Channel 9 - Entries tagged with Kinect Microsoft http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/Dev/App_Themes/C9/images/feedimage.png Channel 9 - Entries tagged with Kinect http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/kinect Channel 9 keeps you up to date with the latest news and behind the scenes info from Microsoft that developers love to keep up with. From LINQ to SilverLight – Watch videos and hear about all the cool technologies coming and the people behind them. http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/kinect en Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:00:16 GMT Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:00:16 GMT Rev9 396 16 25 Advancing physical therapy with help from the Kinect for Windows While I've been trying to avoid "inspirational" posts, this one touches a little close to home. My daughter is a Doctor of Physical Therapy (through pediatric) so when I saw this I thought of her and her work. (Also my wife and I are going through our own sets of PT too, so it's like we're a PT family or something...)

Reflexion Health advancing physical therapy with Kinect for Windows

Reflexion Health, founded with technology developed at the West Health Institute, realized years ago that assessing physical therapy outcomes is difficult for a variety of reasons, and took on the challenge of designing a solution to help increase the success rates of rehabilitation from physical injury.

In 2011, the Reflexion team approached the Orthopedic Surgery Department of the Naval Medical Center San Diego to help test their new Rehabilitation Measurement Tool (RMT). This software solution was developed to make physical therapy more engaging, efficient, and successful. By using the Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK), the RMT allows clinicians to measure patient progress. Patients often do much of their therapy alone and because they can lack immediate feedback from therapists, it can be difficult for them to be certain that they are performing the exercises in a manner that will provide them with optimal benefits. The RMT can indicate if exercises were performed properly, how frequently they were performed, and give patients real-time feedback.

“Kinect for Windows helps motivate patients to do physical therapy—and the data set we gather when they use the RMT is becoming valuable to demonstrate what form of therapy is most effective, what types of patients react better to what type of therapy, and how to best deliver that therapy. Those questions have vexed people for a long time,” says Dr. Ravi Komatireddy, co-founder at Reflexion Health.

The proprietary RMT software engages patients with avatars and educational information, and a Kinect for Windows sensor tracks a patient’s range of motion and other clinical data. This valuable information helps therapists customize and deliver therapy plans to patients.

“RMT is a breakthrough that can change how physical therapy is delivered,” Spencer Hutchins, co-founder and CEO of Reflexion Health says. “Kinect for Windows helps us build a repository of information so we can answer rigorous questions about patient care in a quantitative way.” Ultimately, Reflexion Health has demonstrated how software could be prescribed—similarly to pharmaceuticals and medical devices—and how it could possibly lower the cost of healthcare.

Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2013/05/09/reflexion-health-advancing-physical-therapy-with-kinect-for-windows.aspx

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Advancing-physical-therapy-with-help-from-the-Kinect-for-Windows While I've been trying to avoid "inspirational" posts, this one touches a little close to home. My daughter is a Doctor of Physical Therapy (through pediatric) so when I saw this I thought of her and her work. (Also my wife and I are going through our own sets of PT too, so it's like we're a PT family or something...) Reflexion Health advancing physical therapy with Kinect for WindowsReflexion Health, founded with technology developed at the West Health Institute, realized years ago that assessing physical therapy outcomes is difficult for a variety of reasons, and took on the challenge of designing a solution to help increase the success rates of rehabilitation from physical injury. In 2011, the Reflexion team approached the Orthopedic Surgery Department of the Naval Medical Center San Diego to help test their new Rehabilitation Measurement Tool (RMT). This software solution was developed to make physical therapy more engaging, efficient, and successful. By using the Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK), the RMT allows clinicians to measure patient progress. Patients often do much of their therapy alone and because they can lack immediate feedback from therapists, it can be difficult for them to be certain that they are performing the exercises in a manner that will provide them with optimal benefits. The RMT can indicate if exercises were performed properly, how frequently they were performed, and give patients real-time feedback. “Kinect for Windows helps motivate patients to do physical therapy—and the data set we gather when they use the RMT is becoming valuable to demonstrate what form of therapy is most effective, what types of patients react better to what type of therapy, and how to best deliver that therapy. Those questions have vexed people for a long time,” says Dr. Ravi Komatireddy, co-founder at Reflexion Health. The proprietary RMT software engages patients with avatars and educational information, and a Kinect for Wi http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Advancing-physical-therapy-with-help-from-the-Kinect-for-Windows Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Advancing-physical-therapy-with-help-from-the-Kinect-for-Windows Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Advancing-physical-therapy-with-help-from-the-Kinect-for-Windows/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect SticKart - 2D side-scrolling Kinect powered platformer Today's project by Keith Cully is one that I've been looking forward to highlighting. Keith's project looks like a fun game, but beyond that he's actually created a NUI based level editor too. How cool is that?

You want more? How about some nice doc's?

More? Physics. Speech. SQL. Azure....

Even More? The source for it all is available too! See, I told you this was cool...

SticKart

SticKart is a 2D side-scrolling platformer which I created as my major final year college project. It utilizes the Kinect sensor for input and the target platform is Windows 7. All player actions control the actions of a stick man running through a mine. The player must run jump and crouch their way across platforms and past obstacles. They can also travel in a mine cart to give their legs a rest. The objective of the game is to set the high score on each level and the player can create their own levels once the game is complete.

...

The main features of the game are:

  1. Motion control using a gesture managment system which automatically recalibrates to suit each individual player's body dimensions.
  2. A bespoke player tracking system which filters the active player from the recognised skeletons.
  3. Voice control.
  4. A fully fledged NUI level editor.
  5. A bespoke NUI friendly menu system.
  6. A thread safe notification manager
  7. Local and online leaderboards (Online leaderboards are no longer active as my Azure subscription ran out).

The project is built using the following technologies:

  1. XNA
  2. Farseer Physics
  3. Kinect for Windows SDK v1.6
  4. Microsoft Speech platform
  5. Windows Communication Foundation
  6. Windows Azure
  7. IIS
  8. SQL

...

Project Information URL: https://github.com/K-Cully/SticKart/ & http://www.keithcully.com/files/Journal.docx

Project Download URL: Download

Project Source URL: https://github.com/K-Cully/SticKart/

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/SticKart-2D-side-scrolling-Kinect-powered-platformer Today's project by Keith Cully is one that I've been looking forward to highlighting. Keith's project looks like a fun game, but beyond that he's actually created a NUI based level editor too. How cool is that? You want more? How about some nice doc's? More? Physics. Speech. SQL. Azure.... Even More? The source for it all is available too! See, I told you this was cool... SticKartSticKart is a 2D side-scrolling platformer which I created as my major final year college project. It utilizes the Kinect sensor for input and the target platform is Windows 7. All player actions control the actions of a stick man running through a mine. The player must run jump and crouch their way across platforms and past obstacles. They can also travel in a mine cart to give their legs a rest. The objective of the game is to set the high score on each level and the player can create their own levels once the game is complete. ... The main features of the game are: Motion control using a gesture managment system which automatically recalibrates to suit each individual player's body dimensions. A bespoke player tracking system which filters the active player from the recognised skeletons. Voice control. A fully fledged NUI level editor. A bespoke NUI friendly menu system. A thread safe notification manager Local and online leaderboards (Online leaderboards are no longer active as my Azure subscription ran out). The project is built using the following technologies: XNA Farseer Physics Kinect for Windows SDK v1.6 Microsoft Speech platform Windows Communication Foundation Windows Azure IIS SQL ... Project Information URL: https://github.com/K-Cully/SticKart/ & http://www.keithcully.com/files/Journal.docx Project Download URL: Download Project Source URL: https://github.com/K-Cully/SticKart/ http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/SticKart-2D-side-scrolling-Kinect-powered-platformer Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/SticKart-2D-side-scrolling-Kinect-powered-platformer Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/SticKart-2D-side-scrolling-Kinect-powered-platformer/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Game Development Kinect SDK CrashAlert - "Enhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-Busy Mobile Interaction while Walking" Today's inspirational research project is both kind of cool and pretty funny (that we even need this). Make sure you head over to Juan's blog, Peripeteia to get more information and even a parody video...

App uses Kinect to help save lives of oblivious texters

A postdoctoral researcher at the University of Manitoba has developed a mobile app that uses depth-sensing cameras to alert people who are about to suffer collisions because they’re staring at their smartphones instead of watching where they’re going. The application, known as CrashAlert, is still in the early stages of development, but in the future it will work on smartphones that are equipped with cameras that can detect their surroundings. Juan Hincapié-Ramos, the app’s creator, tested CrashAlert using a 7-inch Acer tablet connected to Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor. The researcher then had volunteers play a mobile game while walking down a crowded hallway.

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CrashAlert

Enhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-Busy Mobile Interaction while Walking

Mobile device use while walking, or eyes-busy mobile in-teraction, is a leading cause of life-threatening pedestrian collisions. We introduce CrashAlert, a system that aug-ments mobile devices with a depth camera, to provide dis-tance and location visual cues of obstacles on the user’s path. In a realistic environment outside the lab, CrashAlert users improve their handling of potential collisions, dodg-ing and slowing down for simple ones while lifting their head in more complex situations. Qualitative results outline the value of extending users’ peripheral alertness in eyes-busy mobile interaction through non-intrusive depth cues, as used in CrashAlert. We present the design features of our system and lessons learned from our evaluation.

CrashAlert: Enhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-Busy Mobile Interaction while Walking

ABSTRACT
Mobile device use while walking, or eyes-busy mobile interaction, is a leading cause of life-threatening pedestrian collisions. We introduce CrashAlert, a system that augments mobile devices with a depth camera, to provide distance and location visual cues of obstacles on the user’s path. In a realistic environment outside the lab, CrashAlert users improve their handling of potential collisions, dodging and slowing down for simple ones while lifting their head in more complex situations. Qualitative results outline the value of extending users’ peripheral alertness in eyes-busy mobile interaction through non-intrusive depth cues, as used in CrashAlert. We present the design features of our system and lessons learned from our evaluation.

...

