February saw Microsoft unleashing new challenges for entrepreneurs, engineers and innovators by releasing Kinect for Windows, and more than 6 months later, India finally has the product available in its markets. Its SDK, which is available now as a free download, will allow users to take advantage of the peripheral’s skeletal tracking, face tracking, enhanced speech and seated mode tracking features.
The new Studio feature that is bundled with the SDK enables developers to record and play back Kinect data, which supposedly shortens and simplifies the development cycles of applications for the hardware. While the Face Tracking trait grants a real-time 3D network of facial features, the Seated Skeletal Tracking is able to track the movements of 10-joints when the person is seated.
“The incredible amount of innovation on Kinect for Xbox 360 this past year shows the potential for Kinect as a platform for developers and businesses to experiment, explore and create new offerings. Furthermore, this is just the beginning. This proliferation of great new content for Kinect, which we call the Kinect Effect, will expand even further with our commercial release of Kinect for Windows. We are excited around the new possibilities that Kinect will enable on the Windows platform, and the many different ways each Kinect for Windows based scenario could enrich lives and make using technology more natural for everyone,” commented Anshu Mor, Business Group Lead – Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft Corporation (India).
The Near Mode on the software development kit makes for creation of applications that can track movement at closer proximities. Moreover, Kinect for Windows even ships with performance and data quality enhancements that are aimed at improving those programs which use RGB camera and depth data.
Kinect for Windows sells in India at a price of Rs. 19,990, whereas its SDK is available from its official site for free.