Kinect Fusion Is Coming For Windows SDK

Kinect Fusion, the Microsoft Research project which uses the Kinect sensor to create 3D models of objects and environments, will be made available in the Kinect for Windows SDK. No word yet on when exactly that integration will go live, however – Microsoft only confirmed it will come in a future release of the developer toolkit. That same SDK was just updated in October, however, which brought a number of new features, including access to extended-range depth data beyond 4 meters – a necessary upgrade for something like Kinect Fusion to properly function.

Originally a research project from Microsoft’s lab in Cambridge, U.K., Kinect Fusion works by taking the incoming depth data in the Kinect for Windows sensor, and uses the sequence of frames to build a highly detailed 3-D map of either an object, or even an environment, like an entire room, for example. The tool averages the readings over hundreds or thousands of frames in order to achieve more detail than it would get in a single reading.