14 DAY TRIAL // We've said time and time again that the range of uses for the Microsoft Kinect knows no boundaries, apart from those of human imagination, and it really looks like those boundaries are being pushed further and further on a daily basis, with crazier and crazier implementations being made available on quite a regular basis.
And the latest we've come across can actually be described as “crazy,” in spite of the fact that it doesn't actually have much of a practical application, because, after all, what's the purpose of getting a Predator-like camouflage effect while being in front of the Kinect camera?
Anyway, that's exactly what a Kinect hacker (or intrepid developer, as we prefer to call these guys) by the name of Takayuki Fukatsu has managed to employ the hacked Microsoft Kinect, together with Openframeworks, in order to create what he calls an “Optical Camouflage” (and what we call a Predator-like camouflage).
As you can see from the YouTube video posted at the end of this article, he's managed to do a pretty good job, too, the rear side of the room being quite consistent with the front side and enabling the person in front of the Kinect to “hide,” apart from the transparent blur of their outline.
Unfortunately, unlike other software developers exploring the possibilities provided by Microsoft's Kinect, who typically share their work with the world and even provide the application for the others out there who wish to try it out, Mr. Fukatsu has refrained from doing so, so we're not exactly sure what's the mechanism used in order to create this effect (quite possibly, we're talking about an additional image filter or layer applied in real-time over the video, but we can't really be sure).
And while we're still pondering upon the technical aspects of this hack, we'll leave you to watch it in action.