Bluecadet Interactive

Creating an interactive installation involves a lot of planning. Without it, rookies and veterans alike can find themselves banging their head against the touchscreen wall. Things quickly pile up, whether it's the touch drivers acting up with the operating system or the A/V extenders not matching. But there’s hope: welcome to the first in a series of touchscreen tips blogs!

Part one is all about being prepared. It sounds obvious, but in the complicated world of interactive installations, the more you know about what you’ll need, the easier it is to get it, and the further ahead you look, the more smoothly the process will go. Here are some important things every installer should know, long before they start.

Starting out: things to consider about your Touch Screen

There are a dizzying array of touch screen/surface options available and each system, manufacturer, and underlying technology is drastically different. The best practice for choosing the right fit and avoiding later headaches is a top-down approach—what do you need your touchscreen to do?

Do you need a surface that is highly responsive, supports dragging and gestures, and that responds to a multitude of touches and multiple users? Or is your project simply a single tap-and-go? The key here is to do your research while planning the basics of your design.

Here are some places to start when looking for good hardware.
• If you’re looking for a single user screen with multi-touch for gesture support, http://www.nextwindow.com/ has some good screens with two points of touch.
• If you’re designing for multiple users, http://www.cybertouch.com/ offers multi-touch monitors with up to 32 simultaneous touches possible.
• If you’re creating for a single user with single touch, http://www.elotouch.com/ has some high quality single touch displays with a wide range of technology options.

Starting out: things to consider about your Computer

A touchscreen is only as good as its computer, and again, it all depends on what you need the interactive to do. You wouldn’t buy the same computer for a 3D artist as you would for your studio manager, nor would you get the same computer for a media-rich interactive as for a simple kiosk. The more graphic and video intensive your design, the more RAM and the faster processor you’ll need, and the better graphics card. If it’s a tamer installation, save yourself (or your client) some money and go for a less expensive video card, less RAM, and a slower processor.

Keep in mind that these computers may not be updated like a typical office computer, and sometimes that means the operating system and software are permanent fixtures of the exhibit. It’s a good investment to get the absolute latest software.

Starting out: things to consider about your AV Components

Those were the easy things; now it’s time to take care of the not-so-obvious ones. Little pieces like speakers, headphones and other audio components are easily overlooked. It’s extremely rare that the displays will be the devices that actually play the audio for the exhibit, so it’s vital to get the details on the speakers or other audio transmission devices as early on as possible.

The computers that drive interactive experiences are not always parked next to the displays they control. They’re often stashed on server rack in a wall somewhere or contained in a central control room that might be clear across the building, much too far for ordinary cables to transmit high-quality video and audio without distortion. In order to accommodate this setup, installers use Audio Visual Extenders to transmit data from the computers to the displays. These A/V extenders look like two small boxes, one that connects to the video card on the computer, and one that connects to the actual display. Then UTP (ethernet type) or fiber optic cable transmit the signal from one box to the other.

The important things to plan for are the distance the cable will travel from computer to display, and what type of extenders this distance necessitates. The farther the distance, the more likely you’ll need to use fiber optics between the extenders instead of UTP cable. Always plan a visit to the venue and measure the run of the cables from display locale to computer.

The Testing Environment

When you’re visiting the venue to measure, get a good look at the space and orientation the interactive will be occupying. Will you be setting up a kiosk in a dark corner? Will the display be mounted prominently on a wall? Properly setting up your testing environment is one of the most important things you can do to create a truly perfect installation.

This means
• using the actual touch screen and computer that will be installed in the exhibit space.
• having the Audio Visual Extenders hooked up,
• using the correct cable
• using the actual length of cable that will be spanning the distance from display to computer. Obviously there’s no need to actually set up your computer 2000 feet from the display, but using 2000 feet of cable, coiled up, will ensure install day goes that much smoother.
• Always mount the touch screen as it will be mounted in the exhibit space. The closer you have it to the actual height, angle, and orientation, the better you will be able to analyze how effective and intuitive for use the design is, and what you can do to make sure that the exhibit’s visitors experience the interactive as pleasantly as possible.

Navigating the Sharing Process

If you’re creating an interactive for a client or with a group, they might want to check in on the project; or you might just want to share the work in progress with others for feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately, it can be hard to share the interactive experience without the proper hardware. Sending an .SWF or other type of interactive file that allows clicking is nothing like enabling a test of the application with the users’ own fingers.

In a perfect world, the tester will also have a touchscreen and computer on their end and can experience the interactive as it is meant to be. Of course, it’s not a perfect world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t share your work. If you’re working with a group or for a client, traveling to them and setting up their environment exactly as you set up your own is not a waste of time. When they see and experience exactly what you do, trouble shooting suddenly becomes a breeze. When a mouse reactive version just isn’t enough (which is usually always), send a supplemental video of your team using the full version on the touchscreen along with the clickable .SWF.

Every exhibit and installation is different. There will always be special circumstances and requirements. The key is to approach each project with thoroughness and a top-down approach before you make any hard decisions. There’s so much to consider before starting an installation, and the more you account for things in advance, the smoother the install.

If you liked this, stay tuned! It’s the first in the series of Interactive Installation Insights.

Jason Grandelli @jasongrandelli