If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a Kinect, you really should. This revolutionary new technology from Microsoft enables some incredible scenarios that once were only part of hollywood blockbusters. At SIGRAPH, Microsoft and its partners unveiled a slew of new Kinect powered initiatives meant to improve lives, and really push the 3D and human computer interaction to a whole new level. Prepare to be blown away.

Kinect Fusion


One of the most incredible things shown at SIGRAPH this year was Kinect Fusion. This technology allows you to quickly create highly detailed 3D renders of any room. This includes objects, and people inside the physical room. In my mind the future of gaming and augmented reality is very close. Just look at the 3:50 mark of this video, as well as the end of the video. Some truly amazing applications for this technology.

Motion Capture Capabilities


One of the most exciting advancements in my mind is the improvement of the Kinect algorithms and the amount of data Microsoft is learning about body movements. For those not familiar with 3D, making characters and people seem to walk naturally in 3D film is incredibly hard to do. The amount of points the Kinect can sense on a body is incredible.

The future of user interface design, and the way we interact with technology is evolving incredibly fast! In November I will be presenting the keynote at Prairie Developer Conference in Winnipeg on “The Evolution of User Interfaces”. If you are in Winnipeg, I highly recommend checking out this event as we will be diving into things like Surface Computing, Kinect, and many other fun and exciting developments around User Interface design. What is the User Interface defined as anymore anyway…