diff --git a/main.cpp b/main.cpp
index 35df193..e752a6d 100644
--- a/main.cpp
+++ b/main.cpp
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
                 handDepth = rightHand.z * (DEPTH_SCALE_FACTOR);
                 roi.x = rightHand.x - ROI_OFFSET;
                 roi.y = rightHand.y - ROI_OFFSET;
-                printf("Hand depth = %d\n", handDepth);
+                //printf("Hand depth = %d\n", handDepth);
             }
         }
         else
@@ -76,22 +76,27 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
         if(handDepth != -1)
             rightHand = (rightHand > (handDepth - BIN_THRESH_OFFSET)) & (rightHand < (handDepth + BIN_THRESH_OFFSET));
 
-        /*
-        std::vector<std::vector<Point> > contours;
+        // create debug image of thresholded hand
+        Mat rightHandDebug = rightHand.clone();
+
+        std::vector< std::vector<Point> > contours;
         findContours(rightHand, contours, CV_RETR_LIST, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE);
-        
+
         if (contours.size()) {
-            for (int i=0; i<contours.size(); i++) {
+            for (int i = 0; i < contours.size(); i++) {
                 vector<Point> contour = contours[i];
                 Mat contourMat = Mat(contour);
-                double area = cv::contourArea(contourMat);
-                printf("Area of contour[%d] = %f\n", i, area);
+                double area = contourArea(contourMat);
+
+                if(area > 2000) // likely the hand
+                {
+                    printf("Area of contour[%d] = %f\n", i, area);
+                }
             }
         }
-        */
 
         imshow("depthFrame", depthShow);
-        imshow("handFrame",  rightHand);
+        imshow("handFrame",  rightHandDebug);
 
         key = waitKey(10);
 
diff --git a/main_r03.cpp b/main_r03.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e752a6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main_r03.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+#include "SkeletonSensor.h"
+
+// openCV
+#include <opencv/highgui.h>
+#include <opencv/cv.h>
+using namespace cv;
+
+#include <iostream>
+using namespace std;
+
+// globals
+SkeletonSensor* sensor;
+
+const unsigned int XRES = 640;
+const unsigned int YRES = 480;
+
+const float DEPTH_SCALE_FACTOR = 255./4096.;
+
+// defines the value about which thresholding occurs
+const unsigned int BIN_THRESH_OFFSET = 5;
+
+// defines the value about witch the region of interest is extracted
+const unsigned int ROI_OFFSET = 70;
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+
+    // initialize the kinect
+    sensor = new SkeletonSensor();
+    sensor->initialize();
+    sensor->setPointModeToProjective();
+
+    Mat depthRaw(YRES, XRES, CV_16UC1);
+    Mat depthShow(YRES, XRES, CV_8UC1);
+    //Mat rightHand(ROI_OFFSET*2, ROI_OFFSET*2, CV_8UC1); // hand processing
+    
+    // rectangle used to extract hand regions from depth map
+    Rect roi;
+    roi.width  = ROI_OFFSET*2;
+    roi.height = ROI_OFFSET*2;
+
+    namedWindow("depthFrame", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
+    namedWindow("handFrame", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
+
+    int key = 0;
+    while(key != 27 && key != 'q')
+    {
+
+        sensor->waitForDeviceUpdateOnUser();
+        
+        int handDepth;
+        if(sensor->getNumTrackedUsers() > 0)
+        {
+            Skeleton skel =  sensor->getSkeleton(sensor->getUID(0));
+            SkeletonPoint rightHand = skel.rightHand;
+            if(rightHand.confidence == 1.0)
+            {
+                handDepth = rightHand.z * (DEPTH_SCALE_FACTOR);
+                roi.x = rightHand.x - ROI_OFFSET;
+                roi.y = rightHand.y - ROI_OFFSET;
+                //printf("Hand depth = %d\n", handDepth);
+            }
+        }
+        else
+            handDepth = -1;
+
+        // update 16 bit depth matrix
+        memcpy(depthRaw.data, sensor->getDepthData(), XRES*YRES*2);
+        depthRaw.convertTo(depthShow, CV_8U, DEPTH_SCALE_FACTOR);
+
+        // extract hand from image
+        Mat rightHandCpy(depthShow, roi);
+        Mat rightHand = rightHandCpy.clone();
+         
+        // binary threshold
+        if(handDepth != -1)
+            rightHand = (rightHand > (handDepth - BIN_THRESH_OFFSET)) & (rightHand < (handDepth + BIN_THRESH_OFFSET));
+
+        // create debug image of thresholded hand
+        Mat rightHandDebug = rightHand.clone();
+
+        std::vector< std::vector<Point> > contours;
+        findContours(rightHand, contours, CV_RETR_LIST, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE);
+
+        if (contours.size()) {
+            for (int i = 0; i < contours.size(); i++) {
+                vector<Point> contour = contours[i];
+                Mat contourMat = Mat(contour);
+                double area = contourArea(contourMat);
+
+                if(area > 2000) // likely the hand
+                {
+                    printf("Area of contour[%d] = %f\n", i, area);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        imshow("depthFrame", depthShow);
+        imshow("handFrame",  rightHandDebug);
+
+        key = waitKey(10);
+
+    }
+
+    delete sensor;
+
+    return 0;
+}