Cam-Trax is "coolest thing since ice," can provide Wii-like controls with any webcam

Hey, we've seen quite a few gimmicky game control schemes in our day. We thought we were jaded, believed that we could no longer be moved emotionally by a few dorks in a lab, promising to revolutionize video games with their insanity. Until we saw Cam-Trax. You'll get it in a moment by peeping the video after the break, but the basic gist is this: Cam-Trax offers highly accurate and responsive tracking of random colorful objects you hold in front of your webcam and tell it to track. Gameplay can be EyeToy-esque, but it can also be so much more, since the unit can track many objects in a full three dimensions. The video shows everything from a glorified game of pong to a FPS, and promises to control "any game" with "any webcam." Show us more, Cam-Trax.

[Thanks, Chen D.]

[Will @ May 27th 2008 9:12PM]

That is awesome... First Comment w00t!

[Gorillamonk @ May 28th 2008 9:49AM]

this is pretty awesome. Good going nerds!

[MrFairladyz @ May 27th 2008 9:16PM]

freeware plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Christy McGrory @ May 27th 2008 9:33PM]

the more z's you put the more chance they are make it teh freeware.

[Ethan @ May 27th 2008 10:42PM]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Now they'll do it for sure!

[andres @ May 28th 2008 12:46AM]

CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR FREEWARE!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[Dharun @ May 27th 2008 9:16PM]

Wow this has so much potential.

[augustjl @ May 27th 2008 9:18PM]

THAT IS SO TIGHT!!! i bet itll be expensive though. unless they make it open source.

cant wait to use this at a lan party

[ethana2 @ May 28th 2008 3:00AM]

All it takes is for some FOSS nerd who knows C++ to think it's 'tight' as well, and it doesn't matter /what/ these folks do, there will be an open implementation of the idea.

[Shane Reustle @ May 27th 2008 9:21PM]

Damn I need a webcam now...

[Mike @ May 27th 2008 9:24PM]

Thats the coolest thing I have seen so far this year. I hope they get some funding and this thing turns into something big. Implementation looks so easy. I am sure you will have to do some keyboard mapping but that can be simplified.

[Matt @ May 27th 2008 9:40PM]

since it will track in 3D this means one thing. Everyone keeps talking about the "Minority Report" interface.... this is it and even better than the controls in Minority Report, you don't need powered gloves for this, proabably just a cloth gove with colored fingers. All that is missing is the OS that supports it.

[samgross144 @ May 28th 2008 6:29AM]

I agree, although there will probably still be powered gloves because what happens if there's a similar colored object in the background? When your fingers pass it from the camera's viewpoint, how will it tell the difference? An IR-Led would be very low power and very practical. It could be powered by a rechargeable button-cell, good for a few hours of use, with an induction-based charger/mousepad. Yes, I think this will be a computer peripheral first, then a gaming accessory. How well did the EyeToy sell? Probably less cameras than are sold by Apple in a month.

[idiot @ May 28th 2008 12:24AM]

or really just a sharpie...err...a couple colored sharpies

[naceguy122 @ May 27th 2008 9:41PM]

thats pretty incredible. i've played webcam games before, but those are all motion sensitive. if you accidentally twitch your left ear, you trigger a response. this could do so much more and do it so much better. if they could pull off open source/freeware, these guys would be my heroes.

[Leejin @ May 27th 2008 9:44PM]

Seriously the coolest thing ever....
Someone write them a fat check and get the rights to release it..

High five!

[Will H. @ May 27th 2008 9:45PM]

Now THAT"S THE SHIZZ!!

[naceguy122 @ May 27th 2008 9:49PM]

i stuck my name on their beta list. i doubt i'll get to do anything, but it'd be awesome. its on their website, along with sign up for notification when it becomes available

[Allister @ May 27th 2008 10:07PM]

I'm now taking bets on which gaming hardware company buys their tech, and for how much...

[winslow31 @ May 27th 2008 10:09PM]

public beta plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Zsy @ May 27th 2008 10:14PM]

Ok guys, now make it into a theremin and I'm sold.

[winslow31 @ May 27th 2008 10:32PM]

i wantz teh theremin

[Lemuel @ May 27th 2008 10:48PM]

COPIED FROM JHONNY LEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/

[Ethan @ May 27th 2008 10:55PM]

Any -game-? Thinking a little small here, aren't we?

