Yesterday Microsoft released a new version of the Kinect for Windows SDK.
It represents a significant update to the SDK since Microsoft released the first version a little over a year ago and, with the new features and enhancements introduced, new applications are now possible for businesses and developers. In addition to the updated SDK, a new and improved Human Interface Guidelines has been made available on Kinect website. What's new:
- **Kinect
Interactions** give businesses and developers the tools to create intuitive, smooth and polished applications that are ergonomic and intelligently based on the way people naturally move and execute gestures. The interactions include push-to-press buttons, grip-to-pan capabilities, "push" to select, "grab" to scroll, wave to identify primary user and also support two-user interactions. These new tools are based on thousands of hours of research, development and testing with a broad and diverse group of people, enabling businesses to quickly develop customized and interesting solutions that address important business needs and attract, engage and delight customers and people.
- **Kinect Fusion** is
one of the most affordable tools available today for creating accurate 3D renderings of people and objects. Kinect Fusion fuses together multiple snapshots from the Kinect sensor to create accurate 3D models. Developers can move a Kinect sensor around a person, object or environment and "paint" a 3D image of the observed item in real-time. These 3D images can then be used to enhance real-world scenarios: augmented reality, 3D printing, industrial design and body scanning for things such as improved clothes shopping experiences or medical usage.
The updated SDK, fully compatible with all previous commercial releases, also ships an enhanced developer toolkit and additional developer resources, including:
- OpenCV and MATLAB Samples to allow developers to build advanced Kinect-enabled applications while using industry standards
- Kinect for Windows Code Samples on CodePlex, marking the first time that select Kinect for Windows code samples will be available through an open-source resource, enabling existing and potential partners to explore and develop new scenarios.
Try it yourself, now. It can be downloaded from here.