SoftKinetic releases free 3D gesture SDK, before Microsoft

[Emil]

Less than a week ago, Microsoft announced plans for a Kinect SDK sometime in Spring 2011. Today, Belgian 3D interface company SoftKinetic has launched version 2.8 of its own free SDK. It's not just for the Kinect, and it comes with the following features:

• Support for all 3D cameras
• iisu Interaction Designer: an easy-to-use tool allowing game and application designers to prototype and rapidly develop gestures for their applications
• New iisu Action Pack: a solid set of out-of-the-box gestures for the development of most gesture-based games and application interactions
• Updated plug-ins for Unity 3D and Flash with even stronger integration and samples
• iisu now also available on current and next generation set-top boxes

SoftKinetic plans to provide a non-commercial version of their product for free to qualified developers. The company has been working on the technology for eight years, and iisu now recognizes full body gestures and movements in real-time, capturing motion via a single 3D depth-sensing camera. A demo of iisu 2.8 will be available at this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco (March 2 to March 4) in a private meeting room on the show floor.

"SoftKinetic has long been a pioneer in gesture recognition, and we want to expand the community of developers able to access to our professional tools and technology,” Eric Krzeslo, Chief Strategy Officer of SoftKinetic, said in a statement. "We believe that opening up our cross-platform, multi-camera software to a broader community will enhance productivity and creativity, and we cannot wait to see the incredible innovations that emerge as a result."

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42600-softkinetic-releases-free-3d-gesture-sdk-before-microsoft.html

 

[princeton]

That's pretty cool. MS should work with them(buy them out ) to make one great product instead of two seperate ones.

 

[mcmurphy12]

This is probably a dumb question, but how do you plug the Kinect into your computer? It does not fit into a USB port.

 

[mattfrompa]

mcmurphy12 said:
This is probably a dumb question, but how do you plug the Kinect into your computer? It does not fit into a USB port.

You need the USB and AC adapter that is normally used to connect to older Xbox 360s that do not have a Kinect port (meaning one USB cable to computer and another to an outlet for power). I would assume Gamestop or the Microsoft online store would have these but I have not checked.

 

[Johny47]

Looking forward to seeing kinect on PC and hope it's cheaper than on 360, should be, the games are.

 

[taimuraly]

Why would anyone stand up (like in the video above) or sit upright (like in the other demo video) just to make their TV turn on or to change channels when the remote control can do so using minimum effort plus not requiring standing up. =)
Jokes apart though would hope that the technology moves forward and is integrated for different applications.

 

[nismo91]

i have to agree with taimuraly. the obvious problem with this and kinect is that it requires you to stand up. not to mention you need to remove your existing furniture if it blocks the camera vision.

what i am thinking is that, probably MS should make hand gesture recognition in addition to its full body recognition. so that hand movement can be tracked even when sitting down on couch for example. imagine if you lift your right hand (e.g. student asking question) and the video in your PC/TV pauses, it would be awesome, at least for media center application.