Ractiv Touch+, new motion tracking pointing device

[argcargv]

Has anyone seen this: https://www.ractiv.com/

I am going to do a short review on how well it works after I get my unit.
It seems my hand can finally never leave the home row.

One problem is that currently it does not support convex or concave surfaces so I can't use it with my Kinesis Advantage
But I will be using it on an ergodox.

[daerid]

That looks really, really cool.

My biggest gripe with many of the hand-tracking systems is that they require moving your hands so far away from the keyboard, or holding them up in an unnatural and tiring position, not to mention then having to wave them around like a mad man. Being able to treat the space just above your keyboard as a touchpad is very appealing.

[argcargv]

yes, leap motion was a big disappointment because of having to wave like a mad men

[argcargv]

the technology tracks the depth of each finger, so convex or concave surfaces can be made to work in a software updatw, in the future.

[engicoder]

I've tried a few different devices of this sort and the problem with all of them, and gesture enabled track pads to a degree, is predictability. If I use a mouse or a trackpoint, the behavior I get is predictable and consistent. These devices are a crap shoot. Even if they correctly interpret the gesture 99 times out of 100, you have to be vigilant against that one error. That interferes with the normal speed and efficiency boost you get from muscle memory and disrupts your thought process.
My other beef with them is the lack of tactile feedback. If I click a button, I feel the click. That does not exist with all this hand waving.

[SonOfSonOfSpock]

I'm skeptical about this knowing whether you were typing or not and misinterpreting your typing as the mouse movements. All they show in the promotional video is people doing the mouse movements with no typing.

[islisis]

what gestures are you hoping to implement with this? will it cover both sides of the ergodox, or at different tilt angles?

in an ideal world i think a solution like this would be more consistent
http://www.cnet.com.au/microsoft-keyboard-prototype-integrates-gesture-control-339347151.htm

[argcargv]

I've tried a few different devices of this sort and the problem with all of them, and gesture enabled track pads to a degree, is predictability. If I use a mouse or a trackpoint, the behavior I get is predictable and consistent. These devices are a crap shoot. Even if they correctly interpret the gesture 99 times out of 100, you have to be vigilant against that one error. That interferes with the normal speed and efficiency boost you get from muscle memory and disrupts your thought process.
My other beef with them is the lack of tactile feedback. If I click a button, I feel the click. That does not exist with all this hand waving.

This is a good point

[argcargv]

I'm skeptical about this knowing whether you were typing or not and misinterpreting your typing as the mouse movements. All they show in the promotional video is people doing the mouse movements with no typing.

Found a few more videos online

https://www.youtube.com/user/ractivtech

[argcargv]

what gestures are you hoping to implement with this? will it cover both sides of the ergodox, or at different tilt angles?

in an ideal world i think a solution like this would be more consistent
http://www.cnet.com.au/microsoft-keyboard-prototype-integrates-gesture-control-339347151.htm

I think my ideal setup would be to make the pointing device as modular as possible, instead of hardwired into a keyboard.

The only motions I need is to be able to point, click, and scroll documents. For any precise movement when using a graphical tool, I would always use a mouse.

I want to use it with my left hand(I use my mouse with my right hand). Some my right hand can have a rest when I am just browsing the internet.

this is my current setup

[jacobolus]

I've tried a few different devices of this sort and the problem with all of them, and gesture enabled track pads to a degree, is predictability. If I use a mouse or a trackpoint, the behavior I get is predictable and consistent. These devices are a crap shoot. Even if they correctly interpret the gesture 99 times out of 100, you have to be vigilant against that one error. That interferes with the normal speed and efficiency boost you get from muscle memory and disrupts your thought process.
My other beef with them is the lack of tactile feedback. If I click a button, I feel the click. That does not exist with all this hand waving.

There's one other big problem: latency.

The input lag on the devices like this that I’ve seen is much higher than e.g. a mouse, trackpad, or iPad surface.

[islisis]

The only motions I need is to be able to point, click, and scroll documents. For any precise movement when using a graphical tool, I would always use a mouse.

i see, thanks!
the one gesture i would like that couldn't be achievable with a trackpoint mod is one-handed use detection. it would be great to be able to automatically activate a layer whenever the other hand is away using the mouse etc.

[argcargv]

It would be great to be able to automatically activate a layer whenever the other hand is away using the mouse etc.
[/quote]

I think this is a great idea!
I think currently the Touch+ is disabled as soon as you start typing. So maybe it can be easy to program the reverse into the software so as soon as you start "mousing", the keyboard layer changes.

[berserkfan]

what gestures are you hoping to implement with this? will it cover both sides of the ergodox, or at different tilt angles?

in an ideal world i think a solution like this would be more consistent
http://www.cnet.com.au/microsoft-keyboard-prototype-integrates-gesture-control-339347151.htm

I think my ideal setup would be to make the pointing device as modular as possible, instead of hardwired into a keyboard.

The only motions I need is to be able to point, click, and scroll documents. For any precise movement when using a graphical tool, I would always use a mouse.

I want to use it with my left hand(I use my mouse with my right hand). Some my right hand can have a rest when I am just browsing the internet.

this is my current setup

Show Image

what does that thing on top of your kinesis do? is that a platform for your mouse?

[Input Nirvana]

Look forward to your review, seems to be the best incarnation of that type of technology I've seen. The latency on the video didn't seem like much, but in actual use it may be much more noticeable.

Of course none of this applies to me being a Kinesis user (curved key well).

[jacobolus]

Look forward to your review, seems to be the best incarnation of that type of technology I've seen. The latency on the video didn't seem like much, but in actual use it may be much more noticeable.

Really? To me the video looks like it has about a half second of latency. (Which for me personally is way too much. I want like 50 milliseconds tops, ideally more like 10-20 ms.)

[Input Nirvana]

I saw a point at which there may have been more noticeable latency, but honestly I probably wouldn't notice much on the video until I had my meat hooks in action. I've had too much latency on a bluetooth keyboard, so I'm as picky as the next geek.

The review will be a "tell-all tale" fa sho.

[argcargv]

what does that thing on top of your kinesis do? is that a platform for your mouse?

It is the apple magic trackpad on top of a plastic platform on top of the keyboard