Sideshow: a Silhouette-based Interactive Dual-screen Environment

In this paper, we present a new multi-screen interactive environment. The system extracts a silhouette of the participant for driving the interaction using a method that overcomes the inherent problems associated with traditional chroma-keying, background subtraction, and rear-light projection methods. We present an approach for generating a robust silhouette of the participant using specialized infrared lighting while not making the underlying technology apparent to those interacting within the system. The design also enables video projection screens to be placed in front of and behind the user without interfering with the silhouette extraction process. The framework itself is a portable system which can act as a re-usable infrastructure for many interactive projects.