Kinect SDK released!

[NoodlesOnMyBack]

Thumbs up for Microsoft for releasing this!

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/ ... kinectsdk/

[Herb]

Thanks for the heads up on this! I heard it was rumored that Microsoft was working on this. Bummer I run Vista and you have to have Windows 7 to run the SDK. I guess it's time to upgrade.

[Kojack]

I played with it last night. The tracking is much better than the public libs people have been using. No special pose, it picked me up instantly before I was even fully in view. The demo where you hit objects for points was actually pretty fun (I preferred head butting objects).

I haven't looked at the api yet, it's one of my weekend plans.

The license is pretty annoying though. For example all end users must install the sdk too, you can't just include the required stuff in your app, and teachers aren't allowed to give the sdk to their students, each student must download the sdk themselves (yeah, to hell with that).

From the Kinect FAQ:

I know that other drivers and development software for Kinect are available on the Web. Can I use the Kinect sensor device with these other drivers or software instead of the SDK Beta?

No. Use of the Kinect sensor device is subject to its own warranty and software license agreement that allow you to use it solely in connection with an Xbox 360 or Xbox 360 S console. Only Microsoft can grant you the additional rights that you need to use the Kinect sensor device with a personal computer. Microsoft grants these additional rights in the SDK Beta license, but only for uses of the Kinect sensor device in connection with the SDK Beta. If you use the Kinect sensor with a platform other than Xbox 360, Xbox 360 S, or Windows (with the SDK Beta), you void the warranty you received when you purchased the Kinect sensor device.

Hmm, so my kinect warranty is void because I used the libraries GIVEN OUT BY THE COMPANY WHO MADE THE KINECT'S SENSOR!

[madmarx]

Excellent news, good to know its better.

BTW this is the 10000 post in the lounge!

[NoodlesOnMyBack]

The license of the sensor sucks terribly, i didnt know about it, its way too limiting. But good to know that the pose detection at least works so flawlesly agains how OpenNI behaves.

[buckED]

Is there any way of using the sdk without an actual kinect sensor?
I suppose a standard webcam would not suffice, would it?

[Klaim]

I suppose a standard webcam would not suffice, would it?

I don't think so. It's different hardware, optimized for fast capture and if I'm correct it requires 3 points of views placed in a very specific way.


But I'm not a specialist.

[Kojack]

I suppose a standard webcam would not suffice, would it?

Only if your webcam features an infrared laser which draws a pattern of dots into the world, then reads those back with an infrared camera to calculate z distance of pixels groups.
That's how the kinect works, the colour webcam bit isn't part of the skeleton tracking algorithm (it's used for facial recognition though I think), the kinect can work fine in complete darkness (it's like a night vision camera). The kinect also uses an array of 4 microphones to do audio positioning, so it could work out which of several currently tracked people gave a voice command.

While a standard webcam could try to do object recognition, the kinect is actually working with a cloud of 3d points instead of a flat image of colours. It can tell if something is behind you or attached to the side of you.

[Praetorian]

I suppose a standard webcam would not suffice, would it?

I don't think so. It's different hardware, optimized for fast capture and if I'm correct it requires 3 points of views placed in a very specific way.


But I'm not a specialist.

Yeah, it is very specialized hardware. Rather than multiple points of view, it actually projects a pattern of dots in infrared, and uses a high-res IR filtered camera to detect the offsets in the pattern and calculate depth. It does have a pretty standard color webcam as well, but the rest of it is pretty specialized (I believe there are 3rd party cameras that behave similarly though (I seem to recall seeing one from Asus)).

EDIT: haha, Kojack beat me to it

I've been playing with one on and off for a few weeks and it's a cool gadget, the licensing on this thing scares me (guess my warranty's voided because I've been using freenect...), but if it does better tracking than OpenNI (which I was not impressed with at all), I may just have to give it a spin...

[Kojack]

On the other hand, the kinect makes a really crappy webcam. It's sensor is only 0.3 megapixel (640x480), while my logitech C600 webcam (which costs half as much) is 2 megapixel. So while the kinect is great at the skeleton stuff, it's a poor substitute to a decent quality webcam for general video use.

I really have too many usb devices plugged in. There's 3 cameras looking at me, a logitech webcam (for augmented reality, I don't do video chat), a kinect (which is shining an infrared laser in my eyes) and a track ir 4 (which could be shining an infrared spotlight at me, but that would mess with the kinect and I've got the active ir headset which is better than the reflective track ir cap mount).

Hmm, this thread makes me want to rant against trackir yet again. I have 11 input devices plugged in right now. 10 of those provide a free sdk or direct access through windows. Only the trackir camera hides it's api behind nda documents and limited approvals, even though it has the least data to feed back. The api just needs to return 6 floats (pos and angle). It's freaky that even the kinect has a less restrictive and easier to get sdk than trackir.
(I love trackir, but their sdk support sucks)

I'm surprised natural point haven't turned up in the ogre forum yet, I've complained about them enough.
I'll stop if they give me a free track ir 5 and sdk.

[cybereality]

I definitely want to try this out for myself, just to see what kind of stuff can be done. But the license is pretty scary. Not sure its even possible to use it in a project without bending over for Bill Gates.

[madmarx]

I can tell you that it took me 1,5 hour to read the doc, and integrate it in a 3D application. The simplest mocap system I have used so far .

[qingzi]

I can tell you that it took me 1,5 hour to read the doc, and integrate it in a 3D application. The simplest mocap system I have used so far .

hi, can you tell me which document did you read before, I also want to integrate kinect in a 3D application, but I didn't find any document about it! thanks!

[madmarx]

The SDK simply contains the msdn-like doc about the very few classes.

[qingzi]

The SDK simply contains the msdn-like doc about the very few classes.

Sorry, I couldn't find the docs which you meant before, can u tell me where it could be? thank u.

[Kojack]

The KinectFusion video from Microsoft Research is awesome.
http://research.microsoft.com/apps/vide ... 152815&l=i

[al2950]

That is, without a doubt, the best thing I have ever seen come from Microsoft