Head Tracking on the cheap

[Propnut]

Excellent, thanks.

I have been testing more tonight with it, but if I have to recenter the view at all the responses are messed up. It changes left to down, right to up and left, etc. I have to stop and start the camera again. I have managed to get smooth tracking in it though. If I can figure out the latest bug I would recommend it over Freetrack for those who have trouble getting freetrack to operate smoothly. But I would still rather use Freetrack otherwise.

[deathmetaldan]

i am going to give this a shot

http://www.desiquintans.com/headtrack

i have a couple wiimotes laying around and if it doesnt work at least i can use the IR leds for something else

[PapaReap]

Propnut, yeah I occasionally need to reset the camera after playing awhile, not sure why... could be the old camera I'm using. I just have a hot key setup and make sure to center my head the press the key.



I updated the FTNoIR_Tracker_PT.dll from version 1.0 to 1.1
this is a new profile using PointTracker 1.1 with FacetracknoIR
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5c8ig5hqadw1977/Arma%203%20trackclip.ini

[Propnut]

Hey Reap, thanks again.

I tested your first profile with 1.1 already. Worked great, still the odd issue with needing to stop and restart the camera occasionally to get it to center again (regardless of how many times I pressed the "center" hotkey, lol).

[PapaReap]

Ok, so maybe it is not my camera after all.

How often do you need to stop/start your camera? I don't have to stop/start the camera, just center it occasionally.

Which game protocol do you use?

[Maynerd]

     I've been experimenting with facetracknoir and I think that's going to be my best option. I play in almost complete darkness so I really should look into getting an ir led setup, but I'm wondering if it would be better (easier at the very least) to get an led headlamp and switch out the bulbs for some ir ones like they did here. http://www.instructables.com/id/Infrared-LED-Flashlight/

     I'm not the most handy with a soldering iron but I think I could get the job done without too much trouble. I got some Scotchlite reflective tape hoping that it would be enough for the camera to track, but didn't have much luck with that in the dark. I think it reflects better from a further distance anyway.

Edit:
     I'm heading to radio shack this afternoon to pick up some IR LEDs. I've never quite been able to grasp the concept of how electrical components work (despite years of working with electrical engineers who've tried to explain it), so I'm guessing all I'll need to pick up would be the LEDs and a 22ohm resistor? Is 3 enough or should I go for 4? I've got an old pc power supply I've been using for spare wire, so I'll cut some off that unless I need something specific. Power will be from a USB cable once I find a spare. I'm either going to tape all of this to a hat or possibly make my own headset clip from a coat hanger depending on how much time I have this evening.

[Propnut]

Three LEDs are all you need, but make sure you sand down the tip of the LED flat. And then buff it up a bit so IR can shine through. If you do not do this your camera will lose track of the LEDs unless you have them pointed directly at it as they are more like a laser beams without the mod.

[Maynerd]

   So just an update on what/how I did on my project. I went down to the local Radio Shack and for just under $9, picked up 3 High-Output 5mm infrared LEDs and a 5 pack of 22Ohm ½ watt carbon-film resistors (smallest quantity they had). I taped the LEDs to a couple of cut pieces of coat hanger and wired them with two lengths of small gauge cut from an old 350 watt power supply, and the red and black wires of an old USB cable. I should have sanded them first because the one in the middle was a little difficult to reach in the crook with my wife's nail buffing block (thanks Honey). I didn't sand them at first because I wanted to see just how focused the beam would be, and someone else said you could get the same effect by sticking a cube of Styrofoam over the LEDs. It worked... kinda. In the same way one could say that getting blackout drunk and dancing naked in a public fountain to get yourself arrested, works as a way to find a place to sleep for the night. I'd describe the experience as suboptimal, to say the least. ...The Styrofoam part, I can't attest to the drunk/naked/fountain/jail thing. Point is, the Styrofoam didn't cut it.

   Moving on, I sanded down the tips of the LEDs using both sides of the file on my trusty Leatherman Charge TTI and then worked my way through the four sides of a nail buffing block until the tips were flat and shiny. This provided the most reliable tracking by far up to that point. I'd been testing with FaceTrackNoIR and a Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 my mother-in-law gave us a few years ago. I've been trying it both with and without a piece of 3.25 floppy disk media as a filter over the camera lens. Until I sanded far enough down and buffed them, the camera had problems tracking the LEDs even in a dark room with the filter off. After buffing, it tracks nicely but I still need to keep the room pretty dark even with the filter on.

   I'm still getting used to it as an additional method of controlling my character. I'm sure I'll get hooked as soon as I use it for flying. Anyway, thanks everyone for the advice, especially you Propnut for reigniting the spark to try it again. Next step will be testing with the PS3 Eye and seeing if that makes a difference.

[Propnut]

Bravo! Welcome to the world for headtracking!