mcjKinectV2Kit

This Manual and this program will be updated and improved in the coming weeks so, stay tuned

the "Web Help" button on the script's window will teleport you right here

Introduction

The kinect sensor for XBOX One ( also known as v2 ) can detect the position/pose of a person standing in its field of vision.

mcjKinect2Server is a Windows application which can obtain those positions/poses from the kinect sensor.

It can do this at up to 30 frames per second. The poses can be written to a file or transmitted to a 'client' application.

( the client application will be written later, so, bookmark this page if it interests you )

For this Beta release, a Daz Studio script, can load the motion-capture file created by the kinectserver and apply it to any Poser/Daz figure.

The Kinect V2 sensor

An adapter like this one is needed to make your XBOX-One Kinect sensor compatible with a PC

You will also need a USB3 port compatible with the Microsoft SDK .... personally my motherboard's USB3 port didnt work so i bought a card like this which uses the Renesas chipset

History

JUN 16, 2018, 1:54 PM V1 MCJKINECT2IMPORT V1 MCJKINECT2SERVER_64BITPCWIN

JUN 17, 2018, 4:52 AM MCJKINECT2IMPORT V2 -- DEBUG UPDATE script didnt locate newly created stickman

Installing the Microsoft Kinect SDK Runtime

The mcjKinectServer application is based on the Microsoft Kinect SDK

The "Microsoft Kinect SDK Runtime" contains drivers for the kinect

and support files needed by mcjKinect2Server.

Here, from the very secure official site, you must download and install it

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=44561

Once the SDK-Runtime is installed, if you plug ( or un-plug/replug ) your kinect

Windows will detect your kinect and start installing the drivers that were in the SDK-Runtime

Supported Hardware

The server and client is compatible with the 'new Kinect V2 sensors

if you have the old XBOX 360 Kinect sensor head over here !!!

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjkinectkit001

Supported Operating System

Windows 8, Windows 10

Installing the mcjKinect2Server

The mcjKinect2Server is a Windows application ( .exe )

You may install it anywhere

example : in C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\mocap\

example : in C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\mocap\bin

Installing the Client app, a Daz script

MCJKINECT2IMPORT is a script for Daz Studio. ( like a program running inside Daz Studio )

The zip package is found at the bottom of this page ( MCJKINECT2IMPORT.ZIP )

unzip it in a Daz Studio content folder,

typically

C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\My Library

C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\

C:\Program Files (x86)\DAZ\Studio\content\

once installed, it will appear in your Daz Studio content library

My Library\ / Scripts / mcasual

Studio / Scripts / mcasual

Using MCJKINECT2SERVER.exe in Standalone mode

The adapter hub should be connected to the kinect sensor, the power supply and the PC's USB3 port

it's stupid but ..... do make sure the sensor is connected to the hub .... i spent an hour trying to figure

why my PC would not detect the kinect even if it detected i plugged something in the usb3 port

- note MCJKINECT2SERVER.exe must be in a folder where it will be allowed to create/write text files

- Run MCJKINECT2SERVER.exe

- if a human comes in the field of view of the sensor you will see the green stickman ( or stickwoman )

- we are not recording yet

- click the start button ( the Start button then becomes a Stop button )

- the motion capture data will be recorded in a text file located in the same folder as MCJKINECT2SERVER.EXE

- the filename will correspond to the date and time of the recording

- MCJKINECT2SERVER will stop recording after 9000 frames or if you click the "Stop" button.

- Close MCJKINECT2IMPORT.exe

IMPORTANT NOTE

I thought i fixed this but sometimes after closing the MCJKINECT2SERVER window, the application continues running in stealth mode

this slows down your CPU and reduces available memory. So You should probably use Windows Task Manager

to slay any instance of MCJKINECT2SERVER left behind

MCJKINECT2IMPORT The Client ( a Daz Script )

Importing the Mocap Data

Run mcjKinect2Import.dsa which should be in your Daz Content folders in a Scripts/mcasual folder

if you want to read the maximum allowed 9000 frames from the mocap file, then type "9000" in the "Source end" field

if you know the first 100 frames of the mocap are useless then you can type "100" in the "Source Start" field

click the Browse button and select your mocap ( .txt) file from the same folder as mcjKinect2Server.exe

Click the "Load Mocap" button

A Stickman figure ( in fact a prop ) will be created in your scene and will be animated accordingly

If your target figure ( ex: genesis) is not selected, close mcjKinect2Import

Important Note: to increase the chances of a good animation transfer you may

set the timeline cursor at frame zero, do a "Clear Figure Animation" followed by

a "Zero Figure animation" because the script doesn't touch the animations of bones

like the "upper abdomen" also, changing the position or rotating the root node of the

stickman or figure is discouraged

Select your taget figure

set the playrange to the section of the animation you want to transfer to the target figure

restart mcjKinect2Import.dsa

Click the "Xfer stickMan To figure" button

for this beta version the thumb and finger joints are not processed

but hip, thigh, shin, foot, abdomen, chest, neck, head, shldr, foreArm and Hand are

Sometimes setting limits to "OFF" on the figure will improve fidelity

sometimes leaving limits to "ON" will remove the abominable poses