MultiTaction

Has anybody used this Screens and say a word about the quality of the tracking and usage overall? Thanks!
https://www.multitaction.com/products

worked with it a couple of times and my opinion of the devices is not very good.

  • very strong reflection of surface
  • can be unusable in settings with strong sun exposure or other ir light source and changinf illumination
  • camera array inside is very sensitive. from a array with 20 to 30 cameras easily one camera can brake or the mount be distorted in transport, resulting in part of the screen can not be calibrated anymore or destroys the comple calibration.
  • support very bad. we had problems with a device ( the thing mentioned above) and they only give support as a very expensive service, no phone support at all only reachable via email.
  • the marker tracking doesnt work as supposed, only the setting with up to 16 marker (the biggest markers) work relyiable. bigger markers are problematic.

i worked both with the m81 and m51 or how exactely they are called, can not remember 100%

Wow, that’s an opinion of course. Now I have to rethink some things. I really have to get in touch with them again and do some testing.

  • I’ll check the reflection issue, maybe it’s not so important for us
  • I guess the IR problem is valid for projector-based solutions, as well, irght? We have a typical fair booth setup.
  • That’s not good. When something brakes we’re screwed.
  • Support is pretty important to me, so that’s a big nono, too.
  • What is do you mean with “up to 16 marker”? I’m thinking about markers sized something like 5x5 cm.

I don’t think there’s a real alternative available, that offers marker tracking and multitouch, right?

Many many thanks again, this is really appreciated!

yes i dont know if anything of the bad experience i had changed in newer versions.

But i think hardware related parts at least are the same, you also see in many videos the reflection and you can expect that those videos are the ones with the least reflection after filming.

Regarding marker tracking there are different resolution of the markers…

https://www.multitaction.com/products

For me only 3x3 worked relieably and i tested all kind of sizes and paper tyes.

Resulting in maximum 16 different markers.

In case of 4x4 it recognizes some markers correctly but some are “interchanged” and arbitrary randomly recognized.

5x5 ended up in a total mess in IDs that I received from the two test devices that i used.

SO i think the marker design was a good idea of them but implementation is bad and it doesnt hold what it promise.

There it would be good if you could use fiducial trackers instead but for that one would need to modify theire embeded linux…

There is another point for the marker tracking that has to be mentioned. It has trouble with certain type of material. some paper work better then other. reflective materials like plastic lamination over the printed markers are not possible.

in general the whole multitaction experience is a big trial and error.

Edit: But it has to be said that there is not much alternative on the market!

Fazit: You can go for it if the marker functionality is a absolute must (with max 32 marker). also only use it as a temporary installation and if you have enough time for taming the device. I recommend not to use it for permanent instasllation. Also the light setting needs to be carefully choosen to avoid direct reflecting light sources taking over the application.

Alternative:
A projector / camera system decribed here

http://reactivision.sourceforge.net/
http://www.eyefactive.com/multitouch-tracking-engine-evovis

is more relyable because you use one camera instead of a camera array.
you also have full controll over the tracking and projector calibration

edit2 there are some old threads about it if you look in the search:
https://discourse.vvvv.org/t/10676

The more i think of it the more problems i remember that i had with those devices,
for example i needed a lot of programming work to create logic that can counter weight false-touches, for example around the marker objects or at the palm of the hand or the whole edge area

This is really useful information. Thanks a lot!

What do you mean with “embedded linux”? They run their machines on Win7 now (that’s what the specs say), so maybe the software is better now. I’ll check that.

We’re having a 5-day installation, btw.

Oh, and just to get that clear: do you know if multitaction is the same as this: http://evs-interactive.eu/multitouch-systeme.html

Thanks again!

that i dont know but they write “multitaction tm”

Okay, it looks like it’s the same.