MAKE: PROJECTS

A Touchless 3D TrackingInterface
Create a 3D computer interface using little more than an Arduino, six resistors, and some
aluminum foil!
By Steve Hobley Time Required: 2 hours Difculty: Moderate

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Weekend Projects - A Touchless 3D Tracking Interface

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In61this project, well take a very simple idea the length of time it takes a capacitor to charge
and make something rather amazing with it: a 3D interface that can track the position of
7 hand. The original implementation of this project comes from media artist Kyle
your

McDonald.
7

PARTS

Aluminum foil (1)

Masking tape (1)
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Computer with Processing and

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Arduino software installed (1)
Shielded cable, cut off the ends,
cut into (3) 2' lengths (1) from
RadioShack.
Arduino (1) from RadioShack.
10K resistors (3) from
RadioShack.
220K resistors (3) from
RadioShack.
Alligator clips (3) from
RadioShack.
pieces of cardboard (3)

STEPS
PROJECT STEPS
1. Making the sensor cube.
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2. Prepare the wires.

3. 269
Adding the resistors.
4. Connecting
the Arduino.
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5. Using
the software.
7
6. Possible improvements.
7

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Step #1: Making the sensor cube.

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For this project we'll need some cardboard squares (mine are approximately 12" square, but anything from
about 8-12" is ne), alligator clips, an Arduino, shielded wire, aluminum foil, spray glue, and some wide
tape. (3) 10K and (3) 220K resistors are also required (not shown).
Additionally, we'll need a soldering iron to connect the resistors to the cable.
Spray the glue onto the cardboard and smooth the foil onto one side. Work slowly and try to leave a small
gap around the edge of the foil. It is important that the foil plates do not touch each other when we tape
the three sides together. In a pinch you can use a glue stick.
I cut a small notch in the inside edge of the rightmost plate to make it easier to connect the alligator clips
later on (see second photo).
Using tape, assemble the plates to form one half of a cube (see the third photo).

CONCLUSION
In this guide, we introduced the concept of capacitive sensing. Nearly all sensing of this kind
depends upon how long it takes a capacitor to charge (known as the time constant). Placing an
object within the electric eld of a capacitor will affect the capacitance value and the
corresponding time constant. See the RC time constant entry on Wikipedia for more information.
We 877
hope you appreciate the cleverness of this project as much as we did and how relatively easy
it is to get a very 21st century interface (however crude) out of some aluminum foil and a
cardboard
box! We'd love to hear of your experiences with the build (in the comment section
269
below).
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STEVE HOBLEY
This week, I have been mostly working on...
I've been tinkering around with bits of technology since I was ve years old. I used to take the telephone
apart at home, just to see how it worked.
After a couple of years I could even put it back together again - and sometimes it would continue to work.

Steve's Blog

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Jointhediscussion
Guest 2yearsago

HiIhavebeenworkingonacodethatitookfromtheinternetandIhavebeengettingthissameerror"
ArrayOutOfBoundsException"nomatterwhatCOMportIchangeto.PleasehelpmeIhavebeenstuckof
thisproblemforweeks.Anyone?

//

importprocessing.serial.*
importprocessing.opengl.*
Serialserial
intserialPort=1//<<SetthistobetheserialportofyourArduinoieifyouhave3ports:COM1,COM2,
COM3
//andyourArduinoisonCOM2youshouldsetthisto'1'sincethearrayis0based
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intsen=3//sensors
intdiv=3//boardsubdivisions
Normalizen[]=newNormalize[sen]
MomentumAveragecama[]=newMomentumAverage[sen]
MomentumAverageaxyz[]=newMomentumAverage[sen]
seemore

13

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GarrettDavidson>Guest 2yearsago
7

Ihadthesameproblematfirst.IrealizedthateventhoughmyportwaslistedasCOM3,Ionlyhad
oneportsetuponmycomputer.Thus,IchangedtheserialPortto0andeverythingworkedfine.
Hopethishelpssomebody.
5

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Zoom 2yearsago

Heywherecanidownloadthecode?
11

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FaridLopez 2yearsago

Hello,IamrunningMacBookPro(2013)OSXMountainLion.IpullupthesketchesforNormalizeand
MomentumAveragejustfinebuttheTicTacToe3Dwillnotrun.Processingreturnsanerrormessage"Can
notfindclassortypeNormalize"(italsohighlightsthelinewhereacalltotheNormalizesketchis.I
commentoutthislineandthecallstotheothersketchesreturnthesameerrormessage,anyideaswhy?
4

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OscarEspinosa 2yearsago

Hi,Iminterestingintheproyectthatyoudid,Iwanttotryit,butIdon'tknowtheorderoftheProcessing
programs,ifyoucanhelpmeIwillappreciate:)
OscarEspinosa
2

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RyanWestcott>OscarEspinosa 2yearsago

HelloOscar,allthatyouneedtodoisputthethreedifferentprogramsinthreedifferentprocessing
tabs,andrunthe3dtictactoeprogramandtheyshouldwork.
Goodluck.

