Integration - Setting up tBeta

Camera Setup

Terminology

Blob: An on-screen touch point detected by tBeta
False Blob: A point detected by tBeta that was not created by a user touching the screen. i.e. "noise"
FLOSC: Flash Open Sound Control. A socket server that converts OSC data to xml data and sends it to a Flash application via an XMLSocket.
tBeta: "The Beta" touch detection software. tBeta analyzes video input and outputs TUIO data.
TUIO: Table-Top User Interfaces Object. A protocol designed specifically for multi-touch devices.

Start by making sure you can see your camera's video input in the source window. If you can't make sure the "use camera" button is selected and click the next camera button.

In the bottom right corner you can see information about the camera such as the resolution, and the frames per second that it is running at. Tbeta also shows where it is sending the TUIO info (the specific port).

If necessary use the "flip horizontal" and "flip vertical" buttons to make sure the source is correctly oriented. Try moving your hand left in front of the camera to see if it goes left on the image and the same for moving up. Clicking these will also make it easier to find out which area's of your screen are too bright, or too dark.

Adjusting Settings

Make sure nothing is touching the screen the click the remove bg button. This will be set as the default state so that any normal reflections will not be picked up as a blob. Keep in mind, if this "background"e; changes (i.e. when the box internals are shaken), it will likely mess up your input and you'll need to remove background again.

Next is the smooth setting. Smooth helps in evaluating the position and size on large touch areas such as a whole palm.

Blur and noise can be used to reduce blobs from resulting from reflections off of the palm of the hand.

The amplify setting helps to boost points with low contrast. Sometimes your blobs will show up fine for everything but your pinky, and this will typically fix it.

Threshold is how much contrast tbeta requires for an area on the screen to be considered a blob. Lowering the threshold will make points with low contrast still result in a blob, but if it is set too low it will pick up more false blobs and hover points.

Calibration

Once all your settings have been adjusted and Tbeta can detect touch points everywhere on the screen you can enter the calibration feature to make sure your points are correctly aligned with the screen.

Calibrate the system by touching the red circles on the touch surface when they appear until all points have been touched. If you make a mistake, press the "r" key to return to the last touch point. Press the "b" key to recapture the background.

This is another time in the project where there is a lot of fiddling and possibly frustration. Again though, it is critical, and the more time you take here, the better the end result. Don't worry if tBeta crashes... it happens. A lot. We also ran into issues with our PS Eye driver where it likes to randomly shift the image which will mess up your input.

Continue with Flash integration...