Dual Kinect 2's on same machine?

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 10:05 am

I'm curious about the LPMS-B sensor listed in the image above. I don't know anything about this device and I'm reading about it now, but in context with iPi Mocap Studio, my first question is: is this device/support experimental or is it ready to go in iPi Mocap Studio?

I'm guessing this device is used the way we use PS Move controllers in iPi Mocap Studio? If so, it seems a bit pricey but how well does it work by comparison?

Thanks in advance for any info.

vmaslov · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 10:38 am

The screenshot leaked from the debug build and it's already replaced in online docs (but not in release notes of the recent release) :)
We implemented experimental support for LPMS-B inertial sensors a few years ago, but it had not been included in production. High price was one of the reasons for that.

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 10:42 am

Thanks for the info. I asked mainly out of curiosity as I'm not in a position to replace/upgrade my gear at the moment.

Still, good to hear you guys are always trying out new things. :)

Which reminds me, any news for using the Switch's Joy Con controllers with Mocap Studio? Again, just curious.

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 3:06 pm

Quick FYI for anybody installing the latest version to gain the new single computer/multi-Kinect 2.0 feature:

When I was installing the latest version this morning, I noticed that Kinect 2.0 drivers option was disabled. If you plan to use multi-Kinect 2 sensors on a single machine, leave this option off.

I wondered about this because the 'one computer/one Kinect 2.0' limitation was imposed by the Kinect 2.0 SDK, so you don't want these drivers installed.

@iPi team: I'm guessing the alternative Kinect 2.0 driver get installed by default since this is not a user selectable option? Or do we need to download the alt drivers as a separate installation?

From the installation guide:

(Windows 8, 8.1, 10) Microsoft Kinect 2:: MS Kinect SDK 2.0. Check if you plan to work with Kinect 2 for Windows or Kinect for Xbox One depth sensors, but do not plan to connect multiple Kinects to a single PC.

I'm still at work and haven't had a chance to try this yet. Will post more info when I get the chance, hopefully this evening.

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 3:08 pm

Never mind. :)

I found the additional info in the Wiki where you can find instructions for downloading and installing the alternative drivers.

http://docs.ipisoft.com/Multiple_Kinect ... _Single_PC

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 3:25 pm

I have one more question:

Can iPi Recorder with UsbDK co-exist with the MS Kinect 2.0 drivers? The docs mention that it can with the MS Kinect SDK but it's a little unclear if this means the Kinect 2.0 SDK or the old Kinect 1.8 SDK.

If not, does the installer remove the MS drivers when installing the new Recorder or must I remove the MS drivers manually? Or can I just leave things as they are and also install the UsbDK drivers? (I know, that was actually three questions, so I'll hold off asking anymore until tonight.) :)

vmaslov · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 3:31 pm

UsbDk can co-exist with MS Kinect SDK 2.0. And you can still use programs that rely on Kinect SDK 2.0 to use a Kinect 2 device. iPi Recorder will work with Kinect 2 via Kinect SDK 2.0 or libfreenect2 depending on which camera type is enabled (they cannot be both enabled at the same time).

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 3:32 pm

Cool! Thanks for the clarification.

dfblem1 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2019 4:51 pm

You guys are the best, awesome job!

Can't wait to try it.

Best Regards;
David

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:19 am

Quick followup:

Nothing conclusive yet. I only had time to try two Kinect 2 sensors with the laptop. This wasn't a full test, I literally just plugged two Kinect 2 sensors into the USB ports to see what would happen.

It was cool to see both devices appear in Recorder but I couldn't maintain a suitable frame rate with both sensors at the same time. I tried some obvious optimization tricks, like disabling video and trying different usb ports, but that didn't help. That's about as far as I got but there's still a few things I can try when I have more time to investigate.

TBH, I wasn't too optimistic that this would work with the laptop. My guess is that I need a separate USB 3 controller for the second sensor, which isn't going to happen with this laptop. It still might work but I think I'll have better luck with the desktop workstation, which does have a second USB controller.

My system specs in a nutshell:

The laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad P71 Xeon 32GB with Nvidia Quadro P4000. It's a beefy system and I hoped this would be powerful enough but maybe not for two Kinect 2 sensors. The USB controller is Intel and I believe there's more than 1 USB 3.0 controller but I haven't figured out how the ports are divided yet. Something I still need to play with.

The desktop computer is a home-built i7 Coffee Lake 6-Core 64GB with Nvidia GTX970. I think this computer has better chance of working with the dual Kinect 2 setup. I'm not sure what USB controller is on the motherboard but it's probably Intel. I have another non-Intel USB 3.0 controller in this computer, so I'm not sure how that will go. It worked with Kinect 2 when I had the old motherboard and processor in this box. I'll probably need to get a new one simply because it's a really, REALLY old card. TBD.

Both computers are running the latest Windows 10 Pro.

Tips for anybody trying this for the first time:

- As mentioned earlier, you need to install the UsbDK software first. This allows the Kinect 2 sensors to connect to iPi Recorder without using the Microsoft Kinect 2 SDK.

- If the MS Kinect 2 SDK is installed, you'll need to disable it from inside Recorder, and make sure the multi-Kinect driver is enabled. On my system, both were shown as Active after installing the update, and only one Kinect 2 window was visible in iPi Recorcer. After disabling the MS entry (just click on it,) both sensors became available in Recorder.

- Disable any devices that appear in the window that you're not using.

Hope this helps.

Dual Kinect 2's on same machine?

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