KinectToVR EX v0.8.0 "The Flippin' Update"
This marks the first merging of the ongoing K2EX teams work in KinectToVR's history. If you haven't kept up with the project, they are the wonderful people who took over the project after I no longer had the time. All credit goes to them, I'm just returning the repo to parity to limit confusion.
Below is the release as from the K2EX repo:
This is a big update for K2EX that introduces some semi-breaking changes, specifically with how your settings are saved.
Using the automatic installer is recommended!
Changes
Global Settings: We AppData now
In order to allow KinectToVR to be installed to Program Files, we've moved the location where the configuration files are saved.
It used to be in the same folder as the executable for KinectToVR C:\K2EX\ but now it gets stored in %appdata%\KinectToVR\. This means all versions will automatically use the same configuration from now on.
Skeleton Flip: You can now turn around!
Using black voodoo magic code dug deep from the ashes of Vanhelneim. We can figure out the direction your VR headset is facing and use it to turn your body around.
Normally, the skeleton tracking from Kinect can't differentiate between front and back, since it only sees a body shape. When your headset faces away from the Kinect, the foot trackers' roles get swapped and all the trackers are flipped.
Automatic Calibration: Only takes 33 seconds!
We now have super duper quick and accurate automatic calibration, no longer will you need to move trackers manually!
All you need to do is stand still for 3 seconds in 3 different spots then look in the direction of the Kinect.
This also resolves a lot of tracking issues that come from bad calibration and puts the foot and hip trackers at the right distance based on your real-world height unlike manual calibration.
Advanced Manual Calibration: It's like 0.6 again!
Manual calibration now allows you to switch between position and rotation modes as many times as you wish before confirming and also allows more fine adjustments than before.
- Use Thumbsticks/Touchpads to move/rotate trackers
- Hold Left Grip to slow down thumbstick movement for fine adjustments
- Press Right Grip to switch between position and rotation calibration modes
- Press Both Triggers to confirm calibration
New App Theme: You can even see the skeleton through it!
The app sports a new font and default theme that doesn't look like military camo anymore. This actually needed a lot of digging, since SFGUI's theming isn't clearly documented anywhere officially. Look here on the SFML forums for a game that uses theming quite a bit.
Bugfixes
Xbox One Kinect foot rotation works again:
After being broken for unknown reasons at some point in September, we've brought it back! This required major changes to the way foot rotation is handled in the software, so you may notice slight differences in the tracking.
Kinect sensor now properly shuts down on app exit:
Previously there was a chance that K2EX would leave the sensor in a zombie-like state after closing the app, making it unable to be used unless unplugged and replugged, and it would cause it to uselessly wear out the device too. (Oops)
Skeleton tracking preview no longer flickers/redraws:
The app used to only draw the Kinect skeleton in the window if it actually received data from the SDK, which would cause it to glitch out, and redraw issues were caused by SFGUI being bad again.
The currently running OpenVR application does not get closed anymore when launching the app:
K2EX used to launch itself as VRApplication_Scene instead of VRApplication_Overlay despite not needing any features provided by being a Scene application. This caused SteamVR to consider KinectToVR as a game and close the previously running one. This is no longer the case.
New GUI Installer
This release comes with the first public version of the graphical installer, K2EX Installer 2.1.0. It has a lot of improvements over the old console installer, notably not being detected as a virus. Check out the official repo to see all the new changes.