Project Information URL: http://bgr.com/2013/06/06/microsoft-kinect-smartphone-app-texting/, CrashAlert, CrashAlert: Enhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-Busy Mobile Interaction while Walking

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/CrashAlert-Enhancing-Peripheral-Alertness-for-Eyes-Busy-Mobile-Interaction-while-Walking Today's inspirational research project is both kind of cool and pretty funny (that we even need this). Make sure you head over to Juan's blog, Peripeteia to get more information and even a parody video... App uses Kinect to help save lives of oblivious textersA postdoctoral researcher at the University of Manitoba has developed a mobile app that uses depth-sensing cameras to alert people who are about to suffer collisions because they’re staring at their smartphones instead of watching where they’re going. The application, known as CrashAlert, is still in the early stages of development, but in the future it will work on smartphones that are equipped with cameras that can detect their surroundings. Juan Hincapié-Ramos, the app’s creator, tested CrashAlert using a 7-inch Acer tablet connected to Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor. The researcher then had volunteers play a mobile game while walking down a crowded hallway. ... CrashAlertEnhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-Busy Mobile Interaction while Walking Mobile device use while walking, or eyes-busy mobile in-teraction, is a leading cause of life-threatening pedestrian collisions. We introduce CrashAlert, a system that aug-ments mobile devices with a depth camera, to provide dis-tance and location visual cues of obstacles on the user’s path. In a realistic environment outside the lab, CrashAlert users improve their handling of potential collisions, dodg-ing and slowing down for simple ones while lifting their head in more complex situations. Qualitative results outline the value of extending users’ peripheral alertness in eyes-busy mobile interaction through non-intrusive depth cues, as used in CrashAlert. We present the design features of our system and lessons learned from our evaluation. CrashAlert: Enhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-Busy Mobile Interaction while WalkingABSTRACTMobile device use while walking, or eyes-busy mobile interaction, is a leading cause of life-threatening pedestrian collisions. http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/CrashAlert-Enhancing-Peripheral-Alertness-for-Eyes-Busy-Mobile-Interaction-while-Walking Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/CrashAlert-Enhancing-Peripheral-Alertness-for-Eyes-Busy-Mobile-Interaction-while-Walking Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/CrashAlert-Enhancing-Peripheral-Alertness-for-Eyes-Busy-Mobile-Interaction-while-Walking/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect TechEd 2013 - Building Apps with the Kinect for Windows SDK Dan Fernandez shows off the Kinect for Windows and Kinect for Windows SDK and how to build your next awesome Kinect application.

Building Apps with the Kinect for Windows SDK

Kinect enables you to light up and truly re-imagine how users interact with applications. Come learn about the Kinect sensor capabilities including how to read raw data from the Kinect, including color, infrared, and depth data. Then we’ll build on this to show how to use skeletal tracking, face tracking, and new features from the 1.7 Kinect SDK that enables developers to easily add click, grab, and drag gestures. You’ll also see demos from some of the most common tools used for Kinect app development including the OpenCV vision library and the Kinect Service networking library that enables reading Kinect data via Windows Phone and Windows Store apps.

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Project Information URL: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/DEV-B305

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/TechEd-2013-Building-Apps-with-the-Kinect-for-Windows-SDK Dan Fernandez shows off the Kinect for Windows and Kinect for Windows SDK and how to build your next awesome Kinect application. Building Apps with the Kinect for Windows SDKKinect enables you to light up and truly re-imagine how users interact with applications. Come learn about the Kinect sensor capabilities including how to read raw data from the Kinect, including color, infrared, and depth data. Then we’ll build on this to show how to use skeletal tracking, face tracking, and new features from the 1.7 Kinect SDK that enables developers to easily add click, grab, and drag gestures. You’ll also see demos from some of the most common tools used for Kinect app development including the OpenCV vision library and the Kinect Service networking library that enables reading Kinect data via Windows Phone and Windows Store apps.   Project Information URL: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/DEV-B305 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/TechEd-2013-Building-Apps-with-the-Kinect-for-Windows-SDK Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/TechEd-2013-Building-Apps-with-the-Kinect-for-Windows-SDK Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/TechEd-2013-Building-Apps-with-the-Kinect-for-Windows-SDK/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Smile... Kinect Smile Tracking (with source) Friend of the Gallery, Tango Chen, is back, this time to share the source for his Smile Tracking project. The best thing is to watch the video as he does a great job of showing it off...

Source Code of Kinect Smile Tracking Is Released

Now it’s been improved with some new features.

How it works:

  1. Using face tracking functionality to detect 4 face points: both sides of your mouth and both sides of your nose.
  2. Calculating the length of both sides of your mouth as mouthWidth. The mouthWidth may be wider if you’re smiling.
    So the program tells you’re smiling when the mouthWidth larger than a value.
    The particulate value is called Threshold.
  3. Even if you have no changing on your mouth, the mouthWidth would changes when you’re moving forwards/backwards to the Kinect sensor.
    (It would be larger if you’re closer to the Kinect.)
    So we need to change the Threshold.
    The Threshold is calculated based on the length of both sides of your nose called noseWidth.
    The noseWidth won’t be greatly affected by the changing of your face but the distance between your face and Kinect sensor.
    So it would be great to calculate how large the Threshold should be.
    And we have nothing to deal with Skeleton Tracking like getting the position of your head joint in order to get the distance.
  4. The Threshold is not set good enough so it may not work for everyone everytime.
    At least it works for me. I’m not sure if you have a perfect smile like me though.
    So I added a Modify feature. It’s a slider on the bottom-right of the application which can modify the Threshold. (to make it larger or smaller.)
    This should/can be improved to be more automatic.

Project Information URL: http://tangochen.com/blog/?p=692

Project Download URL: KinectSmileTracking_Demo.zip

Project Source URL: GitHub.com/TangoChen/KinectSmileTracking

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Smile-Kinect-Smile-Tracking-with-source Friend of the Gallery, Tango Chen, is back, this time to share the source for his Smile Tracking project. The best thing is to watch the video as he does a great job of showing it off... Source Code of Kinect Smile Tracking Is Released Now it’s been improved with some new features. How it works: Using face tracking functionality to detect 4 face points: both sides of your mouth and both sides of your nose. Calculating the length of both sides of your mouth as mouthWidth. The mouthWidth may be wider if you’re smiling.So the program tells you’re smiling when the mouthWidth larger than a value.The particulate value is called Threshold. Even if you have no changing on your mouth, the mouthWidth would changes when you’re moving forwards/backwards to the Kinect sensor.(It would be larger if you’re closer to the Kinect.)So we need to change the Threshold.The Threshold is calculated based on the length of both sides of your nose called noseWidth.The noseWidth won’t be greatly affected by the changing of your face but the distance between your face and Kinect sensor.So it would be great to calculate how large the Threshold should be.And we have nothing to deal with Skeleton Tracking like getting the position of your head joint in order to get the distance. The Threshold is not set good enough so it may not work for everyone everytime.At least it works for me. I’m not sure if you have a perfect smile like me though.So I added a Modify feature. It’s a slider on the bottom-right of the application which can modify the Threshold. (to make it larger or smaller.)This should/can be improved to be more automatic. Project Information URL: http://tangochen.com/blog/?p=692 Project Download URL: KinectSmileTracking_Demo.zip Project Source URL: GitHub.com/TangoChen/KinectSmileTracking Contact Information: Blog: http://tangochen.com/blog Twitter: @tangochen http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Smile-Kinect-Smile-Tracking-with-source Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Smile-Kinect-Smile-Tracking-with-source Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 2 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Smile-Kinect-Smile-Tracking-with-source/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Sholpan, the Simple Robot Humanoid Today's project by Arman Zharmagambetov and the RoboLab students at IITU show off one of our current favorite things, the Kinect and robots...

Simple robot Humanoid

This project done by students IITU which located in Kazakhstan. We named our robot "Sholpan", which on Kazakh Language means planet Venus. Shopan this is simple robot Humanoid that perform simple tasks. The basis of this robot is Kinect sensor, which help interract with human. Robot may do next:

  1. If a man waved a hand, it is in response waved,
  2. rotate his head, by moving of human,
  3. follow the man,
  4. answer the simple questions on 3 languages : Kazakh, Russian and English.

Project Information URL: https://sholpan.codeplex.com/

Project Source URL: https://sholpan.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Sholpan-the-Simple-Robot-Humanoid Today's project by Arman Zharmagambetov and the RoboLab students at IITU show off one of our current favorite things, the Kinect and robots... Simple robot HumanoidThis project done by students IITU which located in Kazakhstan. We named our robot "Sholpan", which on Kazakh Language means planet Venus. Shopan this is simple robot Humanoid that perform simple tasks. The basis of this robot is Kinect sensor, which help interract with human. Robot may do next: If a man waved a hand, it is in response waved, rotate his head, by moving of human, follow the man, answer the simple questions on 3 languages : Kazakh, Russian and English. Project Information URL: https://sholpan.codeplex.com/ Project Source URL: https://sholpan.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Sholpan-the-Simple-Robot-Humanoid Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Sholpan-the-Simple-Robot-Humanoid Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Sholpan-the-Simple-Robot-Humanoid/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect nsquared sky spelling, hotel kiosk, media viewer (and as a special bonus the free spydar too) While there's no source and you'll need to contact them to download the app's, I still thought it appropriate to highlight this post and the continued effort ISV's are putting into the Kinect for Windows device... (and you all know I'm just a sucker for educational Kinect for Windows examples...)

nsquared releases three new Kinect for Windows-based applications

The following blog post was guest authored by Celeste Humphrey, business development consultant at nsquared, and Dr. Neil Roodyn, director of nsquared.

A company that is passionate about learning, technology, and creating awesome user experiences, nsquared has developed three new applications that take advantage of Kinect for Windows to provide users with interactive, natural user interface experiences. nsquared is located in Sydney, Australia.

At nsquared, we believe that vision-based interaction is the future of computing. The excitement we see in the technology industry regarding touch and tablet computing is a harbinger of the changes that are coming as smarter computer vision systems evolve.

Kinect for Windows has provided us with the tools to create some truly amazing products for education, hospitality, and events.

Education: nsquared sky spelling

We are excited to announce nsquared sky spelling, our first Kinect for Windows-based educational game. This new application, aimed at children aged 4 to 12, makes it fun for children to learn to spell in an interactive and collaborative environment. Each child selects a character or vehicle, such as a dragon, a biplane, or a butterfly, and then flies as that character through the sky to capture letters that complete the spelling of various words. The skeleton recognition capabilities of the Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK) track the movement of the children as they stretch out their arms as wings to navigate their character through hoops alongside their wingman (another player). The color camera in the Kinect for Windows sensor allows each child to add their photo, thereby personalizing their experience.

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Hospitality: nsquared hotel kiosk

The nsquared hotel kiosk augments the concierge function in a hotel by providing guidance to hotel guests through an intuitive, interactive experience. Guests can browse through images and videos of activities, explore locations on a map, and find out what's happening with a live event calendar. It also provides live weather updates and has customizable themes. The nsquared hotel kiosk uses the new gestures supported in the Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7, enabling users to use a “grip” gesture to drag content across the screen and a “push” gesture to select content. With its fun user interface, this informative kiosk provides guests an interactive alternative to the old brochure rack.

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Events: nsquared media viewer

The new nsquared media viewer application is a great way to explore interactive content in almost any environment. Designed for building lobbies, experience centers, events, and corporate locations, the nsquared media viewer enables you to display images and video by category in a stylish, customizable carousel. Easy to use, anyone can walk up and start browsing in seconds.

