I'm using OpenNI and OpenCV (but without the latest code with openni support). If I just send the depth channel to the screen - it will look dark and difficult to understand something. So I want to show a depth channel for the user in a color but cannot find how to do that without losing of accuracy. Now I do it like that:
xn::DepthMetaData xDepthMap;
depthGen.GetMetaData(xDepthMap);
XnDepthPixel* depthData = const_cast<XnDepthPixel*>(xDepthMap.Data());
cv::Mat depth(frame_height, frame_width, CV_16U, reinterpret_cast<void*>(depthData));
cv::Mat depthMat8UC1;
depth.convertTo(depthMat8UC1, CV_8UC1);
cv::Mat falseColorsMap;
cv::applyColorMap(depthMat8UC1, falseColorsMap, cv::COLORMAP_AUTUMN);
depthWriter << falseColorsMap;
But in this case I get worse (loosing details) output than, for instance, kinects software for windows shows me. So I'm looking for a function in OpenNI or OpenCV with a better transformation.