FlexStylus, a flexible stylus, detects deformation of the barrel as a vector with both a rotational and an absolute value, providing two degrees of freedom with the goal of improving the expressivity of digital art using a stylus device. We outline the construction of the prototype and the principles behind the sensing method, which uses a cluster of four fibre-optic based deformation sensors. We propose interaction techniques using the FlexStylus to improve menu navigation and tool selection. Finally, we describe a study comparing users' ability to match a changing target value using a commercial pressure stylus and the FlexStylus' absolute deformation. When using the FlexStylus, users had a significantly higher accuracy overall. This suggests that deformation may be a useful input method for future work considering stylus augmentation.

In early design, instrumenting an object with touch sensing capability, especially one with complex surface geometry, can be problematic. In this paper, we show how resistive graph patterns--or resigraphs--can be used to quickly fabricate multi-touch sensors tailored to an object's shape. In very early ideation, resigraphs can be drawn using conductive ink. In later refinements they can be silk-screened or laser cut from off-the-shelf materials. A resigraph uses a commonly available microprocessor (e.g. Arduino), re-quires only three wires, and enables touch input on non-planar and non-developable surfaces.