One for me, please! On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 12:04 PM, Eric Cosky <e...@cosky.com> wrote:
> Hi, thanks for the responses.**** > > ** ** > > Here’s a very short & rough capture of Softimage being fed Kinect data > through the driver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc66W0c5vHA I didn’t > 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 isn’t 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 I’d 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 don’t 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 didn’t 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. It’s 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 don’t currently have a Linux rig to develop on. I’m 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&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 don’t 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. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> I’m 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 (I’m a solo indie game dev) and > I just > >>> can’t 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 don’t want to assume anyone has any interest at all, and won’t be > >>> surprised if there isn’t. 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 I’d > >>> 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. It’s 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 > >**** > > **** > > ** ** >