Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV
Ever wish you could be someone - or something - else? Thanks to a new Kinect technique, you can now animate another body, or an inanimate object, by slipping into its virtual skin.
Wave a Microsoft Kinect sensor around the object you want to inhabit and the new system, developed by Jiawen Chen and his team from Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK, quickly creates a 3D virtual model of it. Then, by standing in front of the sensor and positioning your body so that it melds with the virtual character on screen, the two are rigged together by uttering the word "Possess". The system performs the transformation by binding the model to you at the points where your joints are attached.
Moving your body makes the avatar come to life, allowing you to re-enact Fantasia-like cartoons or to create your own interactive stories. It's also possible to team up with friends to possess more complex bodies, like a four-legged horse.
The research was presented this week at Siggraph 2012, an international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques in Los Angeles, California.