Get up and running building creative application in Processing that use the Microsoft Kinect depth camera to track users.

Goals:

• Learn the history of the Kinect and the principles behind how it works as a depth camera
• Survey the landscape of tools, drivers, and frameworks that are available for working with the Kinect and doing skeleton tracking based on its data
• Install the software necessary to work with the skeleton data in Processing
• Understand the calibration process, how it works, and why it’s necessary
• Learn how to access user joint positions
• Understand the difference between real world and screen coordinate systems and how to translate between the two
• Learn the basics of vector math required to measure joint position and relative distance
• Explore tools for using joint position and relative distance in user interfaces and creative tools
• Have a conversation about the possibilities, limitations, and meaning of this kind of interaction

Pre-requisites:

• Beginner level graphical programming knowledge
• Basic familiarity with Processing or other similar creative coding frameworks (class will be taught in Processing)
• Bring a Kinect (a few will be on hand to borrow, but you’ll get more out of it if you bring your own)