MasterDain.com

"All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness."

- Mark Kennedy

I've done a bit of research, looking into different surface types, projectors and construction material. Most of what I've learned came from others online sharing their experience and know-how. Here, I would like to do the same. The table I will have constructed will be documented. The parts, the products, the surface, the software, the video and resource links. For now all you get is the resource links as the table is in its beginning stages. Good luck and enjoy.

I have been working on the design of this multi-touch table for quite some time now. Not as hard as I could have. I just moved to Dayton Ohio in May. Considering the move, it did not make much sense to build the coffee table in Arizona. I had considered it. The movers would have built a crate for it, but it just wasn't worth it.

What I have done is finish all the parts decisions and design. I've found the right projector to fit in the 41-43" throw with the right diagonal dimension and aspect ratio. The projection display will be 36" diagonal in a 16:10 aspect ratio. I have also acquired several optical mirrors; two that are 25 x 13" and one that is 25 x 42". The design uses two mirrors; one quite a bit smaller, so I will be cutting one of the mirrors to fit the design. I've settled on a small computer, but have been toying with the idea of just building a computer like mine just without the case. All of the computer's internal parts can be mounted to the inside of the table.

The design work has been done in Solid Works. The design is really coming together and I've proven the mounting positions of the mirrors to fit my desired display with respect to manufacturer's specifications and some trigonometry. Actually, the projected image pathway is anchored to the projector and the surface with two reflection surfaces that can move and reposition to determine the proper location for the mirrors. That took some crafty Solid Works skills and the trig was to prove it was right.

Today's status is the design is almost ready for detailed part drawings, so that I can start purchasing the acrylic, projection surface, projector, computer, camera, IR LEDs, misc. wiring stuff, metal and get some specialty parts fabricated. In other words, this project is about to start getting built. The overall cost of this table has increased a bit. Originally, I said something around $2,500. My guess to date is around $3,200, especially if I went the custom computer route. This computer wasn't cheap.

I've taken interest in darts. The dartboard hanging next to the bar provides for a great way to relax after work. Throw some darts, write up you score... Throw some more darts, add incorrectly do the math after too much to drink. Darts just became too much work.

The solution to this problem is a third monitor to my desktop computer. I purchased a Planar 23" multitouch monitor and a 17" triple jointed wall mount arm. While waiting for the equpment in the mail, I started coding a multitouch graphical dartboard application.

Currently the application supports 4 players. One can add a player, remove a player, score, and undo score. All you have to do is touch the application on the dartboard graphic or scoreboard and it will do the rest. If you want to delete a score, just use a press and touch gesture. It works great and there arent any more scoring errors. Oh, and Pandora One is right there for anyone to change the music, see who the band is and/or skip songs.

One final note... I was throwing darts with my buddy. He won 4 games in a row and then I won 5 in a row. I was about to lose in one of those games. I needed to close out the bull and win in points. My 5 bulls to his 1 bull. Guess what, I got all five bulls in one turn for the win. And I quote him here, "I don't even want to be in the same room as you right now!" The photo says it all.

I haven't airbrushed since before I went back to school in 2005. At that time, I didn't have the space to paint, nor did I have the time to do it. Since I've graduated from school, I haven't really taken the opportunity to paint. Today I got the whim to do so and this is what resulted from it. I'm thinking about painting tomorrow too. It took about 6 hours and is black and white on a black t-shirt.

I searched for a great photo for 15 hours or so before I found this one. I much prefer reproducing a photograph than I do making the design myself. The downside is I know what I'm looking for, but it isn't always that easy to find. Here is the result. In the mean time, I've found a ton of other photos that I'm interested in painting as well.