Po-Motion+Setup


 * __Po-Motion__**

This page will focus how you can use some software called Po-Motion to create an interactive wall display. Po-Motion is a piece of software that was available for free, however they have stopped this and there is a small charge around £20 to purchase the software ( though you can trial the software for 30 days). It allows you to create an interactive wall or floor display by just using a web-cam, projector and computer.

Anyway rather than me write about it I have made a video showing how we have set up Po-Motion and some of the scenes you can use with this.

media type="youtube" key="xCLIObWorDQ?rel=0" height="360" width="640"

Areas for thought -
 * Positioning of camera – From installing the system, we found the positioning of the camera was very important in getting the best reaction from the display. Rather than pointing the camera at the wall, it needs to be positioned where the student will be standing or sitting so that it can detect the movement. Also in our setup we have the camera facing the display – another setup would be to have the camera facing the student. This is something we might change after we have gone through testing with the students.
 * Lighting – for the camera to pick up movement there needs to be a little bit of light. In the dark, it is very difficult to pick up movement unless using an infra-red camera. (Po-Motion also do a version of the software that works with IR cameras)
 * Web camera vs Kinect – something which we are thinking about is getting a Microsoft Kinect for the sensory room. The Kinect is more sophisticated camera and would allow us to have different pieces of software running for one bit of equipment. Also in the dark environment of a sensory room it would pick up movement far better especially when using the IR version of the software. This is something we are looking to set in the near future so will keep you posted on this.