In addition to taking advantage of key features of the Kinect for Windows sensor and SDK, nsquared media viewer utilizes Windows Azure,  allowing clients to view reports about the usage of the screen and the content displayed.

Key links

Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2013/05/30/nsquared-releases-three-new-kinect-for-windows-based-applications.aspx, nsquared sky spelling, nsquared hotel kiosk, nsquared media viewer

Here's a video of the nsquared sky spelling;

Finally while your there make sure you check out the free nsquared spydar

Track your space invaders with nsquared spydar, an application that allows you to capture videos of any one who moves in front of your Kinect. All you need is a PC, and a Kinect for Windows device to try it, and best of all - it's free! Why not try it now, just click on the download link to the right!

Kinect for Windows enables businesses and public organizations to develop innovative applications, which utilize the Kinect natural user interface.

Capture video of intruders!

Easy to setup and install.

It's completely free

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/nsquared-sky-spelling-hotel-kiosk-media-viewer-and-as-a-special-bonus-the-free-spydar-too While there's no source and you'll need to contact them to download the app's, I still thought it appropriate to highlight this post and the continued effort ISV's are putting into the Kinect for Windows device... (and you all know I'm just a sucker for educational Kinect for Windows examples...) nsquared releases three new Kinect for Windows-based applicationsThe following blog post was guest authored by Celeste Humphrey, business development consultant at nsquared, and Dr. Neil Roodyn, director of nsquared. A company that is passionate about learning, technology, and creating awesome user experiences, nsquared has developed three new applications that take advantage of Kinect for Windows to provide users with interactive, natural user interface experiences. nsquared is located in Sydney, Australia. At nsquared, we believe that vision-based interaction is the future of computing. The excitement we see in the technology industry regarding touch and tablet computing is a harbinger of the changes that are coming as smarter computer vision systems evolve. Kinect for Windows has provided us with the tools to create some truly amazing products for education, hospitality, and events. Education: nsquared sky spelling We are excited to announce nsquared sky spelling, our first Kinect for Windows-based educational game. This new application, aimed at children aged 4 to 12, makes it fun for children to learn to spell in an interactive and collaborative environment. Each child selects a character or vehicle, such as a dragon, a biplane, or a butterfly, and then flies as that character through the sky to capture letters that complete the spelling of various words. The skeleton recognition capabilities of the Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK) track the movement of the children as they stretch out their arms as wings to navigate their character through hoops alongside their wingman (another player). The color camera in the Kinect for Windows sensor allo http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/nsquared-sky-spelling-hotel-kiosk-media-viewer-and-as-a-special-bonus-the-free-spydar-too Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/nsquared-sky-spelling-hotel-kiosk-media-viewer-and-as-a-special-bonus-the-free-spydar-too Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/nsquared-sky-spelling-hotel-kiosk-media-viewer-and-as-a-special-bonus-the-free-spydar-too/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Kinect SDK Games4Learning Kinect Games v4 released... (Word, Math Mages get AR, new NoNeed4Green and more) Friend of the Gallery, David Renton, is back, this time with a significant update to his very cool Kinect Games suite...

Kinect Games Version 4

I have updated all my Kinect games to use the new Kinect SDK v1.7 and with it I have added some significant changes.

Math Mage & Word Mage
Math Mage & Word Mage now feature a fully immersive, interactive Augmented Reality experience, where the player actually appears in the game world wearing a Mage hat nonetheless Smiley. ...

NoNeed4Green
Kinect Games version 4 also features my new NoNeed4Green, the Green screen without a green screen, which you can read more about in my recent posts, but it basically lets you create scenes using background pictures and foreground objects of your own choosing, while people who stand in front of Kinect are cut out and placed in the layer between the background and foreground to produce images which can be saved

...

Kinect Magic Cursor
My magic cursor, which lets you control Windows using your hands, now works with press and grip gestures for doing the left mouse button. ...

Kinect Angles, Kinect Time and Kinect Pong remain pretty much as they were, but are updated to use Kinect SDK v1.7

...

Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/kinect-games-version-4/

Project Download URL: Here to download the full stand-alone installer for the latest version of Kinect Games which includes Kinect SDK v1.7, Here to download the latest installer for Kinect Games without Kinect SDK v1.7 (for those of you already have the SDK this download is significantly smaller).

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Put V code here&hl=en">Put V code here&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355">

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Games4Learning-Kinect-Games-v4-released-Word-Math-Mages-get-AR-new-NoNeed4Green-and-more Friend of the Gallery, David Renton, is back, this time with a significant update to his very cool Kinect Games suite... Kinect Games Version 4I have updated all my Kinect games to use the new Kinect SDK v1.7 and with it I have added some significant changes. Math Mage &amp; Word MageMath Mage &amp; Word Mage now feature a fully immersive, interactive Augmented Reality experience, where the player actually appears in the game world wearing a Mage hat nonetheless . ... NoNeed4GreenKinect Games version 4 also features my new NoNeed4Green, the Green screen without a green screen, which you can read more about in my recent posts, but it basically lets you create scenes using background pictures and foreground objects of your own choosing, while people who stand in front of Kinect are cut out and placed in the layer between the background and foreground to produce images which can be saved ... Kinect Magic CursorMy magic cursor, which lets you control Windows using your hands, now works with press and grip gestures for doing the left mouse button. ... Kinect Angles, Kinect Time and Kinect Pong remain pretty much as they were, but are updated to use Kinect SDK v1.7 ... Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/kinect-games-version-4/ Project Download URL: Here to download the full stand-alone installer for the latest version of Kinect Games which includes Kinect SDK v1.7, Here to download the latest installer for Kinect Games without Kinect SDK v1.7 (for those of you already have the SDK this download is significantly smaller). <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Put V code here&hl=en"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Put V code here&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"> Contact Information: Blog: http://drenton72.wordpress.com Twitter: @drenton72 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Games4Learning-Kinect-Games-v4-released-Word-Math-Mages-get-AR-new-NoNeed4Green-and-more Thu, 30 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Games4Learning-Kinect-Games-v4-released-Word-Math-Mages-get-AR-new-NoNeed4Green-and-more Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Games4Learning-Kinect-Games-v4-released-Word-Math-Mages-get-AR-new-NoNeed4Green-and-more/RSS Coding4Fun Education Kinect Kinect -> Robosapien, Source (Cool!) We've highlighted a Kinect -> Robosapien project before (nearly two years ago, wow), Robosapien, I Kinect you..., but that project didn't include the complete source.

This time Fatih Boy has come through and released the source to his version of this...

Kinect Controlled [Robosapien] Robot

The video demonstrates how to control a robot (Robosapien) without even touching to the computer. Sample application tracks body movements using Kinect and converts into IR codes to control Robosapien. Source code can be found at https://github.com/fatihboy/Robosapien
Fatih Boy

Project Information URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKpO5F8LsCk

Source URL: https://github.com/fatihboy/Robosapien

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect--Robosapien-Source-Cool We've highlighted a Kinect -&gt; Robosapien project before (nearly two years ago, wow), Robosapien, I Kinect you..., but that project didn't include the complete source. This time Fatih Boy has come through and released the source to his version of this... Kinect Controlled [Robosapien] RobotThe video demonstrates how to control a robot (Robosapien) without even touching to the computer. Sample application tracks body movements using Kinect and converts into IR codes to control Robosapien. Source code can be found at https://github.com/fatihboy/RobosapienFatih Boy Project Information URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKpO5F8LsCk Source URL: https://github.com/fatihboy/Robosapien Contact Information: Blog: http://fatihboy.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/fatihboy http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect--Robosapien-Source-Cool Wed, 29 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect--Robosapien-Source-Cool Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect--Robosapien-Source-Cool/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Kinect for Windows Developer [Channel 9 Video] Blog This is a new resource that I thought you all would find handy. These videos are all currently short and sweet but if you're just jumping in, they should help you a good deal...

Kinect for Windows Developer [Channel 9 Video] Blog

Channel 9 home of K4W developer blog.

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Project Information URL: http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/k4wdev

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-for-Windows-Developer-Channel-9-Video-Blog This is a new resource that I thought you all would find handy. These videos are all currently short and sweet but if you're just jumping in, they should help you a good deal... Kinect for Windows Developer [Channel 9 Video] BlogChannel 9 home of K4W developer blog. Project Information URL: http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/k4wdev http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-for-Windows-Developer-Channel-9-Video-Blog Tue, 28 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-for-Windows-Developer-Channel-9-Video-Blog Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-for-Windows-Developer-Channel-9-Video-Blog/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Next year a new Kinect for Windows is coming! The New Generation Kinect for Windows Sensor is Coming Next Year

By now, most of you likely have heard about the new Kinect sensor that Microsoft will deliver as part of Xbox One later this year. 

Today, I am pleased to announce that Microsoft will also deliver a new generation Kinect for Windows sensor next year. We’re continuing our commitment to equipping businesses and organizations with the latest natural technology from Microsoft so that they, in turn, can develop and deploy innovative touch-free applications for their businesses and customers. A new Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK) are core to that commitment.

Both the new Kinect sensor and the new Kinect for Windows sensor are being built on a shared set of technologies. Just as the new Kinect sensor will bring opportunities for revolutionizing gaming and entertainment, the new Kinect for Windows sensor will revolutionize computing experiences. The precision and intuitive responsiveness that the new platform provides will accelerate the development of voice and gesture experiences on computers.

Some of the key capabilities of the new Kinect sensor include:

  • Higher fidelity
  • Expanded field of view
  • Improved skeletal tracking
  • New active infrared (IR)

...

I’m sure many of you want to know more. Stay tuned; at BUILD 2013 in June, we’ll share details about how developers and designers can begin to prepare to adopt these new technologies so that their apps and experiences are ready for general availability next year.

A new Kinect for Windows era is coming: an era of unprecedented responsiveness and precision.

Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2013/05/23/the-new-generation-kinect-for-windows-sensor-is-coming-next-year.aspx

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Next-year-a-new-Kinect-for-Windows-is-coming The New Generation Kinect for Windows Sensor is Coming Next YearBy now, most of you likely have heard about the new Kinect sensor that Microsoft will deliver as part of Xbox One later this year.&nbsp; Today, I am pleased to announce that Microsoft will also deliver a new generation Kinect for Windows sensor next year. We’re continuing our commitment to equipping businesses and organizations with the latest natural technology from Microsoft so that they, in turn, can develop and deploy innovative touch-free applications for their businesses and customers. A new Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK) are core to that commitment. Both the new Kinect sensor and the new Kinect for Windows sensor are being built on a shared set of technologies. Just as the new Kinect sensor will bring opportunities for revolutionizing gaming and entertainment, the new Kinect for Windows sensor will revolutionize computing experiences. The precision and intuitive responsiveness that the new platform provides will accelerate the development of voice and gesture experiences on computers. Some of the key capabilities of the new Kinect sensor include: Higher fidelity Expanded field of view Improved skeletal tracking New active infrared (IR) ... I’m sure many of you want to know more. Stay tuned; at BUILD 2013 in June, we’ll share details about how developers and designers can begin to prepare to adopt these new technologies so that their apps and experiences are ready for general availability next year. A new Kinect for Windows era is coming: an era of unprecedented responsiveness and precision. Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2013/05/23/the-new-generation-kinect-for-windows-sensor-is-coming-next-year.aspx Contact Information: Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KinectWindows http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Next-year-a-new-Kinect-for-Windows-is-coming Mon, 27 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Next-year-a-new-Kinect-for-Windows-is-coming Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Next-year-a-new-Kinect-for-Windows-is-coming/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Kinect Speech Media Controller Today's project by Mick Palmer shows off, with source, one of the killer features of the Kinect, it's superior speech capabilities. And who doesn't want to name their Kinect and to be able to yell (err... talk too) their media player?

SPEECH RECOGNITION FOR THE KINECT: Kinect speech media controller

The Kinect speech media controller turns your windows media player into a voice controlled media player. Forget remote controls. Forget waving your arms and hands around to control your media player. Control it purely by voice.

Not only that, but to make it a bit more interesting, you get to choose the words for the commands. While this is fun, I found this to be necessary. Kinect speech works great, but it has a few problems with some strong accents.

When working on the voice controlled maths game for Kin-educate the Kinect refused to recognise the word 'four' in a British accent. After trying to spell it different ways (fore, for) and having no luck I gave up. I just made sure the answers could never be four. Problem solved. But not really.

The real solution? We all speak differently and use different phrases, so why not choose what words and phrases you use to control the Kinect? Give your Kinect a unique name, and when you call it, the Kinect will activate and start listening for commands.

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Try different phrases and words to see which work well for you, and have a bit of fun with it too. This way the Kinect will be more responsive to your particular way of speaking. You can change the volume, play / pause, rewind / fast-forward  open and close the media player and browse for files all through voice control.

This is a really simple demo that could be expanded in to much more. With a quick change to the code this can be used to control any windows based program. A whole range of other voice commands could be added.

...

After a few seconds of silence the Kinect will go into standby mode. It will stay like this until you call it by its name. When you are not using it call the 'hide' command to minimise the app to the task bar.

Check out this video of the app in action. As you can see it works pretty good. You could have a lot of fun changing the commands around.

I'll make the source code available to download next week. In the meantime remember to have a look at the speech recognition tutorial. ...

Project Information URL: http://kinectmediacontroller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/speech-recognition-for-kinect-kinect.html

Project Source URL: Download here

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-Speech-Media-Controller Today's project by Mick Palmer shows off, with source, one of the killer features of the Kinect, it's superior speech capabilities. And who doesn't want to name their Kinect and to be able to yell (err... talk too) their media player? SPEECH RECOGNITION FOR THE KINECT: Kinect speech media controllerThe Kinect speech media controller turns your windows media player into a voice controlled media player. Forget remote controls. Forget waving your arms and hands around to control your media player. Control it purely by voice. Not only that, but to make it a bit more interesting, you get to choose the words for the commands. While this is fun, I found this to be necessary. Kinect speech works great, but it has a few problems with some strong accents. When working on the voice controlled maths game for Kin-educate the Kinect refused to recognise the word 'four' in a British accent. After trying to spell it different ways (fore, for) and having no luck I gave up. I just made sure the answers could never be four. Problem solved. But not really. The real solution? We all speak differently and use different phrases, so why not choose what words and phrases you use to control the Kinect? Give your Kinect a unique name, and when you call it, the Kinect will activate and start listening for commands. Try different phrases and words to see which work well for you, and have a bit of fun with it too. This way the Kinect will be more responsive to your particular way of speaking. You can change the volume, play / pause, rewind / fast-forward&nbsp; open and close the media player and browse for files all through voice control. This is a really simple demo that could be expanded in to much more. With a quick change to the code this can be used to control any windows based program. A whole range of other voice commands could be added. ... After a few seconds of silence the Kinect will go into standby mode. It will stay like this until you call it by its name. When you are not using it http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-Speech-Media-Controller Thu, 23 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-Speech-Media-Controller Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Kinect-Speech-Media-Controller/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect The soul of Kinect For Windows Interactions from Soul Solutions Today is is like a six for one deal day where we highlight a series of articles from Soul Solutions about our favorite hardware device (and how you can start building with it faster)

Kinect For Windows Interactions Gallery

As the Kinect For Windows SDK has started to evolve, the team has been adding some nice little controls which are quite useful and also controls everyone was writing in one way or another to solve the same issues. I think it’s a really good step so we’re not all spending a bunch of time writing similar controls plus it means there should be some consistency going forward if people use the supplied controls. This will help users with the learning curve with many of the applications.

When you first look through the interactions gallery it’s a bit overwhelming as there’s a bunch of controls and the interaction stream to deal with all at once. For this reason I wanted to do a set of posts so we can concentrate on them one at a time.

Project Information URL: http://www.soulsolutions.com.au/Blog/tabid/73/EntryId/851/Kinect-For-Windows-Interactions-Gallery.aspx

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-soul-of-Kinect-For-Windows-Interactions-from-Soul-Solutions Today is is like a six for one deal day where we highlight a series of articles from Soul Solutions about our favorite hardware device (and how you can start building with it faster) Kinect For Windows Interactions GalleryAs the Kinect For Windows SDK has started to evolve, the team has been adding some nice little controls which are quite useful and also controls everyone was writing in one way or another to solve the same issues. I think it’s a really good step so we’re not all spending a bunch of time writing similar controls plus it means there should be some consistency going forward if people use the supplied controls. This will help users with the learning curve with many of the applications. When you first look through the interactions gallery it’s a bit overwhelming as there’s a bunch of controls and the interaction stream to deal with all at once. For this reason I wanted to do a set of posts so we can concentrate on them one at a time. KinectSensorUI KinectRegion KinectUserViewer KinectTileButton KinectCirceButton KinectScrollViewer InteractionStream Project Information URL: http://www.soulsolutions.com.au/Blog/tabid/73/EntryId/851/Kinect-For-Windows-Interactions-Gallery.aspx Contact Information: Blog: http://www.soulsolutions.com.au/Blog/ http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-soul-of-Kinect-For-Windows-Interactions-from-Soul-Solutions Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-soul-of-Kinect-For-Windows-Interactions-from-Soul-Solutions Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-soul-of-Kinect-For-Windows-Interactions-from-Soul-Solutions/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Kinect SDK "Building a Real Application with Kinect" from John Sonmez and pluralsight While I don't usually highlight stuff you have to pay for (though they do offer a great free trial), this is the first course of this nature at pluralsight and since it covers our favorite hardware device, well, I can make an exception this time.

New course: Building a Real Application with Kinect

John Sonmez has published a new course: Building a Real Application with Kinect

Have you played with Microsoft Kinect? Do you think it’s legit? Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could write your own Kinect enabled applications to take advantage of this awesome piece of technology? Well, I have great news… John has written a course so you can 

In this course he will walk you through the creation of a real application using the Kinect. You’ll be building a Fruit Ninja clone called Shape Ninja which will be capable of detecting chopping gestures and responding to audio commands. You will start off by learning a little bit about the Kinect itself and the Kinect SDK. Then, John shows you just how easy it is to get color image and depth data from the Kinect. You’ll make your application be able to detect and respond to a chopping gesture. He wraps things up by teaching you how to use the Microsoft Speech Platform SDK in combination with the Kinect’s audio sensors to implement real voice commands for our application.

If you’ve been waiting to check out the Kinect, but you didn’t know where to start, or perhaps you thought it would be difficult to learn; this course will get you up and running with the Kinect in no time. Click here to get started now. We hope you enjoy the course!

Project Information URL: http://blog.pluralsight.com/2013/05/01/new-course-building-a-real-application-with-kinect/, http://www.pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/building-real-kinect-application

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Building-a-Real-Application-with-Kinect-from-John-Sonmez-and-pluralsight While I don't usually highlight stuff you have to pay for (though they do offer a great free trial), this is the first course of this nature at pluralsight and since it covers our favorite hardware device, well, I can make an exception this time. New course: Building a Real Application with KinectJohn Sonmez has published a new course: Building a Real Application with Kinect Have you played with Microsoft Kinect? Do you think it’s legit? Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could write your own Kinect enabled applications to take advantage of this awesome piece of technology? Well, I have great news… John has written a course so you can&nbsp; In this course he will walk you through the creation of a real application using the Kinect. You’ll be building a Fruit Ninja clone called Shape Ninja which will be capable of detecting chopping gestures and responding to audio commands. You will start off by learning a little bit about the Kinect itself and the Kinect SDK. Then, John shows you just how easy it is to get color image and depth data from the Kinect. You’ll make your application be able to detect and respond to a chopping gesture. He wraps things up by teaching you how to use the Microsoft Speech Platform SDK in combination with the Kinect’s audio sensors to implement real voice commands for our application. If you’ve been waiting to check out the Kinect, but you didn’t know where to start, or perhaps you thought it would be difficult to learn; this course will get you up and running with the Kinect in no time. Click here to get started now. We hope you enjoy the course! Project Information URL: http://blog.pluralsight.com/2013/05/01/new-course-building-a-real-application-with-kinect/, http://www.pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/building-real-kinect-application Contact Information: Blog: http://blog.pluralsight.com Twitter: @pluralsight http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Building-a-Real-Application-with-Kinect-from-John-Sonmez-and-pluralsight Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Building-a-Real-Application-with-Kinect-from-John-Sonmez-and-pluralsight Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 2 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Building-a-Real-Application-with-Kinect-from-John-Sonmez-and-pluralsight/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Training The Green Screen without a Green Screen - "Kinect No Need 4 Green" As promised on Tuesday, here's this week's second project by David Renton, this time with him showing off (with code) how to do a "green screen" without a green screen...

Kinect No Need 4 Green – The Green Screen without a Green Screen

This little piece of software allows you to produce easily, quickly and cheaply the type of picture that you would normally need a proper green screen setup to create. The software uses a Kinect for Windows or Kinect for XBOX360 device connected to a Windows 7 or 8 pc.

All you need to do is stand in front of the device and it will cut you out. You can choose between different backdrops, which you can add to by copying your own pictures (JPEG or PNG) into the PICTURES sub-folder. You can zoom in & out and move the cut out image using the keyboard or by on-screen controls.  You can take snapshot pictures of what is displayed in the window and these pictures are saved into the SNAPSHOTS sub-folder.

