Based on the first phase, we have successfully linked Kinect with TouchDesigner. Next, our focus is on linking the audience and point cloud through Kinect, using specific methods.
Measuring the distance between both hands using Kinect
Considering that we will be using Arduino to implement our physical interactions, we are exploring how to interact with point clouds through hand gestures. I attempted to measure the distance between both hands by capturing their coordinates. Using a formula, we can know distance^2 = (x1 – x2)^2 + (y1 – y2)^2. So, as shown in the video below, when I spread my hands apart, the distance increases, and when I bring them closer together, the distance decreases. As shown in the Figure 2, we can use this value to change the visual effect of the point cloud (the specific content is in the blog of the point cloud visualization section in TouchDesigner).
Figure 1: Kinect measures the distance between both hands by capturing the hand coordinates.
Figure 2: Use distance value detected by Kinect to interact with point clouds.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to use the Kinect part in the last presentation because we didn’t have enough time to complete the testing. The detection range we set for the Kinect conflicted with the detection range of the distance sensor. However, if we have the opportunity to show this project to the public again, we’ll fix this issue and make sure everything works smoothly!
If you’re reading this in order, please proceed to the next post: ‘Blender Animations and Renders’.
Yijun Zhou
