Depth Camera Mesh
Method #
This node generates a mesh based on Kinect camera data from a Depth Camera Source connected via the “Colour Image Node” input. If no source is connected, this node is ineffective.
The mesh is based on a subdivided plane of quads, displaced by the depth values from the Kinect and projected back from the camera. Polygons with depths that fall outside the clip planes set on the Kinect Source node are clipped out. The resolution of the generated mesh may be reduced using the Mesh Resolution Scale parameter.
The generated mesh may be processed by Deformer nodes, or used as an input to other nodes such as the Particle Mesh Emitter or the Field 3D Object Emitter.
The mesh may be rendered as transparent or opaque polygons, lines or points - or all three.
You will need to activate the Kinect camera you want to use by going to Devices > VideoIn/Camera/Kinect Settings and enabling it. Otherwise, it will not be initialized by Notch. This is by design, so Notch does not lock the device from the use by other software when you are not actively using it in Notch.
This node outputs the normal transformation and translation values, but it also outputs geometry which can be modified with Deformer nodes, or used as a mesh sources for nodes which accept mesh connections, such as the Field 3D Object Emitter or the Procedural 3D Object.
Parameters
TBC
Parameter Details Lines Visible Control whether lines are rendered to the scene from the geometry.
Lines Alpha Change the alpha transparency value of the lines, making them appear see-through.
Colour Change the colour value of the lines.
Use Vertex Colours Colour lines based on the vertex colours of the geometry.
Thick Lines Allow the lines to rendered with thickness, for line effects which can be accurately anti-aliased.
Hide Back Face Lines Hide the lines generated from polygon faces facing away from the camera, where only the back faces of geometry can be seen.
Lock Width Lock the line width to be a consistent width regardless of distance from the camera. Only functions with Thick Lines enabled.
Thick Line Width Control the thickness of all the lines. Only functions with Thick Lines enabled.
Show Silhouette Lines Draws lines along the edges of the object relative to the camera.
Show Normal Difference Lines Draw a line along the edges of the mesh, depending on the angle difference between their mutual faces.
Show Unshared Lines Draw lines along all edges of the shape.
Show Other Lines Show all the lines for each edge of the mesh.
Unshared Lines Weight Control the strength of the unshared lines.
Silhouette Lines Weight Control the strength of the silhouette lines.
Normal Difference Lines Weight Control the strength of the lines generated along the normal angles.
Other Lines Weight Control the strength of the lines for each edge in the mesh.
Line Normal Difference Angle Change the threshold angle between two face normals that will generate a line along their common edge. Only functions with Show Normal Lines enabled.
Line Normal Fade Sharpness How much the drawn normal lines will fade away the closer the edge angle is to the Line Normal Difference Angle.
Line Depth Bias Exaggerate the width of the lines based on the distance to the camera. not functional with Lock Width enabled.
Line Silhouette Fade Sharpness How much the drawn silhouette lines will fade away based on the size of the edge angle to the camera.
These properties control the 3D transforms of the node. Transforms will generally be inherited by child nodes, although they can be ignored through the Inherit Transform Channels attributes.
Parameter Details Position X Move along the local x-axis.
Position Y Move along the local y-axis.
Position Z Move along the local z-axis.
Rotation Heading Rotate around the local y-axis.
Rotation Pitch Rotate around the local x-axis.
Rotation Bank Rotate around the local z-axis.
Scale X Scale along the local x-axis.
Scale Y Scale along the local y-axis.
Scale Z Scale along the local z-axis.
Control the inheritance of the transforms from the parent.
Parameter Details Position Toggle inheritance of the Position from the parent.
Rotation Toggle inheritance of the Rotation from the parent.
Scale Toggle inheritance of the Scale from the parent.
World Position Only Inherit the world position from the parent only, rotation and scale will be ignored. Overrides above properties.
Inherit Time Toggle inheritance of time from the parent.
These properties control the core behaviours of the node.
Parameter Details Point Texture Choose an image texture to be placed at the position of each tracked point.
Visible Control whether the node is visible or not to the scene.
Seen By Rays Allow the mesh to be seen by the raytracer. When set to 0, the mesh will still render in camera but will be ignored by any raytracing nodes.
