Kinect 1.7 SDK , what are we waiting for ?

the new Kinect SDK is going to be launched in few hours, so lets talk about it a little bit

1st Introducing new Kinect Interactions

We’ve built a new Interactions framework which provides pre-packaged, reusable components that allow for even more exciting interaction possibilities. These components are supplied in both native and managed packages for maximum flexibility, and are also provided as a set of WPF controls. Among the new features are:

• Press for Selection. This provides, along with the new KinectInteraction Controls, improved selection capability and faster interactions. If you’re familiar with previous Kinect for Windows interaction capabilities, this replaces the hover select concept where it mainly considers the change in the depth to recognize the press if u moved your hand to the front. 

• Grip and Move for Scrolling. This provides, along with the new KinectInteraction Controls, 1-to-1 manipulation for more precise scrolling, as well as large fast scrolls with a fling motion. If you’re familiar with previous Kinect for Windows interaction capabilities, this replaces the hover scroll model which depends on ither if you are having an opened fist or closed one.

New interactions work best with the following setup:

• User stands 1.5 - 2.0 meters away from the sensor
• Sensor mounted directly above or below the screen showing the application, and centered
• Screen size < 46 inches
• Avoid extreme tilt angles
• As always, avoid lots of natural light and reflective materials for more reliable tracking

Engagement Model Enhancements

The Engagement model determines which user is currently interacting with the Kinect-enabled application.

This has been greatly enhanced to provide more natural interaction when a user starts interacting with the application, and particularly when the sensor detects multiple people. Developers can also now override the supplied engagement model as desired.

APIs, Samples, and DLL Details

A set of WPF interactive controls are provided to make it easy to incorporate these interactions into your applications.

Two samples use these controls: ControlsBasics-WPF and InteractionGallery-WPF. The controls can also be installed in source form via Toolkit Browser -> “Components” -> Microsoft.Kinect.Toolkit.Controls.

• InteractionGallery - WPF uses the new KinectInteraction Controls in a customized app experience that demonstrates examples of navigation, engagement, article reading, picture viewing, video playback, and panning with grip. It was designed for 1920x1080 resolution screens in landscape layout.

2nd Kinect Fusion

KinectFusion provides 3D object scanning and model creation using a Kinect for Windows sensor. The user can paint a scene with the Kinect camera and simultaneously see, and interact with, a detailed 3D model of the scene. Kinect Fusion can be run at interactive rates on supported GPUs, and can run at non-interactive rates on a variety of hardware. Running at non-interactive rates may allow larger volume reconstructions.

Kinect Fusion Samples:

• Kinect Fusion Basics - WPF, Kinect Fusion Basics - D2D: Demonstrates basic use of the Kinect Fusion APIs for 3D reconstruction.
• Kinect Fusion Explorer - WPF, Kinect Fusion Explorer - D2D: Demonstrates advanced 3D reconstruction features of Kinect Fusion, allowing adjustment of many reconstruction parameters, and export of reconstructed meshes.

Kinect Fusion Tech Specs

Kinect Fusion can process data either on a DirectX 11 compatible GPU with C++ AMP, or on the CPU, by setting the reconstruction processor type during reconstruction volume creation. The CPU processor is best suited to offline processing as only modern DirectX 11 GPUs will enable real-time and interactive frame rates during reconstruction.

Minimum Hardware Requirements for GPU based reconstruction

DirectX 11 compatible graphics card.

Kinect Fusion has been tested on the the NVidia GeForce GTX560, and the AMD Radeon 6950. These cards, or higher end cards from the same product lines are expected to be able to run at interactive rates. 

Recommended Hardware

Desktop PC with 3GHz (or better) multi-core processor and a graphics card with 2GB or more of dedicated on-board memory. Kinect Fusion has been tested for high-end scenarios on a NVidia GeForce GTX680 and AMD Radeon HD 7850.

Note: It is possible to use Kinect Fusion on laptop class GPU hardware, but this typically runs significantly slower than desktop-class hardware. In general, aim to process at the same frame rate as the Kinect sensor (30fps) to enable the most robust camera pose tracking.

3rd New Samples!

• Controls Basics - WPF: Demonstrates the new KinectInteraction Controls, including hands-free button pressing and scrolling through large lists. This replaces the Basic Interactions sample from previous releases.
• Interaction Gallery - WPF: Demonstrates basic interactions using the new KinectInteraction Controls.
• KinectBridge with MATLAB Basics - D2D: Demonstrates how to do image processing with the Kinect sensor using MATLAB API.
• KinectBridge with OpenCV Basics - D2D: Demonstrates how to do image processing with the Kinect sensor using OpenCV API.
• Kinect Explorer - D2D: Demonstrates how to use the Kinect's ColorImageStream, DepthImageStream, SkeletonStream, and AudioSource with C++ and Direct2D. This replaces the SkeletalViewer C++ sample.
• Kinect Fusion Basics - WPF, Kinect Fusion Basics - D2D: Demonstrates basic use of the Kinect Fusion APIs for 3D reconstruction.
• Kinect Fusion Explorer - WPF, Kinect Fusion Explorer - D2D: Demonstrates advanced 3D reconstruction features of Kinect Fusion, allowing adjustment of many reconstruction parameters, and export of reconstructed meshes.

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpP1pDlODlc]

So keep refreshing the Kinect for windows web site for the release and be one of the 1st people to get the new SDK and get ready to rock your Kinect applications with the new features.