Hasta La Gadget!

Kinect Fusion is a project that utilizes the Kinect to create three-dimensional models, and was showcased at Microsoft’s BUILD 2012 last week. Per an announcement earlier today, the company will be implementing this tool into the Kinect for Windows SDK. No word on when exactly we can expect to see it, however.

Kinect Fusion works by using Kinect sensors to scan 3D objects and environments in real-time. When the sensors are passed in front of an object or environment, or when an object is moved in front of the scanners, the object is recreated in 3D. According to the announcement over on at MSDN, this allows for the capture of environmental or object information in a way that isn’t viewable from any one perspective.

Kinect Fusion pieces together thousands of frames, and can render and update new models nearly instantly. Some of the proposed uses for the Kinect are in 3D printing, body scanning, gaming, and industrial design, with an industrial version of the Fusion sensor costing somewhere in the ballpark of $50,000. The Kinect Fusion can create models of entire rooms in addition to individual objects.

It might be a bit before we see the Kinect Fusion incorporated with Kinect for Windows, however. The SDK was updated last month, and brought with it a bunch of new features, including, according to Tech Crunch, the ability to access depth data beyond 13-feet, which is necessary for Fusion. A Kinect sensor for the SDK can be picked up for $249.

[via Tech Crunch]

Kinect Fusion headed to Kinect for Windows SDK is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Earlier this year we happened upon a group that had a completely wild idea for protective skins for smart devices of all kinds: customizable 3D graphics that literally change the way you feel your day-to-day technology. Now Nexgen Skins is ready to launch for real, bringing on a “spare no cost” mentality for the next generation of gadget users. The folks at Nexgen Skins are now happy to announce that they’re officially ready to take orders and make custom-designed 3D skins for a massive amount of devices: everything from your MacBook to your HTC smartphone and back out to your massive desktop machine.

At the moment, Nexgen Skins is working with mostly Apple products outside of the smartphone world, this including iMac, Thunderbolt displays, and even the Apple TrackPad. They are however bringing on skins for the Barnes & Noble NOOK, Amazon Kindle, Samsung tablets, and the iButton by Daulphinz too! Inside the smartphone universe, all bets are off – they’re even making skins for Palm devices.

These skins are able to provide you with a tactile feel to your devices not available in any other protective solution, and aid in shock absorption with thicker material than most other “skin” protective groups – especially if you get one of the really thick designs. You can customize your order or you can select from one of the many pre-made designs they’ve got ready in the lab. Utterly odd they are: Gothic Heiress, Alligator, La Blue Girl, as well as some really fine looking bits like Carbon Fibre and Hardwood.

Have a peek at our talk with Nexgen from CTIA earlier this year:

You can pick your own skin up right this minute over at Nexgen Skins and/or create your own customized skin with their lovely customizer. If you’ve got a device they don’t have, be sure to let them know as well, and get pumped up about the possibility of putting a giant 3D gopher face on the back of your Android device. It’s going to be fabulous!

Nexgen Skins officially launches with custom 3D coverings for smart devices is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sony might have beaten LG to the punch in the 84-inch 4K TV wars with its XBR-84X900 pre-orders, but you’ve got to be on the field to win — and the first to show up for battle is LG’s 84LM9600, which is officially on sale and in stores as of today. Anyone who can find a retailer carrying the Ultra High-Definition LCD can drop $19,999 to get what will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of the room, even if there’s hardly any content to fully exploit those six million extra pixels. LG does have a $5,000 price advantage over the Sony 4K set shipping next month, although we won’t kid ourselves here. Anyone who can see themselves spending five digits on bleeding-edge TV technology is either wealthy enough not to mind or busy explaining to the family why home refinancing is totally worth it.

Continue reading LG’s 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG

LG’s 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp may look like it’s in trouble, but that’s not stopping it bringing new displays to the market, including today’s announcement of the AQUOS Quattron 3D XL TV line. Behind the mouthful of acronyms, these LED-backlit LCD panels are the first to feature Sharp’s Moth-Eye technology, designed to reduce glare and pump out bright colors, as well as a deep black. The company’s ‘four primary color’ tech is partly responsible for the rich output, which squeezes a yellow sub-pixel in with the standard R, G and B. All the panels run at 1,920 x 1,080, as you’d expect, sport a 10 million to 1 contrast ratio and use five speakers to deliver audio. Prices aren’t fixed, but the 46-, 52- and 80-inch models will be released in Japan on December 15th, while the 60- and 70-inch variants will come slightly earlier, on November 30th. You’re going to have to be quick on launch day, though — only 10,000 units are expected to be available in the first month.

Filed under: Displays, HD

Sharp announces first TVs with Moth-Eye technology: the AQUOS XL series originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 04:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve heard me talk frequently about how excited I am about 3D printing technology, but this tech is still limited in that you need to know about 3D modeling to recreate objects. But with the advent of 3D scanners, you can even skip that step, and just scan in the objects you’d like to replicate.

The GO!SCAN 3D is a handheld 3D object scanner, which allows you to quickly and easily grab 3D images of real-world objects, and convert them into digital 3D models. These models can then be used for everything from CGI effects to video games, to serving as models for 3D printing. It uses a bright white LED as its light source, and offers a resolution of .500 mm, with an accuracy of 0.1mm. It’s scanning area can be as large as 15″ x 15″, and it can capture as many as 550,000 measurements every second – which its maker claims is about 10 times faster than standard 3D scanners.

This lightweight (2.4 pound) scanner caputures objects with a simple point-and-shoot method – all you have to do is aim the scanner at the object, and move it back and forth until it has all of the surfaces. You can even capture objects by moving them around, since the scanner doesn’t require a rigid setup like other 3D scanners. Perhaps the best way to see how cool the GO!SCAN really can be is to see it in action:

Wow. Pretty impressive, no? I so want one of these now. Creaform, the company behind GO!SCAN 3D doesn’t list pricing on its website, but I’m betting that the device isn’t cheap. If you’re interested in purchasing one, you can request more information here.

[via Boing Boing]