Kinect Library

The official library for Kinect v2 can be downloaded here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44561. The library is available for JavaScrip, C# and C++: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn758675.aspx

A Python package is also available for interacting with the Kinect SDK: https://github.com/Kinect/PyKinect2

In order to use the library in your code, you first must configure the project:

• The 'include' path must be set in “Project→Properties→C++→General→Other directories”.
• The 'library' path must be set in “Project→Properties→Linker→General→Other directories”.
• The library name must be set in “Project→Properties→Linker→Entry”. The library name is “kinect20.lib”.

Once the configuration is done, you can start to use the library in your code.

The first thing to do is to include the corresponding header

 #include "kinect.h" 

To manage data from kinect you need to create and initialize the IKinectSensor object

IKinectSensor* kinect;
HRESULT hr;
hr = GetDefaultKinectSensor(&kinect);

If the kinect is correctly initialized, you can now open it and initialize the desired streams as color, depth and skeleton. Note that the coordinate mapper is also initialized. It will be used to map the 3D skeleton to 2D images for display purpose.

hr = kinect->Open();
 
// Color stream
IColorFrameSource* pColorFrameSource = NULL;
IColorFrameReader* colorReader = NULL;
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = kinect->get_ColorFrameSource(&pColorFrameSource);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = pColorFrameSource->OpenReader(&colorReader);
}
 
// Depth stream
IDepthFrameSource* pDepthFrameSource = NULL;
IDepthFrameReader* depthReader = NULL;
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = kinect->get_DepthFrameSource(&pDepthFrameSource);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = pDepthFrameSource->OpenReader(&depthReader);
}
 
// Skeleton stream
IBodyFrameSource* pBodyFrameSource = NULL;
IBodyFrameReader* bodyReader = NULL;
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = kinect->get_BodyFrameSource(&pBodyFrameSource);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = pBodyFrameSource->OpenReader(&bodyReader);
}
 
// Coordinate Mapper
ICoordinateMapper* coordinateMapper;
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = kinect->get_CoordinateMapper(&coordinateMapper);
}

For getting the current data captured by the kinect, you need to call the 'AcquireLatestFrame' function for each of the reader.

// Color data
IColorFrame* pColorFrame = NULL;
hr = colorReader->AcquireLatestFrame(&pColorFrame);
 
// Depth data
IDepthFrame* pDepthFrame = NULL;
hr = depthReader->AcquireLatestFrame(&pDepthFrame);
 
// Skeleton data
IBodyFrame* pBodyFrame = NULL;
hr = colorReader->AcquireLatestFrame(&pColorFrame);

In your code you may need to process data. Here is an example how to proceed in order to display the frames using OpenCV 2.4.x. OpenCv need to be installed and included in the header. It can be downloaded here: http://opencv.org/downloads.html

Here we assume that the color frame has been captured in 'pColorFrame'.

cv::Mat tmp;
RGBQUAD *pColorBuffer = new RGBQUAD[1920 * 1080];
UINT nColorBufferSize = 0;
nColorBufferSize = 1920 * 1080 * sizeof(RGBQUAD);
hr = pColorFrame->CopyConvertedFrameDataToArray(nColorBufferSize, reinterpret_cast<BYTE*>(pColorBuffer), ColorImageFormat_Bgra);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    tmp = cv::Mat(cv::Size(1920, 1080), CV_8UC4, pColorBuffer, cv::Mat::AUTO_STEP);
    if (tmp.rows != 0 || tmp.cols != 0){
	cv::imshow("Color", tmp);
	char key = cv::waitKey(10);
    }
}
SafeRelease(pColorFrame);

Here we assume that the depth frame has been captured in 'pDepthFrame'. In this case, the received data are depth values in milimeter. For display purpose, the conversion in pixel value is needed. This is done using minimum and maximum depth values.

USHORT nDepthMaxDistance = 0;
USHORT nDepthMinDistance = 0;
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = pDepthFrame->get_DepthMaxReliableDistance(&nDepthMaxDistance);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = pDepthFrame->get_DepthMinReliableDistance(&nDepthMinDistance);
}
cv::Mat depthImg;
UINT nBufferSize = 424*512;
UINT16*	m_Buffer = new UINT16[424 * 512];
RGBQUAD* pixelData = new RGBQUAD[424 * 512];
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = pDepthFrame->CopyFrameDataToArray(512 * 424, m_Buffer);
    for (int j = 0; j < nBufferSize; j=j+1){
	USHORT dval = m_Buffer[j];
	BYTE intensity = (BYTE)(dval >= nDepthMinDistance && dval <= nDepthMaxDistance ? dval : 0);
	pixelData[j].rgbBlue = intensity;
	pixelData[j].rgbRed = intensity;
	pixelData[j].rgbGreen = intensity;
    }
    depthImg = cv::Mat(cv::Size(512, 424), CV_8UC4, pixelData, cv::Mat::AUTO_STEP);
    cv::imshow("Depth", depthImg);
    key = cv::waitKey(10);
}
SafeRelease(pDepthFrame);
delete(m_Buffer);
delete(pixelData);

