Sometimes, when I’m just browsing around the internet, I encounter some obscure reference to some character and this usually ends up with me in Wikipedia trying to find out more. Sometimes, there will be links on that wiki page that I just can’t pass up and will end up clicking. I can lose hours at a time doing this. So where am I going with this? Well you know how sometimes there are measurements given in those “fact” sheets you find there? If you’re a visual person, knowing the numbers is usually never enough. You have to see it to get a scale of how big or small something is. If you’re that type of person, then this Kinect hack can probably help you.
This hack is called “Beastly Proportions” and it aims to give users a more visual context to creature dimensions. The creator calls it a “life-size interactive size comparison chart” and combines a Kinect sensor with an OSC program called Synapse to get accurate readings on the users hand.
The creator is still doing some tweaks to the hack so you may want to visit the project website and give him some feedback.
While I can see applications for this in school and in museum-type settings, I can also imagine plenty of geeky uses. Ever wondered how large a Sarlacc actually is? Just whip out Beastly Proportions and you can get a proper scale!
