DIY Graphics Tab: A Cost-Effective Alternative to Graphics Tablet for Educators

Abstract

Recording lectures is a normal task for online educators, and a graphics tablet is a great tool for that. However, it is very expensive for many instructors. In this paper, we propose an alternative called "DIY Graphics Tab" that functions largely in the same way as a graphic tab, but requires only a pen, paper, and laptop's webcam. Our system takes images of writings on a paper with a webcam and outputs the contents. The task is not straightforward since there are obstacles, such as hand occlusion, paper movements, lighting, and perspective distortion due to the viewing angle. A pipeline is used that applies segmentation and post-processing for generating appropriate output from input frames. We also conducted user experience evaluations from the teachers.