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This program allows you to use the Wii Remote (Wiimote) to turn any surface into a Low-Cost Interactive Whiteboard. It is based on Johnny Lee’s original WiimoteWhiteboard program that is written in C# and available for Windows only. My program uses Java to allow for (some) platform-independence. I also provide a Mac-only version since I’m a Mac user and this is, up to my knowledge, currently the only such program for the Mac. For Windows only, Boon Jin has enhanced Johnny’s software and created the shareware program Smoothboard. There is also a SourceForge project that provides other implementations, but it is not getting much attention.
Check out the video and the other cool projects at Johnny Lee’s page if you have no idea what I’m talking about 
.
Features in a nutshell
- Open source
- Runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
- Simple User Interface available in English, Estonian, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovene, and Spanish
- Camera Monitor and Calibration Details for better Wiimote placement
- Auto-connects up to 2 Wiimotes
- Right-click support, double-click assistance
- Mouse cursor smoothing
- Screen selection
- Touchpad Mode
- Update notification
- TUIO/OSC support for multitouch applications
More details in the Wiki.
Download (1.0.3)
Some example videos
Documentation & Support
You can post your comments, bug reports, feature requests, etc. at the bottom of this page. The latest documentation is available in the Wiki. You can also find out how you can help.
The wiimoteproject.com forums are a great resource for everything Wiimote. You may use this subforum to discuss everything related to my software. The Smoothboard Wiki also contains useful information for setting up your interactive whiteboard.
Infrared pens
You need a source of infrared (IR) light to use the software. Many people build their own IR pens for that purpose, usually by retrofitting some sort of marker. You’ll find all you need to know here. I started with a simple IR pen made from a battery clip.
There are also IR pens for sale if you don’t want to build one yourself. Several vendors sell different models, the IR Pen marketplace is a good place to get an overview.
You can use the coupon code uwe if you buy from IRPensOnline.com. This will give you a discount of $2 and I’ll get $1.
Compatibility
I only heard of few problems on Mac OS X, using the built-in stack. I also got reports from users who got the program running on Windows using either the Widcomm or BlueSoleil stack. It seems like Widcomm works better, see this post about BlueSoleil. You need to use the BlueZ stack on Linux, see the Wiki or this post for further instructions.
Issue on PowerPC Macs (excerpt from the WiiRemoteJ-README):
Note for Mac OS X PowerPC (PPC) users: you will have to delete the Wii Remote from your previous devices list in System Preferences->Bluetooth->Devices after each connection (every time you connect a given Wii Remote). Even then, the outgoing connection will still fail every other time. There is some sort of bug relating to HCI devices and Apple’s library. Luckily, it was fixed for the Intel Macs.
Further details can be found in the Wiki or the help files bundled with the application.
Follow-up on this previous post: I talked it over with a Wacom employee and we came to the conclusion that it must indeed be a bug in Apple’s Java implementation. Hence, I filed a bug with Apple’s Bug Reporter (ID# 5926366).
The bad news is there’s no workaround other than writing my own “Robot class” to manipulate the mouse cursor on Mac OS X. I don’t want to do this since it would force me to use platform-dependent code…
Uwe
Back in the days of my old Dell lappie, I had serious issues with my Bluetooth stack. I googled and found a way to hack the Widcomm stack and drivers to work with my BT adapter. You might want to check that out.
I tried out the new version this morning, and it looks great, especially the new icon. Even better, the Reset Wiimote button seems to be working now! It took a few tries to make it work, but work it did.
Hopefully I’ll have time today to try out the dual-wiimote setup.
I just downloaded the newest version of the software, and maybe I’m just lucky, but the calibration seems so much better! My mouse control was dead on. I am a teacher at a high school in Colorado, and because of the work that you and Johnny Lee (and my tech coordinator friend) have done in making this technology accessible to the masses, my students think that I have just become the smartest man in the world. I have repeatedly told them that I deserve no credit for what they are seeing, but since no one else here is using this technology they think I am a genius. I just wanted to thank you for your work, and you should know it is appreciated on many levels. Suddenly I’m not as boring as I used to be, go figure.