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MinhQuc 2yearsago

HiItlooksveryinteresting,Iwouldtobuildmyownprogramlikethis,Iwanttoknowhowyoureadthe

HiItlooksveryinteresting,Iwouldtobuildmyownprogramlikethis,Iwanttoknowhowyoureadthe
signaldata,didyouuseADCpin?Andhowtodeterminethepositionin3D?
Hopeyouhelpmeanswertheseabovequestion.
MinhQuoc
1

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MinhQuc>MinhQuc 2yearsago

Youuselikethecapturefeatureandmeasurethetimetogettherisingedgeorfallingedgesignalto
determinetheposition,isthisright?

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JahaalMordeth>MinhQuc ayearago

Checkoutthecode.Essentiallyhedoesthefollowing(notexactlybuthere'sthegist):

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pinMode(pin,OUTPUT)
digitalWrite(pin,0)
delay(1000)
pinMode(pin,INPUT)
unsignedlonginit=micros()
while(digitalRead(pin)==0){}
unsignedlongend=micros()
Serial.print(endinit)

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Putthatcodeintoyourvoidstart(){}method.Makesureyouconnectthewiresproperlyand
chooseavaluefor"pin"(you'reusingtheGPIOpins.8,9,and10aregoodbets).Connect
acapacitortothepieceoftheschematicthatissupposedtogototheplate.Connectthe
groundleadtothegroundpinonyourArduino.Theserialmonitorshouldthendisplayhow
longittookforthiscapacitortocharge.He'sessentiallydoingthisrepeatedly.
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arjun 2monthsago

whereisthecodesforthisproject

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Harshit 2monthsago

Thecodeforprpcessingsketchgiveninthelinkaboveisshowingerrors.Myoperatingsystemiswindows
10.cananybodyfixthisformeplease

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AbelRamos 5monthsago

Canyoudowiththetights?

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AGAMTYAGI 5monthsago

heyiamworkingonthisproject...willsomeonegivemecodefor3Dtictactoeplzz

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GaneshHosur 7monthsago

GaneshHosur 7monthsago

idontgetanyresultswhenimovemyhandintothex,y,zaxesboards.Butwhenitakemyhandcloserto
thearduinoboardthetheserialmonitorshowsupsomereadingsandthecubemovesonlytillitreaches
thecenter.

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8monthsago

Whatwrongewiththispleasehelpme

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alokb 8monthsago

whichistheshieldwire&signalwiresinshieldedwire??alsoicutoutanoldlaptopchargerwirewillit
work?icanseeared&awhitewire,whichdoiuseassignalwire&shieldwire?

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Sl 9monthsago

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Iamgettingerrorintheprocessingsoftwarekeepsshowingmethis.
Error:"typestring[]ofthelastargumenttomethodprintln(object....)doesn'texactlymatchthevararg
parametertype.casttoobject[]toconfirmthenonvarargsinvocation,orpassindividualargumentsoftype
objectforavarargsinvocation.'
Iamjustnewtoprocessingsoftware.So,idontknowmuchaboutit.
Canplzanyonehelp??

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AakashJaiswal>Sl 2monthsago

Iamalsogettingthesameerror.
Couldyoupleasetellmehowtoremovethiserror.

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Sl>AakashJaiswal 2monthsago

Thecodeiscompletelyperfect.Theproblemiswiththecomportsofthepc/laptop.
Asforallpc/laptoporduetodifferentbrands.Soujusthavetojustknowwhichcomwork
foru.
ConnecturarduinotourpcorlaptopthengotoTicTacToe3D.pde.
Inthatgoto4thlinethatis"intserialPort=1"changethat1toanyvaluefrom0to4.
Formecom0worked.Hopethiswillhelp.

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AakashJaiswal>Sl 2monthsago

Thanksforthehelp.Mycodeisnowworkingfine.Ichangedthevalueto0andused
Processing2.2.1insteadofProcessing3.0b3.

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Sl>AakashJaiswal 2monthsago

Urwelcome.

