iFeelPixel download: What's new for version 1.3?

What's new? Download iFeelPixel TactileWare

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iFeelPixel™ version 1.3.4 (Compatible with Tactile Mobile and Novint Falcon)
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"The universal multimodal interface access: Interactive Accessibility via Haptic Technology"

In association with INRIA
(The French National Institute for research in Computer Science and Control)

Keywords: VibeTonz, Visual Force Feedback, Rumble Feedback, Tactile Mobile, Tactile Feedback, Auditory Feedback, Full Force Feedback, Multimodal Interface, Novint Falcon, samsung Omnia

(C) Copyright iFeelPixel Association, all rights reserved, protected by:
Inter Deposit Digital Number (IDDN) certificate from Agency for the Protection of Programs

- Tactile Mobile: Creates Tactile effects for your mobile phone with VibeTonz Technology.
To date, more than 65 million handsets with Immersion's high-fidelity, programmable haptics technology have shipped around the world.

iFeelPixel software lets mobile phone users design their own haptic effects to personalize touch feedback. Touch feedback makes the mobile phone user experience more sensory, intuitive, useful, fun and allows users to feel a computer screen anywhere. (v.1.0.0).

From its "Tactile Mobile" option, iFeelPixel lets users create personalized haptic effects through a graphical user interface based on the conventions of Immersion's VibeTonz(R) Studio authoring tool for developers. Users can modify wave shape, duration, and intensity to create distinctive vibrational patterns. These creations let users personalize their phone with unique haptic experiences.

Designed to make mobile communications more personal, natural and fun, Immersive Messaging is an experience that enables people to share emotions, thoughts, ideas and short pieces of information in real time through physical senses rather than simple text, using a shared physical space on their mobile device. A video demonstration of Immersive Messaging is available at http://www.immersion.com/immersive-messaging.html.

"Touch technology is the future of user experience for digital devices. By combining our proven haptics with advanced gestural technology, we are significantly advancing usability for all kinds of consumer electronics products, especially mobile phones and other portables," said Clent Richardson, chief executive officer of Immersion. "We're turning the science of haptics and gesture into revolutionary solutions for our partners and for consumers. The concepts we unveiled here today not only address fundamental challenges device makers face, but also point to an inevitable shift toward more natural, intimate and amusing digital connections to the people in our lives. Through our technology, our device partners can delight people in completely new and very personal ways.

Source: Immersion Demonstrates Future of Mobile User Experience at The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital Conference

Samsung's Haptic 2 Phone First to Use Immersion's VibeTonz® System for User Design of Touch Feedback

- New multimodal file menubar

I. Visual Force Feedback (To enable pseudo-haptic effects with a simple mouse)

II. Haptic feedback is divided into 4 parts:
1. Rumble Feedback (To enable Rumble effects for Nintendo Wiimote).
2. Vibro-Tactile Feedback (To enable Vibro-Tactile effects for Tactile Mobiles).
3. Tactile Feedback (To enable Tactile effects for TouchSense devices).
4. Force Feedback (To enable force effects for Novint Falcon).

III. Auditory Feedback is divided into 3 parts:
1. Sound Card Feedback
2. Internal Speakers
3. Narrator Voices

Multi-modal feedback including the sensation of touch proved to significantly increase speed and reduce error rates.

- We added the Z-axis in the Grip option and Texture option (Useful for 3D force feedback). (v.1.1.1)

- Color Detection: Haptic Force (Novint Falcon) and Tactile Duration Slider added (v.1.0.0)

- Color Detection: User can select between 4 methods of color generation (Intensity, Hue, Saturation, Luminance v.1.2.3)

- The new F-gen/NVeNt/HDAL Beta 3 is recommended and should be installed on your machine. The software can detect if the new Novint Driver is correctly installed on the machine. It runs even if latest HDAL files are not installed or missing.

- You can disable or enable gravity compensation directly from Novint Falcon Options.

- This version is fixing some issues between the cursor accuracy and Z-axis. Thus, Tactile sensations have been improved.

- The default force settings have been modified. We recommend to reset settings to default if you installed a previous version on your machine.

- The following features: Edge detection, Color detector, Tactile Grid, Texture generation and TONAR (windows attraction) have been updated and improved. The new tactile grid can be useful if others features cannot detect any pixel of interest (For example: overlay video).

