[ANSWERED] Complete noob. Will Isadora run a kinect with this Mac Mini for audio generation?

Charles Bata

Hi,

New Here. Be kind.

I'm looking to create an installation that uses movement detection from a Kinect to playback sounds from a library. I've got an iMac and a couple of laptops, but these are unsuitable for leaving unattended at the venue concerned.

So I had a look at some Mac Minis, and found this cheap one. https://www.jigsaw24.com/produ... It seems to match the minimum specs for Isadora.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Juriaan

What kind of model of kinect are we talking about ? Kinects need quite some data, so you need the port that can handle the traffic on your Mac Mini to do so.

dbini

I've used older, lower spec Mac Minis with Kinect and Isadora. The Kinect2 (square one) needs USB3, whereas the Kinect1 (360) only needs USB2. I would suggest that the Mac you linked would be fine for the installation. How are you planning to get your data from the Kinect into Isadora? In the near future, Kinect1 will be directly supported within Isadora, but Kinect2 will need some other software to do the tracking (people usually use NIMate or Processing - I have found NIMate is easy to use, but is quite power-hungry and my Mac has to work quite hard when using it.)

Charles Bata

Interesting. Thanks.
I bought a Kinect 360 a couple of years ago because of the lower data flow, but never got around to using it!

So Isadora 3 will be able to access it directly? That's great news. But will mean that all those on eBay will get bought up. Better get in there. How soon is 'near future'? My install will be in February.

Well, I have a conundrum. Do I use a cheap old Mac Mini with Isadora 2, or bite the bullet and get something that will run Isadora 3? What were your 'older, lower spec Mac Minis'? How do they compare with what I posted? And what did you do about running it without a monitor?

dbini

@charles-bata

i have: Apple Mac Mini 2014 i5-4260U 4GB Ram and a Mid 2010 A1347 Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz upgraded to 8Gb RAM. both have run fine with Kinect. i'm not sure when the plugin will be released - its still in testing - but i think its almost ready, so i would estimate you would get it in weeks rather than months. you would need Isadora3 to run it, but as long as your OSX is High Sierra or newer, that should be fine.

and i used a monitor.

Charles Bata

Thanks. That's very encouraging. I think I'll develop this on a laptop, and then decide what I actually buy closer to the date.

I'll be asking other questions in other threads.

Woland

@dbini said:

but i think its almost ready, so i would estimate you would get it in weeks rather than months.

We very much appreciate you being helpful and answering questions here, but as outlined in the beta-testing contract, we ask that you please not discuss the timeframe of anything beta-related outside of the private beta forum. TroikaTronix will make an official announcement about the Body Tracking plugins when we are ready to do so. No harm done, but if for some unforeseen reason we end up not meeting the timeframe you gave Charles, then he would be in a spot of trouble if for some reason we didn't release the plugins when you said we would.

@Charles-Bata

If you create a support ticket I can add you to the Beta Silver Group so you can get access to the plugins immediately. (There's no fee or anything, I just need some information from you and to have you sign an agreement.)