Siggraph

While new software products continue to turn up at every Siggraph, along with the latest update of core graphics programs, not much turns up to update the actual physical tools that artists use to create their work.

At Siggraph 2006, that‘s changing, with various haptic technologies on display that may soon offer more natural, interactive techniques to interface with software. (Haptic technology refers to technology which interfaces with the user via the sense of touch.)

Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo are showing a fingertip-mounted sensing digitizer; it captures what‘s happening at a user‘s fingertip during various activities. This new fingertip-mounted device uses technologies such as a miniature thin-film force sensor, a tri-axial accelerometer, and a motion tracker.

You don‘t need to hold anything in your hand, nor does the touch technology require a screen. Think of it as electronic finger-painting. Will it be the breakthrough device to deliver that same sense of creative freedom many of us remember from our first finger-painting explorations?

For more info, visit this project summary page on the Siggraph site: click here