Pose Detection in Unreal¶
Jim Simons, Senior Unreal Engineer
PoseDetector-derived components are easy-to-use building blocks that detect and generate events from various hand poses such as thumbs up and palm facing inwards.
They’re a convenient way to detect what a user’s hand is doing. For example, detect when the fingers of a hand are curled or extended, whether a finger or palm is pointing in a particular direction, or whether the hand or fingertip is close to one of a set of target objects.
You can even detect multiple poses together to generate an event (for example Thumbs up AND Proximate/close to an item). There’s no need for coding or complex blueprints.
![VR hands turn a light on and off using the pinch pose](../_images/unreal-pinch.gif)
Our plugin for Unreal Engine 4 connects UE4 applications to hand tracking data, applying real-world physics, UI/UMG input, pre-rigged hand assets and more.
We’ve recently released an update (available on the Unreal Marketplace) which now includes Pose Detection.
![VR hands turn a light on and off using a palm flip](../_images/unreal-palm-flip.gif)
We’ve included a large set of ready-made detectors including commonly used poses such as extended finger, pinch and proximity.
Want to create more complex behaviours? Use our Pose Detector Cookbook or make your own pose detector.
![VR hands in unreal making a thumbs up gesture](../_images/unreal-thumbs-up.png)
Detectors can be combined together using a Logic Gate. The LogicGateDetector is itself a pose detector component that logically combines two or more other detectors to determine its own state. Need a thumbs up gesture? Combine a thumb extended detector with a thumb pointing upward detector using a logic gate.
To experiment with the presets, load the scene at /UltraleapTracking/Content/PoseDetection/ExampleScenes/PoseDetection
For all the details, check out Pose Detection Components in the documentation.