FriiSpray software testing

We conducted some testing this afternoon downstairs at the OBH – we wanted to try out front projection as it would allow us to use the projectors in the ceiling as opposed to rigging our own back projection.

Main considerations

- Interrupting the IR tracking with hands / body

- Finding the best position / angle for the Wiimote

- Experimenting with the OBH projectors

We were running Windows Vista on Richard’s MacBook and paired the Wiimote with it via bluetooth fairly easily:

Start -> Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Bluetooth Devices

The built-in bluetooth was easy to set up – external bluetooth sticks / devices may need additional drivers / software.

Pressing the 1+2 buttons on the Wiimote puts it into ‘discoverable’ mode so that the computer can pair with it.

Make sure to use no passkey when pairing the computer + Wiimote.

Positioning the Wiimote

We experimented with a few different positions for the Wiimote and found that taping it to a [disconnected] light in the ceiling worked the best. This gave us about 10′ [~3m]  height and a decent angle, around 45 degrees incline to the projection surface.

The Wiimote needs to be a fair distance from the projection screen to be able to ’see’ all of it. This is due to the FOV, or angle it can view [around 45 degrees total]. We had our Wiimote positioned about 8′ [~2.4m] away from the projection wall.

We found it difficult to get a position where the IR tracking was not interrupted by our movements. Another problem we have found with front projecting / tracking is the angle at which the IR pen is held. The Wiimote is following the reflection of the IR light off the projection surface so it is possible to obscure the IR light with your hand.

We used a basic IR source for this test and think that the IR spraycan will prove a better way of using the IR light with less obstruction from the hand.

Testing

We opened the Wiimote Whiteboard software and calibrated the screen by using the IR source on the four red markers that appear in sequence on the screen. We found that sometimes we double or triple-clicked, leading to mis-calibration and a need to start over. This was due to a dodgy [cheap] power switch that needed a bit of getting used to.

As we were testing a few people from OBH and Tim Frenneaux of lookandlisten came along to see what we were up to. They had a go and helped with the testing which proved really useful.

Here is a video of the testing.

Some viewers may notice an irony in the video – we are in fact projecting and testing our software on an interactive whiteboard – that can do what our project can do and more. These boards are however considerably expensive and not an option for everybody. The Wiimote whiteboard software was developed with that in mind allowing educational institutions and businesses with limited budgets make use of this sort of presentation tool. We are not making use of the interactive element of the board here; just using it as a projection surface.

Conclusion

The FriiSpray software coped well with the drawing, although we would like to try the software on a more powerful machine than a Macbook to see how much difference a better graphics card makes.

Some issues with the toolbar were thrown up in testing, such as the need for a visible confirmation of saving the image. Potential additional features such as the option to change or even upload your own backgrounds to the software were also brought up and discussed.

Using the front projection was fine as far as viewing the projected image was concerned. The problems with the IR tracking did cause some issues that required a little getting used to before drawing was satisfactory.

Next we plan to test the back projection method to see the difference in tracking performance.