There are no indications of what Apple will use the Faceshift technology for but, to date, it has been used in the film and gaming industries.

TechCrunch says that several Faceshift employees are already working for Apple but remain based in Europe even though the company has offices in San Francisco. Faceshift describes its technology as 'markerless motion capture,' which allows those utilizing it to 'capture realistic and emotional facial expressions,' and you can see the technology working in conjunction with Intel's RealSense 3D camera in the video below. “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

The news comes after rumors of the acquisition surfaced earlier this year, with TechCrunch reporting it has dug up 'further sources and conclusive links between the companies' and claimed the acquisition was confirmed when Apple issued the following statement, which it typically does when it has acquired a new company: Kinect for Xbox 360, on the other hand, was built for and tested with the Xbox 360 only, not with any other platform, which is why it is not licensed for general commercial use, supported, or under warranty when used on any other platform.įinally, Microsoft has dedicated a large team of engineers to continual improvements of hardware and software associated with Kinect for Windows, and is committed to providing ongoing access to Microsoft's deep investment in human tracking and speech recognition.In recent years, Apple has been making a number of significant acquisitions in the virtual and augmented reality fields, and it has now added to that stable of companies with the acquisition of Faceshift, a Swiss company, which specializes in motion-capture technology that has been used in the upcoming 'Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.' The sensor was specifically designed to be used with PCs, with a shortened USB cable to ensure reliability across a broad range of computers, and the inclusion of a small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals.

The Kinect for Windows sensor is a fully-tested and supported Kinect experience on Windows with features such as “near mode,” skeletal tracking control, API improvements, improved USB support across a range of Windows computers and Windows-specific 10’ acoustic models.

Xbox 360 kinect faceshift