Face2Face — A system for multi-touch collaboration with telepresence

One major benefit of multi-touch interaction is the possibility for passive observers to easily follow interactions of active users. This paper presents a novel system which allows remote users to perform collaborative multi-touch interaction in a remote face-to-face situation with shared virtual material seamlessly integrated in a videoconference application. Each user is captured by a camera located behind the screen and touch interactions are thus made visible to the remote collaborator. In order to enhance the immersion of the setup, the system provides realistic stereoscopic 3D video capture and presentation. We highlight the concept and construction of the system and show sample applications which allow for collaborative interaction with digital 2D and 3D media in an intuitive way.