Kinect

The Microsoft® XBOX 360 Kinect is a motion controller developped by PrimeSense. It projects a pattern with infrared light and calculates a depth image using a camera. It also has a color camera and four microphones. The Y axis of the sensor is remote controllable with an in-build motor. The color of the LED is settable by software as well.

About

Blogs and portals

Software

Applications

CocoaKinect App Freenect by Robert Pointon
Synapse generates sceleton data and provides it as OSC
ofxFaceTracker provides face metrics (orientation, eye and mouth open/closed) over OSC
codelaboratories.com/kb/nui
TUIO Kinect lets you define a depth range where multiple blobs can be detected. No actual depth information can be extracted.
ReconstructMe turns your Kinect into a 3D-Scanner
KinectA is a free application by Bauhaus-Universität Alumna Michaela Honauer for motion tracking via the KinectSensor - including hand, skeleton and object tracking. Communication to other hard- and software via OSC.
NI-Mate
RGBDToolkit Workflow for Kinect + DSLR Filmmaking
faceshift markerless facial motion capture in the future also:

Frameworks and Libraries

Depth image

openkinect.org Drivers, Installation
pix_freenect for Pd (incl. binaries work without any compiling)
fux_kinect Object for Pd
ofxKinect openFramworks Kinect integration
vvvv kinect integration

Skeleton data

OpenNI
Pd-LA: Howto install Kinect on OS X 10.6.x
Howto install openNI kinect drivers and NITE on gentoo Linux
Ubuntu PPA by Hans-Christoph Steiner including OpenNI, OSCeleton, Primesense Kinect and NITE
OSCeleton takes kinect skeleton data from the OpenNI framework and outputs the coordinates of the skeleton's joints via OSC messages. These can can then be used on your language / framework of choice. Needs openNI.
Pure Data patch to receive and visualize the skeleton data from osceleton Needs OSCeleton (which needs OpenNI)
how to install openNI on OS X using macports and visualize the skeleton in Max/MSP (or Pd)
skeleton data in Quartz Composer via Max/MSP

Running depth image and skeleton data on workstation Rafael

Change user of the computer to admin (Apple menu: logout user/User abmelden). Make sure Kinect is connected.

Depth image in Pd

open Pd
open pix_freenect-help.pd in Folder kinect on harddrive Rafael Data RAID
open gemwin and activate the accel toggle

Skeleton Data in Pd

open the terminal and Pd
in the terminal type: cd /Volumes/Rafael\ Data\ RAID/kinect/Sensebloom-OSCeleton OR: type: cd (+ space) and drag the folder Sensebloom-OSCeleton from Folder kinect on harddrive Rafael Data RAID into the terminal window
Enter. Type ./osceleton (optional: If you want to change the port add: "-p" and the port number. If you want to see the picture the Kinect is tracking add: "-w"), then press enter again.
Because OSCeleton has some hiccups i recommend adding a "while true" loop to make sure it starts again when a problem appears. Makes the command: "while true; do ./osceleton; done"
open OSCeleton.pd from Folder pd-skeleton in Folder kinect on harddrive Rafael Data RAID with Pd

Successors/Competitors