Question Using Kinect V2 for full body tracking.

[minilady]

I saw this post on reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/VAMscenes/comments/azaat9

and was really interested to give it a try but the link to the download has been removed. Does anyone either still have it or does anyone else know of a way to do this?

 

[VeeRifter]

Well, if he is happy to distribute one of us will upload. I can't/won't do anything without his permission though as he compiled it.

I appreciate your enthusiasm but I will not be releasing anything until I myself, am happy with the VAM client side plugin.
I didn't just compile this app, I created a UPD server from scratch and added it to published Kinect API code to make a bespoke PC app which displays and streams Kinect joint data directly to VAM.
You were given a beta version of the app for test purposes only. Please respect that trust and allow me to complete what I started without these premature suggestions of a public release.
When it is finally released it will be properly bundled as a VAM var file, and uploaded to the HUB, along with instructions and accreditations, as a free plugin.

 

[Jiraiya]

Apologies! Didn't mean to get ahead of you, I am just excited by the work done already.
As mentioned I won't be uploading/releasing anything so don't worry. Again, full credit to you for the app (I didn't mean to belittle your work, just didn't want to confuse people by going into all that had been done to get there).

 

[Bobbydigital]

Here is the VaMotion Bridge Server that was originally included with it, figured it might help you guys out. It includes the source code too.

 

[Jiraiya]

Thank you so much for that.
As mentioned VeeRifter has already done amazing work writing his own version from scratch. It's good to have this version with source though as it might give some insight into how the thing works (to me at least).
I was trying to write a receiver script that applied the body position onto a CUA instead of a VaM person atom. The idea being you could puppet those assets as if they were people with a lot less CPU and GPU load, also allowing for some more abstract creatures to be more easily moved.
Please update us here if people try this version.

 

[VeeRifter]

Here is the VaMotion Bridge Server that was originally included with it, figured it might help you guys out. It includes the source code too.

Thanks for this. I've already re-invented the wheel on this one, as far as the Kinect server goes, but it'll be nice to check out the source to see what was done in the original.

 

[VeeRifter]

OK, I've checked out Almadiel's original server source code and its the Body Basics Sample project from the Microsoft SDK with UDP server code grafted on. No surprises there. Very similar to what I've done with my Kinect2VAM server. Still working on the VaM client side plugin. Making good progress.

 

[Jiraiya]

I did some spec comparisons of the two Kinect models, the people behind KinecttoVR are talking out of their rear recommending the V1!
V2 kinect has a far better colour cam, 25 tracked points instead of 20, 6 person tracking instead of 2 etc. It also has 2 meters more range on depth tracking (important for bigger rooms) and a wider FoV (important for smaller rooms!).
As for their objection about foot rotation flickering? It doesn't seem to happen on the example apps, so clearly it's something they have done wrong.
The only real valid point they have is in regards to USB3 not being equal. I have 2 PCs and both Kinects. Both machines have USB3 but the KinectV2 only works on one of the PCs, so worst case you might need to buy a PCIe USB3 card to use the Kinect V2.
Having witnessed now amazing the Kinect full body tracking is with both versions of the server and both the original and improved script, I can only recommend it.
I also appreciate it not making overlaid Vive Trackers not appear in your game (how do you make them invisible?) and it's a lot easier to setup in VaM than the SteamVR extra trackers (the amazing Embody plugin makes that a lot easier btw, check it out).

 

[VeeRifter]

OK I've spent as much with time with this as I can. The plugin is now on public release and can be downloaded from here.
Feel free to do with it as you wish. It's far from perfect but it's quite user friendly, so if anyone wants to add to, or improve on it, be my guest.

 

[Jiraiya]

Thanks! I know a lot of people were waiting to try this.
Awesome work.

 

[VeeRifter]

Thanks! I know a lot of people were waiting to try this.
Awesome work.

Thanks, I hope they won't be disappointed. I would hate to think they went out and bought a Kinect to just use this plugin and it did not come up to their expectations.

 

[Jiraiya]

Well, They could see my "raw" animation. It was clearly not perfect.
However, I think if you want to add basic stuff into a scene like walking around a room etc it's much better than trying to manually animate.
The Kinect V2 isn't that expensive, I am not sure you should worry about other peoples purchasing decisions
The worst case is they have funky USB3 and it doesn't even work and I can't think of any way to account for that. Maybe we could build a list of known good/bad chipsets? Either way, nobody is forcing them to buy it.
You have done some amazing work, it's time to relax and see what others can make with it now