Re: Feature proposal: Alternative input system based on low-cost webcam

[Stefan Sauer <ensonic hora-obscura de>]

On 10/21/2011 06:28 PM, Piñeiro wrote:
> Description
> =======
>
> Some physically impaired users are not able to use the mouse, so an
> alternative input system is required. web-cams are a really common and
> cheap device these days (most of modern laptops include it), so one
> option is use a webcam to track the motion of any object visible by the
> camera and moves the mouse cursor according to the path of the tracked
> object (a user's head, for example).
>
>
> Module proposed
> ===========
>
> In order to fulfill this feature, we propose eViacam (Enable Viacam) [1].
>
> eViacam is a mouse replacement software that moves the pointer as you
> move your head. It works on standard PCs equipped with a web camera. No
> additional hardware is required. Based on the award winning Facial Mouse
> software.
>
> eViacam is a mature tool, with several years of development, with a user
> base, and active help forums. It was also reported that it works fine
> with other GNOME related modules like Dasher.
>
>
> Owner
> ====
>
> César Mauri
>
>
> Involved parties
> ==========
>
> Accessibility team
>
>
> Current Status
> =========
>
> As I said on the module proposal this is an already mature tool, so
> towards 3.4 the basic issues is about the integration with GNOME.
>   * Repositories: right now it is on sourceforge. This shouldn't be a
> blocker thought.
>   * Bugzilla: pending (but probably we should wait until this feature is
> approved)
>   * Look and feel: some people could not agree with current interface
> [2]. This shouldn't be a blocker thought.
>
> And finally, the main concern could be about the graphical toolkit.
> eViacam uses wxWidgets [3][4], in order to ensure a native look and feel
> on both Windows and Linux systems. wxGTK is the most common wxWidgets
> port, meaning that it will be using Gtk+ native widgets wherever
> possible. This feature proposal would include the proposal of wxWidgets
> as a external dependency.
>
>
> Note
> ===
>
> In addition to wxwidgets, eViacam has also dependencies with opencv and
> libv4l1, that should be included as external dependencies.
>
>
> [1] http://eviacam.sourceforge.net/eviacam.php
Do people using it have two webcams - one for the screennavigation and
one for videocalls? Just wonder if someone has thought about the
resource clash here.

Stefan


> [2] http://sourceforge.net/projects/eviacam/#screenshots
> [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wxwidgets
> [4] http://wxwidgets.org/
>
>