CMU School of Drama


Monday, November 07, 2016

Projection mapping keyboard - Try it at home

Projection Mapping Central: Turn your tabletop into a playground for your keyboard. Philippe Dubost made an open sourced web based projection mapped keyboard, that shoots letters from your keyboard. Just go to keybright.net, drag the browser window over to your projector (you already pointed a projector at your desk right?), then play!

9 comments:

Galen shila said...

seeing this kind of technology pop up as open source is always exciting. i love the idea of bringing this technology into every day life for people. it allows not only at home creative use and adaptation but it gives people who may not be able to afford this kind of tech an idea of what it can do. when it comes to theaters having an open source platform for media design such as this allows those without a large budget to explore different mediums of story telling and help create an environment in which we can innovate an d learn as a community.

Alex Fasciolo said...

We live in a world where interfacing with computers is a daily task for many. Personally, if I’m going to spend that much time behind a screen (and I enjoy it, so I probably am) I want to set up a workspace for myself that is comfortable and efficient. While this particular design might be more along the lines of a parlor trick (and hey, parlor tricks are really cool, and so is this) it means that we’re starting to move towards a world where setting up a completely immersive and interactive digital workspace is commonplace. I may not want letters piling on top of each other in my face while I’m writing, say, a comment for the green page, but I may want to interact with my desk space in a way that pushes the boundaries. Let’s say I want extra keys for drafting or something. Maybe I can set up a projector and camera that allows me to map a keyspace on my desk that trigger shortcuts or macros to make my drafting workspace more streamline. I’m sure that’s a less than mind-blowing solution, but the fun part is that because it’s open source, we’ll all get to look at the fun things everyone’s trying to bounce ideas off of.

Unknown said...

This is yet another cool article showcasing how far media design has come along in the past decade. I think it's pretty incredible to have projected images that you create by typing on a keyboard actually collide and react to the laws of physics. I think this is really cool in other applications that are more large scale such as in a theater. If you can have actors pressing buttons to create projected objects that abide to the laws of physics and create their own spam of chaos, I think that can be a great design. However, even though this project shows an interesting aspect of media design, I fail to see how this could really go further than a cute gimmick. I feel like a program like this would be way too expensive for how little it can do and how fast you'd get bored of it.

Daniel Silverman said...

I don’t get it. What purpose does this serve? It looks like it doesn’t actually really do anything useful. I especially don’t know what purpose this serves at a home or business. The only application I can see for this is an interactive art or museum exhibit where pressing different buttons illuminates different things on the keyboard – or tells the user which keys to press. It is interesting, but I just don’t see the practicality. If you’re looking to project what you’re typing, well you already need a projector for this to work. If you’re looking for changing things on a keyboard – there are touch screen keyboards now. What seems to be the impressive part of this is the resolution of the projection mapping. It has to be within about ¾” – for a keyboard with large keys. Getting something that precise from amateur equipment is impressive, but it isn’t that impressive. I’d be more impressed if the keyboard was projected and captured with a camera. Maybe somebody who knows more about media and projections would be more impressed, but I’m not.

Tahirah K Agbamuche said...

This is really cool! I wonder if I could actually don,ore than just generate letters and numbers. Being able to write and essay would be really helpful. I also thinK this would be great technology for a keyboarding class, if you Re not able to create full products with it. I like the he product is continually evolving. The other issue I'm finding, is that most common people don't have a projector, and if the do, it's not really positioned over their living room coffee table.

noah hull said...

I clicked on this thinking it was going to be about some program that had been made that allowed people to project a keyboard on their table that could be used as an actual keyboard. I’ve had the chance to play with holographic keyboards before and wanted to see if this was going to be some kind of new advance in that field or just a fancier version of what I’ve encountered in the past. Seeing that it was neither of those things just something that showed the letters and numbers you type popping out from your keyboard and pilling up on top was a bit of a disappointment. However, while it is not what I was hoping for its still a pretty cool creation and would make an interesting art installation. If nothing else the way they were able to get the letters/numbers to interact with each other and follow the laws of physics is really impressive and worth seeing.

Emily Lawrence said...

While this does not provide any practical use, at least from what is shown in this article, it is still a really cool invention. I am amazed every day at how much progress is being made in the media field. I think it would be cooler if you could type out a full word document in front of you, rather than just having letters bounce up. If there was a way to type out a full document and save it through the keyboard without need a screen, I think that would better serve people practically. But aside from the practical use, it still looks really fun and could possibly sway some people into thinking about going media. The more that is put out there for people to look at, the more people will most likely discover a new love that they have. While I am not interested in going media, I think this is really cool and would be fun to play with.

Unknown said...

I didn't know what to expect when I first pressed play but was happily surprised. I love interactive/responsive projection mapping so to see someone opening this up to people is wonderful. This reminds me of those pianos that played themselves and everyone was so amazed by something so simple. It wasn't the most inventive or creative mapping I've ever seen but it was a cute party gag. This type of mapping is opening doors for theater because responsive media can eliminate or at least lessen the need for a board op or something of the like. This was kitschy and useless but the concept behind it is something I think the theater and entertainment industry will leach off of in the future.

Unknown said...

There are all sorts of things you can do today with technology. While I just mainly presume that projection mapping is based on being able to coordinate the types of surfaces you can project on. Nowadays while you can project on pretty much anything, making it be interactive adds a little spark and enjoyment to your day. It looks like he was able to project on the surface of his table, and pre-programmed the interaction feature to let you have fun with your keyboard. While he has already set up the feature to do it to any projector with a simple link, why not let the fun begin. Make it seem like you know how to have a little bit of fun yourself. Or just seem cool to your friends. I’m sure there is a way to make it user friendly, because well, not all of us are the most technologically user friendly.