Phidgets 1203 testing with Webcam
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 6:53 pm
Hi all,
What started as a test for my new Phidgets 1203, ended up morphing into a bit more. Conceptually, it has some pretty interesting possibilities. I have a webcam running through the Motion Detect module, with the X, Y, and direction of motion being displayed on the Phidget LCD. I have an LED tied to the motion detect threshold. Finally I have the X and Y tied to 2 oscillators which are tied to the Directsound output, with an FFT to monitor the frequencies. The X and Y could be used to drive a RC PTZ, and the Phidget outputs could drive an enable to a laser pointer possibly (don't get eye zapped!), I was even thinking as a possible Halloween item, taking that PTZ into a baby doll head or something... Imagine that head tracking your movements... lol Just thought someone may find this useful for something. The audio generator off of motion may be useful to someone as well - I have this tied to an XBox 360 controller with the analog joysticks and the thumb pots tied to some analog generators as well for extra fun stuff.
PS- As a side note the Phidget LCD module is awesome! It shows up as two different Phidget Modules, one the LCD, and the other the 8/8/8 module. As you can see from the drawing, even if you don't have the hardware, using them can't get much easier. I now understand much better the Phidget integration into Flowstone. I am waiting on the Flowboard, but the Phidget hardware seems pretty hard to beat - we'll have to see how that goes.
Double PS - I originally started with Flowstone on a Windows XP machine. I just recently upgraded to Windows 7, and it works so much better with hardware like the webcam, and my Xbox360 controller. I had no drivers to install seperately. Keep this in mind, Windows 7 IMO (as much as a hate Windows..) is one of the best OS's Microsoft has ever come out with. I continue onto my Flowstone tinkering...
What started as a test for my new Phidgets 1203, ended up morphing into a bit more. Conceptually, it has some pretty interesting possibilities. I have a webcam running through the Motion Detect module, with the X, Y, and direction of motion being displayed on the Phidget LCD. I have an LED tied to the motion detect threshold. Finally I have the X and Y tied to 2 oscillators which are tied to the Directsound output, with an FFT to monitor the frequencies. The X and Y could be used to drive a RC PTZ, and the Phidget outputs could drive an enable to a laser pointer possibly (don't get eye zapped!), I was even thinking as a possible Halloween item, taking that PTZ into a baby doll head or something... Imagine that head tracking your movements... lol Just thought someone may find this useful for something. The audio generator off of motion may be useful to someone as well - I have this tied to an XBox 360 controller with the analog joysticks and the thumb pots tied to some analog generators as well for extra fun stuff.
PS- As a side note the Phidget LCD module is awesome! It shows up as two different Phidget Modules, one the LCD, and the other the 8/8/8 module. As you can see from the drawing, even if you don't have the hardware, using them can't get much easier. I now understand much better the Phidget integration into Flowstone. I am waiting on the Flowboard, but the Phidget hardware seems pretty hard to beat - we'll have to see how that goes.
Double PS - I originally started with Flowstone on a Windows XP machine. I just recently upgraded to Windows 7, and it works so much better with hardware like the webcam, and my Xbox360 controller. I had no drivers to install seperately. Keep this in mind, Windows 7 IMO (as much as a hate Windows..) is one of the best OS's Microsoft has ever come out with. I continue onto my Flowstone tinkering...