Overview
A basic guide on how to setup the Kinect 2.0 (aka xbox one Kinect) for FBTNote: click on images if you cant read em.
Prerequirements
1. Xbox one Kinect (obviously)
2. xbox one kinect adapter
3. a usb 3.0 pci express card ( recommended if you dont have more than 1 usb 3.0 chipset as the kinect 2.0 uses 90% of the bandwidth)
4. Kinect SDK 2.0
” [link] . com/en-us/windows/kinect/ ” (delete the spaces)
Setting up the Kinect
once you have met the Requirements and have the SDK installed, open the sdk browser and run the Kinect Configuration Verifier (with the kinect hookedup) to check for hardware incompatibilities, u may get a usb controller error but sometimes its not an issue
Note: if you are not sure if the Kinect is working you can alway open the windows 10 or 8 camera app and the kinect should act as a HD camera or open the sdk and run Body Basics and walk infront of the kinect, it should start tracking you
also the lights on the kinect turn on when it is being used ( the red isnt that bright but for some reason my phone camera picked it up that way)
Now where do you put this thing, well that is up to you, sitting on the edge of your desk with its tilt adjusted enough to see all of you is best for standing and reading you with one leg up but laying down or sitting on the floor may result in tracking loss, elevating it with camera adjusted at a tilt will give you the ability to lay down or sit on the floor but it may have issues with it reading your leg if you put one up, this is purly up to you and its best to play around with positioning till you get what you want ( and if you have a camera mount the kinect has a slot on the bottom for a mount
your kinect should now be ready for Drivers4vr
Setup Driver4vr and Calibrating
if you havnt already or if steam does it automatically you need to enable the driver4vr addon for steam vr, ive included some images below showing how to do this
once you have the addon ready it should start with steam vr
now to configure the kinect for FBT
first set Body tracking to Kinect: Skeleton with the other 2 with head and hand tracking off and click start (sometimes it will give u a window saying the kinect is not connected just close it and click start again and if it does it again try unplugging and reconnecting the kinect
if all goes as planned u should see it displaying framerate.
framerate may vary for driver4vr but it should be above 60fps.
kinect fps should be 29 to 30 and it may drop once in awhile but if its below 20fps just stop and restart Driver4vr and it should fix it.
now that driver4vr registers your kinect lets calibrate it so you can use FBT (note that you need to calibrate it every time you use it)
start by clicking calibrate button and select New – 2 Step
you should get a new window with a preview of your kinect cam, set mode to kinect rotation and click calibrate
after you click calibrate it will give you a lil window like this below telling you how to calibrate but ill also tell u if it doesnt make sense just click got it
once you click got it you will be back at the other window now getup and stand infront of the kinect where it can see all of you (make sure you can hear audio as it gives a sound for calibration steps complete), now stand in a A-pose with legs apart and wait for the cheering sound now either walk backwards or forwards depending where you chose to stand infront of the kinect and repeat the pose, you should hear a cheer and now your calibrated.
once its done you can close that window and put your headset on and you will be able to see the trackers in steam vr
you now have full body tracking
Personal tips from me
1. wear shorts when calibrating and using fbt, it reads the legs better
2. when kinect isnt in use unhook it from pc and power as the kinect 2.0 is know for its thermal sensor to go out
3.always face kinect (you can slightly turn but any more than that and it will lose tracking
4. dont bother with fbt in blades and sorcery, the second it loses tracking the character deforms
5. check out the sdk browser for the kinect, some cool stuff to play with there
6. dont minimize driver4vr as it will lower the kinects framerate
7. do calibration with headset on through steamvr’s virtual desktop so you can be already infront of the kinect when you start calibrating
8. if your feet trackers are too high you can adjust em in the calibration window with legs correction, same with the hip
9. if you can, go for the 360 kinect as its cheaper and doesnt have the issue with the thermal sensor dying
Troubleshooting
Q: why is my kinect starting but shuts right off
A: your usb controller ran out of bandwidth, it will often tell you that as a window notification, u need 2 seperate usb 3.0 chipsets for the vrheadset and the kinect
Q: im on a laptop can i still do this
A: hard to say as some headsets can run on usb 2.0 but its more maybe as the kinect 2.0 eats up usb 3.0 bandwidth so most likly no unless your laptop has 2 seperate usb 3.0 chipsets
Q: i have a 360 kinect, can i still use this guide
A: cant say for sure but i know for sure with the 360 kinect it will use the sdk 1.8 instead of 2.0 but i cant be sure if its the same steps as i dont own a 360 kinect anymore
will add more here as questions are asked
Disclaimer
i am not responsible if you buy hardware and it doesn’t work for you, buy the kinect 2.0 at your own discretion
again i say the 360 kinect is the better option budget wise and hardware compatibility wise, but if you happen to have a xone kinect this guide can help you