PC Tech World: Motion

Showing posts with label Motion. Show all posts

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Leap Motion delayed until July 22 for further software testing

Those eyeballing Leap Motion’s upcoming 3D gesture controller will have to sit tight a bit longer as its launch has officially been pushed back to July 22. The decision, according to CEO Michael Buckwald, was made to give the company more time to test the device before putting it in the hands of consumers.

In a note to customers, Buckwald said the reality is they very likely could have hit the May 13 ship date but it wouldn’t have left time for comprehensive testing. He said the only way they felt 100 percent confident they could deliver a magical product was to push the date back. The device was originally scheduled to ship earlier this year before being pushed back to May.

In the interim, Leap will begin a beta test with the 12,000 or so developers that already have the device in their hands. The beta will give these developers full access to the product’s features including OS interaction.

Buckwald pointed out that this extra round of beta testing was to focus primarily on software, not hardware. That’s good news for Leap as more than 600,000 gesture controllers have already been made. Either way, however, it must be a bit disappointing for those that already have a unit on order.

If you aren’t familiar with the device, the 3-by-1-inch module is able to track the movement of all 10 fingers on both hands up to 1/1000th-millimeter accuracy with no visible latency. If you need a visual on exactly how the technology works, I encourage you to check out our post on Google Earth with Leap Motion integration.

View the original article here

By: Unknown On 10:37 PM

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Google Earth lets you fly around the globe with new Leap Motion support

Adding to its short but growing list of high profile tie-ups ahead of launch, Leap Motion announced today that the latest desktop version of Google Earth will include native support for its gesture control device. The news come just in time for Earth Day and essentially means users will be able to wave their hands to pan, zoom and spin the globe -- well, at least the 10,000 or so members of Leap Motion’s developer program, for now.

The company posted the video embedded below to offer a glimpse of how the integration will work, along with the following statement from Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald.

"Our mission at Leap Motion is to provide a fundamentally better computing experience that frees people to create and explore the digital world in new ways. Google Earth combined with Leap Motion's 3-D, touch-free technology feels so incredibly immersive — people feel connected to the world in a new and compelling way."

Perhaps just as important as the Google Earth integration itself is the fact that the software has been downloaded more than 1 billion times over its lifetime. An app as popular as this adopting gesture controls might serve as a further incentive for developers of all sizes to consider investing their time in Leap Motion’s platform.

For now software partners already on board include 3D design software maker Autodesk, “Cut The Rope” maker Zepto Labs, Double Fine, Disney, Realmac Software, The Weather Channel and Corel. All of them are expected to have applications available at launch or soon after in Leap Motion’s curated Airspace store.

The San Francisco-based will begin fulfilling “hundreds of thousands” of pre-orders starting on May 13th, with retail availability set for May 19 at Best Buy stores across the US, Bestbuy.com, Leapmotion.com and Amazon.uk. Later in the year both HP and Asus will start offering Leap Motion bundles with select products.

View the original article here

By: Unknown On 10:09 PM

Monday, April 22, 2013

Google Earth gets Leap Motion support, lets you explore the planet with touch-free control

How are you celebrating Earth Day? If you're one of 10,000 Leap Motion devs with an early unit, you could very well be exploring Mount Everest or venturing through the Amazon, just by waving your hands. Google's Earth app, which has reportedly been downloaded more than a billion times, just scored a refresh today -- version 7.1 -- delivering Leap Motion gesture control to your desktop. Both the free and paid versions now support touch-free navigation through the USB desktop device, which is expected in stores next month. The update, however, available for Windows, Mac and Linux, is yours for the taking now.

Source: Leap Motion (YouTube)

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Lynx A 3D point-and-shoot camera/tablet does motion capture and 3D modeling, we go hands-on

Earlier this year, a group of enterprising students from the University of Texas unveiled the Lynx A 3D camera and asked for money to fund its construction on Kickstarter. Since then, they've soared past their funding goal of $50,000, and are getting ready to ship out their first set of cameras. Today at DEMO Mobile SF, we finally got to see a prototype unit for ourselves and watch it scan someone's head in real-time. For the uninitiated, the Lynx A is billed as a point-and-shoot 3D camera that uses Kinect-esque hardware to obtain depth mapping and imaging info from your surroundings. Using GPU computing power and some custom code, it turns that data into 3D scene and object models or motion capture, and it displays the finished models on its 14-inch screen a minute or two after it's finished recording -- all for $1,799.

The Lynx A we witnessed working in person today was a prototype unit, so fit and finish were far from being retail ready, as wide gaps and exposed screws abounded. Lynx assured us that the units going out to its backers will not only have a more polished appearance, but also be six times more accurate and 30 percent smaller due to newer hardware components. Despite the prototype's rough appearance, the modeling process went off without a hitch. It was able to scan 2/3 of a human head in about a minute and within a couple minutes more it was displaying a 3D model ready to be manipulated and printed out by a Replicator or a Form 1. Don't believe us? See for yourself in the video after the break.

