Multimodal interface updated

[iFeelPixel]

Greetings computer user!

We are glad to announce you that a new version of iFeelPixel
TactileWare (v.1.3.3) is released online.

If your version is outdated, please update to the most current
version.
http://www.ifeelpixel.com/download/

List of changes:
- Fully compatible with windows XP, Vista, Seven operating system

- Cursor Behavior added (User can determine the cursor speed) (v.
1.3.3)
http://www.ifeelpixel.com/support/cursorbehavior.htm

- "Speed and force settings" window updated (v.1.3.3)
Loading Image...

- Color Detection: User can select between 4 methods of color
generation (Intensity, Hue, Saturation, Luminance).

- Advanced Color Selector added

- The following features: Edge detection, Color detector, Tactile
Grid, Texture generation and TONAR (windows attraction) have been
updated and improved. The new tactile grid can be useful if others
features cannot detect any pixel of interest (For example: overlay
video).

- "Novint Falcon Settings" window updated (v.1.3.3)
http://www.ifeelpixel.com/screenshots/novint/novint_falcon_options.html

You can disable or enable gravity compensation directly from Novint
Falcon Options.

This version is fixing some issues between the cursor accuracy and Z-
axis. Thus, Tactile sensations have been improved.

- Use Novint Falcon 'Top Button' to:
+ Switch between Attraction, Normal, Repulsion (Primary effects).
+ Disable\Enable Mouse control
+ Switch between Mass, Damper, Spring and Acceleration (Secondary
effects)
+ Show Shortcut Menu

- Possibility to disable/enable every axis (every axis can have his
own Mass/Force).

- New Automatic Force Feedback Checkbox:
Checked = the Force is automatically generated by the velocity or
acceleration (Recommended).
Unchecked = Manual Force.

Selection choices: mass, mass-damper, spring-mass-damper or mass-
acceleration.

- Stability and bug fixes (v.1.3.3)

- Memory Usage Reduced (v.1.3.3)


A full list of changes in this version can be found at:
http://www.ifeelpixel.com/download/whatsnew10.htm

Please try this new version and let us know your point of view here:
http://www.ifeelpixel.com/support/test.php

Thanks again for your interest about our haptic technology.


Best regards,

iFeelPixel association
Interactive Accessibility via Haptic Technology
http://www.ifeelpixel.com

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message

Post by iFeelPixel
Greetings computer user!
We are glad to announce you that a new version of iFeelPixel
TactileWare (v.1.3.3) is released online.

[]
Without putting down the efforts of that company in any way, I must say
I was disappointed when I found out what it was - the names iFeelPixel
and TactileWare had led me to think they might be what I'd been looking
for for ages, and they aren't. (It's probably a good product in what it
does do.)

What I've been wondering about for ages - but don't have the programming
skills to do myself - is something that gives a tactile impression of a
computer image - including text layout perhaps, but let's stay with
images first - using the user's existing Braille display. I imagine it
as a line you "move" over the image, perhaps using the arrow keys;
further controls might be needed, such as zoom, and brightness and
contrast controls.

I'm thinking of a one-line (well, three or four perhaps, with Braille
cells) version of the old Optacon, if people know that. It would be
tedious to use, but better than nothing at all. I think it would be most
useful for diagrams and perhaps graphs and charts: less so for images
with lots of greyscale or colours, especially photographs or other
perspective illustrations, since these are a concept probably unfamiliar
to those blind from birth.

Does anyone know of such a product, or work being done along these
lines?

[Dennis (Icarus)]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
In message

<snip>

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
What I've been wondering about for ages - but don't have the programming
skills to do myself - is something that gives a tactile impression of a
computer image - including text layout perhaps, but let's stay with images
first - using the user's existing Braille display. I imagine it as a line
you "move" over the image, perhaps using the arrow keys; further controls
might be needed, such as zoom, and brightness and contrast controls.
I'm thinking of a one-line (well, three or four perhaps, with Braille
cells) version of the old Optacon, if people know that. It would be
tedious to use, but better than nothing at all. I think it would be most
useful for diagrams and perhaps graphs and charts: less so for images with
lots of greyscale or colours, especially photographs or other perspective
illustrations, since these are a concept probably unfamiliar to those
blind from birth.
Does anyone know of such a product, or work being done along these lines?

