In order to install Kinect drivers in a Windows environment and run samples in Processing you need the following drivers and softwares.

Install Microsoft Kinect SDK

Install the official drivers from Microsoft from this link. Just download and run it. Plug the kinect sensor in the usb port. When the installation is done your computer should recognize the sensor and add a new item called Kinect for Windows in the Device Manager window.

Install Processing

We will be using the programming language with its development environment Processing. It is similar to the Arduino’s IDE. I strongly recommend to check the OpenProcessing community at the following link.

Download.

Install SimpleOpenni library

This library is a wrapper for OpenNI and NITE API and allows you to take advantage of the Natural Interactions (NI) functions. With SimpleOpenni the installation is much simpler than before, you can easily run the samples sketches and detect users in the scene, get access to the Kinect pointcloud, draw user’s skeleton, get joint informations such as hands relative positions, arm orientation.

  • Download the library
  • Extract the folder in your Processing library folder

Run the samples

In order to run the samples, open Processing, go to Files->Examples->Contributed Libraries->SimpleOpenNI->OpenNI.

Open and run the DepthMap3d or user3d sample. Enjoy!