This is a real-time 3D scanning with Xbox Kinect at the beach in Oregon, by James Dietrich and Mark Fonstad. The device projects an infrared pattern (see this other video) and by looking at that pattern reflected on the real objects it calculates the distance for each pixel, in real time. In this case, I am the 'real object', besides the camera holder. This information allows the computer software to 3D rotate the object in the screen in real time (while the object moves, for instance), changing the perspective.
The potential applications for geoscience are... infinite! For example: no need to measure and count pebbles any more, you river geomorphologists, just a 2-second scan and there it comes your grain-size distribution!
And this is a group 3D-picture he took at the same Bretz Meeting in Oregon, last week:
http://youtu.be/s4B3O50q9nk
Amazing, ha? It's a 3D model based on a series of pictures taken with a normal camera.
Update:
Follow this link to learn more technical details about the device.