MONKEYmedia - TECHNOLOGY: XOI

TECHNOLOGY : XtraOrdinary Interactions

XtraOrdinary Interactions^TM (XOI - pronounced "choi") is the first commercially available release of technology from the MONKEYmedia interface toolkit. It's a set of cross-platform Virtual Force Feedback^TM tools that plug into Macromedia Director to assist multimedia authors and developers with implementing custom interpretations of user-input devices. It supports more flexible, creative and communicative interactions in games, virtual environments, online and other interactive information spaces. By moving timing-critical user-interaction routines from Lingo into C++, XtraOrdinary Interactions facilitates a tight feedback loop between the participant and the content.

Beach

This image depicts a beach scene where gravel, oil, sand and water all have movement resistances that relatively map to those one might find in the physical world. On gravel, movement is normal; on sand, movement is uniformly slowed; in water, movement away from the shore is slowed; and on oil, movement is multiplied by the slickness of the oil. The authoring control panel is used to adjust friction for specific screen areas.

Calculator

This image shows a child's calculator with big buttons and big spaces between each button. The solution being solved here is one of reducing the chances of accidentally clicking in the space between the buttons. The area around each button pulls the cursor onto the closest button and repels the cursor when leaving a button; end result being a snap-to button feel. There's no effect once in the "safe zone" of the button itself.

Motorcycle

This image shows a screen that affords no obvious visual cues for hotspots in order to maintain a clean visual feel. So, a magnetic field is added around each of the three hotspots to subtly pull the cursor in when in proximity, letting browsers know where they can go. It pulls harder when moving toward the target, and to a lesser degree when moving away. The decay radii specify the width and height from center of the safe zone to the point of no effect.