When did GestureTek begin working with computer camera technology?
GestureTek began as Very Vivid, Inc. in 1986, working on the Amiga computer with monochrome cameras and a simple video capture board. Our initial goal was to create an interactive musical instrument where the performer could reach their hand into predefined regions to trigger musical sounds on MIDI driven synthesizers. We accomplished this in about 6 months and my partner, Vincent John Vincent, performed live on stage at Siggraph. We were seen there by a woman who was setting up a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute, and she invited us to be a part of it. This launched us into the Museum and Exhibit market. We have since installed our systems in over 1000 museums, science centers and location based entertainment locations around the world. What advances have been made in the field in that time? That is a huge question. When we began, we were able to capture only a single “bit” per pixel in real time, meaning that a 320×240 camera image took up only 40 bytes of data per row. We use
