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Microsoft Releases Kinect SDK For Windows

Posted by timothy on from the go-forth-and-wiggle dept.

soricon writes "Microsoft made good on its promise to release an official Kinect SDK for Windows, opening the door for multiple educational, research and enthusiasts groups to create new and innovative uses for the popular full body movement sensor. Currently in beta, the SDK requires Windows 7 and at a minimum, a dual core machine with a DirectX 9.0c capable graphic card and it is free to download."

20 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. It was only a matter of time by milbournosphere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and this is a good decision. I've seen so many cool hacks for this hardware already, and that's just hackers playing around. Imagine what could be done with a legit SDK. Good job Microsoft, make more of these kinds of decisions.

    1. Re:It was only a matter of time by EdZ · · Score: 2

      As far as I can tell, the difference between the official SDK and the homebrew SDK is that the official SDK uses Microsoft's own skeletal tracking algorithm using only the depth sensor, whereas the homebrew SDK uses skeletal tracking based around outline recognition using the imaging camera with a dash of using the depth sensor to clean up the input.
      Unless you have a specific reason to use MS skeletal tracking algorithm (which appears to be pretty nifty, a SLNN trained against a massive sample set), then you can use whichever SDK you're more comfortable with and get the same result.

    2. Re:It was only a matter of time by MHolmesIV · · Score: 2

      You also get the Microphone streams, and the echo cancelled mic streams, two things that until now have not been available in any homebrew.

  2. Skip the blogspam by Missing.Matter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Direct link: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/

    1. Re:Skip the blogspam by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, but soricon gets no ad clicks if you go to the direct link rather than to his own site.

    2. Re:Skip the blogspam by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 2

      What's with the troll mod? How am I trolling? You can even see the guys twitter feed.

  3. it's june, 2011 by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Funny

    is it safe now, on slashdot, to reserve more hate for the corporate policies of apple and google, than for microsoft?

    shhhh... don't wake the old bearded guys in the corner

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:it's june, 2011 by Reapman · · Score: 3, Funny

      What about Bob! Oh sure some company's might steal your data, or root kit your computer, or make you wear turtle necks, but that pales in comparison to the evil unleashed known as BOB.

      I'd also chime in about young whippersnappers but judging by your UID that might be.. awkard.

    2. Re:it's june, 2011 by RogueyWon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      On the gaming side, Microsoft have actually been less evil than their competitors for years now. Sony's acts of wanton consumer abuse are too many and too well known to be worth documenting. Nintendo is actually no better, maintaining some of the most anti-consumer policies around, such as rigidly enforced region locking and rabid crackdowns on homebrew. On the PC gaming side, Microsoft's last really "evil" act was insisting on Windows Vista to play the PC version of Halo 2 - which was years ago. Their first and second party PC games have never gone in for the kind of DRM shite we've seen from Ubisoft.

      These days, when Microsoft do something nasty on the gaming side, it's more likely to be down to incompetence (the RROD fiasco and Games for Windows Live) than malice. And to be honest, they are (slowly) getting better at avoiding that kind of thing.

    3. Re:it's june, 2011 by deniable · · Score: 2

      The ultimate punishment was reserved for the manager behind Bob. She got life with Bill.

  4. "Article" is terrible by imidan · · Score: 4, Informative

    The blog post must have been written in a hurry by someone whose native language is not English.

    Here is the link to the actual Microsoft SDK:

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

    1. Re:"Article" is terrible by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The blog is run by the submitter. He was using the article as a way to drive hits to his site.

  5. Re:Turning that ship around! by chemosh6969 · · Score: 2

    I too hate Microsoft and express my opinions in a way the don't contribute to the articles I'm posting to.

  6. Re:Why so much processing power??? by Microlith · · Score: 4, Informative

    The XBOX360 has a triple-core PowerPC processor. And dual core processors aren't exactly new, so I wouldn't call them "beefy." Also, IIRC a lot of processing has to be done host-side of the data coming from the Kinect, so a single core processor probably can't hack it.

  7. Re:Why so much processing power??? by snowraver1 · · Score: 2

    You are 100% correct in that the xbox doesn't have the same amount of power as a dual core processor. It has three cores, each of which can run 2 threads at a time.

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  8. SDK Licensing by mystik · · Score: 2, Interesting
    From the FAQ

    I noticed that the license terms for the Microsoft Kinect device allow the use of the device with the Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 S game consoles only. How can I use the Kinect device with the SDK Beta?

    Even though the warranty and software license terms for the Kinect device prohibit the use of the device with any platform other than Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 S, the license agreement for the SDK Beta supplements the Kinect device warranty and software license terms to allow your use of the device with the SDK Beta on Windows computers as well.

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

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

    So, Even though you saw all those cool demos a few months ago using 'unlicensed' software, you're not allowed to run them, and they could be punished for software licence violations.

    A hardware device requires a software license?

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    1. Re:SDK Licensing by kevinNCSU · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you use the Kinect sensor with a platform other than Xbox 360, Xbox 360 S, or Windows (with the SDK Beta), you void the warranty you received when you purchased the Kinect sensor device.

      So, Even though you saw all those cool demos a few months ago using 'unlicensed' software, you're not allowed to run them, and they could be punished for software licence violations.

      If you consider them refusing to fix something you broke by running software platforms they haven't tested "punishing" you, I guess.

  9. Also something to note by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2

    Yes, the 360's processor is old and doesn't keep up with today's powerful CPUs... However all today's powerful CPUs are dual core or more. The last single core desktop CPU Intel made was the Pentium 4. From then on it has been all dual and up. Well guess what? A Pentium 4 doesn't compare very favourably with a 360's CPU. Hence I could see why it might not be enough, particularly keeping in mind it also has to run the OS and all related tasks, and of course your app that is using the Kinect.

    These days asking for "a dual core" is equivalent to saying "I want a system with 2005 or newer technology." Not unreasonable I don't think.

    Only modern thing this would exclude would be Netbooks (and even those come in dual core varieties). Well that is reasonable, something designed for a game console doesn't work on a low power portable. I can see that.

  10. Re:Which Language? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

    It comes in two varieties - .NET for use with C# and other managed languages, and a native C++ API. Here (PDF) is the detailed programming guide.

  11. Crowd survailence camera by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

    Take any venue with large crowds. Stadiums, airports, clubs, concerts, etc. Now, place at least four or more of these Kinect devices all around the place. With specialized motion tracking AI, you can now capture video from multiple angles and tag individual people based on all the feeds being processed. Simply playback the captured video and rotate the entire venue with a track ball.

    Can't find who shot who? Keeping rotating, you'll eventually find him and every detail about the clothes he wears. For an added bonus, install multi-point microphones to calculate location of the shot. Merge both media data sets and you'll find your suspect fairly quickly.

    --
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