The Microsoft Kinect Fusion add-on

The Microsoft Kinect Fusion add-on

It has been a research project for a while now, but Microsoft chose last week’s BUILD conference to go public with their innovative 3D device. So what is Fusion? It is an extension to the popular Kinect platform that allows for the creation of 3D objects on screen. Up until now Kinect has been a combination of cameras and clever software that combine to understand your movements and translate into on screen action. Fusion sort of reverses things and uses the information coming into Kinect to build up 3D models and representations of the data it receives. Put simply, if you stand in front on Kinect Fusion it will build a 3D model of you.

Kinect is already a bit of a success story for Microsoft, as it was never meant to be a public project. But when word got out they were pretty much forced to allow wider access to the technology. Chris White, Senior Product Manager on the project, had this to say about its capabilities:

“Among other things, Kinect Fusion enables 3D object model reconstruction, 3D augmented reality, and 3D measurements. You can imagine the multitude of business scenarios where these would be useful, including 3D printing, industrial design, body scanning, augmented reality, and gaming.”

It’s a little bit Lawnmower man but you can also imagine a future where browsing the web involves you being part of the experience, and things like Kinect offer us a little glimpse to this exciting future. All this from the same company that brought us Clippy… who would have thought it?!

Useful Links:

• If you want to see a video showing what Kinect can do check out http://youtu.be/diy7rkWkDtU
• KinectHacks.com is a community dedicated in becoming the number one source of  news, codes and information about the latest and most innovative Microsoft Kinect user-made programs