Making Things See: 3D vision with Kinect, Processing, Arduino, and MakerBot (Make: Books) [Paperback]

Greg Borenstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2012 | Series: Make: Books

This detailed, hands-on guide provides the technical and conceptual information you need to build cool applications with Microsoft’s Kinect, the amazing motion-sensing device that enables computers to see. Through half a dozen meaty projects, you’ll learn how to create gestural interfaces for software, use motion capture for easy 3D character animation, 3D scanning for custom fabrication, and many other applications.

Perfect for hobbyists, makers, artists, and gamers, Making Things See shows you how to build every project with inexpensive off-the-shelf components, including the open source Processing programming language and the Arduino microcontroller. You’ll learn basic skills that will enable you to pursue your own creative applications with Kinect.

• Create Kinect applications on Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux
• Track people with pose detection and skeletonization, and use blob tracking to detect objects
• Analyze and manipulate point clouds
• Make models for design and fabrication, using 3D scanning technology
• Use MakerBot, RepRap, or Shapeways to print 3D objects
• Delve into motion tracking for animation and games
• Build a simple robot arm that can imitate your arm movements
• Discover how skilled artists have used Kinect to build fascinating projects

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

After a decade as a musician, web programmer, and startup founder, Greg Borenstein recently moved to New York to become an artist and teacher. His work explores the use of special effects as an artistic medium. He is fascinated by how special effects techniques cross the boundary between images and the physical objects that make them: miniatures, motion capture, 3D animation, animatronics, and digital fabrication. He is currently a grad student at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Make (February 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449307078
• ISBN-13: 978-1449307073
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.7 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Computer Vision
  • #3 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Machine Vision
  • #7 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Algorithms > Pattern Recognition

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction for anyone interested in experimenting with Kinect February 9, 2012

By Ivo Flipse

Format:Paperback

This book makes it very easy to experiment with Kinect, Processing is easy to set up, simple to write and allows for rapid iterations. Perfect even when you're not that into programming (yet).

The book has a very gradual increase in complexity, taking you from 2D, to 3D to changing the position of virtual camera and eventually scanning a 3D environment. The book starts to get really cool when you get to the Skeleton tracking part, which allows you to calculate the angles between limbs and use those to control the arm of an Arduino robot.

Another great thing about the examples is how they show you all the basic elements you need to built highly interactive programs, like a virtual drum kit, controlling a robot or 3D model.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interesting in experimenting with Kinect. I easily got through the book in 3 days and with the help of Greg's GitHub [...] you should have no trouble getting the examples to work! A definite recommendation!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best in-print survey of Kinect hacking thus far February 28, 2012

By Bryan

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Making Things See" contains some of the most comprehensive documentation for the Kinect that I've been able to find. The prologue interviews were a good motivation for why the book exists: to help others start to discover the full potential of this wonderful little device. As a programmer, I found the explanations of the various computer vision algorithms accurate and and helpful for my own understanding of what the Kinect was capable of. All in all a highly recommended read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for hobbyist! April 30, 2012

By Ryan Hartman

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is 5 star for non-programmers. Mr. Borenstein walks the reader through the process of writing Kinect applications in a simple straightforward way that is extremely easy to follow. The code in the book is written using Processing (processing.org) which means even people with almost no background in software development and be up and running very quickly! If you are new to all of this then I recommend you read this book! You'll be amazed at how easy it is to write some really impressive Kinect programs.

The book is a 4 start for professional software developers. Still a great value for the price and it will give you a quick ramp-up into Kinect development. But after reading this you'll want to check out something more technical if you are interesting in writing applications using the Microsoft Kinect SDK or one of the several open source tool sets.