Leap Motion Controller Review

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I thought you guys might get a kick out of this Leap Motion Controller review posted at Legit Reviews today.

The Leap Motion Controller brings affordable gesture control to the PC and gives developers a tool to bring new innovations to the PC industry. In our limited time with the Leap Motion Controller we quickly found out that it is very app limited due to there being less than 60 apps available at the time of launch. Leap Motion gave thousands of these devices to app developers and hoped they would develop some killer software.
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Looks neat. If they're sold in Canada I'll buy one. I hook my PC up to my projector and I could see this being useful. Throw it on the coffee table in front of me and pretend to be in Minority Report.
 
a guy at work pre-ordered one last year and still hasnt got it. im waiting for him to bring it in so we can play with it. I dont think it should be wireless because then ill just have to buy more friggin batteries. if it can replace basic mouse functionality i really want to give it a go!
 
running a long ass cable around is not a solution, wireless power will work too
 
A wifi version is in the works. Despite the numerous delays the software is still not up to snuff. For example, if you want to emulate touchscreen functionality with the app "Touchless" the results are inconsistent.

Out of the 10,000 dev kits that were sent out with an 18 month lead time, I wonder how many developers were serious about using the Leap Motion and how many just wanted free hardware. Another criticism, Leap's interaction with their userbase is spotty at best. Yes they will answer basic questions but getting a thorough reply even through the Developer's forum is like pulling teeth.
 
as a image processing research engineer, to me is more cost effective just to use Kinect for Xbox for those gesturing, or higher accuracy there is always utilization of 2 Kinects
 
allenpan said:
as a image processing research engineer, to me is more cost effective just to use Kinect for Xbox for those gesturing, or higher accuracy there is always utilization of 2 Kinects
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Price for a new:
Leap Motion = $80
Kinect for XBox = $90+
Kinect for Windows = $150

So, how is that cheaper? Also, the LM is smaller and is reported to have much lower latency.

Didn't have much time to mess with mine last night, seemed pretty nice but I think I need to move it off my keyboard so it's level, or kludge it up so it's level when it's on the keyboard. Or I need more practice using it.
 
TroubleMagnet said:
Price for a new:
Leap Motion = $80
Kinect for XBox = $90+
Kinect for Windows = $150

So, how is that cheaper? Also, the LM is smaller and is reported to have much lower latency.

Didn't have much time to mess with mine last night, seemed pretty nice but I think I need to move it off my keyboard so it's level, or kludge it up so it's level when it's on the keyboard. Or I need more practice using it.
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I think that understand what he meant: As an owner of a Kinect which is multipurpose (IR + RGB), the Leap Motion (IR only, No RGB data) does not offer him anything else besides higher accuracy gesture controls. If he wanted higher accuracy, then he could purchase additional multipurpose Kinects which for his specific needs as an Image Processing researcher makes more sense.
 
I like Leap don't get me wrong, but after look @ review and video, it occurs to me unless it is intergraded on a keyboard, it is really an odd placement (in front of keyboard with a wire). and like many others, it make sense to use in air gestures as method of control in HTPC/lecture/Conference setting, but leap is not the solution. while webcam gesturing good but not good enough. but Kinect fixed that problem, I can mount on top of TV or projection screen and sit all the way back... instead running a long usb cable to leap, and have leap land infront of me!
 
what I mean is, the placement of leap is quite awkward, if it can read in vertical plane (mount it flush to screen) it will be ideal, but it will be require stereoscopic vision in order to determine the Z-axis, hence a range finder or 2 cameras, so again Kinect works good in this implementation
 
yes this thing will kill the batteries, but seriously cabled version just looks weird, especially if you are using for long range. by the size of this thing, i'm sure they can make one that'll fit in the area.
this is just the beginning, i would bet in about year or two this thing will work like charm and might cost less (well should cost same but $80 wouldn't be much in two year)
 
or integrate all the processing on the Leap, instead of relying on the PC, and use low power BT, Zigbee, so on to just transfer commands
 
I would love to know if you could use 3 in a multi display setup. 3 projectors screens FTW
 
Sounds amazing in theory, but I bet I'd end up just using the mouse and keyboard
 
Got mine yesterday. Besides the impressive introductory experience/tutorial, there are very few apps (only ~5 of which are free) and as previously mentioned the desktop control app is far from ideal - no way you can smoothly do the things they do on the videos. So, although it has great potential, it's more of a tech demo at the moment rather than a useful tool/gadget.
 
griff30 said:
I would love to know if you could use 3 in a multi display setup. 3 projectors screens FTW
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Yes you can link multiple units to increase the detection area but that area is only 8 cubic feet in volume. The furthest distance you can go from the sensor is ~3ft. This is on a much smaller scale than say the Kinect which can work half way across a moderately sized room (guestimating, no hard numbers).

To be honest, Leap didn't need 60+ mediocre apps at launch. They should have pulled an Apple and have one killer app which showed both potential customers and developers what is possible. License one or two free games like Fruit Ninja using that 25 million dollar superfund. The rest of their effort should have been making the API as robust and open as possible. Currently the raw data stream is not accessible through the API which means that other uses for the Leap Motion like using it as a cheap, yet highly accurate 3D scanner are not possible until the build API support. Going by how poorly they've implemented their marquee feature of gesture control over 18 months of development, I believe that it is going to be a long wait until they get their ducks in order.
 
I agree, their generic tool is lacking so you can't make it work that well with for general use or for applications that don't support it explicitly. For instance they could have used the "thumb trigger" that the skull demo uses for right mouse button clicks and greatly improved the general gesture program. I think they were too focused on trying to emulate a touch screen instead of figuring out how to make 3D gestures work well. It's a neat demo for now, hopefully the software improves soon.
 
Safety said:
Yes you can link multiple units to increase the detection area but that area is only 8 cubic feet in volume. The furthest distance you can go from the sensor is ~3ft. This is on a much smaller scale than say the Kinect which can work half way across a moderately sized room (guestimating, no hard numbers).

To be honest, Leap didn't need 60+ mediocre apps at launch. They should have pulled an Apple and have one killer app which showed both potential customers and developers what is possible. License one or two free games like Fruit Ninja using that 25 million dollar superfund. The rest of their effort should have been making the API as robust and open as possible. Currently the raw data stream is not accessible through the API which means that other uses for the Leap Motion like using it as a cheap, yet highly accurate 3D scanner are not possible until the build API support. Going by how poorly they've implemented their marquee feature of gesture control over 18 months of development, I believe that it is going to be a long wait until they get their ducks in order.
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So it's another Cuecat, or AGEIA PhysX card. Got it.

CueCat_Image001.jpg


Maybe I will just buy 3 Kinect or wait to see how good the ones are on the next Xbox.
 
Lamont Cranston said:
a guy at work pre-ordered one last year and still hasnt got it. im waiting for him to bring it in so we can play with it. I dont think it should be wireless because then ill just have to buy more friggin batteries. if it can replace basic mouse functionality i really want to give it a go!
Click to expand...

I pre-ordered mine and already have and use it. I love it.
 
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