Kinect for Windows SDK Programming Guide

Build motion-sensing applications with Microsoft's Kinect for Windows SDK quickly and easily

• Building application using Kinect for Windows SDK.
• Covers the Kinect for Windows SDK v1.6.
• A practical step-by-step tutorial to make learning easy for a beginner.
• A detailed discussion of all the APIs involved and the explanations of their usage in detail.
• Procedures for developing motion-sensing applications and also methods used to enable speech recognition.

In Detail

Kinect has been a game-changer in the world of motion games and applications since its first release. It has been touted as a controller for Microsoft Xbox but is much more than that. The developer version, Kinect for Windows SDK, provides developers with the tools to develop applications that run on Windows. You can use this to develop applications that make interaction with your computer hands-free.

This book focuses on developing applications using the developer version of Kinect called Kinect for Windows SDK. It is a complete end to end solution using all the features of Kinect for Windows SDK. You will learn to develop applications in Kinect and give them a 3D effect by using the depth sensor, change angles by using camera sensor. The book will also help you develop motion sensitive and speech recognition enabled applications.

The book begins with explaining the basic requirements and setting up Kinect for Windows SDK. You will be surprised at how quickly the book takes you through the Kinect APIs classification. You will use NUI to use the Kinect for Natural Inputs like skeleton tracking, sensing, and depth measuring.

You will capture different types of video, and images, handle video stream event, and capture frame. Kinect device contains a motorized tilt to control camera angles, which you will learn to use. The last part of the book teaches you to develop a music player using Audio API where source is Kinect Device and then use the speech recognition too.

What will you learn from this book

• Understand the Kinect sensor in terms of a device, different components, and how they work.
• Step by step installation guide of SDK, troubleshooting tips and development environment setup.
• Reading the Kinect device information, monitoring and notifying the sensor status change.
• Automatically adjust the sensor elevation angle
• Understand different approaches of capturing data stream from Kinect sensor.
• Learn the uses of color, depth and IR data and how to leverage them in your applications.
• Use skeleton-tracking for interactive applications and leveraging the applications to gesture-enabled application
• Understand usages of Microphone array and build speech-enabled applications with Speech API.
• Develop applications using Multiple Kinects
• Understand how to design cross device application with Kinect

Approach

This book is a practical tutorial that explains different features of Kinect for Windows SDK by creating sample applications throughout the book

Who this book is written for

If you are looking to develop motion sensing, speech recognizing applications with Kinect, then this book is for you.

This book uses C# and WPF in the examples, so you need to know the basics of C# and WPF. You don't have to know anything about Kinect for Windows SDK.

Abhijit Jana

Abhijit works with Microsoft as a .NET Consultant as part of Microsoft Services Global Delivery, India. As a Consultant, his job is to help customers design, develop and deploy enterprise level secure solutions using Microsoft Technologies. Apart from being a Former Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional), he is a speaker, and author, as well as an avid Technology Evangelist. He has delivered sessions at prestigious Microsoft events like TechED, Web Camps, Azure Camps, Community Tech Days, Virtual Tech Days, Devdays, and developer conference. He loves to work with different .NET Communities and help them with different opportunities. He is a well-known author and has published many articles on various .NET Community sites.

He shares his thoughts on his personal blog at http://abhijitjana.net. You can follow him on twitter at @abhijitjana. Abhijit lives in Hyderabad, India with his wife, Ananya.