When using Kinect for Windows SDK can you use a simulator for the Kinect or must you use the hardware?

Question

I want several of my developers to start playing with the Kinect SDK immediately and the timeframe is tight. Because they are not in the US, it will take me too much time to get them a Kinect and the cable required to use it with a PC.

Is there a way that they can work with the SDK without having the physical hardware on hand? Perhaps with a simulator or some other method?

Shirtwaist

Answer 1

Kinect Simulator

Kinesis.io Provides a simulator for Kinect. Its the simplest way to build gesture apps.

Southworth

Answer 2

There is no simulator available

Inglis

I found this today: brandynwhite.com/fakenect-openkinect-driver-simulator-experime – Shirtwaist

That's not for the official Kinect SDK though. If you want to code against OpenKinect rather than the official SDK, this looks promising – Inglis

Answer 3

There is no simulator, but you could use the Pointclouds Library (www.pointclouds.org). It has a simple I/O module, which allows you to load point clouds from files and use them to do whatever you would do with a Kinect stream. You could record ~1000 frames and send them your developers alongside with the library to start off. PCL is very good documented, easy to install and has lots of sample code!

Porcupine

Answer 4

Kinect Studio is an application that comes with the Kinect for Windows Developer Toolkit. It provides the ability to record data streams using the Kinect then replay them for testing and debugging purposes.

Kinect for Windows 2.0 is available now (July 15, 2014) and comes with an updated version of Kinect Studio.

You can use Kinect Studio to record tests and send the recordings to your developers before they get the hardware.

Hobbes