Lynx A 3D camera/tablet hands-on

Source

By: Unknown On 1:58 PM

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

HP to bundle Leap Motion on select products, incorporate the tech in future devices

Leap Motion is shaping up to be 2013's hottest peripheral. Less than a year after the gesture-control technology was first announced, the company's enlisted tens of thousands of developers in its motion-controlled ranks, partnered with ASUS and taken SXSW Interactive by storm. This morning, the company added another big win to the ever-growing list: a partnership with HP, which will eventually see the technology embedded in some new offerings from the PC veteran. According to a press release issued by the startup, "The relationship will start with the Leap Motion Controller bundled with select HP products and evolve to unique HP devices embedded with Leap Motion's technology." Those unnamed devices will also be loaded with Leap's Airspace, for easy access to custom apps.

Show full PR text

Leap Motion to Bring 3-D Motion Control to HP Customers

Leap Motion, the motion-control software and hardware company changing the future of human/computer interaction, today announced a collaboration with HP to bring 3-D motion control to unique HP devices. The relationship will start with the Leap Motion Controller bundled with select HP products and evolve to unique HP devices embedded with Leap Motion's technology.

"Our focus at Leap Motion is to fundamentally improve how people interact with their devices, and offer as many ways as possible to achieve that vision," said Leap Motion co-founder and CEO Michael Buckwald. "The possibilities for innovation are incredible, when you think about what will come from this collaboration between two respected global leaders in their fields – HP, the world's largest technology company and Leap Motion, creator of the world's most powerful 3-D motion-control technology."

Leap Motion's incredible speed and precision, combined with its affordability, have helped drive its momentum and leadership in the industry. Leap Motion-enabled HP devices will come pre-loaded with Airspace™, Leap Motion's application store. Inside Airspace, users will discover a wide range of software across gaming, music, education, art, productivity and more.

Source

By: Unknown On 9:51 PM

Sunday, April 14, 2013

AirBeats / AirHarp creator demos his forthcoming Leap Motion music apps

When it comes to developing music apps, Leap Motion's naturalistic interface seems like a no-brainer. Sure it doesn't offer the sort of tactile feedback you get from an actual instrument, but it certainly beats the heck out of, say, a keyboard and mouse. Adam Somers is among the early developers looking to bring a little bit of music magic to the tiny peripheral, and he gave us a sneak peak of what he's working on at a Smule event in San Francisco earlier this week.

The simpler of the two apps is AirHarp. Still in early developer preview mode, the program is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a virtual harp. Hold your hand out and strings light up -- tap down and you can pluck them. Reach in a bit and you can strum with one or several fingers. More impressive is AirBeats, a virtual machine with two pads and a slew of sounds that lets you record tracks. Somers is hoping to have at least one of the apps out in time for Leap Motion's upcoming launch. You can check out demos after the break.

Source: Stanford

Monday, April 8, 2013

Red unveils the Motion mount for Epic and Scarlet cameras to eliminate CMOS rolling shutter

Red unveils the Motion Mount for global shutter capability on Epic, Scarlet

Red has just announced the Red Motion lens mounting system for Epic and Scarlet motion camera systems that'll eliminate one of their chief snags: the dreaded CMOS rolling shutter. Though details are scant, it seems it'll do that in a similar manner to the Tessive system (see More Coverage), where a second liquid crystal shutter is placed in front of the main sensor and timed to engage only when the camera's CMOS is fully "open." That'll help eliminate artifacts like skew / judder in pans, repeating motion artifacts (think distorted propellers) and flicker from lights or displays, among others. The mount also brings an 8x electronic ND filter adjustable to 1/100th of an f-stop, partially negating the need for a matte-box in bright lighting situations. The Red Motion's drawback is that it'll cost you a stop of speed even when the ND is off, meaning you may have to change to a classic mount in low-light situations. Red's showing it now at its NAB booth-cum-factory and it'll ship out this fall in PL-mount form (with a Canon mount arriving later) for $4,500. Check the source for more discussion.

Source: Red

More Coverage: Tessive

Saturday, March 30, 2013

NASA JPL controls rover with Leap Motion, shows faith in consumer hardware (video)

DNP Controlling a NASA rover with the Leap Motion controller and beyond video

If you think using the Leap Motion controller for playing air guitar and typing without a keyboard was cool, try using it to control a NASA rover. Victor Luo and Jeff Norris from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab got on stage at the Game Developers Conference here in San Francisco to do just that with the ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer), which was located 383 miles away in Pasadena. As Luo waved his hand over the sensor, the robot moved in kind, reacting to the subtle movements of his fingers and wrists, wowing the crowd that watched it over a projected Google+ Hangout.