The keyboard controls are as below:-
SPACE bar takes a snapshot photo
W,A,S,D keys move the cut-out image left, right, up and down
+ and – keys zoom the cut-out image in and out
UP and DOWN keys allow you to adjust the viewing angle of the Kinect Device
LEFT and RIGHT keys allow you to choose the backdrop picture
M toggles mirroring mode on and off
F11 toggles full screen mode on and off
C toggles depth cut off mode on and off. This mode changes the way Kinect cuts the image out, by cutting out based on the distance from Kinect, rather than trying to cut out individual people. When in this mode the < key and the > key allow you to adjust the cut off distance.

Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/kinect-no-need-4-green-the-green-screen-without-a-green-screen/

Project Download URL: Click here to download No Need 4 Green version 1

Project Source URL: Click here to download No Need 4 Green version 1 with C# source code

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Update: Since the writing of this post David has already released a v2!

Kinect NoNeed4Green v2

I've already made some changes to my NoNeed4Green, so here is version 2. The main addition being the facility to add foreground pictures. The foreground pictures have their own sub-folder called foreground and they use PNG files only, as you need images with transparent backgrounds for it to work. This allows you to put objects in front of the live cut-outs of people as well as having a background behind them. This lets you do things like putting someone behind the desk of the oval office or behind the desk of the BBC newsroom or on the bow of the Titanic. You can also now resize and move all 3 layers. Layer 1 is the background, layer 2 is the live cut-outs of people, while layer 3 are the foreground objects.

...

There is a few new keyboard controls as well :-

H toggles between hiding all on-screen buttons and revealing them. Keys 1,2,3 select layers 1,2 and 3 to allow you to move and resize them.

...

Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/kinect-noneed4green-v2/

Project Download URL: Click here to download No Need 4 Green version 2

Project Source URL: Click here to download No Need 4 Green version 2

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-Green-Screen-without-a-Green-Screen-Kinect-No-Need-4-Green As promised on Tuesday, here's this week's second project by David Renton, this time with him showing off (with code) how to do a &quot;green screen&quot; without a green screen... Kinect No Need 4 Green – The Green Screen without a Green ScreenThis little piece of software allows you to produce easily, quickly and cheaply the type of picture that you would normally need a proper green screen setup to create. The software uses a Kinect for Windows or Kinect for XBOX360 device connected to a Windows 7 or 8 pc. All you need to do is stand in front of the device and it will cut you out. You can choose between different backdrops, which you can add to by copying your own pictures (JPEG or PNG) into the PICTURES sub-folder. You can zoom in &amp; out and move the cut out image using the keyboard or by on-screen controls.&nbsp; You can take snapshot pictures of what is displayed in the window and these pictures are saved into the SNAPSHOTS sub-folder. The keyboard controls are as below:-SPACE bar takes a snapshot photoW,A,S,D keys move the cut-out image left, right, up and down&#43; and – keys zoom the cut-out image in and outUP and DOWN keys allow you to adjust the viewing angle of the Kinect DeviceLEFT and RIGHT keys allow you to choose the backdrop pictureM toggles mirroring mode on and offF11 toggles full screen mode on and offC toggles depth cut off mode on and off. This mode changes the way Kinect cuts the image out, by cutting out based on the distance from Kinect, rather than trying to cut out individual people. When in this mode the &lt; key and the &gt; key allow you to adjust the cut off distance. Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/kinect-no-need-4-green-the-green-screen-without-a-green-screen/ Project Download URL: Click here to download No Need 4 Green version 1 Project Source URL: Click here to download No Need 4 Green version 1 with C# source code Contact Information: Blog: http://drenton72.wordpress.com Twitter: @drenton72 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-Green-Screen-without-a-Green-Screen-Kinect-No-Need-4-Green Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-Green-Screen-without-a-Green-Screen-Kinect-No-Need-4-Green Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/The-Green-Screen-without-a-Green-Screen-Kinect-No-Need-4-Green/RSS C# Coding4Fun Kinect Two Kinects, Less Occlusion Today's inspirational video comes to us via the team at Second Story where they show off some of the work they are doing with using two Kinects at the same time...

Lose your Occlusion

Depth-sensing cameras like the Kinect give us the opportunity to mix physical environments and virtual environments, creating new immersive experiences. In this Second Story Labs experiment, we demonstrate how the use of multiple cameras helps solve problems with occlusion or “holes” the use of a single camera creates.

If you’ve ever worked with a Microsoft Kinect, you know that occlusion is no laughing matter. It’s responsible for gaping holes in people’s chests, disappearing necks, the noseless faces of zombies. Humans are full of convexities, and to a Kinect that means that we are also full of holes. We’ve dealt with this in lots of creative ways—filling in gaps with best estimates, “blurring” data, hiding holes with smoke and mirrors. But the best and perhaps most obvious solution to the dilemma of occlusion is simply to add more Kinects. A second gunman, if you will, shooting from an angle that will cover the first Kinect’s blind spot.

In this case, we are calibrating two Kinects in space about a meter apart and angled inward toward their subject. This way we can “see” our way around noses, arms, and other pesky occlusions. Then all we have to do is combine their data into a single mesh, and the rest is up to our imaginations.

At full resolution, we can actually get a pretty accurate model of a person’s face. And all of this is being rendered in real time, so that a user’s reality can be “augmented” while they interact. Here we have added three-dimensional models and rain particles to the virtual space to put the user into an imaginary landscape.

Project Information URL: http://blog.secondstory.com/2013/03/18/lose-your-occlusion-2/

from Vimeo.

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Two-Kinects-Less-Occlusion Today's inspirational video comes to us via the team at Second Story where they show off some of the work they are doing with using two Kinects at the same time... Lose your OcclusionDepth-sensing cameras like the Kinect give us the opportunity to mix physical environments and virtual environments, creating new immersive experiences. In this Second Story Labs experiment, we demonstrate how the use of multiple cameras helps solve problems with occlusion or “holes” the use of a single camera creates. If you’ve ever worked with a Microsoft Kinect, you know that occlusion is no laughing matter. It’s responsible for gaping holes in people’s chests, disappearing necks, the noseless faces of zombies. Humans are full of convexities, and to a Kinect that means that we are also full of holes. We’ve dealt with this in lots of creative ways—filling in gaps with best estimates, “blurring” data, hiding holes with smoke and mirrors. But the best and perhaps most obvious solution to the dilemma of occlusion is simply to add more Kinects. A second gunman, if you will, shooting from an angle that will cover the first Kinect’s blind spot. In this case, we are calibrating two Kinects in space about a meter apart and angled inward toward their subject. This way we can “see” our way around noses, arms, and other pesky occlusions. Then all we have to do is combine their data into a single mesh, and the rest is up to our imaginations. At full resolution, we can actually get a pretty accurate model of a person’s face. And all of this is being rendered in real time, so that a user’s reality can be “augmented” while they interact. Here we have added three-dimensional models and rain particles to the virtual space to put the user into an imaginary landscape. Project Information URL: http://blog.secondstory.com/2013/03/18/lose-your-occlusion-2/ from Vimeo. Contact Information: Blog: http://blog.secondstory.com/ Twitter: @2storypdx http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Two-Kinects-Less-Occlusion Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Two-Kinects-Less-Occlusion Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Two-Kinects-Less-Occlusion/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Press and Grip gesture support added to the Kinect Magic Cursor Friend of the Gallery, David Renton, is back, this week with two different updates and projects.

Today...

Kinect Magic Cursor version 1.7 with Gesture support

I am releasing a new version of Kinect Magic Cursor which works much like the last version except it now uses gestures to simulate the left mouse button, instead of raising your left hand. So now your right hand controls the mouse pointer and you can PRESS with your left hand to simulate a single left mouse button click. You can also GRIP (make a fist) with your right hand to simulate holding down the left mouse button for dragging, selecting etc. To stop holding it down you simply RELEASE (stop making a fist). I went with the LEFT hand for PRESS rather than the right hand as I found pressing with the RIGHT hand tending to move the cursor and made it hard to click on small buttons.

Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/kinect-magic-cursor-version-1-7-with-gesture-support/

Project Download URL: Click here to download Kinect Magic Cursor V1.7

Project Source URL: Click here to download Kinect Magic Cursor v1.7 with C# source

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Press-and-Grip-gesture-support-added-to-the-Kinect-Magic-Cursor Friend of the Gallery, David Renton, is back, this week with two different updates and projects. Today... Kinect Magic Cursor version 1.7 with Gesture supportI am releasing a new version of Kinect Magic Cursor which works much like the last version except it now uses gestures to simulate the left mouse button, instead of raising your left hand. So now your right hand controls the mouse pointer and you can PRESS with your left hand to simulate a single left mouse button click. You can also GRIP (make a fist) with your right hand to simulate holding down the left mouse button for dragging, selecting etc. To stop holding it down you simply RELEASE (stop making a fist). I went with the LEFT hand for PRESS rather than the right hand as I found pressing with the RIGHT hand tending to move the cursor and made it hard to click on small buttons. Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/kinect-magic-cursor-version-1-7-with-gesture-support/ Project Download URL: Click here to download Kinect Magic Cursor V1.7 Project Source URL: Click here to download Kinect Magic Cursor v1.7 with C# source Contact Information: Blog: http://drenton72.wordpress.com Twitter: @drenton72 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Press-and-Grip-gesture-support-added-to-the-Kinect-Magic-Cursor Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Press-and-Grip-gesture-support-added-to-the-Kinect-Magic-Cursor Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Press-and-Grip-gesture-support-added-to-the-Kinect-Magic-Cursor/RSS C# Coding4Fun Gestures Kinect Demystifying the Interaction Stream (and how to use it without WPF) The second in our two part InteractionStream without WPF series comes from András Velvárt, where he dives into a good deal of depth, not only showing how it works, but explains the details behind it too...

Kinect Interactions with(out) WPF – Part III: Demystifying the Interaction Stream

 In this part of my Kinect Interaction blog post series, we go deep into the rabbit hole, and examine the foundation of Kinect Interactions – the InteractionStream, upon which the entire library is built. This is a risky ride – with no official documentation, we can only count on our trusty reflector, the source code of the Kinect Interaction SDK and careful exploration.

You only need to access the treasures of InteractionStream, if you want to go beyond what the KinectRegion and other controls provide. For example, you want to create your own KinectRegion, you want to zoom a map by gripping it with two hands, or want to build your entirely new interaction model, using two hands along with the press and grip gestures.

Initializing the InteractionStream

Initializing the InteractionStream is much like initializing the DepthStream or the SkeletonStream. If you have a KinectSensor object, all you need are the next two lines of code:

...

