Motion Capture at home: More free development kits for Microsoft’s Kinect

While creating homebrew applications for Sony or Nintendo products is difficult due to lack of access to software development kits (SDKs) for the public and the legal woes of those hacking those systems, more options keep appearing for Microsoft’s motion capture device, Kinect.

SoftKinetic, a developer of gesture-based software solutions, is now offering a free to use middleware that works with all 3D capture devices, including the Kinect, under an IISU (The Interface IS yoU) license. This license is for non-commercial use only, unless the developer decides to upgrade to one of SoftKinetic’s commercial products. This, in conjunction to other free development options for the Kinect, can mean a boon for students and developers wishing to create new innovations with gesture technology.

Microsoft has previously hinted at official PC support for Kinect, though nothing has been officially announced yet.