LeapMotion

Started by Elantric, June 27, 2012, 11:46:47 AM

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Elantric

https://live.leapmotion.com/about.html



Say goodbye to your mouse and keyboard.

Leap represents an entirely new way to interact with your computers. It's more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen.  For the first time, you can control a computer in three dimensions with your natural hand and finger movements.

This isn't a game system that roughly maps your hand movements.  The Leap technology is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market — at any price point. Just about the size of a flash drive, the Leap can distinguish your individual fingers and track your movements down to a 1/100th of a millimeter.

This is like day one of the mouse.  Except, no one needs an instruction manual for their hands.




QuoteFAQs
GENERAL

What exactly is The Leap?

The Leap is a small iPod sized USB peripheral that creates a 3D interaction space of 8 cubic feet to precisely interact with and control software on your laptop or desktop computer. It's like being able to reach into the computer and pull out information as easily as reaching into a cookie jar.

The Leap senses your individual hand and finger movements independently, as well as items like a pen. In fact, it's 200x more sensitive than existing touch-free products and technologies. It's the difference between sensing an arm swiping through the air and being able to create a precise digital signature with a fingertip or pen.

What can I do with The Leap?

The possibilities are endless, really. Computer power has grown exponentially over the years, but the way we interact with those computers has not. With LEAP, virtually every kind of application, across every industry, can be re-imagined.

Art. Healthcare. Engineering. Operating Systems.  Gaming. If you can imagine it, we're pretty confident there's a remarkable member of our developer community who is already working to create it.

What is Leap Motion technology?

Leap Motion technology is a breakthrough in computer interaction, using a patented mathematical approach to 3D, touch-free motion sensing and motion control software that's unlike anything that currently exists on the market or in academia. Developed over the past 4 years, Leap Motion moves far beyond the current technologies designed for distant arm waving.

How much does The Leap cost?

The Leap will retail for $69.99, and a limited number are currently available for pre-order at LeapMotion.com.

How does The Leap impact computing?

For decades people have been given a dream of what computers would be – from Star Trek holosuites to Tom Cruise swiping through Minority Report's 3D computer interface. But it's never made it out of the lab and into real life – until now. The ability to control any computer with nuanced hand and finger movements will fundamentally transform the way people interact with computers.

Who is The Leap ideal for?

Everyone! We envision a day in the near future when our motion control technology will be used in most consumer products – not just computers, but cars, appliances, medical devices, light switches and more. There are already many great uses for a variety of people.

    Artists and creative types can use The Leap to emulate a stylus or easily create 3D images.
    Anyone can use The Leap to interact with Windows 7/8 or Mac OS X by clicking, grabbing, scrolling and using familiar gestures like pinch to zoom in 3D space.
    Users pointing a pen at the signature line of a document to sign it in space.
    Engineers can interact more easily with 3D modeling software.
    Gamers can play more easily and many will modify with Leap in mind.
    Surgeons can control 3D medical data with their hands without taking off their gloves.

Who is LEAP? How did you get started?

The original inspiration behind Leap came from our frustration with 3D modeling— something that took 10 seconds in real life would take 30 minutes with a computer.  Molding virtual clay with a computer should be as easy as molding clay in the real world. The mouse and keyboard were simply getting in the way.

Could we figure out a way to control computers in a better, more natural way—and without settling for the limitations of available technology? After four years of hard work, we've got the answer. Now it's time to have fun.

What makes Leap Motion stand out?

Leap Motion is the only technology focused on bringing motion control to the desktop – rather than trying to take what's been built for TV (large gesture sensing) and make it work for computers. We incorporate natural motions and finger tracking in far greater detail and sensitivity, than any product on the market. The Leap is ~100x more accurate than any other motion sensing/natural user interface on Earth.

How do I pre-order a LEAP?

We have a limited number available for our first shipment this winter. Early birds catch the worm – so click here to order. We won't charge you until the product is ready to ship.

How can I get a free developer kit?

We're distributing thousands of kits to qualified developers, because, well, we want to see what kinds of incredible things you can all do with our technology. So wow us. Actually, register to get the SDK and a free Leap device first, and then wow us.

