PeauProductions

The first show from one of my recent clients wrapped up last Saturday night.  Filo and Peri, the DJ/VJ mixing duo have traveled all over the world exciting fans with their unique audio and visual mixes.  For their most recent Lights ‘N Loaded traveling show, they decided to get a bit more interactive in the crowd pleasing entertainment aspect, by using giant touch screen podiums and a huge hanging holographic projection screen behind them. The original podiums for the show were made entirely out of clear acrylic and used SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) touch foils (limited to 1-2 touch).  These podiums were created and fabricated here in San Diego, CA by Peau Productions.  The touch foil used was from the same supplier (ICEAV) as Deadmau5′s London touch screen appearance a few months ago.  Ultimately though, despite all the hard work put into making the acrylic podiums, Filo and Peri decided that the touch foil’s accuracy was not something they could perform a full show with (Deadmau5 only did a short bit of his show on his touch screen).  You can see a shot of the acrylic podiums below.

In the shots above, you can see the large projection screen hanging behind Filo and Peri.  The screen also went through two versions just like the podiums.  The first screen was made up of 4 panels, each with clear acrylic framing to suspend the projection material.  The projection material used is commonly called holographic projection screen, because it is mostly clear and only stops 10% of the projector’s light.  You can buy the material on the Peau Productions Store here.  The acrylic framing wasn’t sturdy enough, so for the final setup they got the projection material laminated onto some clear mylar and suspended it from a large metal truss system. I had recently created a touch screen podium for myself using a 40 inch Infrared Touch Frame, and when Filo and Peri saw it, they wanted the same.  The black touch frame creates a plane of infrared light over any image and allows the user to manipulate the media onscreen.  The frames work in both Windows and Mac environments, support mouse driver, TUIO and FlashTUIO, and are capable of 2, 6, or up to 32 simultaneous touches depending on which model you get.  Their frame versions were slightly different in that they didn’t have a projector stand.  Here is a shot of mine:

They bought two of them and used them in their show. After using them, they had only good things to say about how accurate and sturdy the frames were.  They have many more shows planned so hopefully they’ll be playing near you and you can see their awesome setup.

After years of working with camera-based multitouch setups, I was very interested in the newer infrared touch frames that for years had only been dual 2 touch, but were now being upgraded with software which supported many simultaneous touch points.  The frames are composed of infrared LEDs, typically around 900nm and infrared sensors that are next to each other throughout all 4 sides of the frame.  The previous 2 touch frames typically had one full side being LEDs or sensors, but because these new frames need to be able to detect fingers behind fingers, all the sides have both LEDs and sensors.  This reduces osculation and allows multitouch tracking.  There is a layer of plastic over the LEDs and sensors which is a high pass filter, blocking out all visible light from interfering with the tracking.  Connection to the computer is via USB, and power is typically either supplied by the USB cable or through a separate power cord.

After researching frame pricing, available sizes, shipping prices, etc. from a few manufacturers, I decided to become a reseller for touch frames from PQ Labs.  The main deciding factors were the support for both Windows and Mac operating systems and built in export to TUIO/Flash TUIO applications, which their drivers support.  You can see all the different standard sizes available on the store, with custom frames also possible (contact me for custom pricing).  The frames come in two forms: an overlay which includes a layer of 3mm glass, and an integration kit that comes disassembled with cheaper shipping.  All frames have flat rate worldwide shipping which makes it nice because I don’t have to stock the frames and the customer is only paying for one shipping cost, directly to them from the manufacturer overseas.

I filmed a review video which you can see at the end of this post, where I go through everything from the initial unboxing to running applications.  The biggest test was how ambient infrared light affected the tracking.  While it’s best to just watch that portion of the video (starting at 10:42min), some interesting things about the frames can be concluded:

• The frames will work in all lighting conditions except for intense direct infrared light (such as direct sunlight)
• This means they will work outside in the shade or in any room that has ambient sunlight or incandescent bulbs
• Very large frames may have problems though with tracking towards the center in infrared lighting environments
• If the infrared light changes drastically, you may need to recalibrate the screen

The frames perform really, really well at tracking your fingers or any objects placed on the screen.  Pricing and more info can be seen on the store.  Contact me if you have questions.