Back on track ..

We're done with the exams a7l & the so-called vacation has started .. It doesn't seem like anything close to the word "vacation" except that we finally could sleep with no worries that we'll have to wake up & study the next day .. lol

So, next Sunday isA is our first meeting @ ITWorx. We planned a few tasks to finish till then:

• Fouad: Get done with the bottom architecture and the camera issues and fixes ..
• Roaa: Kill all memory leaks and change the data structure for storing the blobs into a linked list ..
• Alaa: The blob tracker!!!!
• Mahmoud: Demo application for visualizing tracked-blobs in terms of (x,y) coordinates for every blob (with ID for each) ..

I have suggested a change to the way we store blobs and discussed that with Fouad, the sorted-linked-list will save us much effort in tracking and will end up with better performance isA (will discuss that in a later post) ..

I also read, again, about how many people convert from FTIR (Frustrated Total Internal Reflection) to DI (Diffused Illumination) - used in Microsoft's Surface Computing btw!

The most obvious conclusion was that FTIR provided better output (fine, clear, well-illuminated blobs) than that of the DI .. yet, it provides worse tracking of "moving" blobs; as it's really hard to move around ur fingers while pressing them hard against the acrylic sheet - with DI u don't even have to touch that hard!

DI is also much easier to "get-it-to-work", even though a practical life-long setup is usually hard enough to accomplish .. the setup of FTIR on the other hand has the only difficulty in applying the theory - a yes/no question ..

FTIR would definitely beat DI if the "tracking" story was solved out - in other words: finding a proper compliant surface, & that is still under huge research so far .. We have a several candidates for a good compliant surface; we're waiting to experiment with them .. (I started a small secret test at home, hope it works!) .. More details about that will be discussed in later posts isA ..

Tim Roth, from nuigroup, has a blog post discussing FTIR vs DI .. Check it out for more details ..

Reminder: We need to find a different time for the weekly meeting (either Tuesday or Wednesday) coz Sunday's causing a conflict with the 2nd semester's schedule!