The main exhibition floor at SIGGRAPH this year was not overly amazing in general, but two small booths really left a mark with me so I wanted to make sure to let everyone know about them.
Direct Dimensions is a company that provides ‘rapid solutions to 3D problems’. They are exhibiting an extremely clever and simple solution for creating very nice and usable facial scans. Their system is just a simple rig with four cameras (two for each side of the face) that are able to capture depth information due to their stereoscopic layout. Basically each pair of cameras use the same technique that your eyes use, to detect depth. This 3D data then gets the photos applied back onto the geometry and within minutes you have a fully 3D textured model of your face. Simple, elegant, and cost effective. I was extremely impressed!
Eye Tech Digital Systems is a company that has built an eye tracking solution that allows you to fully control the mouse movement and clicking on a computer. At first glance (if you’ll forgive the pun), I didn’t think much of it, but after a quick demo which just involved a quick calibration, I was up and running controlling a computer without any problems. Just look at what you want, blink to click and that’s it! Very fascinating and it’s easy to see quite a number of applications for this technology. Its use for users with disabilities is obvious, and they outline a number of other uses on their site.
