Brekel Kinect v0.44 update

Just a quick bugfix release

– sounds can now be turned on/off
– pointcloud window now draws properly when user tracking is disabled
– a few small optimizations in the pointcloud processing

Monday, April 25th, 2011 Kinect, Ranting

9 Comments to Brekel Kinect v0.44 update

  • Iwan Peter Scheer says:

    Hi Brekel,

    I’m very happy with the plugin.
    It’s very stable and rarely drops under 30fps now, excellent!

    Running into a few bugs with the latest release :

    1.character
    creating the character nodes in Mobu 2012 leaves the characterisation nodes empty. No big deal but having to do it by hand each time is a bit cumbersome

    2.floor plane
    every time I set up the kinect skeleton inside Mobu the floorplane seems different and slightly angled
    Is there a way to have the floorplane always be horizontal or parallel with the Mobu floor

    3.
    the wrist tracking seems a bit flakey ( i know it says experimental, but hey :))Some of the weird bits I run into after flagging wrist tracking are:

    * the forearm and wrist bones “disappear”
    * only the root seems to be tracking

    I haven’t found any pattern as to why this happens, but unpluggin and replugging the kinect seems the only way to solve it (sometimes)

    the skele

    • brekel says:

      Thanks for the suggestions.

      1. Unfortunately the code to fill in the characterization (which is a bit of a hack as the SDK doesn’t directly support it) breaks in 2012 so the only workaround for that is using 2011 atm.

      2. That’s weird, as long as your sensor is level with the ground things should line up, I’ll keep this in mind and see if I can come up with something to autocorrect it for a future version.

      3. The algorithm is very dependent on seeing enough points within the search radius (there is a toggle in the top menu to turn visualization of them on), you may want to experiment with the settings as the default values may not be optimal, just something that seemed to work reasonably well while coding.

      I’ve seen occasions where the wrist bones disappeared (in MotionBuilder), but I could always bring them back by rotating my forearms/hands a bit.

  • Alexander says:

    I have recently purchased a Kinect specifically to use it as I have seen and read about in 3DWorld, your site, and others that show examples of work in motion capture for animation. I downloaded your auto installer and I cannot find the program that you use in the YouTube video showing your live feed into motionbuilder. I think it is called 3Dscanner…not sure. The NUI viewer only allows me to see myself in a greenish thermal-like picture. I am not able to see the interface you use, nor able to “calibrate” myself and achieve the dots. I am also unable to bring the Kinect into motionbuilder. Help me please. I am working with MotionBuilder2012 and on Windows 7.

    • brekel says:

      The youtube video regarding 3Dscanner shows the prototype app.
      It is now called Brekel Kinect, and has had many updates.

      Just go to the download page and get Brekel Kinect Setup v0.44.exe, and Brekel Kinect MoBu Device v0.14.exe and you should be good to go.

  • John says:

    It would be great if you could release the original code so that we can modify it for my own work. Thanks in advance.

    • brekel says:

      Sorry, binaries only.
      But if you’re interested in developing with OpenNI yourself, check out the samples that come with it, they’re very good.

  • Felicia says:

    Hi there. I was trying to download the kinect drivers but it says the download does not exist. Is there anywhere else that I can download the files? I would love to try out the software but unfortunately I can’t without the drivers. Keep up the amazing work.

    • brekel says:

      The mirror page where the drivers are hosted went into maintenance yesterday, but it’s back online now.
      The links and auto installer are updated and tested and the downloads should work again now.

  • Hiroyasu Shimo says:

    Thank you.

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