Hi,

I've had some good success in the past with an old version of IPI, but the big bottleneck seemed to be setup and calibration of cameras. (6 PS3 Eye) So, after seeing the results people were getting with dual Kinect I decided to purchase the latest version. So far, it hasn't been as easy as I'd hoped -- I seem to be dealing with a lot of yellow space in the scene that complicates tracking, especially on the floor, so even within the limited tracking space the tracking seems to be very much less accurate than 6 PS3 eyes. I read the setup guide, but it has been of limited help, so I wanted to ask some questions:

1. Is there anything about the lighting of the room that can effect the Kinect? Do some types of lights put off enough infrared to confuse the sensors?

2. Assuming that they are not shiny, is there anything about the color of the floor or walls that can be a problem? Again assuming they are not shiny, is there a problem with having stationary objects in the background of the scene? Or for that matter, is there a problem with having large open spaces in the scene (inside a studio, for example, where there's a lot of empty space outside the range of the sensors)

3. Is there anything about the color of the actor's clothing that could improve tracking? My understanding is that dark colors absorb infrared, and light colors reflect it. With that in mind, would (non-shiny) white or very light gray clothing work best, or is any bright color okay?

Thanks,

JG

In my experience the IR rays from Kinect can be affected by:

1. Solid black surfaces which can absorb the IR rays. I haven't noticed problems with colors other than solid black. Dark open doorways can do the same so close the door if possible.

2. Highly reflective surfaces (glass, chrome, another other shiny material,) which can bounce the rays. If the floor is polished or otherwise 'shiny', you can throw a carpet over it. We have a shiny wooden floor in our living room and this is what I do to to reduce the shininess. If you have a lot of windows, close the blinds or curtains.

3. Extremely bright light from outdoors (like through a window,) may cause interference. If this is the case, close the blinds or curtains.

Hope this helps. Some of the above also applies to PS3 Eye capture though for different reasons.

G.

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Many yellow in the background, such as open space beyound Kinect's range or reflective surfaces (TV etc), should not be a much problem. The main thing is that actor's silhouette should be good distinguishable and not have yellow noise on it. Noise on the floor is undesirable because it leads to difficulties in detecting the ground plane.