Leap Motion in Second Life: Watch This Clip of Gesture-Based Avatar Controls In Action

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

If you're like me you've probably heard a lot about the Leap Motion, a gesture-based control peripheral that's quite commonly mentioned alongside the Oculus Rift, but you haven't really seen it in action. The Leap Motion allows you to control your avatar (or whatever it is you're controlling in your game of choice) via movements and gestures of your hands in the space between you and the screen, as opposed to using a mouse and keyboard, or even gamepad. The Leap Motion and the wildly anticipated Oculus Rift headset working in conjunction could prove to be an incredibly immersive combination for gamers in general, not to mention virtual world users, since it would all but eliminate many of the Rift's control-related shortcomings.

Thankfully, Draxtor Despres (of Drax Files fame) has made the leap (get it?) and shared a quick demonstration video of how the Leap Motion works on its own with Second Life. Check it out for yourself:

 

Is the Leap Motion seamless? Not really. Is it promising? I'd say so, at least a little more than the SpaceNavigator, which has been my Second Life control peripheral of choice for many years now. It would certainly be interesting to see the same kind of promotion between Leap Motion and Second Life that the SpaceNavigator recieved at the time, and considering Linden Lab's interest in the Oculus Rift it's certainly a possibility.

Then again, it could just be one more bauble cluttering up your desk. What do you think: Would you use a Leap Motion regularly if you had the chance, or would you prefer to stick to the tried and true keyboard and mouse method of virtual world navigation?

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Iris Ophelia (@bleatingheart, Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Timesand has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan andwith pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[draxtor]

The main drawback is that I configured Leap with third party app GameWave. The tracking the device can do is unbelievable and it is sooo tiny..so I think once they have a SL specific configuration the user can turn on/off with one click this will be fab - navigating and building and gameplay [shooting comes to mind although I am a pacifist myself...]. I did not even touch the surface here because obviously both hands can be used and tons of combos!

[Adeon Writer]

Hey Drax: I mainly use a Spacenavigator as a replacement to all of the alt-cam combos. I don't actually use it to move my avie around though, I just stick with WASD for that. Could the LeapMotion be set up to control flycam? (Akward or otherwise :) )?

[draxtor]

Adeon absolutely it can! I would really encourage folks to talk to the Leap guys via their blog or forum! They WANT to hear from SLers!!!

[Mondy]

And no one asks where's the cool Pacman shirt from ?
I want :P

[Rob]

When you use the Leap Motion for some longer time ... does it become uneasy for your arms / wrists ?
Because of the way you have to position your arms / hands ?

Maybe you just have to be used to it
For the rest it's just playing with the different parameters I think

There are some alternatives but they aren't available yet and they seems to use a different approach
Some VR gloves / handcontrollers, maybe even with some tactile feedback

PrioVR is coming with a 2e KickStarter attempt and they will offer also hand controllers
And some plans about a glove with finger tracking … but that’s for next year

I had lost the Leap Motion out of sight but I’m again thinking of it because it’s now available and adds indeed some extra to navigating in VR worlds
Building with it would be a very great add-on

Thanks for the video demo ;)