to detect and track players, also there is a popular SWAT mod called Canadian Forces Direct Action which uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine with Laser shot technology to make a real world training areas.

The CFDA website is down at the moment or I'd link you to it.

#2.2.1.1 Curtis on 2008-10-03 12:10 (Reply)

How'd you get it to work with the games that have red in them? I have a very similar project (see link) and I get feedback loops if games feature much red. Also, how do you calibrate? I use projected red on the screen for the calibration step.

cool stuff, don't know how you could possibly patent it or how that would be compatible with "I believe in democratizing DIY knowledge" but I'm glad to see yet another person working on laser games.

#3 John Harrison (Homepage) on 2008-09-22 19:51 (Reply)

Alright! another person on a similar path... check out these two links, http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/exp/make-an-infra-red-camera/ and http://www.hoagieshouse.com/IR/ should give you an idea about what's going on here. The patents lie in some "special sauce" that will make multi player action easy.

and yeah, I hear about you patent vs. free education for all... I guess i subscribe to a philosophy which parallels some of the opensource licensing out there - open up components/info for community development, but keep some secrets under my hat to ensure I can conduct business too.

Thanks for the comment. nice to talk to techs doing non-traditional work. especially human-computer interface work

#3.1 Alpay Kasal (Homepage) on 2008-09-23 02:38 (Reply)

So you removed the IR filter from the laser and you're using an IR cam or possibly a wiimote to track it?

Be really careful with IR lasers, or any laser that emits IR. They are especially dangerous because your pupil won't contract when your eye gets hit with IR. It will just burn the inside of your eye.

#3.1.1 John Harrison on 2008-09-23 10:57 (Reply)

Oh no, i'm not using IR lasers... by removing the filter from a CCD (camera or webcam), lit sources become especially bright as more of the spectrum is being seen by the CCD. This means that the point of a laser projection looks especially bright to the unfiltered ccd, brighter than a red in video. You can further help the tracking process by using the camera signal as grayscale and find the highest luma value, rather than trying to track a specific red value.

I hope that helps.

#3.1.1.1 Alpay Kasal (Homepage) on 2008-09-29 06:30 (Reply)

Alpay,

That is interesting. Given that I'm using an iSight I'm less willing to mod it and remove filters. I would be interested in looking at how removing the filter helps. If you have a quality laser then it should be IR filtered. If you've got a cheapie one then it is possible that it isn't, and that might by why you get brighter values without the filter.

In my code I don't simply scan for red pixels. In fact I'm doing something pretty sophisticated in order to track multiple points in real time. We've had five or six players at once playing missile command. I've posted a presentation that explains the tracking on my website.

Finally, your blog isn't visible on an iPhone. You might want to look at the code and either provide it with a mobile profile or simply stop trying to detect mobile browsers and send everyone the same thing.

later,
John

#3.1.1.1.1 John Harrison (Homepage) on 2008-09-29 12:04 (Reply)

Thanks for the tip on the iphone viewing... I installed a plugin for better iphone and pocketpc layout rendering on serendipity server at my web host - it seems they're missing some of the necessary php component the plugin needs. I removed it, thanks for the heads-up.

Hey, your Missile Command app looks awesome! and it looks like it was a showstopper at your conference. I 'm sure no on else had anything nearly as fun to show. when I get a chance, I plan to look closer at what you did, i also wanted to check out pygame to see what it's capable of. it appears really responsive. cool stuff.

#3.1.1.1.1.1 Anonymous on 2008-10-03 11:13 (Reply)

I should also add that if you're using different frequencies or polarized light for multi-player, that has already been discussed publicly and probably is not patentable.

#3.1.2 John Harrison on 2008-09-23 11:15 (Reply)

No one has said this yet, but this is really freaking cool. I would love to have one of these.

#4 joe on 2008-09-22 21:42 (Reply)

This would be awesome at a club or live show!

#5 Fuzzball on 2008-09-23 01:45 (Reply)

awesome work.
thanks for answering the tech questions aswell. the trackings seems to be incredible stable.

#6 alex (Homepage) on 2008-09-23 09:39 (Reply)

Been there, done that, ca 2001. ))))

#7 andriyp on 2008-09-23 11:26 (Reply)

Proxima projectors had this feature back in the early 90's and they have several patents. But you already know this if your patent lawyers are any good...

#8 Kris on 2008-10-05 01:14 (Reply)

Try this page, maybe it will help you.

#9 Yun (Homepage) on 2008-10-07 05:56 (Reply)

Hello
This technology is already being used in Lethal force simulators by companies liek Advanced interactive systems. I used to work for them and setup there equipment.

Have you looked at digital Graffiti project in europe. Doing kind of the same thing only bigger

#10 Ben on 2008-10-27 17:11 (Reply)

Hey, thats awesome, especially so since you are playing my particle pong game as well..... ill have to make a 2 player version just for this usage!

nice one

#11 mark (Homepage) on 2008-10-30 22:50 (Reply)

where would one go to get such technology? hmmm?

#12 Anonymous on 2008-11-06 09:19 (Reply)

Alpay, tebrik ederim. Wiimote ile benzer bir deneme yapabilirmiyiz. Tesekkur edeirm. Basarilar

#13 erol yucel on 2009-01-06 04:04 (Reply)

ah that is excellent and rivals products such as the Wii - when can we get it ?

#14 peter (Homepage) on 2009-08-05 10:25 (Reply)

Omg my uncle has a obsession with lasser lights. He would love this! Is there any way i can buy this? His birthdays comming up soon.

#15 Ashley on 2010-01-05 17:38 (Reply)

the Laser Game in Italy is www.quasarelite.it

#16 marco (Homepage) on 2010-04-19 12:36 (Reply)

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Wednesday, September 10. 2008

LaserGames