So I am looking on Amazon for Kinect and I am seeing these 2 options:

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-L6M-000 ... oft+Kinect

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Adapter- ... oft+Kinect

And I wonder if Kinect for XB360 will work on PC. The price is way too attractive (especially if looking for 2 sensors).

Another question comes to mind is what advantages Kinect 2 will have over existing model? Does it make sense to wait for new Kinect instead of buying old one right now? According to Brekel, new Kinect will be 3 times more accurate.

The Kinect for XBox has never been officially supported by Microsoft for use on a PC, either by software or warranty, so it's buyer beware. AFAIK, it works with the current drivers but there are no guarantees that it will continue to work as MS updates the Kinect drivers and Windows itself.

Obviously Kinect for Windows is supported by MS for use on a PC, and probably will continue be supported for some time. There are other advantages with Kinect for Windows--the software gives you more control over the video quality. Kinect for Windows also supports Near Mode, which is useful for some 3D scanning and face capture software. (This is what I currently use in our little studio.)

The Kinect 2 for XBox One doesn't work with a PC at all, so don't even bother with it.

The upcoming Kinect 2 for Windows is intriguing in its specs, and iPi has suggested that they are seeing promising results in their tests. But the Kinect 2 for Windows is not available to the public yet. I haven't kept up on the latest news regarding K2 for Windows but my understanding is that it will be released later this summer.

If you need something that works right now, your best option is getting two of the current Kinect for Windows. If you're on a super tight budget, you might consider Kinect for XBox but bear in mind the risks mentioned above. If you can wait a few months, you might want to hold off until the Kinect 2 for Windows and iPi Mocap Studio 3 is out--I don't know how much better this combo will be but the release date doesn't appear to be that far away, and I imagine it will be an improvement over the current system.

That's just my opinion of course.

G

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Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

I guess I could wait. I did some searching and apparently it's up for preorder for $199 and will be released next month on 15th:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msu ... .298810500

Is iPi v3 going to be released at the same time or shortly after?

A little bit off topic, but, have you tried Brekel Kinect Face Pro ? Is it any good for facial animation (for games) ?

That's a question for iPi Soft. They previously said in these forums that their hope is to release shortly after Kinect 2 for Windows comes out, but they haven't made an official announcement yet.

I have a license of Brekel Face Pro but haven't used it in production yet. Actually, I don't have a need for face capture at this time but it's something I'm interested in trying out for future productions. I also have Nevron Motion for LightWave, which features basic face capture using Kinect. I'm more likely to experiment with that system for face capture first because it works directly inside the 3D program we use for our 'Brudders' animated shorts.

G.

_________________
Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

I asked Brekel about Kinect 2. He said that even though it comes out next month, the software won't be ready and it will take quite some time to work out the kinks and update all apps to Kinect 2.

Perhaps I should get Kinect for Windows, work with it, understand the process and adjust my pipeline to it, and when Kinect 2 drivers / iPi v3 is robust with new hardware, update :)

Is one Kinect good enough for non-action mocap (most of the base motions in video games, such as walks, conversing NPCs, shoots, deaths, etc.) ?