Cool cool. I had found most of that, but the bit that got me was the "carefully remove the back". Kind of like if you force it, it would be bad.

I'm really noticing the difference between a normal lense and the wide angle one. The box that I've built could have been half the height. Oh well, it means that I can put something between the camera and teh computer to get rid of reflections, at least until I get round to going IR.

Thanks so much for the help.

great work so far, you're just a step away from taking apart an LCD and giving your setup a display. Going IR is a very good idea, if you use DSI (which i recommend) then thats fully compadible with an LCD and doesn't need a diffuser i.e. tracing paper.

I do suggest using a wide angle lens, just make sure the tracker you use works with the fisheye distortion you will get. The best way to mod the cam is to buy the things i posted before, remove the current lens mount and replace that with the lens mount you get out of the cheap webcam (use the screws from the cheap webcam, not the ps3 eye) and then screw in one of the wide angle lenses from dealextreme.

To filter out visible light so only IR shows, you can either use 3 layers of the black photo negative that you see at the end of the exposed strips, or better still you can buy a proper IR bandpass filter which blocks out all wavelenghts of IR except the one you are using. I suggest getting one from here http://shop.ebay.com.au/merchant/omegabob2_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_ipgZ

to mount your bandpass filter to the lens, a bit of blu tack is handy:


as for the IR leds, 850-880nm is the best, as this is what the ps3 camera is most sensetive to (once modified) that bandwidth of IR light. The SFH485Ps are 880 i think.

Argh I had a whole post typed but absent mindedly changed page. Gah. Anyway the basics are that.

The surface atm is the size of a 22" 4:3 CRT. I can't think of a time that I've seen an LCD at that size and aspect ratio.

The other thing si that the computer that I'm using in at the moment is actually quite old (Athlon XP 3000+, 512 MB DDR, Radeon 8500) so I think it would have a slight problem running Win7 and the rest of the software. I think that if I make another one in the future it will be more similar to yours with the box just being a monitor connected to a pc.

I'll probably go with just buying a lens mount and band pass filter.

Could it just be easier to get one of these http://peauproductions.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_11&products_id=4 as I want to get the camera in the right place as soon as possible so that I can get playing and programming. So I could just use visible light until I get the endlighten, IR LED's and filter.

thats an ir blocking filter which he gets specially from omegabob who makes them fit in the original PS3's housing. It is much better to get a custom M12 lens though, and then get one of omegabob's regular filters. IF you don't make any changes to the camera (or even if you do remove the IR filter) you can start testing if visible light works, and play around with that. What i'd do is order the bandpass filter from omegabob ( http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/OmegaFiltersEbuyer2_NIR-Filters_W0QQ_fsubZ8001095QQ_sidZ164036161QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322 ) this is the one I used and it works perfectly with the SFH485 LEDs, and you get them for $12 from here http://cgi.ebay.com.au/IR-Optical-Filter-882BP30-4-5mm-diameter_W0QQitemZ310078618879QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Filters?hash=item4832203cff&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262

If you're going to add an LCD, i'd only go 17-19", any larger and the LCDs all use the thin flat cables which make dissection a lot harder. You can use a 22" LCD (i did take one apart succesfully for something i'm working on atm) but that is much harder and of course more expensive, i only did it because i got mine free.

The computer you're using will definitley struggle to run the tracking software, but you can use it for testing and shit

If you want some other multitouch apps to play around with, I can send you all my files and the tracker I use

Also there is a driver that allowes you to use a regular tracker that allows TUIO (like CCV, i'm not sure if reactivision does but i reckon it would) to control windows 7 touch so you can use the inbuilt multitouch support in win7

and I also have a link for the leaked microsoft touchpack, which works with win7 touch http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/05/27/introducing-the-microsoft-touch-pack-for-windows-7.aspx

Ok, so just before I order the IR stuff, (I already have the IR lamps) I want to make sure I've got this right.

This camera
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/5-0M-PIXEL-USB-6-LED-PC-CAMERA-MIC-WEBCAM-FOR-LAPTOP_W0QQitemZ310152056554QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Video_Conferencing_Webcams?hash=item483680ceea&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262

Then take the lense mount from it.

