Depth Sensors Comparison

Depth Sensors Support

iPi Recorder supports the following depth sensors:

• Modern depth sensors:
  • MS Kinect 2 (XBOX One Kinect sensor plus Kinect Adapter for Windows)
  • Orbbec Astra (PRO)
  • Intel RealSense D435 and D415
  • ASUS Xtion 2

Kinect 2 (Kinect for XBOX One)

Orbbec Astra (PRO)

Intel RealSense D415 and D435

ASUS Xtion 2

• First generation depth sensors:
  • MS Kinect v1 (Kinect for Windows sensor or [1] sensor plus adapter)
  • ASUS Xtion and ASUS Xtion Live devices (and also PRO modifications for developers)
  • PrimeSense Carmine 1.08

Microsoft Kinect for Windows

ASUS Xtion Live

ASUS Xtion

PrimeSense Carmine 1.08

First generation depth sensors are almost outdated but still usable. For example, Orbbec Astra (PRO) has totally the same depth quality and resolution as these outdated sensors. For this reason you can use for example MS Kinect v1 sensor(s) and get exactly the same results as with Orbbec Astra sensor(s). If needed you can find more information about these sensors in documentation for previous version of iPi Motion Capture.

As to modern depth sensors, MS Kinect 2 (Kinect for XBOX One) sensor remains the best choice for full body motion capture. The quality and accuracy of depth map from MS Kinect 2 are the best on the market.

Important! But only single MS Kinect 2 (Kinect for XBOX One) sensor can be connected to one PC due to limitation in Microsoft Kinect SDK 2. Each MS Kinect 2 (Kinect for XBOX One) sensor can be connected to a separate computer, Distributed Recording feature must be used.

Brief Comparison of Depth Sensors

Sensor	Pros	Cons
Kinect 2 (Kinect for XBOX One)	Higher resolution of depth and RGB video Lower noise, better quality of point cloud Higher overall tracking quality can be expected Much better feet tracking Low mutual sensors interference More tolerant to lighting conditions Has mount for tripod	Doesn't like shinning fabric Requires USB 3.0 controller and external power supply Only single sensor on one PC is supported by Microsoft Kinect SDK 2 Does not work on Windows 7 (requires Windows 8 and higher)
First-generation Depth Sensors	Ensures tracking quality comparable with Kinect 2, but hardware requirements are not so strong Requires USB 2.0 controller Multiple sensors can be plugged to single computer Works on Windows 7 and higher	Lower resolution Lower accuracy Less tolerant to lighting conditions Higher mutual interference of sensors leads to more noise in case of using several sensors No mount for tripod
Orbbec Astra (PRO)	See above (as first-generation depth sensors)	See above (as first-generation depth sensors) Plus: Higher price than price of first-gen sensors Astra has mount for tripod but M6 instead of 1/4″

Drivers

To use the sensors, you may need to download and install device drivers and software libraries for ASUS Xtion / ASUS Xtion Live / PrimeSense Carmine.

• 64-bit OS:
  • http://files.ipisoft.com/3dparty/openni-win64-1.5.4.0-dev.msi
  • http://files.ipisoft.com/3dparty/sensor-win64-5.1.2.1-redist.msi
• 32-bit OS:
  • http://files.ipisoft.com/3dparty/openni-win32-1.5.4.0-dev.msi
  • http://files.ipisoft.com/3dparty/sensor-win32-5.1.2.1-redist.msi