Microsoft continues to forge critical ties with the modder community as the corporation officially launches its Kinect for Windows SDK.
Although still in beta, the free kit will help devs, academics and modders create “new Kinect experiences” using depth sensing, human motion tracking and voice/object recognition.
To celebrate the release of the new SDK, Microsoft has invited a select group of developers to Redmond, where they will engage in a grueling 24-hour coding marathon.
“The Kinect for Windows SDK opens up a world of possibilities to developers. We can’t wait to see what this community will create as we work together to build more natural, intuitive computing experiences,” explained Microsoft rep Anoop Gupta.
“Working with the new toolkit and a vast array of hardware, developers are expected to build concept applications across a diverse range of scenarios, including, potentially, healthcare, science and education.”
The Kinect for Windows (7) SDK offers drivers, rich APIs, natural user interfaces, installer documents and resource materials.
Additional features include:
- Raw sensor streams – Devs are granted access to raw data streams from depth sensor, color camera sensor and the four-element microphone array.
- Skeletal tracking – The SDK is capable of tracking the skeletal image of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view, making it possible to create gesture-driven apps.
- Advanced audio capabilities – Boasts sophisticated noise suppression, echo cancellation and beam formation to identify the current sound source, while offering integration with the Windows speech recognition API.
The Kinect for Windows SDK can be downloaded here.
