wizard school
May. 31st, 2006 07:32 pmMaking a magic wand with Quicksilver. (Short version: Gyration 3D wireless mouse + Quicksilver's gesture-recognition plugin + time spent building triggers = spooky action at a distance.) I'd seen this earlier this month, and looked at it again when BoingBoing linked to it. And it got me thinking, pondering, even researching.
How small a package could you get this into? Could you stuff it, a transmitter, a battery, and a little pushbutton or two into a ring? Maybe a tiny LED for feedback. Wizards like rings that glow with power.
Press your fingers together to casually activate a switch on your ring. Move your hand. Stuff happens. Things go on and off. Music stops and starts. The lighting changes. Locks switch. Video starts. Disembodied voices acknowledge your gesture, perhaps even hold a conversation with you to clarify your orders. Whatever home automation you can dream up.
How fine a motion can you sense with this kind of stuff? Draw a sigil in the air, turn an imaginary knob, twist a gestured dial. The sigil launches a little program; that watches the motion and mimics the knob. And then it does something. What would you like it to do? How much are you willing to dig into arcane incantations?
(And a slightly earlier entry in the same blog points to an interesting way to structure gestures - sadly, windows-only at the moment.)
How small a package could you get this into? Could you stuff it, a transmitter, a battery, and a little pushbutton or two into a ring? Maybe a tiny LED for feedback. Wizards like rings that glow with power.
Press your fingers together to casually activate a switch on your ring. Move your hand. Stuff happens. Things go on and off. Music stops and starts. The lighting changes. Locks switch. Video starts. Disembodied voices acknowledge your gesture, perhaps even hold a conversation with you to clarify your orders. Whatever home automation you can dream up.
How fine a motion can you sense with this kind of stuff? Draw a sigil in the air, turn an imaginary knob, twist a gestured dial. The sigil launches a little program; that watches the motion and mimics the knob. And then it does something. What would you like it to do? How much are you willing to dig into arcane incantations?
(And a slightly earlier entry in the same blog points to an interesting way to structure gestures - sadly, windows-only at the moment.)
