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Former iAd Chief Andy Miller Joins 3D Motion Control Company Leap Motion

Pretty awesome in the place of a Wacom or similar
Much much cheaper solution. Resolution looks great
Wondering if you could set it beneath a piece of glass for 'writing surface' or if that inhibits it

Also would be great if it could be implemented with my Pro Tools rig....

I have a recording console with integrated motorized/touch sensitive controls, but being able to two hand controls on plugins in the air would be killer.....

And being able to ditch the keyboard and mouse from on top of the recording console??? AWESOME ! ! !
Making hands on edits to audio in the time line!?
Drawing my fades in the air as apposed to riding faders? Could be an awesome thing!!!!!

I see some very useful purposes this can serve....

and the price! Killer
 
I feel like touch devices work because you can put them on your lap. Holding your arms up like that would get tiring pretty quickly, I'd imagine.
 
While iAds may not have taken off like Apple planned, I see much less of a future with Leap. Sorry but I just don't see it being a lasting thing. Cool for playing around with but it's not something you'll want to use day to day. It's much easier to move your hands a few inches around your desktop with a mouse or trackpad than hold your hands in the air for long periods of time. Sure it has it's uses but it's not going to replace the keyboard and trackpad at this point and won't be something most are going to use on a daily basis.
 
if could use this to control a presentation on my iPad, that would be interesting. no need to hold a device in my hand as well as a microphone. :D
 
Nrwrit3r said:
I feel like touch devices work because you can put them on your lap. Holding your arms up like that would get tiring pretty quickly, I'd imagine.
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That's exactly what Jobs pointed out some time back about a touchscreen iMac when people complained about not offering one (although 3rd parties have offered them for years and years now). It might work for a while but you get tired of holding your arm up there after a period of time. You can have your hands on your keyboard and trackpad on your laptop for hours and hours with no issues.
 
brayhite said:
So Andy Miller is an "in" for Apple, right?
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Nope. He left Apple. If he was an 'in', that would be considered corporate espionage which is illegal in this country.

Check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_espionage

I know what you're thinking. Using him as an 'in' to persuade Leap Motion to a buyout from Apple. It's still corporate espionage and manipulation. Besides, Leap's smart move is to license the tech.

The minute Apple tries to buy them out, it proves the point that they could'nt innovate that tech. It proves the point that Leap beat them to the punch. Think about it. WHY did'nt Apple NOT THINK of that in the first place?

Apple does'nt innovate, they buy and assimilate for exclusivity purposes. They're no different than Microsoft.
 
Pilgrim1099 said:
Nope. He left Apple. If he was an 'in', that would be considered corporate espionage which is illegal in this country.

Check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_espionage

I know what you're thinking. Using him as an 'in' to persuade Leap Motion to a buyout from Apple. It's still corporate espionage and manipulation. Besides, Leap's smart move is to license the tech.

The minute Apple tries to buy them out, it proves the point that they could'nt innovate that tech. It proves the point that Leap beat them to the punch. Think about it. WHY did'nt Apple NOT THINK of that in the first place?

Apple does'nt innovate, they buy and assimilate for exclusivity purposes. They're no different than Microsoft.
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Apple is like microsoft....Yep, you are so right, how did i not see the similarities???? Yeah right. Please, get real :cool:
 
meecect said:
I don't think people are grasping what this could do or how it could be used.

Imagine one of these embedded where the current trackpad on mac laptops are.

Now place your hands as if you were using the trackpad. Perhaps the palm of you hand is resting on the edge of the computer, perhaps slightly to the side, perhaps on a table or palm rest right in front of your laptop.

Notice, your arm is completely supported. Now raise your fingers from the trackpad an inch or so. That's the position most people rest their fingers in when they don't want to touch the trackpad, right? Just hovering over the trackpad?

Ok, that's the position you'll use a leap motion in. Same basic position you use a trackpad in, but now you get one extra dimension, and you never need to touch the device.

Kinect is a low resolution device. That's why you need big arm swings to register movement on a kinect. Check out the video for this thing though. It looks incredibly accurate and it picks up very small moves. You won't be waving your arms around, you'll be wiggling your finger(s) around. You won't need to point to a physical location on the screen, you'll have an abstraction of the screen near your keyboard, the same way trackpads now abstract the screen onto a few square inches.

In fact, they could build this thing 'under' the keyboard, eliminate the trackpad entirely. Want to control it? Just lift your right index finger from its position on the keys, pointed to the screen and wiggle it left right, up down.

In a way, it returns us to the IBM trackpoint days, where you could use the mouse without leaving the home row, but with more flexibility, a larger 'canvas', multitouch, and 3 dimensions. We shouldn't need to take our hands off their position above the keys to use this, so it makes it better than current trackpads/mice.
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....Exactly. Maybe its current form looks inconvenient or maybe even primitive...compared to future applications, however this type of interface is not going away, and we're beginning to see it enter the practical world...as in not just for gaming.

Also...think of people who use thier hands when speaking...granted not all of us do it, but those who do do so without thinking or fatigue. With some practice, something like this can become second nature...and could very much same one time when applied properly.

I couldn't help but think of Tony Stark or the West Coast NCIS when I saw this. It isn't there yet, but imagine a not too distant future where it could integrate that way fairly cheaply.
 
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Nrwrit3r said:
I feel like touch devices work because you can put them on your lap. Holding your arms up like that would get tiring pretty quickly, I'd imagine.
Click to expand...

