Hi, thanks for the responses.
Heres a very short & rough capture of Softimage being fed Kinect data through the driver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc66W0c5vHA I didnt make any effort to get a clean capture or anything, just turned it on and moved around a bit. That start/end show me leaning down to hit the keyboard. You see the driver window with some of the driver inputs mapped to a custom parameter set, and the custom parameter set controls updating in real time while I move around. What isnt shown is the companion app which shows the video stream and skeleton as provided by the Kinect SDK. If it turns out that I get time add features Id like to add support for face tracking; the Kinect API makes this look pretty doable. Another thing I could see adding is a simple plug-in API to allow people (probably just me) to make DLLs that would process the skeleton data prior to sending it to Softimage. While I dont personally have the need, the system could be extended to send data to Softimage running on another PC or even multiple skeleton streams from multiple Kinects. There really are a lot of interesting ways this tool could evolve if there were enough people to support the effort. Regarding the Xbox controller, as a gamer/gamedev I find the xbox controller an ideal input device for two hand control of all kinds of things. The main thing I like about this setup is that the driver channel names map to the controller, no generalized joystick labels that I have to remember what is what (== what axis is the left trigger?) and it uses positional data so there is no need to set up a proxy to accumulate data like with the Mojoke driver. Another nice feature is that it supports 4 controllers for collaborative control of a rig. The xbox controllers are fairly inexpensive and I use a Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows which allows me to repurpose by xbox controllers if/when I need more inputs. Here is a short video of a character (please forgive the crude model) being manipulated by a single controller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpJ7mAvLC4w. There are a few bones in the neck/jaw hooked up to the parameter set which is being controlled by the two thumb sticks and triggers. With Softimage there is of course any number of ways to process data, and I am still learning what kind of setup is the best workflow for me but at the moment I think the easiest way to go is to use the load preset command for the driver (the folder icon in the toolbar) to point the targets at different custom parameter sets, which are then referenced by expressions on deformers in the model being animated. This has allowed me to switch what I am recording motion for within a scene pretty easily. An alternative is a synoptic with scripts to load specific presets. As an aside, I did a rough experiment with making custom ICE nodes to read device data (essentially ICE input devices) and I might have been doing something wrong but I found that it was less responsive than drivers & expressions. I also didnt care for the need to run the scene to see the inputs change; I think perhaps this is because the drivers use a push model whereas ICE uses a pull model for how data is propagated. Also, the need for quite a few nodes to just do a simple make the right trigger rotate something led me away from using ICE nodes as the source of input data. If necessary or useful I can always make ICE trees get data from the custom parameter set data targeted by the driver. Currently the companion software is written in .NET for Windows. Its not a terribly complicated app, but it does use the Kinect SDK and XAML which means it would take a complete rewrite to get something on Linux. The driver itself is fairly portable but does use a few Win32 APIs to communicate with the companion app. While I have adequate Linux dev experience, I dont currently have a Linux rig to develop on. Im open to the idea of a Linux version but as I mentioned in the first email I have to be very careful about how I spend my time on projects right now and it would be a much larger investment for me to get a rig built and rewrite everything. I have considered a Kickstarter, and I might still do that but I just wanted to test the waters a bit to see what people might think before I took the next step (whatever that may be). If you think you would be interested, please let me know. Thanks for your feedback, Eric Cosky From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of javier gonzalez Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 7:38 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Any interest in a Kinect for Windows and/or XBox controller capture driver? Make a video or something just to show the posibilities. Good luck. 2012/7/23 Williams, Wayne <wayne.willi...@xaviant.com> Set up a kickstarter possibly? From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of activemotionpictu...@yahoo.com Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 9:40 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Any interest in a Kinect for Windows and/or XBox controller capture driver? Yes please. Oh so much, this will be so helpful to drive things like puppeteering!! A dream come true! Conectado por DROID en Verizon Wireless -----Mensaje original----- De: Halim Negadi <hneg...@gmail.com> Para: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Enviado: dom, jul 22, 2012 18:41:25 GMT+00:00 Asunto: Re: Any interest in a Kinect for Windows and/or XBox controller capture driver? Highly interested as well ! On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Gmail <arma...@gmail.com> wrote: I'm also interested. On Jul 22, 2012, at 10:21 AM, michael johansson <mich...@lowend.se> wrote: > I would be interested. > > /michael Johanson > > 2012/7/22 Muhamad Faizol Abd. Halim <faizol....@gmail.com>: >> I'm interested in what you're offering at that price point, but it would >> much more helpful if we can have more information about it (like a blog or >> something detailing the tools you're promoting, some how tos etc). >> >> Having said that, there's an article on phoronix.com about using kinect >> devices with Qt toolkit on Linux (Maemo); >> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item <http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTEyODY> &px=MTEyODY >> >> The Qt Air Cursor is LGPL licensed and built atop the OpenNI library and >> OpenCV. Code for Qt Air Cursor can be found here; >> https://github.com/nemein/Qt_AirCursor >> >> I imagine that if you can develop that using Qt toolkit, it would be cross >> platform and can be maintained using just a single source, if done properly. >> >> Cheers, >> Faizol >> >> >> >> >> On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 5:10 AM, Eric Cosky <e...@cosky.com> wrote: >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> >>> >>> #1, I recently wrote an application that captures bone data from a Kinect >>> for Windows devices (Important: this is not the XBox Kinect) and sends it to >>> a device driver running in Softimage. It is a functional solution for >>> getting the raw skeletal motion data into Softimage using the device driver >>> interface. I know there is already an ICE-based Kinect solution out there, >>> but this takes a different approach by using a device driver which I find a >>> little more to my liking. I can observe values in a custom parameter set and >>> pull the values from there to do whatever I need with them such as binding >>> in ICE or more basic expressions. Plus I dont have to run the simulation to >>> see what is going on, you just activate the driver and it works even while >>> Softimage is sitting in pause mode. >>> >>> >>> >>> #2, I also wrote a driver that is designed to work with Xbox-style >>> controllers. The input data is provided as positional data and all driver >>> item names are mapped to Xbox controller names. >>> >>> >>> >>> Im wondering if there would be any interest in a bundle of these two >>> drivers & the support application for something around $50. I am really >>> under the gun to get my next game out (Im a solo indie game dev) and I just >>> cant spend any more time on it unless I have some hope it can pay for the >>> time it would take me to make a proper release out of it. >>> >>> >>> >>> I dont want to assume anyone has any interest at all, and wont be >>> surprised if there isnt. I wrote these for my own needs and find them >>> useful so I am happy with that. However, if these sound like tools you would >>> like, please let me know. If enough people want access to them then I can >>> wrap up a few loose ends, do some more testing and do the various things Id >>> have to do. If a lot of people expressed interest I would be keen to add >>> support for Kinect face tracking data as well as a plug-in mechanism to >>> allow people to easily filter the skeleton data with a .NET DLL prior to >>> handing the data to Softimage. Its all doable but I can only take the time >>> if it makes business sense which I can only hope everyone understands. >>> >>> >>> >>> Here are some screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/7ayDJ >>> >>> >>> >>> Thanks >>> >>> >>> >>> Eric Cosky >>> >>> >> >> > > > > -- > Michael Johansson > Artist/Senior Lecturer/Researcher > Kristianstad University > Digital Design > 29188 Kristianstad > Email michael.johans...@hkr.se > > Infobloom > Grönegatan 4a > 222 24 Lund > Email: mich...@lowend.se > > www.lowend.se > www.abadyl.com >
