Gesture control in Unity via Kinect for Windows

Are you developing a Unity app and wish you could easily add gesture control? Well, just like Glinda from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Kristina Rothe can grant you your wish. However, Kristina, a game development evangelist at Microsoft Germany, uses a video camera instead of a wand, and her magic lies in this detailed video:

Follow Kristina’s video tutorial and you’ll be on your way to creating Kinect-enabled gesture controls for your Unity app—or interactive games. You won’t even need to click your heels three times (though you can if you want to). What you will need is the latest Kinect sensor, the free Kinect for Windows software development kit (SDK 2.0), and the free Kinect plug-in for Unity. Plus, of course, Unity 5, and as Kristina notes in her video, you don’t have to pay for the Professional Edition of Unity 5, as the free Personal Edition provides the necessary engine capabilities.

Once you have the hardware and software, Kristina’s tutorial will take you through each step in the process of creating and adding gesture control to a Unity project. Her patient and detailed explanations will be a wish-come-true for anyone eager to build a gesture-controlled interactive app.

Remember, “there’s no place like home”—and as long as that home includes the latest Kinect sensor and Unity 5, it will be a happily interactive one indeed.

The Kinect for Windows Team

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