Graphics tablet

[Armondikov]

Whoop. I now own one. Been playing with it for 20 mins or so. Not that good yet but need the practice to get used to it.

[Armondikov]

This thing is quite a bit of fun. Although it's a pain in the arse to type with (using the Windows on screen keyboard of all things).

[Senator]

on screen keyboard

Which tablet did you get mr. Armonds?

[Armondikov]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRUST-TB-4200-WIRELESS-SCROLL-TABLET/dp/B0002DCL6G

It's pretty good, still getting used to it. It's entry level but A4 sized (most people would probably enter tablet tech at A6 or so). The reviews are good, the only negative ones are probably because they're expecting the quality of a ?500 Wacom tablet (you get it with Guitar reviews all the time, I mean, come on, the review for my guitar was that it's "the worst one in the world", but for ?120 you don't expect a Fender Stratocaster, FFS).

Working on a drawing my cousin did. But since he doesn't want to spoil the original with a real airbrush (he's frakking amazing at it, though) he's scanned it and sending it around people to try digital painting it.

[Senator]

You might be interested in one of these:

No, its not going to be pressure sensitive, but I have done one recently, and in combination with a projector, how many can boast that they have an 100inch touch screen tablet... or should that be touch wall? :mrgreen:

For 30 pounds, thats an awesome little project to do generally. If you already have a wiimote, since you don't modify it or anything then the cost is in the single digits. IR LEDs go for 0.80p

[Armondikov]

That guy is beyond insane...

[MLeo]

That guy is beyond insane...

But brilliant, although, he just has one single idea. Use the Wiimote (which he didn't think of, I think).

[Armondikov]

Its the fact that he takes the idea of "this is what the wiimote is designed to do" and goes on to say "but this is what it can do.". Granted, tech like this has probably been possible for years (the Wiimote is just a glorified digital camera and not a very good one at that) but because of the popularity of the Wii and the fact that Nintendo clearly didn't put enough thought into unlocking it's true potential, he's managed to capture a lot of imaginations through this work of supreme geekery.

[MLeo]

The Nintendo Lightgun worked in pretty much the same way. Except that the TV was producing a light pulse, meaning that if the gun picked it up, and you happend to press the trigger, then it was counted as "hit". ;)

[Senator]

For the record, if you do that system, and you put it backwards, as in, having the wiimote in front of the screen pointing at you, there is no reason you can't do the 4 point configuration on thin air, since its the dot it watches, not wither it touches the screen or not. (he is doing something similar in another one of his videos, but there is no reason you can't use your light pen from the previous project as opposed to trying to make your fingers reflect)

Which gives you the awesomeness of being able to control your computer from far away just by moving your hand around, miniority report style.

Its not really useful for anything, I think the best program to play around is Google Earth because its really intuitive giving it momentum etc, conductor style.
You can paint as well but you will probably end up being a "abstract impressionist", but hey, you are painting on the air, and colours appear on the wall/screen dude!
That's like, deep performance art contemplating the merging of the human and machine condition or something.

Now to rig that with some kind of coordinated based music generator...
*Slam's hand on Mleo's back* Well if it isn't my Good Friend Mleo, the programming supergenius. *nod nod, wink wink*

[MLeo]

Actually, I think a Theremin approach would be better, no need for infrared sources or anything like that, you even get an abstract "field boundry" to work in.

In fact, this is where Theremin designed the Theremin for. ;)

[EDIT] Not exactly for a computer input, but for being able to perform chemistry experiments while looking at results elsewhere.

[Armondikov]

Remember Iron Man where he has the pen that picks up a diagram and moves it across some screens to his other big pad? I want one of those.

[blaXXer]

that stuff would go together well with illustrator and would make my work a load easier.

[Armondikov]

It's been months since I used Illustrator, I really need to get back on track with the webcomic.