Then these lenses will screw into the lense mount from the above camera?
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15774

And before putting the lense into the mount I put a Band pass filter inside the lense like this one.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/IR-Optical-Filter-882BP30-4-5mm-diameter_W0QQitemZ310078618879QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Filters?hash=item4832203cff&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262

Oh and how did you mount your ps3 eye?

you've got it all right, make sure you know the bandwidth of the IR illuminators you are using because that filter will only work with 880nm illuminators and will block everything else.

if you don't have 880nm IR illuminators then you should get them because the PS3 eye (and any other webcam) is WAY more sensitive to the lower bandwidths, and 880nm will server you best there.

I simply put a large wad of blu-tack on the bottom of the PS3 eye circuit board and stuck that to the bottom of the case, i wouldn't bother with keeping the housing of the ps3 camera. I also covered up the LEDs on the ps3 eye with black tape because they faintly showed through the LCD. Also make sure the holes in the PCB directly under teh lens are covered or you may get light intefrence, the blu tack should cover that

and remember that rear DI wont work with LCDs, DSI is the best method for object and finger recognition

Sweey. yeah I decided to not worry about the LCD part for this build as it will take up more time than I have to use. The IR LED's that I have are 850nm so the band pass is the right one.

I'm glad that you are also using blutack, because that's what I came up with as well, althouh I made 3 similar size balls and stuck it down. Yeah I've long gotten rid of the housing, and leccied over the LED's on the camera. I've also added in a false floor to cover the computer and to prevent reflections. I'll stick some photos up very soon as its almost almost done. Now to learn Pure Data, be creative, compose, perform and then report on what I've done in a 5000 word research paper in a month. Hmm this could be tight.

I just realised that the LED's that you used are 880nm rather than 850nm. That means that I should get this one, http://peauproductions.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_12&products_id=21 , which is also this one, http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Optical-Filter-850DF10-0-5-X-0-5-square-X-2-9mm-thick_W0QQitemZ310162809284QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDigital_Camera_Accessories?hash=item483724e1c4&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262 . But why is the one from Omega square and Peau's is circular?

Or should I get this one? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NIR-Optical-Filter-850DF20-11-5mm-painted-edge_W0QQitemZ310162763213QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Filters?hash=item4837242dcd&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262

Sorry for the questions.

the peauproductions filter has the tightest band and fits in the m12 mount so it will work best, his are custom made by omegabob so you expect them to be the same quality as the ebay ones and his has the best specs so go for that

Ok so its been a while since I last posted in here and the device has undergone some changes, mostly due to stuff not working. I performed with it last Saturday night at uni and had it as a sound installation as well. Here are 2 videos showing a finished box but the code wasn't fully done yet. I've also just finished rendering a video with my performance and some other stuff in it which is due friday week, so I'll put it up after I've submitted it.

sorry dude but Im not sure if its the mic or whatever but it's pretty hard to listen to, hurts the ears with all the weird sounds. Interesting use of technology.

so as far as I can tell there is no way for you to tell what is interacting with what, you've got to guess. A starting point might be for you to add the 'source' point. A dot like what they have on thier system which is where all sounds start. Also you need to have a projector and something that can read the IR and tell the computer where to project objects around the symbol. I guess you've got the IR set up but no projector system.

At the moment you are getting more like atmospheric sounds with yours than anything you could make music with...unless you invent a new genre

I've written symbols on top of the mirrors. like ~ for a sine tone and a square wave for a square wave. I should take a photo next time I'm in at uni of all the symbols on the tangibles (objects).

The other thing was that I wanted it to be something that you experiment with and can make sound right away.

The next one will be more like Clerk's box with a screen and I'm still wondering if I'll use objects again. I was going to use IR, but I couldn't get it bright enough. So I'm using a single lightbulb instead.

Haha make music lol. Its interesting how studying a music degree changes what you percieve as music. For me, music is when a human has deliberately created or manipulated sound, with the purpose of making music or organising sound.

Something that I'll be writing about in my final submission is that by itself (just a recording of the sound) the device fails miserably. It works best when you're actually using it and making sounds. If I were to create "music" (pop/alternative etc) I would have to use it as a single instrument amongst others.

Hopefully a friend who also made one puts a video of his up so I can link you guys to it.

well the only thing is, if you look at reactable, it can have symbols for drum loops and such so you can make a beat, if you can do that too it would be good, I wouldnt say it failed miserably, you should be proud you did something that others wouldn't have had a go at.

Reactable is a interactive mixer with built in synthesizer and sound loop playback, yours could be too I guess but how far do you want to take it.