We spoke with Luo and Norris after the panel to gain further insight into the project. As Luo explains, one of JPL's main goals is to build tools to control robots needed for space exploration. Seeing as the gaming industry is already rife with user-friendly controllers ripe for the plucking, it made sense to harness them for the job. "We're very used to the bleeding edge," he said. "From the Kinect to the PlayStation Move, they represent major investments into usability." Hit the jump for our impressions of the simulation software, a look at JPL's grander goal and for video clips of the demo and panel itself.

In the case of ATHLETE, using Leap Motion was an easy decision. Designed to be part of a lunar / martian exploration system and now slated for a potential asteroid mission, the massive 12-foot tall robot has half a dozen limbs each with six degrees of freedom, which lend themselves naturally to gesture-based controls. The crew had already built a hangar along with a series of trusses and pulleys to position ATHLETE on an asteroid test bed in order to simulate low gravity. They then mapped the physical space onto Unity-based software, which was configured for use with a variety of controllers, including the Leap.

We had a chance to try out the software ourselves, but without a robot connected at the other end. This editor hovered a hand over the sensor cautiously, and sure enough, the simulation responded like a giant claw. With a hand balled up in a fist and just one finger extended, we watched as the bot lifted a single limb as well. We were surprised by how responsive it was, though it might not be as precise as we would like in our incredibly brief demo. Of course, you can't tilt it too much and the legs can't bend backwards, but that's because the rover isn't supposed to do that either. It was a little unnerving, thinking that this flailing of fingers could translate to the movement of a robot in space.

The whole thing could easily be seen as a gimmick, but NASA doesn't think it is. "When we take ATHLETE to an asteroid, we have to make it fly," said Norris. "We need to move it as if it were zero gravity... the demos we've seen are actually quite amazing. We can see this enormous rover lazily falling and bouncing off things, as if it were a cloud."

Luo continued, saying that this is just a small subset of what JPL is trying to do. From NASA's first ever Xbox Live game, Mars Rover Landing, to its use of consumer-grade hardware, it's clear the agency wants to get everyday citizens excited about space travel again. With gaming-inspired projects like this one, that goal certainly seems within reach. To get a glimpse of the software in action with zSpace and Leap Motion sensors, have a look at the NASA-provided video above. For the GDC panel, check out the audience-captured clip below.

Source: NASA JPL

More Coverage: Leah Robinson (YouTube)

Sony's Light Shaft, Motion Shot apps now available for NEX-5R and NEX-6 cams

One could easily argue that apps are a dime a dozen nowadays, but for those with a WiFi-ready, mirrorless Sony shooter, the in-cam software selection is still somewhat limited. As of a few hours ago, though, NEX-5R and NEX-6 owners now have two more options to choose from, thanks to Sony's new Light Shaft and Motion Shot applications. For starters, Light Shaft, as the company describes it, brings "a splash of light" to any picture using numerous differently shaped effects, such as Beam, Flare, Ray and Star. Motion Shot, on the other hand, takes multiple, continuous shots that are then superimposed to add a little flavor to action snaps, allowing users to easily pick the first and last images of every sequence. Available now via the PlayMemories shop, both apps are priced at $4.99 each -- which, to some, might feel like too steep a price to pay for a little unorthodox editing. We'll leave that decision up to you, though.

Via: DPReview

Source: Sony

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Clear promises Leap Motion support in Mac app, offers a glimpse of what's to come

We've seen some big Leap Motion deals announced, and some fairly impressive demos, but we haven't yet heard of many big-name apps that will support the gesture control technology. While not the biggest around, Realmac has today confirmed that the Mac version of its Clear to-do app -- itself noted for its novel interface -- will indeed support the motion controller "later this year." Details are light beyond that, but the company's offered a peek at what you can expect in the brief video after the break.

Source: Realmac

Monday, February 11, 2013

Leap Motion used for legitimate air drumming, authentic instrument control

Hacking Kinect might get you access to an audible air guitar, but Stephane Berscot can do you one better -- tweaking the pitch of a tangible axe via Leap Motion's virtual work space. Berscot configured a Leap tweak his guitar's pitch based on the instrument's position over the device. That's not all, either, the makeshift MIDI controller also functions as a keyboard equalizer and a set of functional air drums. Combining all three tricks together scored Berscot a pretty mean demo track, but it's apparently a lot harder than it looks. "It wasn't easy to play drums with it," he said, explaining how he had to detect beats based tracking the upward and downward velocity of the drumstick. "My method is pretty basic and still needs some work." Even so, the demo definitely shows the device's potential. Skip on past the break to see Berscot kick out the jams.