It seems like we are on track. Just pass an initialized KinectSensor object and this DummyInteractionClient to the constructort of the InteractionStream, and we should be all set, right? Well, not quite. The InteractionFrameReady event does not fire.

Interaction Needs Skeleton and Depth

It turns out, that for the InteractionStream to work, it needs to process the data from both the depth and the skeleton streams. So, we need to initiate all three of the streams. This is what the entire OnLoaded method (which you have to wire up either in XAML or in the constructor of the page) looks like:

...

It doesn’t seem so simple now, so let's walk through each line of code and see what they do. The first five lines define local variables that hold a reference to the Kinect sensor the application will use, the InteractionStream itself, the skeletons identified by the SkeletonStream, and the hand position information about the users as determined by the InteractionStream.

...

Dissecting InteractionFrameReadyEventArgs

So, now that we have finally made the InteractionStream call the InteractionFrameReady event, we can start analyzing what kind of data we can get to. The first step is to get our hand on an InteractionFrame, and the interaction data it contains:

image

Summary

I’ve shown you how you can get started with the InteractionStream and acquire information about the hands of the users, detect active hands, pressing (IsPressed and PressExtent), and open / closed hands (HandEventType and our custom LastHandEventType). What I’ve shown here does not require WPF – you can use this from any .NET application, be it XNA, Windows Forms or even Command Line.

Project Information URL: http://dotneteers.net/blogs/vbandi/archive/2013/05/03/kinect-interactions-with-wpf-part-iii-demystifying-the-interaction-stream.aspx

Project Source URL: Source Download

private Dictionary<int, InteractionHandEventType> _lastLeftHandEvents = new Dictionary<int, InteractionHandEventType>(); private Dictionary<int, InteractionHandEventType> _lastRightHandEvents = new Dictionary<int, InteractionHandEventType>();
Dictionary<int, InteractionHandEventType>();
  
private void InteractionStreamOnInteractionFrameReady(object sender, 
ctionFrameReadyEventArgs args)
{
     using (var iaf = args.OpenInteractionFrame()) //dispose as soon as 
le
     {
         if (iaf == null)
             return;
  
         iaf.CopyInteractionDataTo(_userInfos);
     }
  
     StringBuilder dump = new StringBuilder();
  
     var hasUser = false;
     foreach (var userInfo in _userInfos)
     {
         var userID = userInfo.SkeletonTrackingId;
         if (userID == 0)
             continue;
  
         hasUser = true;
         dump.AppendLine("User ID = " + userID);
         dump.AppendLine("  Hands: ");
         var hands = userInfo.HandPointers;
         if (hands.Count == 0)
             dump.AppendLine("    No hands");
         else
         {
             foreach (var hand in hands)
             {
                 var lastHandEvents = hand.HandType == 
ctionHandType.Left
                                             ? _lastLeftHandEvents
                                             : _lastRightHandEvents;
  
                 if (hand.HandEventType != 
ctionHandEventType.None)
                     lastHandEvents[userID] = hand.HandEventType;
  
                 var lastHandEvent = lastHandEvents.ContainsKey(userID)
                                         ? lastHandEvents[userID]
                                         : 
ctionHandEventType.None;
  
                 dump.AppendLine();
                 dump.AppendLine("    HandType: " + hand.HandType);
                 dump.AppendLine("    HandEventType: " + 
andEventType);
                 dump.AppendLine("    LastHandEventType: " + 
ndEvent);
                 dump.AppendLine("    IsActive: " + hand.IsActive);
                 dump.AppendLine("    IsPrimaryForUser: " + 
sPrimaryForUser);
                 dump.AppendLine("    IsInteractive: " + 
sInteractive);
                 dump.AppendLine("    PressExtent: " + 
ressExtent.ToString("N3"));
                 dump.AppendLine("    IsPressed: " + hand.IsPressed);
                 dump.AppendLine("    IsTracked: " + hand.IsTracked);
                 dump.AppendLine("    X: " + hand.X.ToString("N3"));
                 dump.AppendLine("    Y: " + hand.Y.ToString("N3"));
                 dump.AppendLine("    RawX: " + 
awX.ToString("N3"));
                 dump.AppendLine("    RawY: " + 
awY.ToString("N3"));
                 dump.AppendLine("    RawZ: " + 
awZ.ToString("N3"));
             }
         }
  
         tb.Text = dump.ToString();
     }
  
     if (!hasUser)
         tb.Text = "No user detected.";
}

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Demystifying-the-Interaction-Stream-and-how-to-use-it-without-WPF The second in our two part InteractionStream without WPF series comes from András Velvárt, where he dives into a good deal of depth, not only showing how it works, but explains the details behind it too... Kinect Interactions with(out) WPF – Part III: Demystifying the Interaction Stream&nbsp;In this part of my Kinect Interaction blog post series, we go deep into the rabbit hole, and examine the foundation of Kinect Interactions – the InteractionStream, upon which the entire library is built. This is a risky ride – with no official documentation, we can only count on our trusty reflector, the source code of the Kinect Interaction SDK and careful exploration. You only need to access the treasures of InteractionStream, if you want to go beyond what the KinectRegion and other controls provide. For example, you want to create your own KinectRegion, you want to zoom a map by gripping it with two hands, or want to build your entirely new interaction model, using two hands along with the press and grip gestures. Initializing the InteractionStreamInitializing the InteractionStream is much like initializing the DepthStream or the SkeletonStream. If you have a KinectSensor object, all you need are the next two lines of code: ... It seems like we are on track. Just pass an initialized KinectSensor object and this DummyInteractionClient to the constructort of the InteractionStream, and we should be all set, right? Well, not quite. The InteractionFrameReady event does not fire. Interaction Needs Skeleton and DepthIt turns out, that for the InteractionStream to work, it needs to process the data from both the depth and the skeleton streams. So, we need to initiate all three of the streams. This is what the entire OnLoaded method (which you have to wire up either in XAML or in the constructor of the page) looks like: ... It doesn’t seem so simple now, so let's walk through each line of code and see what they do. The first five lines define local variables that hold a reference to http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Demystifying-the-Interaction-Stream-and-how-to-use-it-without-WPF Thu, 09 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Demystifying-the-Interaction-Stream-and-how-to-use-it-without-WPF Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Demystifying-the-Interaction-Stream-and-how-to-use-it-without-WPF/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Kinect SDK Using the InteractionStream without WPF For the next two posts, we're going to do a mini-series on the new InteractionStream from Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7. Both focusing on using them outside of WPF.

Today's comes from Ben Lower...

Using Kinect InteractionStream Outside of WPF

Last month with the release of version 1.7 of our SDK and toolkit we introduced something called the InteractionStream.  Included in this release were two new samples called Controls Basics and Interaction Gallery which, among other things, show how to use the new InteractionStream along with new interactions like Press and Grip.  Both of these new samples are written using managed code (C#) and WPF.

One question I’ve been hearing from developers is, “I don’t want to use WPF but I still want to use InteractionStream with managed code.  How do I do this?”  In this post I’m going to show how to do exactly that.  I’m going to take it to the extreme by removing the UI layer completely:  we’ll use a console app using C#.

The way our application will work is summarized in the diagram below:

image

There are a few things to note here:

  1. Upon starting the program, we initialize our sensor, interactions, and create FrameReady event handlers.
  2. Our sensor is generating data for every frame.  We use our FrameReady event handlers to respond and handle depth, skeleton, and interaction frames.
  3. The program implements the IInteractionClient interface which requires us to implement a method called GetInteractionInfoAtLocation which gives us back information about interactions happening with a particular user at a specified location:
    ... 
     
  4. The other noteworthy part of our program is in the InteractionFrameReady method.  This is where we process information about our users, route our UI events, handle things like Grip and GripRelease, etc.

Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/k4wdev/archive/2013/05/01/using-kinect-interactionstream-outside-of-wpf.aspx

Project Source URL: sample code

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Using-the-InteractionStream-without-WPF For the next two posts, we're going to do a mini-series on the new InteractionStream from Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7. Both focusing on using them outside of WPF. Today's comes from Ben Lower... Using Kinect InteractionStream Outside of WPFLast month with the release of version 1.7 of our SDK and toolkit we introduced something called the InteractionStream.&nbsp; Included in this release were two new samples called Controls Basics and Interaction Gallery which, among other things, show how to use the new InteractionStream along with new interactions like Press and Grip.&nbsp; Both of these new samples are written using managed code (C#) and WPF. One question I’ve been hearing from developers is, “I don’t want to use WPF but I still want to use InteractionStream with managed code.&nbsp; How do I do this?”&nbsp; In this post I’m going to show how to do exactly that.&nbsp; I’m going to take it to the extreme by removing the UI layer completely:&nbsp; we’ll use a console app using C#. The way our application will work is summarized in the diagram below: There are a few things to note here: Upon starting the program, we initialize our sensor, interactions, and create FrameReady event handlers. Our sensor is generating data for every frame.&nbsp; We use our FrameReady event handlers to respond and handle depth, skeleton, and interaction frames. The program implements the IInteractionClient interface which requires us to implement a method called GetInteractionInfoAtLocation which gives us back information about interactions happening with a particular user at a specified location: ... &nbsp;The other noteworthy part of our program is in the InteractionFrameReady method.&nbsp; This is where we process information about our users, route our UI events, handle things like Grip and GripRelease, etc. Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/k4wdev/archive/2013/05/01/using-kinect-interactionstream-outside-of-wpf.aspx Project Source URL: sample code Contact Information: http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Using-the-InteractionStream-without-WPF Wed, 08 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Using-the-InteractionStream-without-WPF Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Using-the-InteractionStream-without-WPF/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Fluent Kinect This is why I love development and developers... Do it once, okay. Twice, maybe, Three times? Okay, need to stream line it.

Marcus has provided a great example of streamlining Kinect for Windows SDK development. It's simple, yet, when you see it, you'll know you want to grab this... (plus you've got to love that he's released the source too)

Fluent Kinect

Since I have been playing around with the Kinect for Windows SDK I’ve created a lot of little new projects and samples to try things out. Starting point was always something like this:

image

Because I most often use the 640×480 option anyway, the format is an optional parameter when enabling the streams and it defaults to *640x480Fps30.

I’ve extracted the two little lines that gets the first connected Kinect Sensor to a class called KinectConnector. At the moment an exception is thrown when no Kinect unit is connected. This is not a very good way of handling this scenario and will be changed in the future.

Now the code is even cleaner:

var sensor = KinectConnector.GetKinect()
.EnableColorStream()
.EnableSkeletonStream()
.EnableDepthStream()
.Seated()
.NearMode()
.Start();

For an even shorter and quicker Setup I’ve implemented the method ‘KickStart’ which enables the three streams and calls Start() on the KinectSensor object.

