Pinch to Pause

A hand-tracking tool that uses your webcam to detect a pinch gesture (thumb and index finger touching) and presses the spacebar — handy for pausing/playing media hands-free.

How it works

• Captures webcam video with OpenCV
• Uses MediaPipe's HandLandmarker (Tasks API) to detect hand landmarks in real time
• Measures the distance between the thumb tip and index finger tip
• When the distance drops below a threshold (pinch detected), simulates a spacebar press via pynput

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• A webcam
• An internet connection the first time you run it (to download the ~10MB hand landmark model)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/Jayavisaag/pinch-to-pause.git
cd pinch-to-pause
pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

python main.py

• On first run, it downloads hand_landmarker.task (the detection model) into the project folder — this only happens once.
• A window will open showing your webcam feed with hand landmarks drawn on it.
• Pinch your thumb and index finger together to trigger a spacebar press.
• Press q to quit.

Notes

• The pinch distance threshold (default: 40 pixels) can be tuned in main.py if it's too sensitive or not sensitive enough.
• Only tracks one hand at a time (num_hands=1).
• On macOS, you may need to grant your terminal/IDE Accessibility and Camera permissions (System Settings → Privacy & Security) for the keypress simulation and webcam access to work.
• This project uses MediaPipe's current Tasks API (HandLandmarker), not the older mp.solutions API, which Google removed from recent MediaPipe releases.