Kinect Hacks

Chapter 2. Programming Options

Congratulations! After getting set up with your preferred development environment, you have experienced your first interaction with the Kinect sensor on your computer. As fun as it is to play around with all those samples, there’s much more in store once we start looking into the programming side of Kinect hacking.

This chapter will introduce you to a wide assortment of programming languages and tools you can use to build that next killer app. Not only does the Kinect have its own official SDK for you to try out, but there’s also a good chance you’ll be able to take advantage of your preferred programming language so you can jump right into Kinect hacking. One aspect of programming for the Kinect that’s very appealing to most developers is that they’re not constrained to a few options in order to create something truly amazing. A large assortment of frameworks, wrappers, application programming interfaces (APIs), and integrated development environments (IDEs) is available for some of the most popular and widely used programming languages, allowing developers to implement a natural user interface for their next project.

The Kinect is a brilliant piece of tech to work with as well. The Kinect is dirt cheap in comparison to other depth-sensing cameras on the market. You can use it to render 3D motion capture techniques in real time, add visual effects to tracked users, provide localization data, or create a new and inventive way to approach traditional ...