Hey everyone,
I’m working on an IR pen with a push-to-write tip (I see it was discussed above a bit back). I’ve bought one of these http://web1.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Pushbuttons_-z-_Switches_-z-_Indicators/22mm_Metal/Illuminated_Pushbuttons_Flush_-a-_Extended/LED/GCX1211-24L. It has a replaceable LED for the lighting, so hopefully I’ll be able to replace it with an IR LED and be able to make a simple, but nice looking pen… I’ll let you guys know how it goes.
Hi meelash, you may want to check out this post.
Uwe
Hi Eric,
What exactly is better now? The little icons? I didn’t expect much of a difference using a single Wiimote.
Enjoy it as long as you can
Uwe
Cool, that’s another ingenious idea… Didn’t think of that one. I’ll post some pics of mine if it works out.
I don’t see how to connect 2 wiimotes. Is there something special I need to do? I start the program and it starts normally, but only one of the little boxes lights up. I tried this several times, and sometimes it would switch from one wiimote to the other.
OOPS! While writing this post, I decided to look in the preferences. The preferences had the answer. Duh.
Also, when I quit the program it tells me “The application WiimoteWhiteboard quit unexpectedly.” It gives me the option to report, but I never do, being used to Windows as I am.
Thanks for a great piece of software.
Hi Descalzo,
how does it work for you with 2 Wiimotes?
Yes, the program only supports one Wiimote with the default settings. You have to select the number of Wiimotes to use in the preferences. The reason for this is explained in the preferences window itself and the included help.
Does that always happen? If yes, please send me the “Problem Details”.
Uwe
With the previous software I had to learn where best to hit the little “cross-hairs” to get the best result when trying to “click” on things. With this latest version I just hit the center of the cross-hairs and my mouse pointer was exactly at the end of my IR pen. I guess I just assumed you improved the sensitivity with the update, but maybe that is a bad assumption. For some of the programs that I run in my class (Geometry Sketchpad, Geogebra, etc.) my pen needs to be very precise, and yesterday I was more accurate then I have ever been, and this was true every time that had to restart for each class. So I thought that was part of the upgrade, if not I have no idea why I was suddenly more accurate, but I’m not going to complain! Thanks again!!!
I made a video, showing some of the new features: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmdLubEhTYw
Watch it in high quality to see the details…
Uwe
Hi,
I have a new ‘kind of DIY’…
Look at it here:
Inside my IR Pen!
Francisco (waiting for a 2nd wiimote -of a fiend- to test…)
I have been using this software in my classroom, and it is working sweetly. I am using a simple led torch, with the led swapped out for an ir led.
But I’ve been reading a bit tonight about the whole multi touch possibilities, especially with flash, and am getting increasingly confused. Are there any easy to follow instructions about using this software / wii remote to connect to other programs via the TUIO data?
Cheers, Matt
Has anyone tried this on Windows with the Toshiba stack? Just wondering.
I have briefly tested on a Sony VAIO with Toshiba stack but failed.
Descalzo wrote:
This is due to a newer version of the BlueCove Bluetooth library, that I (accidently) included with version 0.9.6. The problem seems to occur only on Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.11 was tested). I changed the current version to again use the older library (and fixed a minor bug that most people won’t notice). Since I didn’t bump the version up, you won’t get an update notification.
Please re-download the application if you’re experiencing this problem.
Uwe
Hi Matt,
I just got in contact with the multitouch and TUIO stuff when someone requested the feature. You should get an idea how it works by reading the posts starting here.
The flow goes something like this: WiimoteWhiteboard sends out cursor information according to the TUIO/OSC protocol (as UDP packets). The multitouch software needs to receive and process the TUIO/OSC messages. The Flash multitouch apps cannot directly receive UDP packets, hence a converter (Flosc) is required.
