In this post, the second of my three-part series on LeapJS plugins, we’ll take a look at Proximity Alert, an audio feedback plugin which gives beeps based upon your hand position. It can be used in any app, and is fully open-source.
// Free and Open Source
There is a saying among web developers that goes something like this: “If you’re trying to do a thing, there’s a jQuery plugin that will do it.” Sometimes, it’s two. Or three. Although they can’t do everything, there’s no doubt that their module system has saved me hundreds of hours – and hundreds of thousands or more across the web collectively. Drawing from this, we’re excited to release a badass plugin system for LeapJS.
What do a Philips Hue bulb and the Leap Motion Controller have to do with each other? Nothing, until you start imagining how they can work together. Today, we’ll take a look at how I can control colors by waving my hand in the air.
I am working with the Leap Motion Controller and have come across a “soft area” in the API – there is not a direct bridge between the Unity web player and the Leap Motion Controller. This has to do with the fact that the Unity web player is “sandboxed” to prevent its having access to […]
As a truly 3D human interface, the Leap Motion Controller opens up a lot of possibilities for developers of all stripes. For modern designers, it means that we have to constantly rethink and tinker with a new way of interacting with computers. It can be frustrating. At this point, you might expect me to say […]
Enabling tap gestures with the TouchZone API is an effective way to allow quick interactions within your app. Tapping is fast and easy, and it’s a very familiar action to anyone who’s used a touchscreen. Here’s a brief guide on how to recognize a tap gesture, in a way that avoids needless complexity and synchronization […]
In my never-ending quest to figure out the ‘best’ way to interact with the Leap Motion Controller, I find a lot of my thoughts focusing on camera movements. In the case of the Universe of Sound, this meant flying from galaxy to galaxy by holding your hand flat, but I also wanted to explore other methods of camera movements.
Data is beautiful, there is no denying it. It might be hard to see this beauty when its in a JSON file or *shudders* an Excel spreadsheet, but data is immaculate. For me, one of the most exciting parts of the Leap Motion Controller is that it allows access to near-infinite data.
Creating interfaces is really difficult. It’s especially difficult when you are making interfaces for something that has not been researched before. The way you interact with the computer is different if you are using a trackpad, mouse, or touchscreen – and especially a Leap Motion Controller. Some actions are easier, and others are harder, so each interface should be made with these restrictions and freedoms in mind.
What wouldn’t have been possible without the Leap Motion Controller?
Every time I start a new project, this is the first question I ask myself. The answer is of course infinite, but to try and parse that infinity into a simple answer is always more difficult than I first expect. Many times, I’ll try to think about what another application looks like in ‘Leap Space’. For example, think about the game Snake. It may be the most simplistic application in the world, but what exactly would it look like in ‘Leap Space’?