Unfortunate News from Orbbec: No Mac Support [UPDATE: may still be possible to use Orbbec]

mark

Dear All,

Now that Isadora 3 is out the door, I have two main tasks: fixing bugs that are popping up that we missed, and giving you the depth camera plugins we had to delay so we could actually get the program out the door.

I was about to start on the Orbbec plugin, because I had already done most of the code. Only to find out that Orbbec had removed all Macintosh Software Development Kit support from their website! I reached out to my contact there immediately about this, he confirmed the company had "elected to refocus efforts" on Windows, Android, and Linux.

If we cannnot offer cross-platform support for their camera, then I am not inclined to make plugins for the Orbbec line. Do you all agree with this? Or is having this option on Windows only meaningful?

If it was important to you to have a camera similar to the Kinect that is in production, then please take a moment to express your disappointment with this decision, please send an email to info@orbbec3d.com. Maybe they will see there is some market for Mac support and reconsider.

Regardless of the above, we will continue with our plans to offer Kinect 1, Kinect 2 and Intel Realsense cameras.

Best Wishes,
Mark

bonemap

@mark

@!!## it! I already invested in two of their sensors... now I feel like a real idiot... where is that complaints page... I am pissed.

Woland

@bonemap said:

where is that complaints page... I am pissed.

It is listed above: https://orbbec3d.com/contact/

mark

@bonemap

I'm just as upset as you about this. I was caught totally off guard by this news.

There may still be a way with OpenNI -- I'm unclear (from his message) whether that might still work. But the above was the official position about Mac support. I have now specifically asked them if there is no route whatsoever that I can simply get a depth map image from the camera on MacOS. Let's see what he says.

The real bummer is that previous SDK's have "time-bombs" in them that prevent them from working past a certain date. So this means that even if I had stuff working, it won't work anymore because these libraries have passed their expiration date. This also was something I did not know about.

Please do express your upset with them. The contact page link is in my original post above.

Best Wishes,
Mark

bonemap

@mark

Well I went to the linked page straight away to file a request to apply for a refund on the two sensors I purchased... and make a gesture towards Mac development... but their online contact form returned a failure message when submitted. I copied the message into an email client... I may be hopeful of a response...

Skulpture

Ah that sucks!

mark

@bonemap said:

Well I went to the linked page straight away to file a request to apply for a refund on the two sensors I purchased.

It failed for me too.

So, everyone, if you want to say something to Orbbec, use this address: info@orbbec3d.com. I've edited the first post to show that email instead of their non-working contact form.

Best Wishes,
Mark

bonemap

@skulpture said:

Ah that sucks!

I think I need some empathy. I have had a bad day with US providers starting this morning with GoPro support telling me that an order for over $1k of their gear has been disrupted and hasn’t shipped for over five days on what was a 2 day delivery. Not only that their website offered free shipping, but they charged me for it anyway. I still have no idea when the GoPro order will arrive. And now this news about the Orbbec gear. If I didn’t have so many projects about to fire I would sign out for a while.

Woland

@bonemap said:

I think I need some empathy. I have had a bad day with US providers starting this morning with GoPro support telling me that an order for over $1k of their gear has been disrupted and hasn’t shipped for over five days on what was a 2 day delivery. Not only that their website offered free shipping, but they charged me for it anyway. I still have no idea when the GoPro order will arrive. And now this news about the Orbbec gear. If I didn’t have so many projects about to fire I would sign out for a while.

barneybroomer

I asked osx for my project

Hello Barney,

Thank you for your email. My name is Christopher Baker, I am an Account Manager at Orbbec 3D. I can assist you with your inquiry.

Our SDK/software unfortunately is not compatible with Mac OSX. We support Windows, Linux, and Android.

Woland

@barneybroomer said:

Our SDK/software unfortunately is not compatible with Mac OSX. We support Windows, Linux, and Android.

bonemap

Dear Orbbecc,

I have invested in two Orbbecc cameras specifically to work with projects on Mac OS. Now I get a message from my developer indicating that Mac OS will no longer be supported by Orbbecc. I have not even had a chance to get the sensors out of their box.

Can I return them for a full refund?

According to our policy, any return or exchange received after 30 days will not be approved as the product is no longer eligible for return or exchange.

-eom

Shameless!

Michel

@mark

The answer from Orbbec to my email:

I would like to first off, apologize for any inconvenience and trouble this may have caused you.

The reason we stopped supporting OS X is because we are a hardware manufacturer, and not a software company. So we can only devote what resources we have to support the most popular development platforms. Unfortunately as much as we would like to, we cannot support all of them. In a perfect world where we have all of the necessary resources and employees, we would do so.

For markets we are targeting, Windows and Linux are the dominant platforms. And as thus, we chose to end support for OS X in our recent SDK releases.

Regarding the time stamps, this only applies to the trial license for the body tracking library inside the SDK. The rest of the SDK does not have a timed license. The trial license will be extended when we update the SDK every 3 months. And we offer a commercial license for a one time fee if this is needed by the user.

We greatly appreciate your business as a customer and hope you understand the situation.

bonemap

@michel said:

In a perfect world where we have all of the necessary resources and employees

We are the victims of a niche and fickle market!

mark

@michel said:

Regarding the time stamps, this only applies to the trial license for the body tracking library inside the SDK. The rest of the SDK does not have a timed license. The trial license will be extended when we update the SDK every 3 months. And we offer a commercial license for a one time fee if this is needed by the user.

That's crucial (and good) news. I went to the SDK I have today and recompiled everything, and it does in fact still work in terms of feeding me the depth map image. So it may still be possible to work with Astra. I am still investigating what this means.

Best Wishes,
Mark

bonemap

@mark said:

it may still be possible to work with Astra

Thanks for the advice - I look forward to your update!

bonemap

@bonemap

bonemap

@mark

I would advocate that you keep the Orbec cameras in the mix even if they become PC only option.

Best wishes

Russell

DusX

@bonemap

I think you should keep your orbbecs at the ready ☺