Microsoft released Kinect Fun Labs right after their media briefing at this week’s E3. It’s a free download and lets you play with all sorts of experimental Kinect features. At long last you can scan real world objects and make them appear virtually in a 3D environment.
For virtualizing inanimate objects you’ll want to use the Googly Eyes app. In my example (see screenshot) I used a pillow. The process is easy and worked really well. Although the sensor picks up 3D information I found that it works best on things that are fairly two-dimensional since it only takes two snapshots, front and back. This led to me not having as much success scanning plush toys in Create A Buddy which is also a part of Fun Labs. You can clearly see the quality difference in the screenshot above.
Although not perfect it’s still fun to play with the technology. You can even add animation and voice-overs in both apps and share your creations on the web.