Who IS this guy?
Never heard of Oliver Kreylos? You will. He’s just transformed the Kinect from a hands-free game controller into a holographic camera. The demo blew many minds, quickly getting a million YouTube hits. He didn’t think it was that impressive: check out what he’s working on now.
Before we look at the newer video, here’s the one that caused all the fuss. You’ll probably need to watch it a few times to take it all in. I did.
Commenters about Kreylos’s postings (he’s a researcher from the Geology department, University of California, Davis, working at IDAV, the Institute for Data Analysis and Visualisation) want him to try the same thing with two connected Kinects. Not a priority, he says (although someone has given him a second one, so he’s going to try it anyway).
No, he’s got some other ideas. His latest involves combining the Kinect, the Wii and nanotechnology.
The result is at least as stunning as the first video. And it looks like he’s hardly begun exploring the possibilities.
He says he’s just done an interview with the New York Times, hence the formal shirt. I wonder if they’ll ask him about his venture into ballet (combined with motion capture). Here’s a video of that.
If, like me you were fascinated by that 3d nanotech structure that he was creating (using the Nanotech Construction Kit, a piece of software he wrote himself) here’s a video of him finishing the job. This time, he’s doing it without a Kinect or a Wii (he’s also got another fascinating video on his work with the Wii), and believe it or not, it looks even more impressive (more detailed imagery).
It really can blow one’s mind. What came to my head straight away – having this kind of solutions at school. How many more kids would be fascinated with subjects like chemistry or physics if they had a chance to play with such visualisations?
I’m pretty sure I would be more into those subjects back in my school days if I had a chance to try it out.
I’m not really into all these high tech stuff but I was very fascinated with the 3D nanotech structure that Oliver Kreylos made.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Kreylos can share this with the younger generation? Maybe, teach these to High School and College students. We need brilliant people like him to share his knowledge with today’s youth.
Exactly what came to my mind Grace. If there only was a chance for youths to try it on their own, would be brilliant. Would love to see some natural born talents in chemistry and alike sectors be dragged into those sciences, thanks to classes using such devices and solutions like the ones presented by Oliver Kreylos.
It’s really difficult for me to concieve what environment is Kreylos standing in the second video though he gives a little bit of description in start of video. Can anybody explain it in layman’s terms?
I’m literally having flashes of the film Minority Report while watching the second video. And the third video is like watching a 3D film production shooting sans the spandex outfits actors or stunt persons wear with all the body structure points for their 3D restructuring. Quite impressive, this guy is. His second video featuring the nanotech construction kit is also promising, a technology that should be boundless in terms of the various fields it can be quite useful such as biotechnology and theoretical physics even. Astounding.
The guy has done amazing job. The article below explains his work in more detail:
http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/11/kinect-modified-to-capture-true-3d-video/
However, one sentence catched my attention, “Kreylos used an unauthorized Open Source driver for the Kinect, but Microsoft should really considering hiring Kreylos rather than suing him”. It is a good advice for Microsoft
Lately I came across an information about a 2 day event in the University of Oxford, organised by the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, themed: ‘Visualisation in the age of computerisation’. Wonder if Oliver Kreylos ideas will be highlighted during the speeches there. Personally think they should, fit perfectly into the subject.
More on the event here:
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/centres/insis/news/Pages/visualisation.aspx
They might need someone to highlight his work, or if Kreylos himself contacts the event organizers!
Here is another interesting post about Kreylos work:
http://www.gaj-it.com/27228/hacker-turns-kinect-into-3d-video-camera/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gaj-it+%28Gaj-It.com+-+UK+Gadget+News%2C+Reviews+and+Shopping+Blog%21%21%29
“But this super hacker is not done yet. Kreylos’ next project, he says, will be to incorporate real and computer-generated imagery as a single feed, creating an augmented reality environment.Cool. ”
Let’s see what comes next.
Love this guy’s fresh look and attitude in solving problems he finds. Hope for more great stuff from him in the future.
Sure! and critics are also there to analyze his claims.
What Kreylos has done is really game-changing, but I wonder how Microsoft is reacting to hackers like Kreylos taking liberties with Kinect’s controller?
Interestingly, Microsoft is starting to watch developments regarding hacks on the Kinect.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2013491772_kinect22.html?syndication=rss
“Davidson said Microsoft now had no concerns about the Kinect-hacking fan club, but said the company would be monitoring developments.”
Even if it is hacking, with these results, I’m backing it up.
And it seems MS is interested in the results as much as we are, to see the possibilities their engineers didn’t realize are there.
And the great thing is Kreylos is not alone in this, a lot of ‘hackers’ are getting into the game as well.
Microsoft’s reaction on Krelos work is not yet in the news but you can guess how Microsoft would react from how they reacted to Hector Martin’s work:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20101115/bs_nf/76078
“After Martin’s announcement, Microsoft issued a statement that it “does not condone the modification of its products,” and that “numerous hardware and software safeguards” are intended to reduce the chances of “product tampering.”
And my most favorite information on the same article is that prototypes involving Kinect used open source code!
“Most, if not all, of the prototypes were built using the open-source code released as a result of the contest sponsored by Fried and Torrone, which was won by Hector Martin, a 20-year-old engineering student in Spain.”
Talk about freeware as a crucial part of developing this great technology.
Mind blowing demos – if Microsoft had any sense they should make this guy their head of innovation and turn Kinect into an Apple beater by exploiting the full potential of the device in engineering, science and the arts.
Well done MS – now lets get this party started!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12531127