Touch Wall: Manipulating CAD data with just your hands

Many people remember the movie Minority Report. The movie is set in the future. Tom Cruise plays a police detective who prevents crime. While working on a case, he browses through a set of computer files. He does so by touching his fingers to a large-screen 3D image of file folders. He rifles through the folders by twiddling his fingers. It seems so real, but it is just a movie.

Well they are not kidding when they say life imitates art. Autodesk Labs and the Alias Team have been pleased to work with Jeff Han and his Touch Wall. Jeff Han is a research scientist for New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and is also the founder of Perceptive Pixel. You can see Autodesk Principal Consultant, Tom Wujec, manipulate a 3D model of an automobile using just his hands and the Perceptive Pixel Touch Wall. Now that's 3D.

For those who wish to download the video instead of watch it streamed from YouTube:

Download touchwall.mov (156945.8K)

At Autodesk Labs we're interested in cutting edge technology that pioneers new interfaces. In Autodesk Labs, not only do we use our minds, we use our hands. Exploring new ways for our customers to interact with design data is alive in the lab.