There are also other (not necessarily multitouch) apps that can process OSC messages.
Excerpt from the WiimoteWhiteboard Help:
Uwe
I redownloaded the new version, and it worked wonderfully! Thanks.
Hey just wondering if you could help me in using this setup with the built in inkwell handwriting software for Mac. By editing the Ink.prefpane (Info.plist) I can get the Ink preferences to show up in System Preferences. But Ink recognizes the pen as a normal mouse and doesn’t let it write onto the screen. Hopefully I can edit this to a point where it works and if i do i’ll post instructions here. Any advice, please help out.
Great job Uwe on developing the application
Could you be more specific about what/where you changed to get the Ink Preference Pane? I know if you go to /System/Library/Components/Ink.component/Contents/SharedSupport/ and then load InkServer it shows up, but I’m not sure if it remains after restart?
Unfortunately, I’m not sure about the ultimate possibility of this working, because of the “pressure” bug that was mentioned above in this thread. According to this article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107262 it seems that Inkwell relies pretty heavily on the pressure setting from the Wacom software driver. But if changing settings in the Wacom software can change the pressure reading the system sees, shouldn’t Wiimote Whiteboard be able to do the same thing?
(already posted in the forum at
http://www.wiimoteproject.com/other/!!!-wiimote-whiteboard-virtual-keyboard-!!!/)
I made this mockup of a simple and prety virual keyboard to use with Wiimote Whiteboard in the classrooms.
http://clinik.net/wiimote/wiimote_keyboard.php
http://clinik.net/wiimote/wiimote_keyboard.php
After search and search I found only 2 or 3 virtual keyboards for mac.
And all not so simple and not so prety.
And none of them freeware.
Please! Become a hero!!!
Turn this mockup reatity!!!
I can help with graphics stuff…
And thanks in advance
Have you tried the system’s keyboard palette (Keyboard Viewer)?
It’s not so bad, but doesn’t feature “sticky” modifier keys so you can’t enter a command key shortcut for example.
Thanks Johan!!!
And believe me… I didn’t know that Mac OS already have a “Keyboard Viewer”…
About Keyboard Viewer:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/9024.html
(and if Keyboard Viewer not appear in the Input menu or in International preferences:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307354 )
Although, I ready think there is a place for this virtual keyboard!
Hi Uwe,
First, nice job and many thanks for developing this program for Mac. I’m trying to convince the school at which I teach to use this instead of investing $2K to $5K on vendor boards.
One feature that teachers like about the vendor boards is that one can create a virtual overlay over powerpoint or keynote slides and write on it. The overlay can be removed when one wants to advance the frame.
There are a few earlier posts that allude to this capability, but I didn’t see if it got resolved. Have you been working on this, or do you know of anyone who has?
Again, thanks for all your work. It’s just terrific.
– Jeff
I think you can use SMART Notebook to do that, but, as someone pointed out, it is of dubious legality. I read the license agreement, and it sounds like since I’m not another manufacturer, it should be okay. I guess this is justification, but someone on the WiimoteWhiteboard forums has actually contacted SMART about this and is awaiting word.
Here’s a link to the post about the legality of SMART Notebook with this apparatus:
http://www.wiimoteproject.com/wiimote-whiteboard/school-experiences/msg3466/#msg3466
Jeff
I think there are more applications like this, but try Desktastic.
http://www.panic.com/desktastic/
Here are a few more drawing apps I’ve found, more or less useful:
DeskDoodle.app
Doozla.app
Paintbrush.app
Rita (not compatible due to pressure sensitivity)
Scriboard
Skitch.app (favourite!)
Tux Paint 0.9.19
I am using two apps at the moment that are free draw over programs. They are ‘Highlight’ and ‘ScribbleScreen’.
A quick google should find them both. I think I prefer ‘Highlight’ better at the moment.
Cheers, MattThomas