E3 2009: Microsoft unveils motion-sensing camera

I'm gonna guess this thing emits a high intensity infra red light, much like commercial security cameras do to let them see in the dark. The camera itself will likely use the infra red to detect range, as closer objects would be lit brighter than those further away, and there would be a maximum distance of around 3m, perfect for the living room.

Interesting concept, hopefully it works as well as it did in the demos. With the exception of the avatar leg ****-up, what I was wondering, was that if the avatars will copy your movements, what happens if you are sitting down? Will the Avatar also sit?

The fact that the bar is able to show a colour image at the same time as motion detecting, might mean it uses two cameras, one as a motion sensor for the infra red, and the other for receiving the visual spectrum.

The thing doesn't even have a name yet, and you'd only need one bar for however many players at a single console as it works based off movement with no player held apparatus, so wherever you heard that is wrong.

I would estimate the price to be between $100-200 for the bar though based on how I assume they have made it work.

The eyetoy didn't have the same depth perception this would have to have, it was just receiving a 2D colour image from its camera.

To work as it was shown, the camera would need depth perception, which would as I said earlier, work by projecting a high intensity infra red light onto the players and the room, then using one camera to receive the infra red image in black and white, white would be things closest to the light, black would be things furthest from the light.

I'll do a render to show you what I mean.


So this is a colour image, like what the eyetoy sees, and what one of the cameras in microsoft's new bar will receive.


Now by using infra red light, and an infra red camera, depth will be visible to the camera as seen above. So it will be able to track your movement, separate from the background.

So as you know, infra-red is a light not visible to the human eye, it works the same way, can reflect, refract etc, and has a certain falloff or range, depending on the intensity of the light used.

The closer an object is to the infra red camera and lights, the whiter it will appear to the camera, if say the maximum range of the light is 3m, then anything at or beyond this range will appear black.

Just a thought, but instead of using the infra red...

Perhaps the bar itself holds two cameras, one at either end, the console them takes both camera feeds and combines them into a stereoscopic view, able to calculate depth the same way as the human eyes do.

Or a combination of both, using the infra red light, an infra red camera on one side, and a colour camera on the other side, then using the resultant feeds to work out an accurate depth based off the light and stereo vision.