Here we assume that the skeleton frame has been captured in 'pBodyFrame'. For better clarity, two external functions are employed for drawing the skeleton ('drawSkeleton' and 'drawLine').

cv::namedWindow("Skeleton");
cv::Mat skeletonFrame(424, 512, CV_8UC3, cv::Scalar(0, 0, 0));
IBody* ppBodies[BODY_COUNT] = { 0 };
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    hr = pBodyFrame->GetAndRefreshBodyData(_countof(ppBodies), ppBodies);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
    for (int i = 0; i < BODY_COUNT; i=i+1){
	IBody* pBody = ppBodies[i];
	if (pBody){
		BOOLEAN tracked;
		hr = pBody->get_IsTracked(&tracked);
		if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && tracked){
			Joint joints[JointType_Count];
			hr = pBody->GetJoints(_countof(joints), joints);
			if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
				for (int j = 0; j < _countof(joints); j=j+1){
					const CameraSpacePoint position3D = joints[j].Position;
					DepthSpacePoint position2D;
					coordinateMapper->MapCameraPointToDepthSpace(position3D, &position2D);
					cv::circle(skeletonFrame, cv::Point(position2D.X, position2D.Y), 5, cv::Scalar(255, 255, 255), -1);
					}
					drawSkeleton(skeletonFrame, joints, coordinateMapper);
				}
			}
		}
	}
}
cv::imshow("Skeleton", skeletonFrame);
key = cv::waitKey(10);
for (int i = 0; i < _countof(ppBodies); i=i+1){
    SafeRelease(ppBodies[i]);
}
SafeRelease(pBodyFrame);

The two external functions are

void drawLine(cv::Mat src, Joint j1, Joint j2, ICoordinateMapper* mapper){
	if (j1.TrackingState > 1 && j2.TrackingState > 1){
		const CameraSpacePoint position3D1 = j1.Position;
		DepthSpacePoint position2D1;
		mapper->MapCameraPointToDepthSpace(position3D1, &position2D1);
		const CameraSpacePoint position3D2 = j2.Position;
		DepthSpacePoint position2D2;
		mapper->MapCameraPointToDepthSpace(position3D2, &position2D2);
		cv::line(src, cv::Point(position2D1.X, position2D1.Y), cv::Point(position2D2.X, position2D2.Y), cv::Scalar(255, 255, 255), 5);
	}
}
 
void drawSkeleton(cv::Mat src, Joint joints[JointType_Count], ICoordinateMapper* mapper){
	drawLine(src, joints[0], joints[1], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[1], joints[2], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[2], joints[3], mapper);
 
	drawLine(src, joints[2], joints[4], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[4], joints[5], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[5], joints[6], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[6], joints[7], mapper);
 
	drawLine(src, joints[2], joints[8], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[8], joints[9], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[9], joints[10], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[10], joints[11], mapper);
 
	drawLine(src, joints[0], joints[12], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[12], joints[13], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[13], joints[14], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[14], joints[15], mapper);
 
	drawLine(src, joints[0], joints[16], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[16], joints[17], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[17], joints[18], mapper);
	drawLine(src, joints[18], joints[19], mapper);
}

Note that each frame is safely released after being processed. This is done using the following function

// Safe release for interfaces
template<class Interface>
inline void SafeRelease(Interface *& pInterfaceToRelease){
    if (pInterfaceToRelease != NULL){
	pInterfaceToRelease->Release();
	pInterfaceToRelease = NULL;
    }
}

At the end of the code, we correctly close the kinect sensor

kinect->Close();

A python package is available in order to use the kinect SDK in python. It can be downloaded here: https://github.com/Kinect/PyKinect2

You need to initialize the kinect with the desired sources.

from pykinect2 import PyKinectV2
from pykinect2.PyKinectV2 import *
from pykinect2 import PyKinectRuntime
 
kinect = PyKinectRuntime.PyKinectRuntime(PyKinectV2.FrameSourceTypes_Color | PyKinectV2.FrameSourceTypes_Depth | PyKinectV2.FrameSourceTypes_Body)

if kinect.has_new_color_frame():
    frame = kinect.get_last_color_frame()

if kinect.has_new_depth_frame():
    frameD = kinect.get_last_depth_frame()

if kinect.has_new_body_frame():
    bodies= kinect.get_last_color_frame()

Here is some examples how to proceed data in order to display it using pygame.

pygame.init()
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((self._infoObject.current_w >> 1, self._infoObject.current_h >> 1), 
                                               pygame.HWSURFACE|pygame.DOUBLEBUF|pygame.RESIZABLE, 32)
# back buffer surface for getting Kinect color frames, 32bit color, width and height equal to the Kinect color frame size
frame_surface = pygame.Surface((self._kinect.color_frame_desc.Width, self._kinect.color_frame_desc.Height), 0, 32)