我是在2012年的聖誕日預購的。預購三個月(Mar2013)之後收到LEAP的第一個電郵，說會在五月運發給developer。我一直等了大半年，終於在八月份上旨收到LEAP Motion寄來的hardware！ I pre-order on Christmas day in 2012. Three months later (Mar2013) I got an email from LEAP saying they'll send hardware to developers in May. After all the delays this thingy arrived in early Aug 2013!
"Welcome to a whole new world!"
包裝設計很簡約，附有兩條USB線，一長一短，還有一張welcome card，指示要到leapmotion.com/setup 下載軟件及啓動硬件。 A simple and elegant package. The controller comes with a welcome card and two USB 3.0 cables in the box. 我身為一個音樂人當然對編程是一無所知，但你可以註冊developer，下載leap的SDK開發軟件。
I am a musician and I know nothing about programming. You can get the SDK by registering as a developer.
尺寸是80 x 30 x 10 mm。小小一個黑盒子使用兩個攝像鏡頭和三個紅外線鏡頭，大約可以觀察約一米的距離。 提供0.01mm的準確度。 Dimension =80 x 30 x 10 mmIt tracks hand gestures by 2 RGB cameras and three infrared cameras. It provides precision up to 0.01mm. 和Kinect最大的分別是
(1) Kinect是一個全身的跟踪，全身17個skeletal points (head/ neck/ forso/ shoulder LR/ elbow LR / hand LR/ hip LR/ knee LR/ ankle LR/ foot LR)的三維位置(position)數據；Leap track 的是手部的gestures，除了提供hands/ palms/ fingers三維位置外，還有方向及速度的數據。
(2) hacked KINECT用了兩年，最麻煩的是每次開始使用前都要怪胎地站在Kinect前calibrate。Leap的確帶來了一個新世界，一個不需要calibration的世界。 lol
(3) 平! <Kinect for Windows= 249.99> VS <LEAP = $79.99>
If you use the Microsoft Kinect, you'll want to know how LEAP is different from the Kinect:
(1) Kinect does whole body tracking with 17 skeletal points (head /nect/ forso/ should LR / elbow LR / hand LR / hip LR / need LR / ankle LR / foot LR). It provides three-dimension position data of the skeletal points. LEAP tracks only hand gestures, In addition to providing three-dimensional location of hands / palms/ fingers, LEAP provides direction and speed data as well.
(2) To me the biggest differentiation is LEAP doesn't require any calibration. I used the hacked KINECT for more than two years and I found that very weird to do the football player post every time I want to use the Kinect. (Trust me, it will definitely freak out if you refuse to do that pose...)
(3) LEAP is more affordable! <Kinect for Windows= 249.99> VS <LEAP = $79.99>
USB 3.0??
USB連接看起來是 micro-USB 3.0，但隨盒附送的USB線支授2.0的速度。 操作速度因此減低了36%。
The "micro-USB 3.0" cable has only the speed of USB 2.0. I wonder if they will send us another cable in the future?
AIRSPACE LEAP有自已的app store，叫AIRSPACE，遊戲算是當中最像樣的分類。有大家熟識的Cut the Rope。 期待developers會不日帶來更好的creativity和音樂apps。
All of the LEAP apps are collected insde AIRSPACE. The App store is awesome but the Apps are not.
The games are good. Good graphics and music.
The visual apps create wonderful graphics but there's no way to route the video to somewhere else (yet). Music apps are even worst.... Trying out the music apps reminds me of the agony of putting together an Android app database. (I analysed about 700 Android music apps last year while only 10 of them are meaningful/ useful.)
Anyway I believe more gorgeous apps are on the way.
I have just premiered a new piece that utilised the LEAP motion controller yesterday. I will share documentation of that piece and talk about the rationale of that piece very soon.
Go get one!
https://www.leapmotion.com/