Getting Started with Kinect (Studio 2 - Week 2)

By Helen Kwok

This week's test was just to get the Kinect working with my computer. I ran into all sorts of issues, from getting a hold of the equipment (the Kinect 1 and 2, the power adapters, etc.) needed, to getting it working with the software I might potentially use to develop my studio project. These included:

• The Kinect 1 and 2 are both discontinued, so getting a hold of the equipment meant trying to source them online or borrowing from a friend.
• Buying the relevant power adapters and USB connection cables from eBay or Amazon
• Getting the Kinect 1 to work with TouchDesigner involved a lot of troubleshooting. A warning in TD kept popping up saying: "Connecting to device..." even though the device was already connected. After looking through many, many discussion posts on forums, I discovered that it was because the Kinect 1 needed a USB 2.0 connection. All my USB ports are USB 3.0. Even buying a USB 2.0 hub to connect to my USB 3.0 didn't work. Turns out the MAGI studio PC computer had one single USB 2.0 port which I used for further testing on the weekend, which confirmed that the USB 2.0 was the cause.
• I borrowed Qiannyu's Kinect 2 for testing with TouchDesigner, which works fine with USB 3.0. Thanks Qiannyu!
• Just getting the Kinect 1 to work with Processing also involved a lot of additional work, such as installing the libusbK driver using a program called Zadig, which only works if you downgrade/install an older version of Zadig. The pain!

Attached are just some screenshots of me playing around with the Kinect using some example scripts in Processing. 

Reflection:

This week's exercise was really for me to get over that initial fear of dealing with new technology and software (again!). I haven't used the Kinect before, and have no idea how it's supposed to set up with my computer, so the process involved a lot of Googling and research online. As the Kinect 1 and 2 are obsolete now (a new version called Azure is coming out, but only available in US and China), it involved a lot of downgrading drivers and sourcing equipment via eBay or Amazon, with no official site to go to for support.

I needed to just jump in and try and get something working, familiarise with how the set up works, and start playing around with the Kinect so I can understand how the technology works. This will influence the direction of where my studio project goes.