- By default, all Novint buttons will not generate force feedback if a pression is detected (v.1.2.3)

- The user can choose between absolute grip position or relative grip position (Relative position is useful to know the grip direction).

The Novint Algorithm developed for iFeelPixel software is based on the Novint HDAL Programmer's Guide about Newton's second law and how to generate automatically force feedback effects (mass, mass-damper, spring-mass-damper and mass-acceleration).

It gives pretty good results and the mass effect is customizable by the user in every option. Thus, the buttons pressions are useful for drag-and-drop operation on screen. The usability has been improved and more people (blind and gamers) could be interested.

Falcon Commands:
- Uninitialize Falcon
- Initialize Falcon
- Control Mouse
- Gravity Compensation
- Clear Forces
- Force Settings
- Reset Falcon Settings

- New Automatic Force Feedback Checkbox:
Checked = the Force is automatically generated by the velocity or acceleration (Recommended)
Unchecked = Manual Force.

Mass is the quantity of inertia possessed by an object or the proportion between force and acceleration refered to in Newton's second law of Motion.

The force feedback is more consistent when "Mass" is selected. The others algorythms are based on the Grip speed value. If the speed is more than 0, the force is increased.

The force settings can be adjusted on the "Speed and Force settings" window, "Novint Falcon settings" window, feature options or strength slider.

- You can control Zoom Magnifier with Z-axis of the Novint Falcon
+ Possibility to disable/enable every axis (every axis can have his own Mass/Force).
+ Possibility to disable/enable every position.
+ Possibility to disable/enable every button.

- Use Novint Falcon 'Top Button' to:
+ Switch between Attraction, Normal, Repulsion (Primary effects).
+ Disable\Enable Mouse control
+ Switch between Mass, Damper, Spring and Acceleration (Secondary effects)
+ Show Shortcut Menu

- Novint Advanced Product Group:
Novint’s Advanced Products Group is building on Novint’s early success in the games market to build applications involving user interaction with 3D computer data, models or environments in other markets including medical & military simulation & training, simulation/visualization, geoscientific, architecture/design, automotive, and telerobotics.

The Value of Haptics
* Improved productivity & efficiency
* Engaging environment increases skill retention
* Improved interpretation and decision making
* Versatility & reconfigurability maximizes cost effectiveness

- Novint Falcon Hardware Requirement:
You need to buy a Novint Falcon to feel the Force Feedback with iFeelPixel. Please use our Novint Falcon Referral ''ifeelpixel'' (without the quotes) to get a special rebate (20%).

- The software can detect if the Novint Driver is correctly installed on the machine.

- Novint Falcon Calibration:
When starting this software, the Falcon shows a red light, which means that the controller is initiated but has not been calibrated. It does this each time a software is started. To calibrate: Push the handle as far as you can inwards towards the light display with the Novint logo. Pull the handle straight out against you. Repeat until the Novint logo turns blue.

Special thanks to Novint (Bill Anderson, Tom Anderson, Jonathan Miller, Christopher McGeorge) for the Novint Hardware and the haptic library.

- TONAR updated: cursor is attracted by windows, user can select any window size (v.1.2.3)

- TONAR direction detection optimized. This is useful to know the direction of the cursor (Horizontal: Right or Left, Vertical: Up or Down). This is also useful for Grid, Texture and visual force feedback. (v.1.0.0)

VibeTonz Commands:
- Reinitialize VibeTonz
- Enumerate devices
- Reset License Key
- Reset Mobile Settings
- Device Priority > See, Increase, Decrease Priority

- Disable Desktop Composition (Compatibility Fix for windows Vista and windows Seven (v.1.3.4)

- Interface optimized: Cursor Behavior added (User can determine the cursor speed) (v.1.3.3)

- Window detector improved: "High precision" checkbox added. It works with HWND (v.1.2.5)

- Compatibility improved for windows 7 (Application virtualization made with Boxedapp packer, side-by-side feature) (v.1.3.3)

- We added a new slider in the "Speed and force settings windows". This slider allows the software to decrease (slowly or quickly) the force when there is no pixel detected (v.1.2.3)

- Visual Force Feedback (Pseudo-haptic developed in collaboration with INRIA) motion is much more precise than before (decimal precision). (v.1.3.3)

