SmoothBoard 1.6 is Awesome!

We are continually impressed with the work of Boon Jin and his latest version of the SmoothBoard software is no exception! SmoothBoard 1.6 comes with an outstanding feature that he has called 'SmoothConnect'. Once installed, all the user has to do is click on the desktop icon, put the wiimote in discoverable mode, and the software does all the rest. This feature moves the whole wiimote interactive whiteboard system onto an equal footing with other commercial products.

The only catch is that SmoothConnect is configured to work with standard Microsoft Bluetooth. Boon Jin has done this because of the very wide range of Bluetooth software in the market which all have their own particular requirements. The easiest way to ensure your computer is using the Microsoft version, if you're a 'non-techy' user, is to simply plug in a small Bluetooth dongle (pictured above) and let Windows find and install it (sorry Mac users, SmoothBoard and SmoothConnect are written for Windows based computers). 3pi can supply you with a dongle that will work or you can source your own. We are so impressed with this new development that we are now going to add a dongle to our kits so that customers can have the simplest software solution possible. (Our kits include a licensed copy of SmoothBoard with SmoothConnect.)

Cursor jumping around?

If you have this problem, or during calibration the four calibration marks seem to click themselves, it highly likely that there is too much infrared light in the room. When using SmoothBoard, you can easily check this with their calibration assistant. At the bottom of the image to the left, it says, "IR dots". There should not be any number by this until you use your pen. Try clicking on your projected image (with the software running), and look at the "IR dot" count. It should show "1" when you click and nothing when the pen is off. You will also see a little dot on the white tracked area. This dot matches where your pen is clicking on the screen - very handy thanks Boon Jin and SmoothBoard! If there are dots floating about when you haven't clicked, you either need to lower/remove the source of the stray IR light or use the software control panel to turn down the sensitivity of the wiimote's camera. To do this you click on "Show settings", then "Wiimote" after which you can experiment with levels. Earlier posts that we have made on this subject are - Fluorescent lights, Crazy mouse.