3D INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING FOR THE REST OF US – Hacking the Microsoft Kinect Sensor

Kyle Oba will be leading a talk on October 27 at 6:30pm at The Box Jelly. This is a public event. You can RSVP Here.

In a few short years, human-computer interaction has gone from the mouse’s “point and click” to multi-touch displays. Just observe any tech savvy child to see just how intuitive and pervasive multi-touch interactions have become. But, what lies beyond the multi-touch display?

In the last year, innovation in 3D software interaction has exploded (especially with the Microsoft Kinect sensor: http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/05/06/kinect-projects-the-first-5-months/)

This will not be a technical lecture.

Our goal is to get the art and design community (this includes programmers, thank you) excited about this tool, and to provide a primer so everyone can start playing immediately. Join us as we recap some inspiring and fun points from selected projects. We’ll also use a designer’s eye to take a close look at what makes the Kinect a cool tool for building interactive experiences.

The Microsoft Kinect is the first affordable, commercially available, depth-sensor. For less than $150, anyone can pick one up and attach it to any computer (Mac or PC) via USB (no other hardware required). With the Kinect, there is no mouse, just you, waving, dancing, spinning, painting, jumping in space.

The OpenSource community is behind Kinect hacking in a big way. You can get started with Kinect development using software frameworks such as OpenFrameworks, Processing, & Pure Data. These are all approachable tools that warrant a good look on their own merit. We’ll cover as many ways to get started as time permits, attempting to write as little code as possible.

Agenda Highlights

• Introduction to the Kinect sensor
• A short history of Kinect hacking
• Using the Kinect with very little programming (Kinect with OpenFrameworks, Processing, PureData)
• Some short live demonstrations
• Audience participation as time permits

Thanks and hope to see you there.