The Motion Tracker--my final project for CS 402L--is 1) a program that detects the position, velocity, and acceleration of an object based on color and 2) a tangible object launcher & protractor for angle-detection.

Teaser photo:…

Materials:

• computer
• webcam or external USB camera
• a whiteboard (or other large, flat, magnetic surface of a single color)
• 24" X 18" X 1/8" acrylic sheet (optional: acrylic of some other color)
• acrylic glue
• hot-melt glue
• vinyl stickers of three distinct bright colors (alternative: any other flat gluable material in these colors)
• 7 small (0.5" diameter or less) circular magnets, medium…

On the software side, I have moved forward on goals from last time:

• entire UI is more intuitive--buttons are fully functional even while videos are playing, and no awkward keyboard hacks are required
• resilience to basic user errors (not selecting a file when asked to, entering a poorly-formed integer, pressing "Play"…

• Raster paint: Use acrylic paint, let it dry, then scratch off with another piece of acrylic
  
  

     If you're trying to add a second color to a raster image on a piece of acrylic, getting the color to stay can be difficult. Shane suggests using a squeegee and avoiding acrylic/other tools for scraping off paint as this scratches the…