That's mean iFeelPixel software can simulate realistic pseudo-tactile sensations without a haptic interface. Open File Menu > Visual Force Feedback (keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+ F1)

- "Speed and force settings" menu updated with "Disable enhance pointer precision" (v.1.2.5)and "Control Panel" (v.1.3.3)

- The following features: Edge detection, color detection (color selector), tactile Grid, Texture generation and TONAR (windows attraction) have been updated and improved for Novint Falcon (Force Feedback Hardware). We added the Z-axis in the Grid option and Texture option. (v.1.2.3)

- "Full screen" button added in "Limited Zone": switch between full screen or window (v.1.1.1)

- "Show shortcut Menu" Checkbox: Show icon Menu if the window is already selected (v.1.1.1)

. Tactile Feedback (TouchSense Technology) is disabled for Grid and Texture because Toolbar stop Immersion Effects (fixed v.1.3.4)

. Haptic Adapter is not correctly initialized before Restoring Novint Setting (fixed v.1.3.4)

. Small textures are not correctly functioning with the Novint Falcon (Still not fixed v.1.3.3)

. If a backup setting is deleted, its name is not deleted in List Box (fixed v.1.3.3)

. Visual Color does not reset correctly the cursor speed (It must be stopped directly without increase or decrease) (fixed v.1.3.0)

. Color and Novint Falcon: Problem occurs with force feedback when strentgh value is 30% (fixed v.1.3.0)

. Installation of F-gen/NVeNT/HDAL beta is recommended for Novint Falcon users. (v.1.2.4)

. Visual Force Feedback: the cursor speed is not correctly set if the value is under 1 (v.1.1.1).

. Installation of Immersion VibeTonz Studio is required for tactile mobile users (we are working with Immersion Corporation to offer an alternative solution). (v.1.0.0)

. Mobile devices names does not appear on Icon Systray, no vibetonz logo (v.1.0.0)

. Fatal Error (Novint Falcon): The dynamic link library 'FTD2XX.dll' could not be found (v.0.9.0).

· Narrator issue with windows Vista discovered: users cannot select the source of sound engine. The sounds are played on sound card, but they cannot be listened via speackers.

The ability to choose a different hardware or software MIDI synthesizer other than the default Microsoft GS Wavetable Software synth has been removed from the user interface for audio configuration in Windows Vista. A different output MIDI synth or output device port can be selected only by editing the registry.

Solution: Right-click on the Volume Mixer icon in the taskbar. That opens the sound settings window. The green “checkmark” should be on your Speakers device (which is attached to your sound card). Disable the other audio output engine listed in Playback Tab.

If an error occurs, you see an error description on screen and you have 3 choices:
ABORT (Abrupt termination of iFeelPixel program execution and iFeelPixel process running)
RETRY (Performs the action of retrying the action whose failure posted the DialogBox)
IGNORE (Ignore last error generated by iFeelPixel software)

Please be sure to review the list of known issues before submitting a
bug. But if you do find a problem that isn't included on the known
issues list, please let us know by reporting the bug:
http://www.ifeelpixel.com/mail/bug.php

-----------File Menu-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Force Ressource
- Speed and Force Settings (Force Safety for Novint Falcon and Timer Interval)
- Check software updates
- Stop all effects!

- Monitoring Selection
- Mouse limitation
- Startup with windows
- Saving/Exporting/Importing/Resetting/Deleting Settings

- Haptic feedback
--> Rumble Feedback
--> Vibro-Tactile Feedback
--> Tactile Feedback
--> Force Feedback

- Auditory Feedback
--> Sound Card Feedback
--> Internal PC speakers
--> Narrator Voices

- Multimodal (All)
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----------------------Toolbar--------------------------------------------------------------
- Edge detection
- Line detection
- Corner detection

- Keyboard Piano + American Sign Language
- Morse Engine + American Sign Language
- TONAR (Tactile Orientation Navigation And Ranging)
- Metronome System
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------------------------------View Menu---------------------------------------------------
- Main Display : Stay on top, center of screen, Opacity window, Disable Desktop Composition
- Modify iFeelPixel CPU priority
- Optimize Memory
- Control Panel
- TouchSense information
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