Any good FOSS projects for Smartboard or AR climbing wall?

Augmented Reality
1

Hi everyone,

I’m interested in creating a smartboard and maybe even something similar to an AR climbing wall setup like this:

I know there probably aren’t any fully completed open-source projects for this, but I’d love any advice on where to start! Also, if anyone has book recommendations to learn more about these types of projects, that would be awesome.

Thanks a ton!

  • Joe
2

Hey Joe, cool project idea! Have you looked into OpenHMD? It’s not directly a smartboard solution, but might have some tools you could adapt.

3

Thanks, TechyBuilder! I haven’t heard of OpenHMD—does it handle gesture tracking well?

4

It’s more about the display and sensor side of things, but with the right setup, you might be able to integrate gesture tracking. It’ll require a bit of coding, though!

5

Jumping in here—I’ve used OpenHMD before. It’s definitely versatile, but yeah, you’ll need to get creative with the tracking. Have you tried using a Kinect for gesture tracking? You could pair it with OpenHMD.

6

For something like a climbing wall, you might want to look into Project IRIS—it’s designed for tracking movements. Not fully open-source but still has some FOSS components. I’ve used it for VR projects.

7

Project IRIS sounds interesting! Is it straightforward to use, or would I need a lot of setup?

8

It’s fairly user-friendly but has a bit of a learning curve. It should be doable if you’ve got some programming knowledge. Plus, the community around it is super helpful!

9

I second this! IRIS is great, but you’ll probably also want to pair it with Unity or Unreal Engine for flexibility. Makes it a bit easier to customize the experience, especially for something like an AR wall.

10

Have you thought about looking into open-source projection mapping software? It might not be AR-specific, but for a climbing wall, it could be a fun alternative. Check out MapMap or Lightform for inspiration.

11

Interesting idea! I hadn’t thought about projection mapping. How complex is MapMap to set up?

12

MapMap is actually pretty straightforward and has a decent community around it. The only challenge is aligning everything perfectly on a 3D surface, but once it’s calibrated, you’re good to go!

13

For books, maybe check out ‘Practical Augmented Reality’ by Steve Aukstakalnis. It covers AR basics and some project ideas—might be helpful for your smartboard idea!

14

Thanks, Kate! That sounds like exactly what I need to get started.

15

Jumping in to say that’s a great book! It breaks down things pretty well if you’re starting out, plus some cool use cases for AR. Good luck with the project!