Note : Real World Engine is currently in pre-alpha phase (but yes, it is a real project ^_^) — We will start releasing software as soon as there'll be a working SVN on this server.

Real World Engine or RWE is a bunch of tools designed to ease the use of non-standard input/output method on computer programming. It was designed mostly with art installations in mind, but may probably serve other purposes as well.

It is not the code name for a starter kit or anything, but more of an umbrella name for various projects relating to the field of computer I/O, to help insure consistency between their various interfaces (programming interfaces, not UIs) Any device part of the RWE project will then use a shared data transfer protocol allowing easy interaction between them. RWE may also provide an abstraction level higher than system's ones for existing devices (such as videoprojectors) in order to allow them to interact with other less-standard devices.

Hardware is a set of peripherals serving various goals in data i/o. The first project is going to be an easy-to-deploy way to track visitor's feet on the ground (or any other object), including individual positions, shapes or movements.

Software is mostly a Java library allowing an easiest access to these peripherals in a Java environnement, providing an higher level of abstraction above the raw data signal. It haven't been designed for any language other than Java.

RWE will be released under free software, free hardware and free documentation licences, probably GPL v3.0.

Stay tuned.