Creating a Kinect selection progress cursor in WPF
Posted: 17 January 2011
Late last week I wrote this post on my Avtex blog on how to create a "hover selection cursor" for a Kinect-based app in WPF. This type of cursor is very similar to what you see in Kinect games on the XBox 360 where you hover your hand over a command and see a progress indicator to let you know how long you need to hover your hand for the command to execute:
Creating a Kinect selection progress cursor in WPF
At Avtex we are working on a Kinect-enabled WPF application for our lobby's 60" front display. The application will allow guests to have an interactive experience with our company at the point of their entry.
The Kinect allows us to control the mouse pointer through hand tracking. If you've played any of the XBox 360 Kinect games you've probably noticed some new user interface metaphors with how to select and execute commands. Specifically, you've probably seen the most basic gesture of hovering your hand (e.g. the cursor) over a command in order to execute it:
The link above includes the source code.
I also created a quick screencast to demonstrate the feature:
UPDATE: I apologize for the code not being readable in the screencast. It wasn't my intention for viewers to use the screencast as a code reference, but a few people have pointed out that the code is hard to read in the video. If you want the complete code details, you can download the source code from the original Avtex blog post.
Enjoy!