Last week, we showed you how Microsoft’s new Kinect API lets you use your hands to draw on a painting program. But how about using gestures to create 3D models of any shape that you can use as Kinect avatars? No problem! That’s exactly what Microsoft Research’s Beijing team showed early this month at the company’s TechFest 2013.

In the video above, researcher Xiang Cao demoes their Kinect BodyAvatar, which lets you build a 3D avatar of any shape you can imagine, using your body as input. No need to master complex 3D modeling tools or programming, though some artistic ability certainly helps. And granted, the avatars still look like blobs of playdough, but as the researchers refine the technology, characters will start looking better. [Read More]