Max Cameras Active Maximum number of Kinect camera’s active
Mesh Resolution Scale Scales the resolution of the generated mesh - defines the number of pixels in the source image per polygon in the mesh.
Pivot Distance How far the mesh is generated from the pivot.
Max Edge Length Max distance between two neighbouring points in the depth image that will be joined together into a polygon.
Vertex Randomisation How much randomness is added to the positions of each vertex.
Line Alpha Controls the alpha transparency value for rendering the edges of the mesh as lines. If this is set to 0 the lines will not be rendered.
Point Alpha Controls the alpha transparency value for rendering the vertices of the mesh as points. If this is set to 0 the points will not be rendered.
Use Depth From Luminance (Fake Depth) Depth values may be taken from an RGB image rather than depth values calculated by the Kinect.
Point Size The size of the rendered points.
Filter Depths Smooths the Kinect Depths to try to remove noise - generally only suitable for Kinect v1.
Flatten Depth Depth Values are ignored and the mesh is flattened.
Smoothing Iterations Iteratively smoothes the meshes vertices by the number of levels specified, averaging out all the vertices in the mesh and producing a smoother result. Smoothing is done before rendering. High values can impact performance greatly, and may not be temporally stable if the underlying mesh changes.
Invert Mask Enabled Inverts the clipping area.
Flat Shading Toggle flat shading on or off.
Render Z Only When enabled, the 3D object is only rendered to the depth buffer in the main camera render. No colour data is rendered.
Render To Shadows Only Only renders shadows, and not the mesh itself.
Constant Colour Replace the colour image with a solid colour.
Constant Colour Amount How much the constant colour is blended over the colour image values.
Sort Key Changes the render order of the Kinect Mesh node against other transparent objects in the scene.
Per Object Composite Alpha Overwrites the alpha channel beneath the object, giving simple effect of transparency. Best used when the mesh won’t overlap with other objects, as other meshes will not be seen through the mesh.
Preview the objects material in the viewport.
These properties control how the surface of the generated mesh reacts to light in the scene. See Materials for a breakdown of all these properties individually.
Inputs
TBC
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Lines Visible | Control whether lines are rendered to the scene from the geometry. |
| Lines Alpha | Change the alpha transparency value of the lines, making them appear see-through. |
| Colour | Change the colour value of the lines. |
| Use Vertex Colours | Colour lines based on the vertex colours of the geometry. |
| Thick Lines | Allow the lines to rendered with thickness, for line effects which can be accurately anti-aliased. |
| Hide Back Face Lines | Hide the lines generated from polygon faces facing away from the camera, where only the back faces of geometry can be seen. |
| Lock Width | Lock the line width to be a consistent width regardless of distance from the camera. Only functions with Thick Lines enabled. |
| Thick Line Width | Control the thickness of all the lines. Only functions with Thick Lines enabled. |
| Show Silhouette Lines | Draws lines along the edges of the object relative to the camera. |
| Show Normal Difference Lines | Draw a line along the edges of the mesh, depending on the angle difference between their mutual faces. |
| Show Unshared Lines | Draw lines along all edges of the shape. |
| Show Other Lines | Show all the lines for each edge of the mesh. |
| Unshared Lines Weight | Control the strength of the unshared lines. |
| Silhouette Lines Weight | Control the strength of the silhouette lines. |
| Normal Difference Lines Weight | Control the strength of the lines generated along the normal angles. |
| Other Lines Weight | Control the strength of the lines for each edge in the mesh. |
| Line Normal Difference Angle | Change the threshold angle between two face normals that will generate a line along their common edge. Only functions with Show Normal Lines enabled. |
| Line Normal Fade Sharpness | How much the drawn normal lines will fade away the closer the edge angle is to the Line Normal Difference Angle. |
| Line Depth Bias | Exaggerate the width of the lines based on the distance to the camera. not functional with Lock Width enabled. |
| Line Silhouette Fade Sharpness | How much the drawn silhouette lines will fade away based on the size of the edge angle to the camera. |
These properties control the 3D transforms of the node. Transforms will generally be inherited by child nodes, although they can be ignored through the Inherit Transform Channels attributes.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Position X | Move along the local x-axis. |
