Still life with cactus

In a quest to get more basic things working out of the box with VL (ie. using vvvv beta>=40 or the all-new vvvv gamma), we took on to support your favorite depth cameras. Most of the cameras and their APIs share basically the same features as a baseline and then some of them have a few extra features. This means that using them in vvvv works mostly the same for all of them.

You have the main device node that you connect ColorImage, DepthImage, PointCloud, Skeleton,… nodes to, to get the desired info out of them. See the help patches coming with the packs for details.

Here is a list and comparison of all available depth cameras with links to the respective packs on nuget.org. To learn how to use nuget packs with vvvv please watch HowTo use Nugets.

Kinect

The original Microsoft Kinect or the XBOX 360 that was released a bit later. Get the VL pack on nuget.org. Created with support by chaupowuser.

Pros

• everyone has one at home
• good enough for quick prototyping
• can connect multiple to one PC

Cons

• no longer produced
• complicated cabling
• skeleton tracking requires T-Pose to initialize

Kinect v2

The second version of the Microsoft Kinect. Get the VL pack on nuget.org. Created with support by ravazquezuser.

Pros

• everyone has one at home
• quite robust and performant skeleton tracking

Cons

• no longer produced
• complicated cabling
• can only connect one per PC

Azure Kinect

The third version. AzureKinect. Get the VL pack on nuget.org. Get the VL pack for skeleton tracking on nuget.org.

Pros

• easy cabling
• does not require extra drivers to be installed

Cons

• to this point rather slow skeleton tracking as compared to Kinect v2

Orbbec Astra

Orbbec Astra. Get the VL pack on nuget.org.

Pros

• easy cabling
• small form factor

Cons

• requires extra license for skeleton tracking

Intel RealSense

Intel RealSense. Get the VL pack on nuget.org.

Pros

• easy cabling
• smallest form factor
• highly configurable
• built-in depth image filters

Cons

• Skeleton tracking for now only in connection with Nuitrack (see below)

Nuitrack API

Nuitrack is a piece software that works with all of the above cameras and provides skeleton, hand and face tracking. Get the VL pack on nuget.org. Created with support by ravazquezuser.

Pros

• a unified API for all of the above cameras

Cons

• requires extra license for skeleton tracking
• can only handle one camera at a time
• weird setup and configuration

Leap Motion Controller

The Leap Motion Controller device provides hand and finger tracking. Get the VL pack on nuget.org.

Pros

• for precise and close-up hand and finger tracking

Cons

Please help us improve this list of pros and cons. Know any other or disagree with some mentioned, please add them in the comments! This could eventually grow into a page of the gray book.