TUIO AS3: A Multi-Touch and Tangible User Interface Rapid Prototyping Toolkit for Tabletop Interaction

Multi-touch and tangible input paradigms provide new opportunities for post-WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) user interfaces. The development of such novel interfaces challenges designers and software developers alike. TUIO AS3 addresses these challenges by providing a toolkit for the rapid development of multi-touch and tangible user interface (TUI) interaction. The TUIO AS3 toolkit comprises two basic functionalities. Firstly, it offers a sophisticated multi-touch and TUI interaction API. Secondly, to foster the development process, TUIO AS3 is capable to simulate complex multi-touch and TUI interaction via mouse and keyboard. In terms of the interaction API, TUIO AS3 provides a wrapper for the network-based open source protocol TUIO in Adobe Flash’s programming language Actionscript 3 (AS3). TUIO AS3 allows to enhance user interface (UI) elements developed in AS3 with interactivity for gestural and tangible interaction. The interaction APIs support two kinds of interaction: On one hand, multi-finger/multi-hand controls for dragging, rotation and scaling can be added to any UI element to enhance it with standard multi-touch functionality. On the other hand, complex gestures can be defined with a simple grammar and tracked within TUIO AS3. In terms of simulation, TUIO AS3 offers means to simulate multitouch and TUI interaction without the need for an additional simulator application. Aspects like multi-finger flicking, multi-finger rotation and complex gestures are supported via keyboard and mouse interaction. Tangibles can be added, manipulated and removed. TUIO AS3 has been used and matured in several projects.