Sandbox alive : a media-enhanced sandbox based on a projector-camera system

• Main Author: Teo, Wen Qiang.
• Other Authors: Cham Tat Jen
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computing methodologies::Computer graphics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/17028
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Despite the proliferation of technologies, the realm of physical environment is never connected seamlessly with that of digital information. The motivation behind this project is to bring both of them together to achieve something more natural and intuitive way to interact with both the environment and computer. In this project, a physical sand box is set up for the users to play with. A projector and a camera are mounted above the box to detect users’ movement and the sand model. As the users mould the sand, the system could detect the changes and project animation on to the sand accordingly. The sand is being textured with various terrain imageries to simulate natural environments. Snow-capped mountains could appear at higher area of the sand, while the rest shows up as grassland. Occasionally, one could even observe a volcano eruption. Sound effects have also been added to enhance the overall experience. A simple game is developed to demonstrate possible practical application for the system. Each player takes up one corner of the sand box, and moulds the sand to define the game arena. With the markers, each player races to get as many bubbles across the landscape as possible. This report wraps up with a conclusion and some possible suggestions for future related works or improvements for continuation of this project.