Chapter 3. Visual Effects

If you’re looking for the perfect DIY, low-budget special effects solution, look no further than the Kinect. The Kinect shines when it comes to overlaying spectacular digital effects on any user being tracked by the sensor. This truly makes it the perfect solution for those on a tight budget. Using an open source IDE such as Processing, for example, you can apply an extensive library of visual effects supplied by the amazing and abundant community of programmers.

In this chapter, you will learn what options are available to use for your next visually stunning project, along with how to properly install any dependencies required to get up and running. Each hack will be presented in an easy-to-understand manner that will help get you started. By the end of the chapter, you will be able to apply particle effects, colors, and a wide assortment of geometric shapes and patterns that will transform your subject into a real-time, live action, digital masterpiece.

Whether you’re interested in adding real-time effects for a live performance or digital enhancements for video-editing post-processing work, the Kinect will provide the means for you to add that perfect touch to any project on a shoestring budget.

Use Quartz Composer with Synapse for Kinect

Quartz Composer is a great visual programming language that comes free with Xcode, Apple’s development environment for Mac OS X. This application is available only for Mac and provides a relatively simple means of creating ...

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