For the first-ever CDM + New Work City hackday, held in celebration of Internet Week in New York, we’ll be creating a tangible interface called the Trackmate. Whether you’re experimenting with music, visuals, new ways of navigating the Web, games, or just want to mess around, this inexpensive interface lets you quickly create a system by which you can track physical objects to control your computer.

Here’s a quick view of how to get started, from the Trackmate team:

Trackmate :: 5 ways to get started from adam kumpf on Vimeo.

More information at:
http://trackmate.sourceforge.net/

All of the software is completely open source. The fun part is making the interface — combining a webcam, lighting, and some fun physical objects in whatever form factor you desire. (The objects can be whatever you want, too, so long as you can affix the marker tags to them. We’ll be printing those from a standard printer, so any creative ideas about objects are welcome. Zucchini, perhaps?)

The creators of this project have already got a couple of alternative ways of making a cheap Trackmate, which they’ve posted on Instructables. We’ll also have a special Internet Week edition of the project we will unveil in May, with tutorial information and a bill of materials – though other ideas are welcome, too.

Where you can really make this your own is choosing which software you connect to it. Some past experience with the open-source coding library Processing or Java is therefore encouraged, though even basic Processing skills should be fine.

Stay tuned to this site for more ideas on this project.