Flare

Flare is a Flash library that allows users to create some very interesting visualizations. Although we've decided that the video analysis software will be written in C++ for numerous reasons, I thought it would be interesting to explore how difficult it would be to develop a timeline visualization for someone who has had no prior experience working in Flash.

I spent a few hours going through the Flare tutorial (which is VERY straightforward). I was impressed at how quickly I could prototype something. After the tutorial, I tried to generate a few timelines of data. While the sample data worked fine, I realized that it would take a good deal of additional coding in order to create a Flash front-end for the video analysis tool. Since all the image processing for multi-touch is happening in C++, I already have access to the tracked blobs.

At least for now, I think I will hold off on Flare, although I am really lured by the attractive visualizations it provides. One good thing about tbeta (or reacTIVision or BBTouch for that matter) is that since it can generate TUIO messages, I can always create an AS3-based front-end later on that will receive these messages and be a separate "plug-in" to the system.