What can I say about the LEAP Motion Controller? Well… it works, but… not as I had expected. Let’s by start describing the setup experience. It’s a manual and cumbersome experience. You just do not take out of packaging, follow simple directions and watch the system configure itself, much like you see from today’s new printers. Your first task is visit the LEAP website and download, its control panel and drivers. During this time you are also downloading and installing LEAP’s friendly user interface which is called “Airspace”, which I will discuss later. After installation your next task is to calibrate LEAP to your computer. This requires you “paint” the inside of a window dialog box by holding the device about three or four inches from the screen it so that it is facing your monitor and then you start twisting it with your wrist or hand with circular motions. There is a “large” dot representing your brush and it paints a light green hue over the dialog’s surface. In order for the calibration to be complete, you are scored in your efforts to try to paint as much of the window as possible. When you achieve a score of 80 or greater, then calibration is achieved; however this may not be as easy as it sounds. Typically supposed to take up to two minutes you may find your twisting your LEAP while holding it for over two minutes at which time you may consider starting the calibration process over. As you twist it about trying to paint the window, you see your score shifting in values then you may wonder why your score is so low and does not pass beyond 20. For me I had disconnect my Logitech wireless trackball, because it was interfering with LEAP. Having USB2 or greater also helps. This process takes some patience, although user experience may vary from individual to individual, it took me about 20 minutes of fiddling with it to finally get it calibrated. Once calibrated don’t expect to start navigating through windows or your mac operating system with gestures of magic expecting your computer to obey your every tactile movement. Your next step is to establish a log in account with LEAP via “Airspace”. Don’t worry about if your computer is telling you if your LEAP is not connected. Remember this a cumbersome task. Just use your mouse or laptop finger-pad to access “Airspace”. Create an account, navigate to the Airspace store, and browse under free applications in order to find, “Touchless for Windows”. There is Mac version too! Once you load that then you ready to command your computer with tactile gestures. Think of Airpsace is like your smart phone’s app store. There are limited number of free and pay for applications which you can own to enhance your LEAP Motion Controller experience. Personally I find that the LEAP operates at best when using the apps it is made for as opposed using it to replace your mouse, although you can do that. I found that when pointing and clicking with my hand to be a bit quirky. The greatest challenge is trying to achieve coordination and this takes dexterity and patience. The demos show you people who are very well coordinated as they move about the windows environment making it look like magic. Well it’s not, you need to use it, practice and master it. I bought the LEAP thinking I could use some high end applications like zBrush where I can sculpt digital clay and create 3D art. Well you can’t do that with “Touchless for Windows” which interfaces your LEAP with your computer. It can be achieved but I believe it would require programming a zBrush plugin using the LEAP Software Development Kit. zBrush requires a lot of button holds, the use of the alt, control and shift keys, something that “Touchless for Windows” is not geared for. The most you will get is equal to a button click and scrolling. There is QWERTY keyboard that comes up when you need to enter text, much like your smartphone, but that is the extent of it. So for me LEAP is more of toy and somewhat disappointing as opposed to being something practical. However I do believe that the product has great potential, especially via its Software Develop Kit. The best use of LEAP in its current state in my opinion is using it in tandem with the applications which are designed for it via Airspace. So there you have it. Take the LEAP if you want experiment with fun from a different approach but don’t expect anything too practical, at this point in time.