| Position Y | Move along the local y-axis. |
| Position Z | Move along the local z-axis. |
| Rotation Heading | Rotate around the local y-axis. |
| Rotation Pitch | Rotate around the local x-axis. |
| Rotation Bank | Rotate around the local z-axis. |
| Scale X | Scale along the local x-axis. |
| Scale Y | Scale along the local y-axis. |
| Scale Z | Scale along the local z-axis. |
Control the inheritance of the transforms from the parent.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Position | Toggle inheritance of the Position from the parent. |
| Rotation | Toggle inheritance of the Rotation from the parent. |
| Scale | Toggle inheritance of the Scale from the parent. |
| World Position Only | Inherit the world position from the parent only, rotation and scale will be ignored. Overrides above properties. |
| Inherit Time | Toggle inheritance of time from the parent. |
These properties control the core behaviours of the node.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Point Texture | Choose an image texture to be placed at the position of each tracked point. |
| Visible | Control whether the node is visible or not to the scene. |
| Seen By Rays | Allow the mesh to be seen by the raytracer. When set to 0, the mesh will still render in camera but will be ignored by any raytracing nodes. |
| Max Cameras Active | Maximum number of Kinect camera’s active |
| Mesh Resolution Scale | Scales the resolution of the generated mesh - defines the number of pixels in the source image per polygon in the mesh. |
| Pivot Distance | How far the mesh is generated from the pivot. |
| Max Edge Length | Max distance between two neighbouring points in the depth image that will be joined together into a polygon. |
| Vertex Randomisation | How much randomness is added to the positions of each vertex. |
| Line Alpha | Controls the alpha transparency value for rendering the edges of the mesh as lines. If this is set to 0 the lines will not be rendered. |
| Point Alpha | Controls the alpha transparency value for rendering the vertices of the mesh as points. If this is set to 0 the points will not be rendered. |
| Use Depth From Luminance (Fake Depth) | Depth values may be taken from an RGB image rather than depth values calculated by the Kinect. |
| Point Size | The size of the rendered points. |
| Filter Depths | Smooths the Kinect Depths to try to remove noise - generally only suitable for Kinect v1. |
| Flatten Depth | Depth Values are ignored and the mesh is flattened. |
| Smoothing Iterations | Iteratively smoothes the meshes vertices by the number of levels specified, averaging out all the vertices in the mesh and producing a smoother result. Smoothing is done before rendering. High values can impact performance greatly, and may not be temporally stable if the underlying mesh changes. |
| Invert Mask Enabled | Inverts the clipping area. |
| Flat Shading | Toggle flat shading on or off. |
| Render Z Only | When enabled, the 3D object is only rendered to the depth buffer in the main camera render. No colour data is rendered. |
| Render To Shadows Only | Only renders shadows, and not the mesh itself. |
| Constant Colour | Replace the colour image with a solid colour. |
| Constant Colour Amount | How much the constant colour is blended over the colour image values. |
| Sort Key | Changes the render order of the Kinect Mesh node against other transparent objects in the scene. |
| Per Object Composite Alpha | Overwrites the alpha channel beneath the object, giving simple effect of transparency. Best used when the mesh won’t overlap with other objects, as other meshes will not be seen through the mesh. |
Preview the objects material in the viewport.
These properties control how the surface of the generated mesh reacts to light in the scene. See Materials for a breakdown of all these properties individually.
| Name | Description | Typical Input |
|---|---|---|
| Colour Image Node | Defines the Kinect source for the mesh. If a Kinect Source is used, both colour and depth data will be taken from the same node. Otherwise only colour data is taken. | Depth Camera Source |
| Mask Image Node | Use a mask image to control which regions are used by the mesh, based on the luminance of the image. | Loader |
| Depth Image Node | Use an image to override the depth input from the Kinect Source node. If the connected node is a Kinect source the depth channel will be taken; otherwise the luminance of the colour channel is used as depth data. | Loader |
| Project Image Nodes | Projects images onto the Kinect mesh to colour it. | Loader |
| Material | Override the default material. | Materials |
| Transform Modifiers | Apply the transforms of another node to this node. | Null |
| Target Node | Modifiy the rotations of the node to always direct the z axis towards the input. | Null |
| Local Transform Override | Apply the transforms of another node to this node, relative to its parent. | Null |