1. A human machine interface system comprising: one or more image sensor arrays; multiple optical paths directing light from an active space to said one or more image sensor arrays; rendering circuitry adapted to render and display upon a first surface a graphic user interface comprised of rendered control elements; user interface circuitry adapted to generate and transmit a user input signal to an associated computational platform, upon a control object contacting any of said control elements; image processing circuitry functionally associated with said image sensor arrays and adapted to: (1) receive image data generated by said image sensor arrays, (2) recognize features of a given control object appearing in the image data and (3) determine positions of the given control object within the active space based on image data collected by said one or more image sensor arrays via said multiple optical paths; and graphic interface control circuitry including interfacing logic configured to modify the appearance of the control elements, based on signals received from said image processing circuitry indicating the positions of the given control object within the active space, while the given control object is not contacting the first surface, determined by said image processing circuitry based on image information collected by said one or more image sensor arrays via said multiple optical paths; wherein the active space is a spatial region directly adjacent, contiguous and substantially parallel to said first surface.