For future ‘try out samples’ I’ll just have to code this now:

var sensor = KinectConnector.GetKinect()
.KickStart();

Project Information URL: http://passiondev.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/fluent-kinect/

Project Download URL: FluentKinect

Project Source URL: FluentKinect

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Fluent-Kinect This is why I love development and developers... Do it once, okay. Twice, maybe, Three times? Okay, need to stream line it. Marcus has provided a great example of streamlining Kinect for Windows SDK development. It's simple, yet, when you see it, you'll know you want to grab this... (plus you've got to love that he's released the source too) Fluent KinectSince I have been playing around with the Kinect for Windows SDK I’ve created a lot of little new projects and samples to try things out. Starting point was always something like this: Because I most often use the 640×480 option anyway, the format is an optional parameter when enabling the streams and it defaults to *640x480Fps30. I’ve extracted the two little lines that gets the first connected Kinect Sensor to a class called KinectConnector. At the moment an exception is thrown when no Kinect unit is connected. This is not a very good way of handling this scenario and will be changed in the future. Now the code is even cleaner: var sensor = KinectConnector.GetKinect() .EnableColorStream() .EnableSkeletonStream() .EnableDepthStream() .Seated() .NearMode() .Start(); For an even shorter and quicker Setup I’ve implemented the method ‘KickStart’ which enables the three streams and calls Start() on the KinectSensor object. For future ‘try out samples’ I’ll just have to code this now: var sensor = KinectConnector.GetKinect() .KickStart(); Project Information URL: http://passiondev.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/fluent-kinect/ Project Download URL: FluentKinect Project Source URL: FluentKinect Contact Information: Blog: http://passiondev.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @MarcusKohnert http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Fluent-Kinect Tue, 07 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Fluent-Kinect Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Fluent-Kinect/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Kinect SDK Is that a mouse on your face? Or your face acting as a mouse? Both? FaceMouse Today's project, the second with week from Tom, takes the facial detection feature of the Kinect and Kinect for Windows SDK and pushes it farther than I think I've seen before, turning your face and facial expressions into a mouse.

Use your face as mouse control with Kinect

Replace your mouse with your face. Control the cursor just by moving your head. Click by winking your eyes, scroll by raising and lowering your eyebrows. All of that is possible now with FaceMouse Kinect.

During the usage of our KinectMouse, we figured out that it is very exhausting for your arm, if you have to control the mouse cursor all the time with your hand. So we were looking for a more easier method to control the mouse cursor with Kinect. All you have to do is moving your head and using some facial expressions for certain mouse actions.

...

How does our application work?
Cursor Moving

It is really easy: Just move your head to control the cursor. Make sure that Kinect can see your face as well as your chest. Sometimes the inital recognition is better when you are waving. It is normal that Kinect needs a few seconds to identify your face correctly. In contrast to KinectMouse, FaceMouse Kinect is more precise when you are more close to the sensor (but not too close) as the sensor has a more detailed view on your face this way. One meter should be a sufficient distance.

Left Click

Just wink with your right eye about a second...

Right Click...
Double Click...
Scrolling

Raise your eyebrows for scrolling up and lower it for scrolling down

Drag & Drop

Open your mouth for starting drag & drop. Move your head to move the cursor and keep your mouth open. For dropping, just close your mouth

Find the correct settings for yourself

Every face is different. It could be that the preselected settings in FaceMouse Kinect are not optimal for you. Just play a bit with the thresholds until you are satisfied.

  • ClickDelay: .
  • Headrotation Smoothing Filter Values: ...
  • Percentage of horizontal edge Pixels: ....
  • Used frames for closed eye detection: ....
  • Eye closed filter threshold: ...
  • Double click second eye threshold: ....
  • Brow raiser start threshold:  ...
  • Brow lowerer start threshold: ....
  • Mouth open start threshold: ....
  • Mouth open confirmation: ...
  • Mouth open end threshold: ...
  • Scroll multiplier up: ...
  • Scroll multiplier down: ...
  • Head to Screen relation X – Width: ...
  • Head to Screen relation Y – Height: ...

I’m always happy to get some feedback. So please comment and let me know, if you are satisfied with this app. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. [Please click through and comment on the original post]

Project Information URL: http://futuretechblog.com/?p=71

Project Download URL: Download FaceMouse Kinect

image

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Is-that-a-mouse-on-your-face-Or-your-face-acting-as-a-mouse-Both-FaceMouse Today's project, the second with week from Tom, takes the facial detection feature of the Kinect and Kinect for Windows SDK and pushes it farther than I think I've seen before, turning your face and facial expressions into a mouse. Use your face as mouse control with KinectReplace your mouse with your face. Control the cursor just by moving your head. Click by winking your eyes, scroll by raising and lowering your eyebrows. All of that is possible now with FaceMouse Kinect. During the usage of our KinectMouse, we figured out that it is very exhausting for your arm, if you have to control the mouse cursor all the time with your hand. So we were looking for a more easier method to control the mouse cursor with Kinect. All you have to do is moving your head and using some facial expressions for certain mouse actions. ... How does our application work?Cursor MovingIt is really easy: Just move your head to control the cursor. Make sure that Kinect can see your face as well as your chest. Sometimes the inital recognition is better when you are waving. It is normal that Kinect needs a few seconds to identify your face correctly. In contrast to KinectMouse, FaceMouse Kinect is more precise when you are more close to the sensor (but not too close) as the sensor has a more detailed view on your face this way. One meter should be a sufficient distance. Left ClickJust wink with your right eye about a second... Right Click...Double Click...ScrollingRaise your eyebrows for scrolling up and lower it for scrolling down Drag &amp; DropOpen your mouth for starting drag &amp; drop. Move your head to move the cursor and keep your mouth open. For dropping, just close your mouth Find the correct settings for yourselfEvery face is different. It could be that the preselected settings in FaceMouse Kinect are not optimal for you. Just play a bit with the thresholds until you are satisfied. ClickDelay: . Headrotation Smoothing Filter Values: ... Percentage of horizontal edge Pixels: .... Used http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Is-that-a-mouse-on-your-face-Or-your-face-acting-as-a-mouse-Both-FaceMouse Thu, 02 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Is-that-a-mouse-on-your-face-Or-your-face-acting-as-a-mouse-Both-FaceMouse Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 2 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/Is-that-a-mouse-on-your-face-Or-your-face-acting-as-a-mouse-Both-FaceMouse/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect KinectMouse Today's binary only project provides another example of how you can mesh the Kinect into your mouse world...

Use your hand instead a mouse (with Kinect for Windows)

Within an university programming project we tried out several methods to control the mouse cursor with Kinect for Windows. One of the results is a small application, which lets you control the Windows mouse cursor with your hands. Generally the cursor moves like the Kinect cursor on Xbox, but in our opinion there are several disadvantages on the Xbox Kinect mouse control:

  1. On Xbox you need to hold the cursor for about a second over a tile if you want to click on it. This is an unnecessary delay. So we were looking for a clicking method, which is as fast as a click on a PC mouse.
  2. With the Xbox Kinect control you only have the opportunity to make a standard click. There is neither a possibility for a right click nor a possibility for a double click and also no possibilty for Drag & Drop. But you need all of these special mouse actions, when you are working with your PC.
How does our application work?
Cursor Moving

Just move your hand for controlling the cursor. The recognition of your hand is a bit insensitive when you are too close to the sensor. If the cursor is too much jumping, just go one or two steps back. When you start the application it takes a moment for the sensor to recognize your hand. Make sure that Kinect can see your face as well as your chest and both of your hands. Sometimes the inital recognition is better when you are waving.

Left Click ...
Double Click ...
Right Click ...
Drag & Drop ...

Project Information URL: http://futuretechblog.com/?p=26

Project Download URL: Download KinectMouse

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectMouse Today's binary only project provides another example of how you can mesh the Kinect into your mouse world... Use your hand instead a mouse (with Kinect for Windows)Within an university programming project we tried out several methods to control the mouse cursor with Kinect for Windows. One of the results is a small application, which lets you control the Windows mouse cursor with your hands. Generally the cursor moves like the Kinect cursor on Xbox, but in our opinion there are several disadvantages on the Xbox Kinect mouse control: On Xbox you need to hold the cursor for about a second over a tile if you want to click on it. This is an unnecessary delay. So we were looking for a clicking method, which is as fast as a click on a PC mouse. With the Xbox Kinect control you only have the opportunity to make a standard click. There is neither a possibility for a right click nor a possibility for a double click and also no possibilty for Drag &amp; Drop. But you need all of these special mouse actions, when you are working with your PC. How does our application work?Cursor MovingJust move your hand for controlling the cursor. The recognition of your hand is a bit insensitive when you are too close to the sensor. If the cursor is too much jumping, just go one or two steps back. When you start the application it takes a moment for the sensor to recognize your hand. Make sure that Kinect can see your face as well as your chest and both of your hands. Sometimes the inital recognition is better when you are waving. Left Click ...Double Click ...Right Click ...Drag &amp; Drop ...Project Information URL: http://futuretechblog.com/?p=26 Project Download URL: Download KinectMouse Contact Information: Blog: http://futuretechblog.com http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectMouse Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectMouse Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectMouse/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect RoomE (Star Trek like Voice-Controlled room) Today's inspirational project shows that the future might not be so far away...

Frog Makes Star Trek’s Voice-Controlled Computers A Reality

Those are iconic words to any Star Trek fan--it’s the preferred drink of Captain Picard, as ordered from the Enterprise’s always-listening computer system. They also represent a vision of voice-activated, ubiquitous computing interfaces that took hold in sci-fi books and film nearly 70 years ago.

It’s taken a long time for our world to sync up to Picard’s, but with the advent of Kinect and voice recognition systems, it’s finally happening. "Writers from Heinlein to Doctorow envisioned a far more heads-up, cooperative, and simple way of engaging with technology," explain a team of Frog technologists behind RoomE, a heads-up computing project. “We think we’ve also reached a point in our technological evolution that will allow many of these visions to become real.“ Devised and built by Frog Fellow Jared Ficklin, RoomE is one of the first working examples of a type of ubiquitous computing interface only imagined for decades.

...

Installed at Frog’s Austin offices, RoomE’s hardware is all off-the-shelf: two Kinects provide an array of voice and motion sensors, while a series of projectors are positioned to turn any surface into a screen. The software is custom-built, using Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine, Computer Vision, and the Kinect SDK. “A lot of people seem to be working on various pieces, but no one has yet to combine them,” says Ficklin. “That’s one reason we had to build one for ourselves.” On YouTube, Ficklin uploads videos of himself pointing to certain lamps in an office and, in a friendly Texas lilt, telling RoomE to “turn on those lights.” He also turns them back on with a hand motion and then orders takeout from Yelp, tweets, controls the thermostat, and checks out the CCTV feed from the backyard--all using voice commands. "RoomE leverages the elegance of context," the team at Frog explains. "The system knows who is in the room and what is in the room via computer vision. Therefore when the command is issued, RoomE calculates where the command came from, and, by putting the context together, the results can be placed where they best serve the user."