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imherenowwhatnow 10monthsago
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cansomeonetellmewhatrolldoestheshieldwiresplaysinthis?seemunnecessaryasitisnotbeing
connectedfromoneend

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Alex 10monthsago
7

Hi!
Congratulations!Isagreatproject!
Ihaveaquestionaboutit:
Iwouldliketouseittotrackmyhandinlabview.ThesoftwaregivestheX,Y,Zvaluesoftheposition?

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Malvino ayearago

hiihavebeenworkingonthisexperiment.itisawesome.buticantruntheprocessingtictactoe3d.iam
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gettingthiserror.cananyonehelpme,please?
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SchauneHannibal ayearago

Hi,agroupofusaretryingtobuildthetouchless3Dtrackinginterface.Itsaverycoolprojectthatweare
tryingtogetdoneforaschoolproject.Weranintotheproblemwherewewereonlygettingawhitescreen
fortheprocesspartbutwegotthatresolved.Nowitshowingtheimageofthetictactoewiththesquares
andtheballbuttheballisstuckatthebackcornerwhenweruntheprocessprogramtryingtocalibrateit.
WesawthatsomeotherpeoplehavehadthisproblembutIhaven'tseenanyposthowtheyhavegotthis
resolved.Cansomepleaseinformmeastowhatwecandotosolvethisplease.

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AdamWhite>SchauneHannibal ayearago

didyoueverfindasolution?Iamhavingthesameproblem.

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Sumit>AdamWhite ayearago

samehere...
didugetanyfix???

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MihaiGna ayearago

Thisisacompletebullhist,youcannotmeasurethecharge/dischargetimeaslongasthe5Vpinisalways
on(anditis)

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SrenAndreasen>MihaiGna 8monthsago

IhadzeroreactionatalluntilIremovedthe5vconnectionontheshields...what'supwiththat?

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ramakrishna ayearago
269

plzhelpmesolvethejava.runtime.exeption....whichihavefacedwhilerunningtheprocessingsketchof
3dinterface.......

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Malvino>ramakrishna ayearago

Helloramakrishna.igotthesameproblem.canuhelp?
canutellmewatudidtoremovethiserror??

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gauravrajput ayearago

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iamtryingtomakethe3Dinterfaceprojectbutiamfaacingtheprobleminrunningtheprocessingcodein
processing2asiamgettinganerrorascannotfindaclasstypeornamed"Normalized".
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pleasehelpmeout.
thanx
rajput.gaurav51@gmail.com

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YuriKravchik ayearago

Youcanusesimplerandcheaperwaytogetbetterresultshttps://github.com/paperpointe...

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Lysia 2yearsago

HiIamtryingtomakethisproject.AnewbietoArduinoandcoding.
Idon'tgetit,whichcodeshouldIuse?Just3DInterface.ino?
Andwhydotheyhavea3dtictactoecodetoo?

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Sumit>Lysia ayearago

uneedtouploadthe3DinterfacecodeintoArduino.Thenruntheprocessingappandopenthe3d
TicTacToecodeinthat.

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Jennifer 2yearsago

ICan'tseemtogetthistowork.Thecoordinatessentarejust000.Isanyoneelsehavingthisissue?

ICan'tseemtogetthistowork.Thecoordinatessentarejust000.Isanyoneelsehavingthisissue?

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JahaalMordeth>Jennifer ayearago

YeahI'mhavingthatissueaswell.Didyoueverfindafix?

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SrenAndreasen>JahaalMordeth 8monthsago

itseemsextremelyshakyhereaswell...getting00andthensomelargerandomnumber
forthelastcoordinate

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daivya 2yearsago

hey,I'mliketodotheprojectyoudid.Caniknowthepurposeofthisproject??
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OckerOlivier 2yearsago
7

WhyamIgettingtheerror?ThenestedtypeMomentumAveragecannothideanenclosingtype?

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AdrianSantillan 2yearsago

itsays"Cannotfindaclassortypecalled"Normalize"andsomeelseintheforumssaidsomethingabout
threeprograms,isn'tprocessingandarduinotheonlyones?

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EvanGreally 2yearsago

HiIwasjustwonderingwoulditbepossibletosendthisdatatoPureData
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chetanmistry 2yearsago

heyiwanttousethistouchlessinterfaceasmyprojecttopic.butiwantsomeapplicationthaticanbuild
usingthis.asitisaoneyearprojectpleasesuggestmesometopicsinwhichicanuse3dinterface

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GiulioAmmendola ayearago

doesn'twork.theserialissending000valueshenceprocessiongisdoingnothing.anyfix?

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