Wiimote Project

First of all, I'd like to say hi to every one.
I'm from Finland, and I'm 15 years old. I've been reading this forum since last march, but this is my first post =)

So, I've seen lots of ideas of using a laser instead of a ir pen. Well, in fact, I made it about four months ago. And it works perfectly!

I've been using Johnny's Whiteboard application, a video projector and a standard laser, bought from local store, it cost about 4€.

I removed the ir filter from wiimote, and put it laying on the top of the projector. Then I tried to calibrated it. It was way too hard to do with laser, so I used my ir pen. It worked!

After that I've solved lots of problems. I noticed that different projectors emit lights differently. With some projectors calibration is easier when there's a (not sure what it is in English )
thin red or green film (cost 40snt in local store) in front of wiimote. After calibration I took it away.

Also direct sunlight was bad, but the room had always normal lights on when I used it.

And to see where you are pointing the laser, I used three 1,5 V batteries, wired so, that laser gets always 1,5 volts (wiimote doesn't see beam so weak, but you do) and when i press the button, it gives 4,5 volts (wiimote sees it).

I have much more ideas, solved problems etc., but now i go to sleep.
I can give you link to great internet store, where you can buy everything
you need with just few dollars.

I hope that this post helps someone, or makes you create even better ideas =)

Hi Tysss!

Sounds like you have something to share with us all

Please post some pictures when you are done sleeping (Finland is 1 hour ahead of me so I know its late)

Does by putting the green/red filter infront of wiimote to make calibration better does that mean general mouse tracking is better too?

Some pictures of the film you are using would be good, I assuem just a filter (like they use infront of Theatre lighting to make various colours, just maybe a bit thinner).

Yes, you're right, I used it as a filter, that makes laser HARDER to see by the wiimote (with ir pen it is useless). But it isn't necessary.
With it in front of wiimote, it takes for a while to wiimote to see the dot, so it won't take two calibration dots (sry my bad english)
when you point in one corner. If you use ir pen to calibrate, it is easier if you use ir filter (unless you lose it ).

I used this idea in one party.. Perhaps you are interested in it too.
I have few airsoft guns, and I've always loved those arcade games where you shoot with a plastic weapon, so I made my own version of it.
I attached the laser to one of my pistols, so when I "shoot", the laser flashes. The hardest part is to make the laser point exactly
there, where you are aiming. Of course the laser doesn't need to be perfect, because you aim with sight of the weapon, not with the laser.
You just can't use ir pen to calibrate if the laser isn't aiming in correct direction.

Well, now I have wireless pistol-mouse. What am I going to do with it?
There are some arcade games that work under windows. Like virtua cop 2. Very good game btw . Unfortunately wiimote whiteboard just isn't
compatible with those games. Maybe there is some variation of whiteboard application that works, all I know that Johnny's program doesn't.
The problem is resolution. If the resolution changes (like in virtua cop 2), calibration won't work anymore. I found some fps games on internet,
that you need only mouse. They work well.

btw., can I put direct link to internet store? There are so cheap and so useful things, like tripod for wiimote, triagram screwdriver,
WU brand wiimote etc.?

Now I'm going to take some pictures, I'll put them in next post.

I tried the laser pen and it worked very smoothly if the wiimote is one meter away from the wall. If further, still I could calibrate, but lines are not very controllable.

Tysss have you had the same problem. Thank you

Tysss
Thanks for the answer. I was very helpful. I have ordered 4-5 different lasers, I will let you know which one works best. Sorry, English is not my mother language either.

I took off the IR filter from the wiimote as you did. And, yes I used a  3-5 mW laser. a 0.5 mW laser did not work.
If the wiimote is one meter away from the projection screen, a 3-5 mW laser works very well. But when I put the wiimote 2 3 meter away from the screen, a 3-5 mW laser did not work perfectly.
I have two questions:
1.Do you think it is a power output problem or an IR laser would be better?
2. what is the longest distance (between the laser dot and the wiimote) you experienced?
I really appreciate you sharing your experience with us. Take care.

  00051  2-in-1 LED + Pointer Flashlight x 1 Pending   $1.80  -
  07544  Green Laser Point Pen 20mW (2xAAA) x 1 Pending   $19.38  -
  09768  Red Laser Keychain (5mW) x 2 Pending   $1.91  -
  12338  2-in-1 Hybrid 5mW Red + 5mW Green Laser (Supports Dual Laser Mode) x 1 Pending   $31.07  -
  16093  100mW 650nm Red Laser Pointer (2*AAA Batteries Included) x 1 Pending   $23.90  -

Thank you Tysss,

I will let you know about the results and thanks for the warning (I'll be very careful).

So you think that the 100mw laser is best one? cool =) when the laser is so powerful, i guess you can put anything in front of wiimote, so you could be sure that there isn't any problems with false detected dots.

btw. I just tried to look at a 650nm red laser trough ir filter, and i saw it! well, i barely could see it but i saw (which means that it isn't good ir filter). It might be so, that with powerful laser enough there isn't need for taking ir filter off! I'd like to know if you could use laser-whiteboard with ir filter on the wiimote with that 100mw laser, could you test it?

thanks already!