Do you support windows?

Yes! We also support native touch emulation for Windows 8.

How about Linux?

Linux support is on the agenda.

When do dev-kits ship

Depending on which batch you're in; anywhere from 1-3 months.

What are the tech specifications for the LEAP?

TBD.

What if I have a question that is not covered here?

We have full-time staff dedicated to community outreach. Write community@leapmotion.com.

Kevin M

This might be nice for those of us who suffer occasionally from CTS symptoms.

cell7

My agency has applied for a developers license for the leapmotion... hopefully we get to play with it soon :)

mbenigni

This looks pretty exciting!  I can think of a lot of interesting applications.

Step 1: Velcro one to my pickguard.

jburns

awesome.
i half wrote out the preorder form before reading it won't be available for 6 months. can't wait tho. the hot hand midi is priced at $270 and has just been crossed off my wish list. leap motion seems a more reliable cost friendly option even if not released till december. is this IR based? the site didn't really confirm the means of motion detection. i did read there it is going to be wired usb & wireless in version 2.0. i prefer that over bluetooth. it looks like some hybrid motion sensor+IR if it claims so much accuracy and is still being detected by amount of light from underneath you. i can't imagine anything with that amount of claimed accuracy to be one or the other.

Elantric

LeapMotion Update - Feb 2013 is the new estimated ship date

Elantric


jburns

im bumping this because its #1 on my wish list. i tend to wait awhile after something gets released as new things have tons of symptoms and will be patient here as well, but if anyone else is interested id recommend searching it on youtube. while theres not a bunch of official company videos theres ALOT of developer videos on it.

cell7

Quote from: jburns on January 08, 2013, 11:04:30 AM
im bumping this because its #1 on my wish list. i tend to wait awhile after something gets released as new things have tons of symptoms and will be patient here as well, but if anyone else is interested id recommend searching it on youtube. while theres not a bunch of official company videos theres ALOT of developer videos on it.

So our dev model arrives next week and we will be playing around with it. I've got some ideas already but open to suggestions from everyone :)
If you have a great idea for the leap motion post it here!

Elantric

#9
QuoteIf you have a great idea for the leap motion post it here!

I want to play Air guitar near the leap motion, but have it perfectly track a MIDI performance I can record


just joking.

But I'm also very interested in all the development of this new "air gesture" control Input device.

Elantric

#10
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/16/leap-motion-makes-exclusive-deal-with-best-buy/?partner=yahootix
Quote
Leap Motion - the company behind the revolutionary motion-control software and hardware, is coming to market. It announced today that it will, "Launch its Leap Motion Controller exclusively in all U.S. Best Buy stores and online at BestBuy.com this spring. The Leap Motion controller will be available for pre-order online at BestBuy.com beginning in February, and Leap Motion will also continue taking pre-orders directly at LeapMotion.com."

Andy Miller, President/COO of Leap Motion, tells me, "This is really exciting, a real validation for our company. This is one of the final pieces in the puzzle." Leap Motion recently completed another round of funding (bringing its total up to $45 million) in order to be able to ramp up production and meet the demand suggested by the strong pre-orders and the interest of more than 50,000 developers who have requested SDKs to make apps for the new platform. Miller indicated that there would be other announcements in next few weeks concerning retail partners in Europe and Asia.

He also reiterated something like a mantra for the company, that this is all about the developers. "This announcement is important for developers who are going to make the software something special," says Miller. "We know they have a lot of choice about what to spend their time on. By partnering with the world's largest electronics retailer—with over 1.400 stores—this says to developers that their work will be seen."

I asked Miller how Best Buy would make the software behind the diminutive device visible in the stores and comprehensible to new users. He said that the datails are not all worked out yet but that Best Buy was very aggressive in recruiting Leap Motion for an exclusive launch and that it will be prepping its "army of blue shirts" on the product. Likely there will be video displays on end caps in all of the stores and interactive areas in select stores. Miller is confident about the team's ability to explain the product.

