Researchers hack Kinect for glasses-free 3D teleconferencing (video)

For the reason that dawn of Kinect hacking, we have seen cameras strung together (or rotated) to create 3D, game-like environments, while others have tweaked it for headtracking . Others, still, have used it for teleconferencing (albeit, the flat, two-dimensional variety). Now, a team of researchers have gone and thrown all of it together to reach 3D video chats, and if we do say so, the result’s more than a sum of its parts. The crowd, based out of UNC-Chapel Hill, uses 3D mapping (and a minimum of four Kinects) to render the video, after which employs headtracking at the receiving end in order that people tuning in will actually see the live video in 3D, even without wearing 3D glasses. The outcome: a tableau that follows you as you progress your head and spin around restlessly to your desk chair expecting the meeting to finish. That’s mighty impressive, but we won’t help but wonder: do you actually need to look your colleagues in such lifelike detail? Have a gander on the video and choose for yourself.