I agree that touch based interfaces work best in a horizontal aspect rather than vertical... but I find this a funny argument against gesture-based interfaces... those of us who work on computers all day seem to forget that many people spend their careers doing actual physical labor.

Compare this to swinging a hammer all day, or working overhead underneath a car... or raking lawns... :D

I am thinking that a bit more movement will probably do us good. I have been working on computers long enough that my wrists are starting to hurt/go numb... I am also realizing I spend too much of the day sitting down... Like many, I have been pondering one of those standing desks that are so popular now. I can see a technology like the Leap augmenting my current workflow.

The human body is just is not adapted for a career comprising the types of small, repetitive movements current interfaces require...
 
rmwebs said:
2) Who is seriously going to sit there with their arm a foot up in the air in front of their mac? Your arms would ache like crazy after just a few gestures!
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I think that this would be used in addition to a more traditional 2D input device, like a mouse or trackpad, instead of replacing it entirely. I get the idea that some things, like games or 3D graphics, might be more natural to do with this kind of control.

Tell me it makes Blender less of a headache to learn and I'll be all over it.
 
Sometimes technology can be completely awesome and at the same time not very useful.

I can imagine technology like this being used in the performing arts, live performances, demonstrations, and presentations but not much beyond that.

An office full of people manipulating their computers using hand movements would be hilarious to watch.
 
As cool as that is nothing is gonna replace my conventional keyboard and mouse.

Touch is useful when your not using your device for long periods of time. There is no way on earth I'd be able to write an entire essay on my iPad without using my bluetooth keyboard, just be too frustrating for me. iMovie editing on iPad is okay, but nowhere near as precise as using a keyboard & mouse on my MBP.
 
zzzzz who cares about this guy. He was the chief of a second-rate ad network that Apple bought, then when everyone realized iAd wasn't going like gangbusters, he abandoned ship. There's no reason to give this guy attention; especially not a front-page story.
 
looks cool but at least based on this video i dont get the point. i think it has more negatives than possible positives.

but since his last venture was such a resounding success why not go for it.

interesting news day. a mention of iad and mobileme/icloud. its like its the birthday of apples red headed stepchild which is kinda everything except the touch devices and the laptops
 
Shaun said:
That's so cool. Maybe Apple should buy the company and incorporate the technology into the iMac and Apple TV.
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Actually, it seems that a lot of people on the Leap forums (myself included) hope that Leap doesn't sell out to any company, and instead just licenses the tech cheaply to everyone. That way it will become a proper standard.

On a side note, I feel like one of the cool kids who saw the Leap about a month ago, but there are plenty who have seen it since the beginning, so maybe not :) Fingers crossed for a dev kit for me!!
 
virtual keyboard and mouse for me!

I pre-ordered mine a while back and I've been keeping up to date with their forums. The ideas that devs are posting about are incredible, and the first batch of developer kits are being sent out this month. I can't wait to get my hands on this thing and see what ideas come to fruition.

My plan is to use this device on its side pointing towards me at my desk. My desk will be a virtual keyboard and when I lift my 2 index fingers off of the surface of my desk, it will toggle mouse control for mouse navigation. Sure, I'll probably have a piece of paper with my Dvorak keyboard printed on it and taped onto my desk for the first little bit to train my fingers, but after that I'll be flying!
People on these forums need to start thinking outside of the box, my arms will be nicely rested while controling my OS using this device! And even if I want the device pointing upwards, my arm/hand position will be nearly identical to that when I use the magic trackpad, only my palm/fingers will be in the air above the device instead of on the trackpad.

Plus I can't wait for AutoDesk and SolidWorks to jump on board with this thing! Creating, manipulating, and presenting my 3d drawings to clients with this intuitive technology will be priceless!

On a side note, imagine what this device can do in hospitals in the OR. Doctors can take CT and other scans into the OR and interact with them without having to worry about touching anything to risk contamination. They can explore the 3d rendering of the scan while they are performing the operation and be absolutely confident when they make the next cut to expose that cancer tumor.

The possibilities of this thing are endless! I'm always excited about new technology and I love adapting to changes in computing for the better! This is an amazing age of technological change that we are living in and you all should embrace it, not dwell and complain on it.
 
Piggie said:
Yay, aching arms as you sit at your desktop.

It's a cool product, very clever and looks great for "SOME" uses, but again impractical for normal computer use.

Games, presentations etc etc.

Sadly it will mean yet another VERY inaccurate way to control something on screen.

Still impressive from a technical point of view. Perhaps another one of those great ideas, now let's find a real use for it type of products.

Again, it's fun, and clever, but you are not going to want to sit at your desk and hold you arms/hands up controlling anything for any length of time.

Unless you are conducting man orchestra for example ;)
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Err... just no. You're wrong. Well, on most accounts. A given, it's not practical for every computing use, but reducing it down to just some is a bit of a stretch. There are many many uses that it is practical for. 3D modeling, retro fitting a touch screen to legacy displays, and of course as you said, games and presentations. Put it this way, if it uses a touch screen, there is a good chance the Leap can work with it (think Windows 8)

Also, look at some demos and then tell me it's inaccurate. Look at the main demo where the creator is writing very accurately within ~2cm^2. Please just do some research before wildly criticizing exciting technology people (not just directed at this topic/poster).
 
It's a gimmick and a toy. Anyone who works on a computer all day long understands this isn't the most ideal way to do anything. The whole office would look like those people with the flashlights on the runway. It would be so tiring.
 
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