My own experiences with sales people at Best Buy has not been overwhelmingly positive, but it is not hard to imagine the "blue shirts" getting excited about the Leap Motion. Spending your days showing people how to improve their Fruit Ninja technique is bound to be more fun than convincing them to pony up for a smart TV. Which brings up positioning. The Leap Motion Controller will be equally relevant to desktop computer users as to big screen gamers, all depending on the software available. It will be interesting to see how Best Buy positions its Leap displays in the physical stores. This "positioning" will be driven by consumers interest and in turn will give developers feedback about where the most interest is.

One of the other interesting aspects of the Leap Motion Controller—and a good selling point for the blue shirts—is that like a lot of consumer facing technology these days, most of the action is on the client side. Although the company is still not saying exactly what is inside the thumb drive sized device, Miller says that, "it's all about the math." None of the processing is done by the device itself. That's all done by the computer that the controller is connected to in concert with Leap Motion's core software and the apps of third-party developers. What this means for consumers is that Leap Motion will be able to improve their software and developers will push the envelope with their apps without the user needing to upgrade their physical device.

And this consumer launch and the consumer apps behind it is only the beginning for the company. Performing musicians have been very enthusiastic about possible applications of the technology, including, Miller tells me, jazz innovator Herbie Hancock. There are some serious medical applications on the drawing board as well, particularly concerning heart surgery (I would have voted for brain surgery!) Fueling all of this activity is the promise of an original, quantitatively driven technology not easily reproducible and inexpensive, evergreen hardware that will not need constant replacement. The Best Buy deal will be a great test of how consumers respond to Leap Motion's bid at "changing the future of human/computer interaction."

cell7

LeapMotion device arrived - its tiny! Also well made. Latency is VERY low, so i think it will have good potential for some sort of performance use. Range is fairly localized though - it certainly isnt a full-body tracking device.


Elantric


cell7

in my opinion, the leapmotion just got trumped by the Myo - https://getmyo.com

now this is even more interesting, particularly for musicians, as we can continue playing and using our fingers as per usual, but use different muscular movements to control things via the myo sensors. It reminds me of some experiments that Kevin Warwick was doing in the 90s/2000s, but without the invasive surgery :) Also it improves upon the ableton-controlling loop gloves that imogen heap is using, because this is triggered my muscle activity not by accelerometer or gyroscope movements.

if anyone is interested, here is his TED talk from last year:

Elantric

Thanks for the link to MYO
https://getmyo.com
Very Interesting device.

Might be able to replicate some of this with NFC devices and spare / discarded Android devices that support NFC.
My only issue with MYO is the size / weight of the wristband.


While many guitarists love wearing arm bracelets and jewelry  - I'm in the camp of not desiring to wear ANY object that adds additional Mass to my wrists or forearm. During a 4 hour gig, these are a source of fatigue and actually impact my playing and slow me down, or accidentally get hung up in the tremolo arm, etc.

But I do want to learn more about the technology of MYO

cell7

Quote from: Elantric on February 28, 2013, 06:03:35 AM

Might be able to replicate some of this with NFC devices and spare / discarded Android devices that support NFC.
My only issue with MYO is the size / weight of the wristband.



Can NFC measure electrical impulses from muscle activity? If so, I need to test this immediately....
regarding the size etc, yeh i know this is a dealbreaker for some, but wearing it up near the elbow and it shouldnt immediately impact on most players. I honestly am jumping out of my skin about the MYO - ive already put in a preorder.

Elantric

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/04/from-gestures-to-midi-geco-promises-music-applications-for-leap-motion/

Apr 23 2013
From Gestures to MIDI: Geco Promises Music Applications for Leap Motion

by Peter Kirn




These strange glyphs represent the dictionary of hand gestures Geco and LEAP can turn into music control.

Here we go again. Touchless hand gestures have been part of electronic musical performance ever since the Theremin first hummed to life almost 100 years ago. And those gestures embody the same challenges and promise. We have the ability as humans to think spatially, in three dimensions, and to have a tight sense of control via our muscles of gestures in space. We use gestures to communicate and to manipulate our world. Those same expectations can be disappointed in electronic systems, however, as they lack tangible physical feedback and may misinterpret our intentions.