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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Lynx A 3D camera hits Kickstarter, ready to motion capture your donations

Every time we write up a 3D printer, we get a deluge of folks asking just how easy it is to render a 3D model. The answer is, unless you're well-versed CAD, not very. Austin-based Lynx Laboratories is working to help bring the learning curve for 3D rendering down a bit, with the Lynx A, a "point-and-shoot 3D camera" it claims is even easier to use than many standard digital cameras. The list of things the tablet-shaped device can do is impressive, indeed, including digital measure, architectural rending, object modeling and motion capture -- the latter of which has some interesting applications in the movie and gaming spaces. The project's Kickstarter is now open, steadily heading toward its $50,000 goal, with 44 days to go. A starting pledge of $1,799 will get you one of the 14-inch devices to call your own. Not convinced? Perhaps the video after the break will put you over the 3D edge.

Source: Kickstarter

By: Unknown On 8:19 PM

Saturday, January 5, 2013

ASUS partners up with Leap Motion, PCs with 3D motion control to debut in 2013

ASUS Embraces Revolutionary New Interface, Partners to Bundle Leap Motion with
Select Computers

World's Most Accurate 3-D Motion-Control Technology to Bundle with New Premium All-in-One Computers and High-End Notebooks using Intel's Haswell Platform

SAN FRANCISCO – January 3, 2013 – Leap Motion, the motion-control software and hardware company changing the future of human/computer interaction, today announced one of its first global OEM partnerships. ASUS, a leading innovator in personal computing products, will bundle the revolutionary Leap Motion controller with select new computers. In an industry first, ASUS will also bundle the world's most accurate 3-D motion-control technology into new high-end notebooks and premium All-in-One (AiO) PCs later this year.

ASUS is one of the world's largest consumer notebook vendors and the maker of the world's best-selling and most award-winning motherboards. The ground-breaking partnership brings the future of computer interaction-Leap Motion's incredibly fast and accurate natural user interface-to millions of potential consumers around the world.

Leap Motion's incredible speed and precision are helping fuel its momentum and leadership in the industry. Leap Motion's technology can track movements to 1/100th millimeter-smaller than the tip of a pin-with no visible lag time. The Leap Motion controller has a 150-degree field of view, and tracks individual hands and all 10 fingers at 290 frames per second.

ASUS plans to bundle the Leap Motion controller with its upcoming premium All-In-One (AiO) PCs and high-end notebooks for global distribution.

"Our commitment to innovation and exceptional quality drive us to provide the best technology to our consumers," said Alber Wu, Desktop Division Senior Director at ASUSTek. "Leap Motion has developed an exciting technology that will truly enhance the experience our customers have with their ASUS devices, opening a world of opportunity for personal use and business, from entertainment to architecture to education. We're proud to be one of the first companies to partner with Leap Motion."

"As OEMs adopt 3-D motion control technology, they're spurring a rapid evolution in computer interface innovations and helping free the full power and potential of computing for consumers," said Leap Motion co-founder and CEO Michael Buckwald. "This historic partnership with ASUS is an important step in building global adoption of the new computing paradigm Leap Motion's technology offers. We're delighted that ASUS shares our outlook on the future of human/computer interaction."

In May 2012, Leap Motion revealed its technology and controller to huge global excitement, with its introduction video garnering more than 7 million views. More than 40,000 developers worldwide have requested to work with Leap Motion, and the company has sent out 12,000 free units to developers to foster the creation of new applications.

Leap Motion has won innovation awards from Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and Fast Company, and will present a featured session at the 2013 SXSW conference. The Leap Motion device will ship to consumers early this year, and can be pre-ordered for $70 at www.leapmotion.com.

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By: Dilusha On 10:56 PM

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The 90s X-Men Intro in Stop Motion: Pure Nerd Bliss

This story will display in ...Dec 19, 2012 8:52 AM

The 90s X-Men Intro in Stop Motion: Pure Nerd Bliss Whatever you're doing, just stop. The best cartoon of the early 90s—the X-Men, obviously—has gotten a stop-motion treatment that belongs in some sort of kitschy, bizarro-universe Louvre. This. Is. Awesome.

It was also an overwhelming endeavor; it took director Kyle Roberts two months of rotoscoping and animating over 4,000 pictures to get the perfect facsimile. Not to mention the 60 background images his collaborator, Nathan Poppe, had to draw from scratch.

The most impressive feat, though? Tracking a Jubilee action figure in 2012. [Buzzfeed]

Welcome to Gizmodo's winter break! We're exploring the crazier side of tech this month, so check out gizmodo.com/core if all you want is straight tech news.

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By: Dilusha On 11:44 PM