We’ve been working hard to get a new batch of features, improvements and simplifications ready in time for the party season. We invite you first to take a look at some user pictures and read a Visikord review at OurDJTalk below, courtesy of a new Visikord user (and a longtime mobile DJ) Rick Ryan.

http://ourdjtalk.com/threads/visikord-kinect-sensor-thingy-is-cool.43756/

The takeaway: “The kids are eating it up. Great visuals and they can figure it out without assistance.” Thanks Rick!

And now for the list of new features in the new version:

1. Media in Starfall

The cool new twist in dancers’ interaction with the falling stars and your media images is that the media is hidden in the star and is revealed when a star is hit. This feature is perfect for themed events:

Two notes: 1) scary images in the video are not part of Visikord for several reasons, one of them being that different levels of scary are appropriate for different audiences, but you can easily add your own — you just save all the JPEGs and videos of your choice in the Visikord’s Media folder.

And 2) if your dancers use props like the sword in the video, tell them to be careful with it (or give them a foam sword/stick instead), and check off the “Swords and Sticks” option in the Main->Basic settings panel. This will switch to a different tip detection algorithm (one that makes the tip of the sword glow like Frodo’s Sting in the presence of evil).

2. When DJs star on the screen

For situations when need to show on the screen persons who are doing something else (DJs, gogo dancers), and still make a good VJing show for onlookers, we have several new features:

• Support for multiple Kinects — up to 4 can be plugged into your USB ports, and you select which one’s input will be shown on the screen. So you can have one pointing at the audience, and one at yourself, and every 15-20 minutes switch which one is active, live.
• Zoom Pulse on beat — an intense animation of the person in the view, with control how strong the zoom pulsing will be.
• Mystery blend — shows dancers less clearly outlined and more fused with the graphics behind them. Recommended to combine with the Hard Cuts and/or Zoom Pulsing.

The DJ in the photo above uses the “Kinect Zoom” add-on (a $8 accessory on Amazon and in BestBuy) which is a fish-eye lens clip for Kinect so he can be very close to the Kinect and still be fully in the picture:

3. Easy Windows 8 installation

For existing (and new) users who need to install on Windows 8 machine, the procedure is now greatly simplified. The Kinect drivers are signed and there is no need for the complicated extra step anymore.

4. Minor features

Some small things users have asked for (and some we also figured are necessary)

• Blank backgrounds checkbox in the VJ panel forces the backgrounds to be simple, but still with a bit of magic. (The intense colorful ones are suspended until the checkbox is unticked.)
• Less flashing: added filtering so graphics always transition smoothly
• More controls for VJS in the VJ panel (besides the Mystery blend): allowing dancers to turn media on/off by holding the blue button; allowing the hand fires. (Also recommended to check is the “Clean skins only” checkbox).
• Added option “double the beat!” in freestyle for hardcore events
• Arm span slider in Main tab in control panel — good for DJs working with kids, in general reducing the assumed arm span (height) of dancers lets the same person make bigger hand effects and vice versa
• Option for advanced VJ-ing with live video input: Media->Luma key to let live video in be luma keyed
• Option “Dance Floor->Center dancer must be in the clear”, can be changed to “NO” so bars are easier to get

Special thanks to Mike Wild and Justin Kent for feedback and ideas.

An email with the free update download for registered users is on the way. Thank you and we wish you a great show and good time for Halloween!