Book Image

Kinect in Motion - Audio and Visual Tracking by Example

Book Image

Kinect in Motion - Audio and Visual Tracking by Example

Overview of this book

Kinect is a motion-sensing input device by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game console and Windows PCs. It provides capabilities to enhance human-machine interaction along with a zero-to-hero journey to engage the user in a multimodal interface dialog with your software solution. Kinect in Motion - Audio and Visual Tracking by Example guides you in developing more than five models you can use to capture gestures, movements, and voice spoken commands. The examples and the theory discussed provide you with the knowledge to let the user become a part of your application. Kinect in Motion - Audio and Visual Tracking by Example is a compact reference on how to master color, depth, skeleton, and audio data streams handled by Kinect for Windows.Starting with an introduction to Kinect and its characteristics, you will first be shown how to master the color data stream with no more than one page of lines of code. Learn how to manage the depth information and map them against the color ones. You will then learn how to define and manage gestures that enable the user to instruct the application simply by moving arms or any other type of natural action. Finally you will complete your journey through a multimodal interface, combining gestures with audio.The book will lead you through many detailed, real-world examples, and even guide you on how to test your application.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

About the Reviewers

With more than 17 years of experience working on Microsoft technologies, Atul Gupta is currently a Principal Technology Architect at Infosys' Microsoft Technology Center, Infosys Labs. His expertise spans user experience and user interface technologies, and he is currently working on touch and gestural interfaces with technologies such as Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Kinect. He has prior experience in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Silverlight, Windows 7, Deepzoom, Pivot, PixelSense, and Windows Phone 7.

He has co-authored the book ASP.NET 4 Social Networking (http://www.packtpub.com/asp-net-4-social-networking/book). Earlier in his career, he also worked on technologies such as COM, DCOM, C, VC++, ADO.NET, ASP.NET, AJAX, and ASP.NET MVC. He is a regular reviewer for Packt Publishing and has reviewed books on topics such as Silverlight, Generics, and Kinect.

He has authored papers for industry publications and websites, some of which are available on Infosys' Technology Showcase (http://www.infosys.com/microsoft/resource-center/pages/technology-showcase.aspx). Along with colleagues from Infosys, Atul blogs at http://www.infosysblogs.com/microsoft. Being actively involved in professional Microsoft online communities and developer forums, Atul has received Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional award for multiple years in a row.

Mandresh Shah is a developer and architect working in the Avanade group for Accenture Services. He has IT industry experience of over 14 years and has been predominantly working on Microsoft technologies. He has experience on all aspects of the software development lifecycle and is skilled in design, implementation, technical consulting, and application lifecycle management. He has designed and developed software for some of the leading private and public sector companies and has built industry experience in retail, insurance, and public services. With his technical expertise and managerial abilities, he also has played the role of growing capability and driving innovation within the organization.

Mandresh lives in Mumbai with his wife Minal, and two sons Veeransh and Veeshan. In his spare time he enjoys reading, movies, and playing with his kids.