[Omen_20 @ May 27th 2008 11:13PM]

yeah only besides the FPS implementation its exactly like Eyetoy. I had thought of that idea for the FPS and am so glad they did it you know because out of the 4-5 years Sony's had they havent done it yet....

I'm a really big fan of the PS Eye but I'm getting tired of how slow Sony is moving on it. I had thought of all this as being possible, doing Wii like things and so much more. Its rather pathetic that my dreams were done by these guys instead of a funded R&D group at a major corporation. Lame Sony, lame.

[Cyhwuhx @ May 28th 2008 4:06AM]

.::: Not to dash your hopes (fears?), but Sony already did this years ago with Harmonix' EyeToy Antigrav, though the initial idea of tracking coloured wristbands was later replaced by full-body tracking in the final product.

Sony has a few more patents concerning camera-tracking in as well.

[Mach @ May 27th 2008 11:14PM]

DO WANT

But what's going to happen to controllers...

[ugg.tryptophan @ May 27th 2008 11:29PM]

2:19 xylophone hero!

[angelicbeef @ May 27th 2008 11:30PM]

I hope this isn't just for vista, that's what they're running on.

I'm not too excited about this because one of the team members is a decepticreep. Prime wouldn't approve.

[Roger Cosseboom @ May 27th 2008 11:32PM]

Its Max/MSP/Jitter (the slider-filled screenshot they show) mapping a .JPG (the crosshair looking thing) on each object(s) by color-keying (why they're all crazy colors.)

Jitter spits out the motion-sensed X,Y and maps it to the system's mouse coordinates. A simple hack but elegantly done with a total price of some construction paper and an afternoon's coding = $1. Makes you wonder why the big companies that have had their cameras on the market for years never worked out such a nice system.

[Macha88 @ May 27th 2008 11:35PM]

Is anything cooler than Ice Ice baby?

[Jason McC. Smith @ May 27th 2008 11:37PM]

You know, I could swear this was done several years ago...

http://www.cs.unc.edu/~smithja/FaceTop.html

[ibpierce @ May 28th 2008 12:30AM]

coolest thing I've seen in a good, long while, hands down. add two or more cameras to the situation and the thing should be able to do some amazing work. i am fascinated to see where this goes

[andres @ May 28th 2008 12:47AM]

this can only lead to one thing.
another way to use webcams for porn

[Player1 @ May 28th 2008 3:12AM]

Well, i just don't know how they handle movement. I mean, how do they accellerate the cars? How do they walk around in the FPS? Looking around or steering is one thing, but moving along... could also be fake (?)

[deyanimay @ May 28th 2008 4:17PM]

for racing they might have had a pedal and in the fps i think one hand was on the keyboard.

[Holger @ May 28th 2008 4:37AM]

Ok that was freaking awesome....

lovely work guys...

[MaxPowerTuc @ May 28th 2008 9:43AM]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaannn Coolest thing since johnny chang wii-remote mod for pc... AWESOME!!!!!!!

[Nate DiDonato @ May 28th 2008 11:11AM]

...good thing I still have my PC drivers for my Eyetoy.
That thing doesn't see much use lately.

Antigrav is fun, but my god do your arms get tired!

[Ramses_Tx @ May 28th 2008 11:22AM]

This guys should be getting more atention than Mr Bill Gates and his Windows 7, this is way cooler since it uses existing hardware interface, cheap plug and play web cam.

[Yor1001 @ May 28th 2008 11:38AM]

This is making me more horney than my honey moon.

[Joel Strellner @ May 28th 2008 2:13PM]

Microsoft is going to by this to use in their xbox soon (if not, they should). They include those camera's for a reason, now we'll be able to use them for something cool. This would kill the Wii.

[swapnil @ May 28th 2008 2:26PM]

this is really awsome. i hope that they have some kind of demo available on the net somewhere. off to search mode people.

[MbZ-buGSy @ May 28th 2008 3:40PM]

I dont think that these nerds will release this software as free softwear. But that would be nice :)

[Henrik @ Jul 7th 2008 12:13PM]

If they figure a way to ad force feedback, there in business