14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft announced the availability of a new version of its Kinect for Windows SDK, with various improvements packed inside when compared to the previous release.
However, the company ensured that the new Kinect for Windows SDK 1.5 is fully compatible with applications that have been designed using Kinect for Windows SDK 1.0.
In addition to a range of bug fixes and stability improvements, the new release of the SDK comes with various other improvements included inside, as well as with better documentation.
As of this release, the Kinect for Windows SDK does not include the Kinect for Windows Developer Toolkit any longer.
The toolkit is available as a separate download, with all samples packed inside, including new samples in both C++ or C#. A “Basics” series of samples with language coverage in C++, C# and Visual Basic has been included in the package as well.
The new version of the SDK also comes with Kinect Studio, a new tool designed to record and playback Kinect data to offer help in the development process.
Other changes in the new release include:
- A set of Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) to guide developers on best practices for the creation of Natural User Interfaces using Kinect.
- The Face Tracking SDK, which provides a real-time 3D mesh of facial features—tracking the head position, location of eyebrows, shape of the mouth, etc.
- SDK documentation improvements, including new resources as well as migration of documentation to MSDN for easier discoverability and real-time updates.
Skeletal tracking capabilities were improved in this release as well, now featuring Seated Skeletal Tracking and support for Skeletal Tracking in Near Mode.
Moreover, the Kinect for Windows Runtime will offer Joint Orientation information for the skeletons tracked by the Skeletal Tracking pipeline in two forms, namely Hierarchical Rotation and Absolute Orientation.
The SDK also comes with performance and data quality enhancements, so as to provide a much better experience for all Kinect for Windows applications using the RGB camera and for those who need RGB and depth data to be mapped together.
The new release brings support for four new languages for speech recognition – French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. There are also new language packs available, so as to support different variations and dialects of a language.
Additional info on the changes packed in the new Kinect for Windows SDK 1.5 release, as well as in Kinect for Windows Developer Toolkit and Kinect for Windows Runtime can be found on Microsoft’s website.
Download new Kinect for Windows SDK 1.5 (Kinect for Windows Developer Toolkit included as a separate download)
Download Kinect for Windows Runtime