In 2009, Microsoft gave us a sneak peak of development of the Kinect unit under the name "Project Natal"
Quote: Wikipedia
” Kinect for Xbox 360, or simply Kinect (originally known by the code name Project Natal),[7] is a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform, and may later be supported by PCs via Windows 8.[8] Based around a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands.[9] The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond its typical gamer base.[10] Kinect competes with the Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus and PlayStation Move & PlayStation Eye motion control systems for the Wii and PlayStation 3 home consoles, respectively."
The introduction in 2009 looked promising for our industry and I spoke to others who thought the same thing.
Could Natal be used to capture motion for the 3D industry, and be used for character animation?
Recently Kinect was released and the community started to experiment with it under windows with open source drivers.
You can read a bit of the history on the drivers and hacking here at Asim Mittals blog.
He also gives a step by step setup of the unit under windows.
Here is a video of real-time motion capture with a custom 3D interface application.
MikuMikuDance with OpenNI
Here is the first known video of Real-time motion in 3dsmax using biped.
Kinect and 3dsmax
It’s just the arms, but it’s a step forward in Development for the Kinect unit and Motion Capture for everyone!
Resources:
OpenNI
OpenNI Google groups
OpenKinect project
[...] Things are looking promising since my initial Kinect post last year. [...]
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