EquisFTIR Evaluation

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Chris Wolfe, Nick Graham, Joey Pape

EQUIS Laboratory, School of Computing, Queen's University

Contents

Overview

Thank you for participating in our evaluation of the EquisFTIR tabletop surface library. Your input will help us assess the accuracy of EquisFTIR when compared to other libraries like TouchLib and reacTIVision. You will be producing and sending us raw input from your table. This will allow us to compare the libraries over input obtained from a range of tabletop surfaces.

To do this, you will download and run the Java application "FtirExperiment.jar", an application which guides two users in interacting with an FTIR or FLIR tabletop. Meanwhile, you will capture a video recording of the raw inputs provided by your table's camera device. We will use this video to aid in our evaluation of EquisFTIR.

Note that this experiment does not use your usual library for providing touch input (e.g., TouchLib.) It is gathering raw data from your camera, exactly the data that your library would normally process.

The FtirExperiment.jar program does not alter your computer system or devices in any way. The same should be true of your video capture program.

Requirements

  • An FTIR or FLIR tabletop computer (preferably with a low cost, off the shelf webcam for capturing user input)
  • Two people to provide input (for two sessions of approximately two minutes each)
  • Your choice of video capture program
    • E.g., AmCap for windows users.
  • A recent version of the Java runtime environment

You will need access to the computer(s) that drive your tabletop. Note that some tabletop systems use one computer for camera input and a second computer to run the application.

Procedure

You will perform the following steps:

  1. Download FtirExperiment.jar
  2. Set your lighting conditions
  3. Start capturing video
  4. Run FtirExperiment.jar
  5. Stop capturing video
  6. Redo steps 3 to 5 with noisy lighting conditions
  7. Upload your videos

Download

Download FtirExperiment.jar to the computer that is attached to your table's projector.

Set Lighting Conditions

You will capture videos under two lighting conditions.

  • For the first video, set the lights in your lab as you normally have them when you use your tabletop. With home-made tabletops, often users must turn down the lights and close the blinds. Here, do whatever you normally do.
  • For the second video, create a noisy light environment. For example, turn on all the lights in your lab, and open any window blinds. (If this is how you normally run your tabletop, then only one video is required).

Start Capturing Video

If you are using AmCap on Windows to capture video, the following steps need to be taken once before you can begin:

  • Download the AmCap installer to the computer that is attached to your table's camera
  • Install the program using the installation wizard
  • Open AmCap
  • Under devices, select the camera that captures FTIR/FLIR input from your tabletop
  • Under Capture->Compression select AVI
  • Under Capture select Setup...
    • Select 'Capture to unallocated files'
    • Click Browse to select the directory that you would like to save the output video.
    • Click 'OK'

Once that's done, the following steps need to be taken each time you wish to capture video before running FtirExperiment.jar:

  • Open AmCap
  • Select Capture->Start Capture

If you use a different video capture program, please follow the instructions for that program.

Run FtirExperiment.jar

Before running FtirExperiment.jar, have the two users stand side by side at the table.

Under Windows, FtirExperiment.jar can be run simply by double clicking it.

Other operating systems might require you to use a command line:

  • open a command line window
  • change to the directory containing FtirExperiment.jar
  • enter the command 'java -jar FtirExperiment.jar'

Once FtirExperiment.jar is running, a green and yellow ball will appear, move and disappear. You and your partner should pick one colour, with the yellow person standing the left of the green person.

Each of you should follow your ball with your finger. When the ball appears, put your finger down on it. When the ball moves, trace your finger along the tabletop surface to follow it. When the ball disappears, raise your finger.

It might be a good idea to run FtirExperiment.jar once without capturing video to see what to expect. FtirExperiment.jar can be exited at any point by pressing the escape key.

FtirExperiment.jar will close automatically when the sequence of movements is complete.

Note that FtirExperiment.jar is not a touch-sensitive program. When it asks you to click an "ok" button, you will have to use your mouse to do so.

Stop Capturing video

To stop capturing video in AmCap, select Capture->Stop Capture.

If you are using a tool other than AmCap, follow the instructions for that program to stop video capture.

Capture Second Video

Return to the 'Set Lighting Conditions' step, and repeat the previous four steps with a bright/noisy environment. For example, turn on all the lights in your lab, and raise any window blinds.

Uploading Your Videos

When complete, upload your videos here:

http://equis.cs.queensu.ca/~wolfe/eval

Questions

If you have any questions about how to perform this procedure, please contact Chris Wolfe, wolfe@cs.queensu.ca.

We would appreciate, if at all possible, getting your results by Friday June 5, 2009.

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