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Read more about RoomE here. Or, for those interested in building their own system, the team has published a great cookbook-style guide (PDF).

Project Information URL: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672284/frog-makes-star-treks-voice-controlled-computers-a-reality#1

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]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/RoomE-Star-Trek-like-Voice-Controlled-room Today's inspirational project shows that the future might not be so far away... Frog Makes Star Trek’s Voice-Controlled Computers A RealityThose are iconic words to any Star Trek fan--it’s the preferred drink of Captain Picard, as ordered from the Enterprise’s always-listening computer system. They also represent a vision of voice-activated, ubiquitous computing interfaces that took hold in sci-fi books and film nearly 70 years ago. It’s taken a long time for our world to sync up to Picard’s, but with the advent of Kinect and voice recognition systems, it’s finally happening. &quot;Writers from Heinlein to Doctorow envisioned a far more heads-up, cooperative, and simple way of engaging with technology,&quot; explain a team of Frog technologists behind RoomE, a heads-up computing project. “We think we’ve also reached a point in our technological evolution that will allow many of these visions to become real.“ Devised and built by Frog Fellow Jared Ficklin, RoomE is one of the first working examples of a type of ubiquitous computing interface only imagined for decades. ... Installed at Frog’s Austin offices, RoomE’s hardware is all off-the-shelf: two Kinects provide an array of voice and motion sensors, while a series of projectors are positioned to turn any surface into a screen. The software is custom-built, using Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine, Computer Vision, and the Kinect SDK. “A lot of people seem to be working on various pieces, but no one has yet to combine them,” says Ficklin. “That’s one reason we had to build one for ourselves.” On YouTube, Ficklin uploads videos of himself pointing to certain lamps in an office and, in a friendly Texas lilt, telling RoomE to “turn on those lights.” He also turns them back on with a hand motion and then orders takeout from Yelp, tweets, controls the thermostat, and checks out the CCTV feed from the backyard--all using voice commands. &quot;RoomE leverages the elegance of context,&quot; the team at Frog explains. &quo http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/RoomE-Star-Trek-like-Voice-Controlled-room Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/RoomE-Star-Trek-like-Voice-Controlled-room Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/RoomE-Star-Trek-like-Voice-Controlled-room/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect Power[Shell]Kinect Today's project might not be one that is used often, but it's fun and not something I believe I've seen before... Then again, who wouldn't want to power their automation with PowerShell and the Kinect? Tongue Out

PowerShell and the Kinect

A few months back I wrote a “module” for scripting the Kinect with PowerShell. It’s located at: https://github.com/adminian/PowerKinect. Recently a new Kinect SDK was released. I’m going to be testing out the new SDK to make sure everything works as expected.

More info about the new SDK: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2013/03/18/the-latest-kinect-for-windows-sdk-is-here.aspx.

Currently there are only two gestures: right hand swipe and left hand swipe. There is also a function that starts PowerPoint and allows you to control your presentation.

Gary Siepser, a fellow PFE and PowerShell Guru, jumped in and started helping out. He’s written the Audio control functions for the module. We’ll be integrating them into the repo soon! I’ll be posting more about Scripting the Kinect, but for now go clone the repo and give it a try!

Project Information URL: http://adminian.com/2013/03/24/powershell-and-the-kinect/

PowerKinect

A module to control the Kinect from PowerShell.

Currently we only support Kinect SDK version 1.6. Download located here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=262831

Sample-KinectScripts.ps1 has a dependency on ShowUI: http://showui.codeplex.com/

The following is PowerKinects Hello world...

Start-Kinect

Enable-SkeletonStream

Add-RightHandGesture -action { notepad }

Add-LeftHandGesture -action { ps notepad | kill }

That's it!

Project Source URL: https://github.com/adminian/PowerKinect

$global:ie = New-Object -ComObject InternetExplorer.Application
$global:ie.GoHome()
$global:ie.Visible = $true
sleep 1
$global:ie.Navigate("http://www.microsoft.com")
sleep 1
$global:ie.Navigate("http://www.adminian.com")
sleep 1
$global:ie.Navigate("http://powershellsaturday.com/003/")
sleep 1

Add-RightHandGesture -action { $global:ie.GoForward() }
Add-LeftHandGesture -action { $global:ie.GoBack() }

Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/PowerShellKinect Today's project might not be one that is used often, but it's fun and not something I believe I've seen before... Then again, who wouldn't want to power their automation with PowerShell and the Kinect? PowerShell and the KinectA few months back I wrote a “module” for scripting the Kinect with PowerShell. It’s located at: https://github.com/adminian/PowerKinect. Recently a new Kinect SDK was released. I’m going to be testing out the new SDK to make sure everything works as expected. More info about the new SDK: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2013/03/18/the-latest-kinect-for-windows-sdk-is-here.aspx. Currently there are only two gestures: right hand swipe and left hand swipe. There is also a function that starts PowerPoint and allows you to control your presentation. Gary Siepser, a fellow PFE and PowerShell Guru, jumped in and started helping out. He’s written the Audio control functions for the module. We’ll be integrating them into the repo soon! I’ll be posting more about Scripting the Kinect, but for now go clone the repo and give it a try! Project Information URL: http://adminian.com/2013/03/24/powershell-and-the-kinect/ PowerKinectA module to control the Kinect from PowerShell. Currently we only support Kinect SDK version 1.6. Download located here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=262831 Sample-KinectScripts.ps1 has a dependency on ShowUI: http://showui.codeplex.com/ The following is PowerKinects Hello world... Start-Kinect Enable-SkeletonStream Add-RightHandGesture -action { notepad } Add-LeftHandGesture -action { ps notepad | kill } That's it! Project Source URL: https://github.com/adminian/PowerKinect $global:ie = New-Object -ComObject InternetExplorer.Application $global:ie.GoHome() $global:ie.Visible = $true sleep 1 $global:ie.Navigate(&quot;http://www.microsoft.com&quot;) sleep 1 $global:ie.Navigate(&quot;http://www.adminian.com&quot;) sleep 1 $global:ie.Navigate(&quot;http://powershellsaturday.com/003/&quot;) sleep 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/PowerShellKinect Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/PowerShellKinect Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/PowerShellKinect/RSS Coding4Fun Kinect PowerShell KinectChooserEx - Making Kinect Interactions even easier Today's project is another in András Velvárt series on using the new Kinect Interactions. In this project he's making it even easier with...

Kinect Interaction with WPF Part II: Getting Started Easier [KinectChooserEx]

In the previous post of this series, I have introduced the Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7, and the key controls and concepts within its Kinect Interactions toolkit. If you have followed through that post, you have seen all the work and code you need to get the basics running. Most of the initialization code was biolerplate, and code that you can easily copy and paste into your own project.

I have packaged up the initialization code into a UserControl called KinectChooserEx, and wired up a couple of dependency properties.

Note: I could have inherited from KinectChooser instead of packaging it into a user control. But I ran into some serious strong name issues, and wanted more consistent naming for the properties, so it was better to hide some internal workings.

The NearMode property is a boolean value, and can be used to turn Near Mode on and off. Changing Near Mode also sets the EnableTrackingInNearRange of the SkeletonStream. You will probably want to keep NearMode as false if you are using a Kinect for XBox sensor instead of a Kinect for Windows one. Otherwise the interaction engine works better at close range, so I have set NearMode to be true by default.

The other property is KinectSensor, which contains null if no sensor is initialized, or a KinectSensor object if one is.

Both of these properties are bindable. With KinectChooserEx, you can finally get started with your own Kinect project purely in Blend, without writing a single line of code (at least for the interaction part). Here is a step by step tutorial on how to do this:

  • Create a New Project and Add KinectChooserEx.xaml and KinectChooserEx.xaml.cs

Create a new WPF project, and add the necessary references as described in my previous post. Drag and drop the KinectChooserEx.xaml and KinectChooserEx.xaml.cs files from Explorer into the project. You will also want to add the KinectInteraction170_32.dll and KinectInteraction170_64.dll files at this point (again, see my previous post).

  • Add KinectChooserEx to the MainPage
  • Adding a KinectRegion
  • Adding a KinectUserViewer control
  • Let’s See it Work!
  • Using the Near Mode

Project Information URL: http://dotneteers.net/blogs/vbandi/archive/2013/04/19/kinect-interaction-with-wpf-part-ii-getting-started-easier.aspx

Project Download URL: http://sdrv.ms/117qGxo

Project Source URL: http://sdrv.ms/117qGxo

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Contact Information:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectChooserEx-Making-Kinect-Interactions-even-easier Today's project is another in András Velvárt series on using the new Kinect Interactions. In this project he's making it even easier with... Kinect Interaction with WPF Part II: Getting Started Easier [KinectChooserEx]In the previous post of this series, I have introduced the Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7, and the key controls and concepts within its Kinect Interactions toolkit. If you have followed through that post, you have seen all the work and code you need to get the basics running. Most of the initialization code was biolerplate, and code that you can easily copy and paste into your own project. I have packaged up the initialization code into a UserControl called KinectChooserEx, and wired up a couple of dependency properties. Note: I could have inherited from KinectChooser instead of packaging it into a user control. But I ran into some serious strong name issues, and wanted more consistent naming for the properties, so it was better to hide some internal workings. The NearMode property is a boolean value, and can be used to turn Near Mode on and off. Changing Near Mode also sets the EnableTrackingInNearRange of the SkeletonStream. You will probably want to keep NearMode as false if you are using a Kinect for XBox sensor instead of a Kinect for Windows one. Otherwise the interaction engine works better at close range, so I have set NearMode to be true by default. The other property is KinectSensor, which contains null if no sensor is initialized, or a KinectSensor object if one is. Both of these properties are bindable. With KinectChooserEx, you can finally get started with your own Kinect project purely in Blend, without writing a single line of code (at least for the interaction part). Here is a step by step tutorial on how to do this: Create a New Project and Add KinectChooserEx.xaml and KinectChooserEx.xaml.csCreate a new WPF project, and add the necessary references as described in my previous post. Drag and drop the KinectChooserEx.xaml and KinectChooserE http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectChooserEx-Making-Kinect-Interactions-even-easier Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectChooserEx-Making-Kinect-Interactions-even-easier Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/kinect/KinectChooserEx-Making-Kinect-Interactions-even-easier/RSS Coding4Fun Expression Blend Kinect WPF