Programming mental ray Book

Anybody who is seriously developing interfaces for Kinect must read this book. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the mountain of work in 3D interaction techniques that occurred years before project Natal (which later became Kinect)was even an idea to be approved or rejected on some executive's desk at Microsoft. It summarizes design recommendations for system commands, navigation techniques, and even methods of evaluation based on the body of work done by researchers in the mid-90s, when virtual reality was all the rave.

There are of course some differences between the mocap-style tracking used for these interaction techniques and the 3d mesh + skeletal tracking provided by the Kinect, so these recommendations should all be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, the book provides a great foundation and seeds for ideas that are essential for any researcher or developer designing interaction techniques, games, or user interfaces for the Kinect.