It's easier to play with these ideas and experiment with them than talk about them, though. And for everyone who's turned off by the idea, someone else is enthused.

What the US$79.99 Leap Motion may do for gestures in music is to lower the bar for entry – and up the bar for performance. Leap is affordable hardware, there are already lots of developer units out in the world, and there's an easy-to-program SDK. We've already seen Microsoft's Kinect open up gestural control to lots of new music projects. Leap may do more: it's cheaper, it's faster and operates with vastly lower latency, and it's more precise for individual hand gestures. It also offers a platform for developers to share their work, in an app store full of stuff you can use, so that the hardware theoretically won't become a paperweight in the cubicles of the digerati.

Latency alone could make a big difference for musical applications. It's not the only challenge in motion control, but it has been the showstopper, particularly with the hefty lag you get using something like Kinect. Leap is different, offering latencies low enough to satisfyingly control music applications.


The unobtrusive Leap Motion hardware. Courtesy the manufacturer.

That doesn't mean you should run out and buy one. Healthy skepticism is always good practice. So, I actually agree with some of Chris Randall's complaints about Leap, as discussed on Twitter. I think anyone experimenting with novel control schemes, though, may learn something from successes and failures alike.

If you're ready for the adventure, though, Leap will make it immediately easy to start mucking about with music. Leading the charge is Geert Bevin and his Geco (originally Gesture Control) app. I'm testing it now, but here's a quick look at what it does.

By making a virtual MIDI port, and using a library of gestures and mappings, Geco allows a wave of your hand to control any music tool that works with MIDI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCwiwYAVxOY&feature=player_embedded
    Using two hands, create up to 40 different streams of control messages.
    16 MIDI channels.
    Mappings with MIDI Control Change or (with greater data precision) pitch bend.
    Manipulate different streams using "open" and "close" gestures of your hands.
    Low-latency control, with visual feedback on both MIDI and movement analysis.
    Send MIDI on the Mac using a virtual MIDI port you can then connect to other applications – or, on either platform, to physical MIDI ports.
    Graphical UI with color/graphical customization, information on gestures and so on.
    Thin out your MIDI data to work with old gear that can't respond to all those messages.

The intro price will be US$9.99. It should launch with the Leap Motion app store – dubbed Airspace – when the controller launches on May 13.

MIDI is useful, but it's too bad there's no higher-precision control implementation here. (OSC would be one option; it seems apps that do that are a likely addition.) There is a whole lot of detail and thought that has gone into how the UI works, and Geert promises that the whole engine is low on system resources and approaches "zero latency" (at least, it's very, very fast).

It's worth taking a look at the draft documentation for more detail:

http://uwyn.com/geco/

Here's another experiment showing VST and AU control:

Nor is Leap Motion the only game in town. On Create Digital Motion yesterday, I wrote about another project that is using crowd funding to launch an open source rival. I can imagine developer APIs that let you work across each. The advantage of open hardware would be that people can understand how the device works, and modify it for specific applications (both code and hardware form factor.)

DUO is a DIY 3D Sensor – Like Leap, But Open Source, From Gesture and Vision Veterans

I'm clarifying the details of their licensing plan. At least one of this team has come under criticism in the past for the approach to open source releases and Kinect hacking – you can read the discussion in both directions, though I'm encouraged that developer AlexP was ultimately responsive to some of those concerns. We'll see how this project is structured.

It does seem that people will continue to develop this thread in motion control. We'll be watching.

As I do have a Leap, let me know if there's anything you'd like tested or developed (summer project!), or questions you may have.

https://www.leapmotion.com


http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/04/from-gestures-to-midi-geco-promises-music-applications-for-leap-motion/

Elantric

Geco for Leap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCwiwYAVxOY&feature=player_embedded

http://uwyn.com/geco : Geco is a new application my company Uwyn is working on.

Geco will be released in a couple of weeks, alongside with the world-wide availability of the Leap Motion Controller.

It is one of the easiest and most powerful solutions to interact with MIDI through hand gestures.

