Can a camera read a D20?

In principle, reading a die sounds straightforward: take a picture, find the upper face, and identify the number. At the table, every part of that sentence becomes a design problem.

Dice arrive in different sizes, materials, colors, typefaces, and levels of reflectivity. They overlap. They land near walls. Translucent resin catches light differently than opaque acrylic or metal. A reliable system has to control what it can - camera position, rolling area, and illumination - while learning to handle the variation players bring with them.

That is why our future concept begins with a controlled tray instead of asking a phone to hover over any surface. A known viewpoint and deliberate lighting can make the recognition problem more repeatable while preserving normal rolling behavior.

This is active development work, not a feature of the first LED tray. We will share measured results only after the prototype has been tested across a meaningful range of real dice.