Tangible images: Runtime generation of haptic textures from images

This paper describes an algorithm for generation of forces from two dimensional bitmapped digital images, the forces allow the user to feel the contours of the image with sufficient realism using haptic devices. The algorithm can also be used to generate textures for virtual surfaces in a simple and efficient manner. The paper describes the design of the mask to be used to achieve the above two objectives and discusses the factors affecting the performance of the algorithm. Although the main focus of this paper pertains to haptic interaction with static images, the algorithm developed could also be used to haptically interact with videos. ©2008 IEEE.