Our custom multi-staged processing engine ensures an extremely low processing overhead and near zero latency, while still providing you with beautiful real-time visual feedback and powerful customization capabilities.

Geco has been designed for live performance and quick configuration during rehearsal by industry professionals that have years of experience with high-speed low-latency electronic music and MIDI.

Some Features

* 40 different control streams with both hands
* any control stream can be mapped to MIDI CC and Pitchbend messages on 16 different channels
* instantly switch between related control streams by opening or closing your hands
* carefully designed GUI for an immediate overview of the active MIDI mappings
* real-time low-latency visual feedback of your hand movements and MIDI data
* integrated virtual MIDI port on MacOSX
* connects to any known MIDI output port on your computer
* fully customisable user interface (colours, graphical elements)
* flexible document management that can be loaded while performing gestures
* high performance and near-zero latency engine with virtually no CPU impact when the real-time visualisations are hidden
* MIDI decimation setting to allow integration with legacy hardware that has limited MIDI bandwidth

jburns

geco looks pretty nice. a good find as always. especially since I'm not that amazed by the more popular airharp for leap, it doesn't seem that "musical". but this geco is right up my alley! my wish with leap motion is to conquer not paying 10grand for a haken continuum.



i follow leap motion on Facebook they always have great posts.

cell7

Cool - ill test these as soon as they are available. In other news, the updated SDK for the Leap has all but bricked my unit, so i hope they fix it ASAP.

Elantric

Fruity Loops 11 is supposed to be OK on Win8 Touchscreen
and is rumored to incorporate an interface for the Leap Motion Gesture Controller
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5327665

Elantric

Leap Motion Controller Pre-Order Ship Date Delayed Until July 2013


http://www.legitreviews.com/news/15463/
I wanted to reach out to update you on the status of our ship date. After a lot of consideration, we've decided to push back the date and will now be shipping units to pre-order customers on July 22nd.

This is not a decision we take lightly. There are hundreds of thousands of people in over 150 countries who have pre-ordered Leap Motion controllers, some as long as a year ago. These people are part of our community and there is nothing more important to us than getting them devices as quickly as possible.

We've made a lot of progress. When we first started taking orders back in May we were twelve (very tired) people in a basement. Now we are eighty (although still tired and possibly still in a basement). We've manufactured over six hundred thousand devices and delivered twelve thousand to amazing developers who are building applications that let people do things that just wouldn't have been possible before.

These developers have given us great feedback that we've used to make huge improvements to the stability and polish of the product. We're really proud of Leap Motion as both a company and a product.

The reality is we very likely could have hit the original ship date. But it wouldn't have left time for comprehensive testing. This will come in the form of a beta test that will start in June. We will give the 12k developers who currently have Leap Motion controllers access to the feature complete product including OS interaction (today developers only have access to the SDK). We will also invite some people who are not developers to join the beta test.

Ultimately, the only way we felt 100% confident we could deliver a truly magical product that would do justice to this new form of interaction, was to push the date so we would have more time for a larger, more diverse beta test.

I really appreciate your patience. I know it's been a long wait. Everyone at Leap Motion is working tirelessly to make sure that the wait is worth it. Thanks so much for your help and support.

David and I will be participating in an open video Q&A using Google Hangout tomorrow at 11:30am Pacific time. To join our hangout, please visit our Google+ page. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact our support team at support@leapmotion.com or my personal email (buckwald@leapmotion.com). As always, we will not charge pre-order customer's credit cards until the devices have actually shipped.

Thanks again.

Michael Buckwald

jburns

leap is now live and released! theres support for linux as well as mac and pc. check out leapmotion.com for their details. best buy is the 1st retailer that picked them up, so you'll be seeing it in stores as well, but they are shipping units now.

cell7

interestingly enough, the final release version of the hardware performs significantly better than the test device we got 6 months ago. It really does work well, but the range is still very limited [think the dbeam controller on the vg99]. The midi controller apps are also well worth playing around with if you run live computer audio...

rolandvg99

@cell7: What hardware are you using it on? Heard rumours that the LeapM uses a lot of resources.
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