Perhaps these folks....? it seems focused on 3d data.
http://www.sensable.com/

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
--
"We're Americans - with a capital `A'! And do you know what that means? Do you?
It means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the
world." - Bill Murray

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

[]

Post by Dennis (Icarus)

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
What I've been wondering about for ages - but don't have the
programming skills to do myself - is something that gives a tactile
impression of a computer image - including text layout perhaps, but
let's stay with images first - using the user's existing Braille

[]

Post by Dennis (Icarus)

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
Does anyone know of such a product, or work being done along these lines?

Perhaps these folks....? it seems focused on 3d data.
http://www.sensable.com/

[]
Thanks for that - but they seem to be adding 3D touch to visual
perception, for helping in things like surgery - in other words, using
touch as an additional aid to visual displays. What I have in mind is
adding two-dimensional (actually one-dimentional, i. e. a line of
Braille cells, plus movement up and down) touch to two-dimensional
images.

Let's say the image consisted of simply a line drawing of a triangle,
one whose bottom side is horizontal (i. e. parallel to the top and
bottom edges of the image). What I'm envisioning would be: you run the
software, which starts at the top of the image. A Braille dot near the
centre of your display would be raised, corresponding to the top point
of the triangle. You'd press the down arrow: the dot near the centre
would relax, and ones either side of it would be raised. And so on as
you move down the image (your imaginary line going down the sides of the
triangle, getting further and further apart), until suddenly you reach
the line at the bottom of the triangle - when a row of dots across your
display would be raised.

Or say you were trying to see the layout of a document - a Word
document, or a .pdf, or a web page. With the software I imagine running,
you might get individual dots raised corresponding to individual letters
- and maybe to lines and images in the document too. You'd switch back
to your normal screenreader to actually read what the letters are, if
you wanted to. But I'm primarily thinking of it as a way of getting
tactile access to diagrams and possibly pictures, the layout of
documents would be a sideshow.

[Dennis (Icarus)]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
[]

Post by Dennis (Icarus)

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
What I've been wondering about for ages - but don't have the programming
skills to do myself - is something that gives a tactile impression of a
computer image - including text layout perhaps, but let's stay with
images first - using the user's existing Braille

[]

Post by Dennis (Icarus)

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
Does anyone know of such a product, or work being done along these lines?

Perhaps these folks....? it seems focused on 3d data.
http://www.sensable.com/

[]
Thanks for that - but they seem to be adding 3D touch to visual
perception, for helping in things like surgery - in other words, using
touch as an additional aid to visual displays. What I have in mind is
adding two-dimensional (actually one-dimentional, i. e. a line of Braille
cells, plus movement up and down) touch to two-dimensional images.
Let's say the image consisted of simply a line drawing of a triangle, one
whose bottom side is horizontal (i. e. parallel to the top and bottom
edges of the image). What I'm envisioning would be: you run the software,
which starts at the top of the image. A Braille dot near the centre of
your display would be raised, corresponding to the top point of the
triangle. You'd press the down arrow: the dot near the centre would relax,
and ones either side of it would be raised. And so on as you move down the
image (your imaginary line going down the sides of the triangle, getting
further and further apart), until suddenly you reach the line at the
bottom of the triangle - when a row of dots across your display would be
raised.
Or say you were trying to see the layout of a document - a Word document,
or a .pdf, or a web page. With the software I imagine running, you might
get individual dots raised corresponding to individual letters - and maybe
to lines and images in the document too. You'd switch back to your normal
screenreader to actually read what the letters are, if you wanted to. But
I'm primarily thinking of it as a way of getting tactile access to
diagrams and possibly pictures, the layout of documents would be a
sideshow.

Interesting idea - thanks.

Dennis