Kinect 2.0 support

[Ponlets]

i have a Kinect 2.0 and i know i am a small part of PC users who use a kinect as their webcam but understand that if you use the features found in the completely free SDK for Kinect 2.0 (check it out on microsoft) then your program can be much more effective

[Adina_Animaze]

Hey Ponlets,

Thanks for the suggestion, right now we don't have plans for Kinect 2.0 support on our roadmap. However, hearing that people want it helps us understand if/how to prioritize it.

[Zasz]

Hi! I just wanted to add that myself and many others would also appreciate Kinect 2.0 support

[Ponlets]

Originally posted by Blue Zasz:

Hi! I just wanted to add that myself and many others would also appreciate Kinect 2.0 support

lets hope we get this thread populated with the people who want it so they will add it

[pappelflap]

Any update?

[Ponlets]

Originally posted by pappelflap:

Any update?

sadly not

[General Montague]

Thats a shame becuase it would be much cheaper than buying a new handtracker

[Pilsnerd]

I know this is a dead thread but I wanted to bump the kinect love. Yeah they're discontinued but that's why they're great. They're $20 at any pawn shop and still work.

I mean, with a little coding you can basically DIY your own Animaze in kinect studio. There's already a demo for it.

You can still use the kinect as a regular webcam by using OBS' virtual camera but then you're missing out on all the depth tracking and IR stuff.

[Ponlets]

Originally posted by Pilsnerd:

I know this is a dead thread but I wanted to bump the kinect love. Yeah they're discontinued but that's why they're great. They're $20 at any pawn shop and still work.

I mean, with a little coding you can basically DIY your own Animaze in kinect studio. There's already a demo for it.

You can still use the kinect as a regular webcam by using OBS' virtual camera but then you're missing out on all the depth tracking and IR stuff.

yea thats why i wish it had native support so that Animaze would be supplimentary for tracking ontop of the kinects reasonably good depth and motion tracking

[devops]

Necroing old threads (6+ months) often brings up outdated information that can confuse new readers, so they are usually locked and "sent back in the timeline". This particular one does not have confusing info, so we can make an exception and not lock it, but generally, if revisiting an old topic (6 months or more), it is best to create a new thread and link to the old one.


The cost of developing testing and releasing features specifically for discontinued hardware is hard to justify (very few are willing to pay for that feature's development).

We are looking into how we can support (in a more general way that is easy to understand) other tracking hardware, but we are focusing on hardware that is still in production, out there in large numbers, and officially still supported by their manufacturers. That pipeline might allow for a way to programmatically source motion data even from sensors not directly supported (like the Kinect). We'll have more news probably in a month or two.

On a separate note: we did add bespoke support for the Sony Mocopi that just launched.

[Ponlets]

Originally posted by devops:

Necroing old threads (6+ months) often brings up outdated information that can confuse new readers, so they are usually locked and "sent back in the timeline". This particular one does not have confusing info, so we can make an exception and not lock it, but generally, if revisiting an old topic (6 months or more), it is best to create a new thread and link to the old one.


The cost of developing testing and releasing features specifically for discontinued hardware is hard to justify (very few are willing to pay for that feature's development).

We are looking into how we can support (in a more general way that is easy to understand) other tracking hardware, but we are focusing on hardware that is still in production, out there in large numbers, and officially still supported by their manufacturers. That pipeline might allow for a way to programmatically source motion data even from sensors not directly supported (like the Kinect). We'll have more news probably in a month or two.

On a separate note: we did add bespoke support for the Sony Mocopi that just launched.

while the kinect 2.0 is discontinued from microsoft one can buy them on the markets for pennys on the dollar and they still function well

i dont entirely see how hard it would be to implement since the SDK is made open to everyone on microsofts website as well as the drivers to enable sRGB viewing through the camera sensor

in theory the kinect should be easy to implement in almost anything

EDIT: i do want to add that personally i dont entirely find it reasonable to have to purchase additional hardware when i purchased the kinect2.0 specifically to make things easier for tracking

i am genuinely disappointed in the lack of general support for it in any of these
"V-tuber" style programs because it tends to be more accurate than software interpolation of 2d images and since the kinect has the hardware to do actual 3d tracking it should in theory reduce overhead on the program even if the kinect only runs at 30hz one could then simply interpolate position data to allow for smoother motion or just limit program rendering to match kinect output

[Sue]

Advancement of machine learning these days has made it possible to emulate Kinect functionality with regular webcam, even in better fidelity. I too liked Kinect back in the day but these days its outdated hardware is getting irrelevant.
I would rather see Animaze devs expanding the capabilities of webcam tracker.

[Ponlets]

Originally posted by Sue:

Advancement of machine learning these days has made it possible to emulate Kinect functionality with regular webcam, even in better fidelity. I too liked Kinect back in the day but these days its outdated hardware is getting irrelevant.
I would rather see Animaze devs expanding the capabilities of webcam tracker.

just because you dont have a kinect doesnt mean you should be against native kinect support

it would be like buying Dirt Rally and being dissapointed the devs made it VR compatible without giving you a VR headset and then trying to claim the hardware is irrelevent

the kinect is only dying because microsoft never properly implimented it in the right market and tried to sell it as a novelty when its actually a technical marvel its as small as it is with the resolution and sample rate it has

had they invested in film and other bits with it instead of odd games on a console that could barely play them it would have gone much farther

[devops]

Originally posted by Sue:

Advancement of machine learning these days has made it possible to emulate Kinect functionality with regular webcam, even in better fidelity. I too liked Kinect back in the day but these days its outdated hardware is getting irrelevant.
I would rather see Animaze devs expanding the capabilities of webcam tracker.

Today's Animaze update has a first public implementation of VMC (Virtual Motion Capture) support for body. Body trackers that work with VMC should work (via VMC) with Animaze.
If Kinect 2.0 has a VMC implementation/app, then, starting with today, it can probably be used with Animaze via VMC. (and likely, more exotic/experimental hardware set-ups too)
Looking forward to your feedback!
https://www.animaze.us/manual/vmc-guide
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1364390/eventcomments/3771239049936102277/

That being said, more updates for the core webcam face tracker are also planned for later this year, but no immediate public news there.

[Ponlets]

Originally posted by devops:

Originally posted by Sue:

Advancement of machine learning these days has made it possible to emulate Kinect functionality with regular webcam, even in better fidelity. I too liked Kinect back in the day but these days its outdated hardware is getting irrelevant.
I would rather see Animaze devs expanding the capabilities of webcam tracker.

Today's Animaze update has a first public implementation of VMC (Virtual Motion Capture) support for body. Body trackers that work with VMC should work (via VMC) with Animaze.
If Kinect 2.0 has a VMC implementation/app, then, starting with today, it can probably be used with Animaze via VMC. (More exotic hardware too probably)
Looking forward to your feedback!
https://www.animaze.us/manual/vmc-guide
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1364390/eventcomments/3771239049936102277/

That being said, more updates for the core webcam face tracker are also planned for later this year, but no immediate public news there.

i dont think kinect uses that because its tracking comes from the IR data and 3d data scanned from the array on the sensor

it literally uses the 3d data to scan for where someone is and uses some interpolation to guess where unseen parts are

[Ponlets]

i will add that if the kinect was put close enough to only see ones head it does have its own built in face tracker which is why i wished that this program supported it so that it can be accurate even with people who wear glasses (like myself)