IR pen control

The combination of two interaction techniques on one projection surface - IR (infrared) light pens and body motion uses innovative algorithms developed by LavaVision (founder of the motioncube.io). They were result of one of the research and development projects run by LV. Elaborated interactive modules allow to obtain a multi-interactive surface with full precision of IR pens.

Find out more...

A use case description of IR pen control can be found on the Motioncube homepage in the section Solutions > Control methods > IR Pen Control.

Direct link: https://pro.motioncube.io/tech/ir-pen-control

The operating principle in a nutshell

  • Motioncube built-in IR pen control works with a camera that needs to be mounted next to the projector.
  • Use the IR pens which emits infrared light.
  • From a practical point of view, the whole setup works similarly to using IR pens on interactive whiteboards. Motioncube allows you to combine on one interactive surface the interactive floor mode (motion control) with the interactive whiteboard mode (control with IR pens).
  • A necessary condition for this control to work on the projection surface is that the camera can see the infrared light emitted by the pen. For this purpose, you shall remember to select the IR pen in terms of the emitted wavelength of light that your camera will see.

Requirements

To enable IR light pen control on the projection surface, your hardware configuration should meet the following conditions:

  • Requires a camera that can only see in the infrared range (cannot see visible light).
  • Infrared light must not fall on the projection area.

Exact guidelines

A detailed list of requirements can be found on the following subpages of the documentation, in particular in the Camera selection > Explanation requirements > Pen control.

Recommendations

Set up your working environment so that the projector is mounted on the side of the projection surface. The camera should also be mounted on the side (optimally next to the projector) so that it can observe the infrared light emitted by the pen when it touches the floor or other surface.

IR pen control will work correctly for these two configurations showed on the Working Environment page: