Malte Weiss

RWTH Aachen University · Media Computing and Human-Computer Interaction Research Group

HoloDesk is an interactive system combining an optical see through display and Kinect camera to create the illusion that users are directly interacting with 3D graphics. A virtual image of a 3D scene is rendered through a half silvered mirror and spatially aligned with the real-world for the viewer. Users easily reach into an interaction volume dis...

HoloDesk is an interactive system combining an optical see through display and Kinect camera to create the illusion that users are directly interacting with 3D graphics. A virtual image of a 3D scene is rendered through a half silvered mirror and spatially aligned with the real-world for the viewer. Users easily reach into an interaction volume dis...

We introduce Dynamic Portals, a lightweight interaction technique to transfer virtual objects across tabletops. They maintain the spatial coherence of objects and inherently align them to the recipients' workspace. Furthermore, they allow the exchange of digital documents among multiple users. A remote view enables users to align their objects at t...

We introduce FingerFlux, an output technique to generate near-surface haptic feedback on interactive tabletops. Our system combines electromagnetic actuation with permanent magnets attached to the user's hand. FingerFlux lets users feel the interface before touching, and can create both attracting and repelling forces. This enables applications suc...

Multi-touch gained a lot of interest in the last couple of years and the increased availability of multi-touch enabled hardware boosted its development. However, the current diversity of hardware, toolkits, and tools for creating multi-touch interfaces has its downsides: there is only little reusable material and no generally accepted body of knowl...

We introduce dynamic physical properties as an additional degree of freedom for passive tabletop controls. Using electromagnetic actuation, we manipulate attributes of tangibles on the fly, such as perceived weight, spring resistance, friction, and latching. We describe our actuation concepts, prototypes, and measurements showing that magnetic fiel...

Multi-touch gained a lot of interest in the last couple of years and the increased availability of multi-touch enabled hardware boosted its development. However, the current diversity of hardware, toolkits, and tools for creating multi-touch interfaces has its downsides: there is only little reusable material and no generally accepted body of knowl...

In this paper, we present a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design pattern language that bundles existing knowl-edge on tabletop design and offers solutions to recurring problems. Our patterns enable not only developers, design-ers, and domain experts to improve their existing systems and facilitate the design process of new systems, we also en-co...

Multi-touch surfaces enable multi-hand and multi-person direct manipulation interfaces. However, they lack haptic feedback. Tangible interfaces (TUIs) are a promising approach to this issue but most are special-purpose with fixed physical and visual appearance. This chapter provides an overview of recent work to add haptic feedback to interactive s...

We present a system for the actuation of tangible magnetic widgets (Madgets) on interactive tabletops. Our system combines electromagnetic actuation with fiber optic tracking to move and operate physical controls. The presented mechanism supports actuating complex tangibles that consist of multiple parts. A grid of optical fibers transmits marker p...

BendDesk is a curved interactive display that merges a vertical and a horizontal multi-touch surface with a curve. Users sitting at the table can perform multi-touch input on the entire surface. This demo shows the capabilities and potential applications of such a setup. We also present Bend Invaders, one of the first arcade games on a curved inter...

We present BendDesk, a hybrid interactive desk system that combines a horizontal and a vertical interactive surface via a curve. The system provides seamless touch input across its entire area. We explain scalable algorithms that provide graphical output and multi-touch input on a curved surface. In three tasks we investigate the performance of dra...

This paper presents ongoing work that intends to simplify the introduction of everyday applications to interactive table-tops. SLAP Widgets bring tangible general-purpose widgets to tabletops while providing the flexibility of on-screen con-trols. Madgets maintain consistency between physical con-trols and their digital state. BendDesk represents o...

We present a pattern language to capture the experience from proven solutions for collaboration using interactive surfaces. This paper explains the importance of standards and the ad-vantages of pattern languages over traditional guidelines. We describe the pattern structure, the process of creation, and the evaluation of the pattern language.

We present Silicone iLluminated Active Peripherals (SLAP), a system of tangible, translucent widgets for use on multitouch tabletops. SLAP Widgets are cast from silicone or made of acrylic, and include sliders, knobs, keyboards, and buttons. They add tactile feedback to multi-touch tables, improving input accuracy. Using rear projection, SLAP Widge...

ABSTRACT We present SLAPbook, an application using SLAP, translu- cent and tangible widgets for use on vision-based multi-touch tabletops in Single Display Groupware (SDG) environments. SLAP stands for Silicone ILluminated Active Peripherals and includes widgets such as sliders, knobs, keyboards, and buttons. The widgets add tactile feedback to mul...

We present Silicone iLluminated Active Peripherals (SLAP), a system of tangible, transparent widgets for use on vision-based multi-touch tabletops. SLAP Widgets are cast from silicone or made of acrylic and include sliders, knobs, keyboards, and keypads. They add tactile feedback to multi-touch tables and can be dynamically relabeled with rear proj...

We present Saltate!, a wireless prototype system to support beginners of ballroom dancing. Saltate! acquires data from force sensors mounted under the dancers' feet, detects steps, and compares their timing to the timing of beats in the music playing. If it detects mistakes, Saltate! emphasizes the beats in the music acoustically to help the dancin...

Audio guides are a common way to provide museum visitors with an opportunity for personalized, self-paced information retrieval. However, this personalization conflicts with some of the reasons many people go to museums, i.e., to socialize, to be with friends, and to discuss the exhibit as they experience it [1]. We developed an interactive museum...

We present a novel type of tangible controls for interactive tabletops: actuated general-purpose widgets that are used to manipulate digital data on interactive tabletops. Due to their transparency the visual appearances can be changed dynam-ically. Unlike previous approaches, our widgets can be ar-ranged and configured on the tabletop by employing...

We present DRAGON, a direct manipulation interaction technique for frame-accurate navigation in video scenes. This technique benefits tasks such as professional and amateur video editing, review of sports footage, and forensic analysis of video scenes. By directly dragging objects in the scene along their movement trajectory, DRAGON enables users t...

We present SLAP, a system of tangible, translucent wid-gets for use on FTIR-based multi-touch tabletops. Our ini-tial widgets include a SLAP keyboard, button, slider, knob, and lens. SLAP widgets add tactile feedback to multi-touch tables, improving input accuracy. They can be relabeled dynamically via table rear projection, and provide inexpen-siv...

We present PocketTable, a generic framework for send- ing multi-touch events from external controllers to table- top applications. Our system supports the development of multi-touch applications in a mobile context if no ta- ble hardware is available. Since PocketTable represents an abstraction layer between the device and the software, ex- ternal...

We estimate surface normal maps of an object from either its diffuse or specular reflectance using four spherical gradient illumination patterns. In contrast to traditional photometric stereo, the spherical patterns allow normals to be estimated simultaneously from any number of viewpoints. We present two polarized lighting techniques that allow th...

A Virtual Environment (VE) is not an application in itself. It should further be seen as a complex, multi modal human-computer interface. Immersive VE systems must be able to couple resources, most likely distributed in a cluster, into a parallel, real-time simulation. The shortcoming of most VE software libraries is the inability to provide an env...

We present BendDesk, a desk environment that combines a horizontal and a vertical interactive surface that are seam-lessly connected by a curved surface. This increases the perception of spatial cohesiveness and provides a continu-ous interaction. Furthermore, the curve functions as a stor-age for virtual objects and as a display for system events....