Recent Work: GM Multitouch Wall
We recently acquired some high-quality media documenting our latest project (thank to our friends over at 24g), which lends itself to a much more compelling post. We were engaged by Obscura Digital to create a multi-touch UI for General Motors for the Greenbuild Conference in Chicago. Similar in concept to the HP Interactive Canvas, Obscura engineered an all new rig that measured 18 feet x 5.5 feet, with 3 independent interaction areas, each driven by a separate CPU and projector.
(click image for full-size shot)
The rig was fully self-contained, and had its own custom-crafted “travel case”. Just box it up and roll it on to a semi. Obscura also significantly improved the touch tracking this time around, with a combination of improved software, setup optimizations, and a new cocktail for the film on front. Like butter!
The app leveraged our existing WPF-based Multitouch framework, and featured playful drag-and-drop interactions, large “swiping” motions to navigate through content and some mild particle physics. We’ve come a long way in our understanding of the ergonomic design of large-format multitouch apps (low-dpi + big screen + close proximity = severe UX challenges), and are starting to fold some of these learnings back in to the framework.
Each “silo” highlighted a different aspect of GM’s efforts in exploring alternative fuels and greening their vehicles and production processes. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video does a much better job of storytelling.
This video is from the Greenbuild Conference, the other shots are from the 2007 Electric Vehicle Show in Anaheim, CA ,where the wall surfaced for a repeat performance.
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Darren…awesome work. I think it’s funny that the day Tim S. highlights the HP work you post one step ahead with the next iteration. I’m really suprised Microsoft hasn’t pitched in somewhere here to slap a “Powered by Windows Vista”
Oops. Part of my comment got cutoff becuase I put a “comment out tag” using it as an arrow. :).
….”Powered by Windows Vista” meaning WPF. I would think these big installations with high customer interaction would be a great selling spot for WPF.
Looks like your doing some fun projects.
Kurt
In my defense, I did mention at the bottom of my blog to check Darren’s blog for a hot new example
This is super-cool. I want one of these for our Executive Briefing Center!
I should mention that the wall is available for custom applications, so don’t give up hope, Tim.
Please contact me at darren (at) lookorfeel (dot) com for more information. And thanks for the props!
Darren…you continue to take your work/art to new levels - keep it up. I hope to have a chance to work with you again. Warm regards, Amy
real waooo stuff!!!