Overview

- It is important to be systematic and to use tactics when exploring a virtual space.

Tactile interfaces enable the user to build a cognitive map and they make the screen more concrete.

A tactile interface enables the user to improvise and be more creative.

- With a haptic computer interface, a blind person can play haptic computer games, learn mathematics by

tracing touchable mathematical curves, and gain better access to graphical user interfaces like Windows.

- Point interaction haptics: The basic method for calculating forces for the interface is based on point interaction.

This means that the user is modeled as a single (infinitesimal) point in the virtual world.

This is obviously a simplification but it is still a very common method since it makes the computations simpler while it still affords a very good haptic illusion.

- iFeelPixel software makes universally accessible all the web content and graphical environment via the senses of vision, touch and hearing.

It is a multimodal human-computer interface designed to create visual, auditory and haptic sensations based on image or pictures elements (Pixel).

It offers a multisensory immersive environment for any application (Text, Pictures, Flash movies, Games, 3D ...)

- Use this while using your desktop computer, playing games, watching websites, or simply leave it running in the background while using any Windows program.

Any pictures elements generated by your computer and being under your cursor position on screen, will be represented with some subjective sensations:

- Visual sensation or pseudo-haptic sensation (cursor pointer will move slower or faster on screen)

- Auditory sensation (Sound card, internal PC speakers, Narrator voices, MIDI synthesizer)

- Haptic sensation (Immersion TouchSense device, Novint Falcon, Tactile Mobile, WiiMote).

- iFeelPixel works in parallel with existing access technology regardless of disability:

- Sighted people can use the visual force feedback to visualize the data while blind and visually impaired people can use the sound or tactile feedback to extract informations.

- Automatic conversion of graphics to pseudo-haptics and haptics that will make even the pure graphics on the Internet accessible to low vision and blind users.

- iFeelPixel is a software that allows a user to feel the pixels on the screen with visual force feedback, haptic feedback and auditory feedback at a time.

It engages your sense of touch for a more natural, intuitive experience. Feeling is believing!

For detailed description and suggestions to try, please visit:

http://www.ifeelpixel.com/description/

For screenshots and movies, please visit:

http://www.ifeelpixel.com/screenshots/

For requirements to run iFeelPixel on your machine, please visit:

http://www.ifeelpixel.com/download/#requirements

The IT Potential of Haptics - touch access for people with disabilities:

http://www.certec.lth.se/doc/touchaccess/TouchAccess.pdf

http://www.certec.lth.se/doc/touchaccess/TouchAccess.txt

http://www.certec.lth.se/doc/touchaccess/TouchAccess-Appendix.pdf

"Tactile Images": feeling the relief of images