We wanted to take the opportunity to share some background
information about our most recent project, especially if anyone is
also developing or thinking about multi-touch experiences.
As part of a travelling art exhibition, Inspiring Impressionism,
we've developed a set of interactive multi-touch tables. The show
opened last month at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and then comes
to the Denver Art Museum in early February. So far, public response
has been great and the technology works well.
From an experience point of view, there were three fundamental goals:
- introduce works of art that might not appear at all the venues
- allow visitors to explore the detailed brushwork of masterworks
and impressionist works
- create a social experience in which multiple visitors can engage
at the same time
In short, visitors can choose from ten different works and when they
touch the table surface a magnified view of the artwork appears,
their fingertip is essentially the magnifying glass. The part that's
worked out surprisingly well is that multiple users are naturally
drawn to the tables and more than one person uses them at the same
time, a departure from the limitations of traditional touchscreens.
On the technical side, we've developed the tables as a platform that
can be easily adapated and used for different experiences than what
we've necessarily designed. The hardware and vision system work
independently of the front-end user experience, with the vision
system simply throwing a data stream to a receptive application.
We've put a preliminary webpage together that goes into additional
detail about the project available at
<http://blogs.denverartmuseum.org/technology/projects/multitouch/>.
There's also a youtube video showing the interface and technology at
work at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVN-a4x9aTs>.
If you're in Atlanta before mid-January, please stop by the High and
check out the exhibition. After that, stop by and say hello in Denver.
This project was developed entirely in-house (although the software
is based on open-source software which is referenced on the above
webpage). We'll keep adding to the webpage, but we're happy to share
the technology bits, how we've adapted the software (and the software
itself), and the physical setup and installation (costs for the
physical setup is under $10k). Some of this was surprisingly hard,
and if we can help some others suffer a bit less, we're happy to help.
Please feel free to send email to <[log in to unmask]> if
you'd like to know more or have any questions.
-bw.
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bruce Wyman, Director of Technology
Denver Art Museum / 100 W 14th Ave. Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204
office: 720.913.0159 / fax: 720.913.0002
<[log in to unmask]>
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