Minecraft maestro builds worlds with Kinect hack

A compatibility software engineer has managed to port an image taken from Kinect into the PC world-building game Minecraft.

Nathan Viniconis explained on his personal blog how developers could utilise depth camera on Kinect and repurpose the data as a full 3D object within Minecraft’s block-built environments.

Viniconis’s day job has no doubt helped the developer achieve this standout feat. He currently works for DataViz, a company specialising in software compatibility across a variety of platforms including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Java, Linux, Windows and Macintosh.

He detailed on his blog a step-by-step process for others to achieve the Minecraft-Kinect effect.

The resulting images represent a new breakthrough in the ongoing Kinect-hack scene that has made rapid progress in the sprit of discovery and one-upmanship.

Developers have so far used Microsoft’s motion-sensing controller to build an eclectic range of applications, from augmented reality devices, to a humanoid robot control system, to a virtual mouse controller, to a Minority Report-esque photo viewer.

Microsoft and Rare have both declined to comment on Kinect hacks when approached by Develop.

Many more developments can be found here.