Interaction Space

Kinect for Windows 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8

The interaction space is the area in front of the Kinect sensor where the infrared and color sensors have an unblocked view of everything in front of the sensor. If the lighting is not too bright and not too dim, and the objects being tracked are not too reflective, you should get good results tracking human skeletons. While a sensor is often placed in front of and at the level of a user's head, it can be placed in a wide variety of positions.

The interaction space is defined by the field of view of the Kinect cameras, which is listed in Kinect for Windows Sensor Components and Specifications. To increase the possible interaction space, tilt the sensor using the built-in tilt motor. The tilt motor supports an additional +27 and -27 degrees, which greatly increases the possible interaction space in front of the sensor.

Figure 1.  Tilt Extension

To adjust the vertical tilt of the sensor, set the tilt angle using INuiSensor::NuiCameraElevationSetAngle Method in C++ or KinectSensor.ElevationAngle Property in C#. The tilt motor was designed for infrequent adjustment of the tilt angle, perhaps as infrequently as each time your application starts. Constant or repetitive adjustments to the tilt angle may degrade the motor.