Meet the Kinect introduces the exciting world of volumetric computing using the Microsoft
Kinect. You'll learn to write scripts and software enabling the use of the Kinect as an input
device. Interact directly with your computer through physical motion. The Kinect will read and
track body movements and is the bridge between the physical reality in which you exist and the
virtual world created by your software. Microsoft s Kinect was released in fall 2010 to become
the fastest-selling electronic device ever. For the first time we have an inexpensive
three-dimensional sensor enabling direct interaction between human and computer between the
physical world and the virtual. The Kinect has been enthusiastically adopted by a growing
culture of enthusiasts who put it to work in creating technology-based art projects
three-dimensional scanners adaptive devices for sight-impaired individuals new ways of
interacting with PCs and even profitable business opportunities. Meet the Kinect is the
resource to get you started in mastering the Kinect and the exciting possibilities it brings.
You ll learn about the Kinect hardware and what it can do. You ll install drivers and learn to
download and run the growing amount of Kinect software freely available on the Internet. From
there you ll move into writing code using some of the more popular frameworks and APIs
including the official Microsoft API and the language known as Processing that is popular in
the art and creative world. Along the way you ll learn principles and terminology. Volumetric
computing didn t begin with the Kinect. The field is decades old if you ve ever had an MRI for
example you have benefitted from volumetric computing technology. Meet the Kinect goes beyond
just the one device to impart the principles and terminology underlying the exciting field of
volumetric computing that is now wide-open and accessible to the average person.
