Kinect

[Foggy]

A little more news:

http://www.reghardware.com/2011/01/18/kinect_support_for_windows/

http://www.winrumors.com/microsoft-preparing-official-kinect-drivers-and-sdk-for-windows/

http://www.kinemote.net/

Best wishes.

[jitterjames]

If Microsoft releases drivers then it seems likely that we'll get access to the microphone!

It looks like KinEmote 0.4 release is coming soon.  I'm curious to see what they do.  Assuming that they also release the source code I'll take another look at how to work with it.  I think they *may* be using a version of the VC/KinEmote OSD overlay that I slapped together.  I gave them the code so hopefully they ran with it.  Anyway, let's take another look when it comes out and we'll see.  At the very least I'd like to provide you with some extra tools Foggy.  If you want a method to auto connect or something like that I'll be sure to provide you with some payback for your generous donation.

[Foggy]

Hi James,

Agreed, Let's hope we don't have to wait to long. (Microsoft)

Yes - it will be interesting to see what KinEmote come up with. In any event I think the Devs (Of all types) have only just started to scratch the surface with it's capabilities and it may be some time before we can see a way of integrating it.

However I am an optimist. I also have patience :-)

Best wishes.

[Foggy]

Hi,
Just to let you know Beta 0.4 is now available.
Will try it when I get home from work.


Best wishes.

[Foggy]

Hi,

No problems installing.

Not only did I remove all instances in Hardware - but ensured I Uninstalled all programs relating to KinEmote, PrimeSence & NI

Annoying flashing green light has now gone and only appears on activity. On standby it is constant red.

The Connect / Disconnect button has gone - it automatically connects on start.

You can engage the Kinect by using the Push/Pull or a wave - I can't seem to get the hang of the wave - so I have left it as Push/Pull.

You can enable a mouse pointer - but I think it is rather difficult to use.

On the camera view, there is an overlay showing where Kinect thinks your hand is - quite helpful - but I would prefer that it was part of the XBMC OSD. I can't see the need to have the camera showing for this - but it does go away when you select an item to play in XBMC.

You can now control the Kinect - Up and down - Pleased about that - I will try fitting it above the television.

All in all a good update - certainly worth taking the time to install.

Best wishes.

[jitterjames]

Thanks for the report.  I didn't realize that you would have to reinstall the drivers etc.  I though it was just a matter of replacing KinEmote itself.  Do you know if that was actually necessary for some reason?

I think the trick with the wave may be that you have to do a left-right movement a minimum number of times. Something like 5, (left-right-left-right-left).  I can see this being useful in the future if we can have different things happen depending on whether we using a push or a wave to get it's attention.  For example, push to initiate kinect scrolling, or wave to make VC listen.

There will probably be a separate overlay eventually with no video, something like the one in my demo video (but nicer) but it is unlikely that it will be an integrated part of XBMC, so you would need to run XBMC in "full screen window" mode.  I personally prefer this mode anyway for other reasons, and I think it is the default mode for windows (it always seems to install that way on my machines).

I haven't tried it yet, but the main thing for me is probably the blinking light!  Connecting on start is nice too. (I asked Johnny for this feature in our last chat because you had mentioned it to me, but I don't know if that's why they implemented it.)

I probably won't get a chance to try the new version myself until next week.  I am going away from Wed. to Saturday this week, and have a lot to do tomorrow.  Sadly, this probably means that I won't release the next version of VC until I get back

[Foggy]

Hi,
I think that the readme specifically says that you should uninstall the drivers. I got the impression that they had been updated.

Thanks for the heads up on the wave. I'll try that tomorrow. At the moment it is either or, but I guess that could be changed. But I like your idea.

Glad you spoke up about the green light Yes the automatic start up is much better. Tomorrow I'll get VoxCommando to start it up although I'm not to sure how to close it. I'll look at some examples in my folder for inspiration.


Best wishes.

[jitterjames]

I guess you could try to focus it, and then sendkeys alt-F4

but focus is not always reliable and then you might end up closing something else.  I guess you'll have to experiment a bit for now.

[Foggy]

Hi James,

Hope you had a good trip.

I am trying to launch KinEmote through vox - but am having some issues. To name a few
Can't open file
Pink boarder around VOX
Microsoft .Net framework unhandled error. - I have made a copy in notepad if you need it.

Needless to say I'm clearly doing some thing wrong 

I have tried both

Launch OpenFile "C:\Program Files\KinEmote\KinEmote v0.4\Kinemote.exe"
Launch RawParam  "C:\Program Files\KinEmote\KinEmote v0.4\Kinemote.exe"

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Clearly I'm not ready to give up the day job. 


Best wishes.

[jitterjames]

are you actually using quotes ?

maybe you should send me the actual xml for your commands.

[Foggy]

Hi,

Yes - I thought if a file name had a space in it you had to wrap it in quotes.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <!-- C:\Users\James Win 7\Downloads\Vox\VoxCommando XBMC - Copy\VoxCommandoXBMC 0_872 JSS\export\Kinect.xml
  -->
- <VoiceCommands version="0.872">
- <commandGroup name="Kinect" enabled="True">
- <command id="63" name="Launch Kinect" enabled="true" confirm="False" loop="False" loopDelay="0" loopMax="0" description="">
- <action>
  <cmdType>Launch.OpenFile</cmdType>
  <cmdString>"C:\Program Files\KinEmote\KinEmote v0.4\Kinemote.exe"</cmdString>
  <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
  </action>
  <phrase>Launch</phrase>
  <phrase>Kinect</phrase>
  </command>
  </commandGroup>
  </VoiceCommands>

Best wishes.

[jitterjames]

well not in this case.  That's probably why it is not working.

[Foggy]

Nope - Removing the quotes did not work.

However I put :
cd C:\Program Files\KinEmote\KinEmote v0.4\
KinEmote.exe

In to a bat file and used LaunchBat to run it and it works.

Best wishes.

[jitterjames]

works for me no problem with other programs that are under program files, but only without the quotes. Maybe the 0.4 is throwing it off, but that's odd.  Anyway, glad you sound a solution.

[jitterjames]

finally, someone has created an app for the kinect that is actually useful.

http://danomatika.com/blog/kinect-titty-tracker/

If only this could somehow be put into universal effect at the beach, to cover up all those man boobs.