head tracking the next level
 

check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw&NR=1

Now we just need 360 degrees VR goggles.

Headtracking works better than that already, having also roll axis.

Well, at least the solution with the Wii is way less expensive than track IR

If you have a third hand to hold the remote, that is!

(bad) Jokes aside, how much does a wii remote cost?

It wouldn't work with current sims anyway, right?

Although nothing new -since TIR can do this as well- I hope this takes off for the Wii. If it gets popular we will probably see a lot more alternatives than TIR which will reduce the price significantly.
If you buy TIR now, I think you'll pay mostly for the software as the hardware is basically just a (IR) webcam with some leds. Not that I'm complaining, I'm a very satisfied TIR user, but the price is just too high for the average gamer.

Well if I guess a simple software could adapt it to IL2. And if you had watched the video you would have seen that you are actually not holding the controller but the captors of the Wii system that you can attach to a pair of googles or on a hat, like TIR.

And the price for all that is around 20 - 30 €. And I'm sure you could also programm a roll axis on that.

All valid points but afaik there's no software available.

The remote is 40€ in the official nintendo website, the googles something like 10-15€, the LEDs with the pin around 5€ (both) so it's more like twice your est. price.

In any case, if you want a cheap alternative to TrackIR go for Freetrack, $10 in components plus the money you want to expend on the webcam, it has working (free) software and supports many titles.

I think you guys are missing the point... its not about what "system" to use for head tracking.... but mostly to show of the 3D effect induced by headtracking in a 3D environment...

I guess BoB will be awsome... as TIR used in conjuction with a better 3D engine will probably rock our socks off...

Does it work with IL2?

I could afford 10 $ !

You bet it does!

Oktoberfest, you can also try nuView. It's a TrackIR emulation program that uses the hat switch, but it moves just like using your mouse. It also starts slow and speeds up while you hold the hat switch pressed, so you can pan almost 360 degrees from 5 to 7 o'clock in a few seconds.

It's still harder to use than the TrackIR, even though it's a massive improvement over the stock game, so i think i might take the plunge a get TrackIR. It's a good time now, because as of yesterday 1Euro=1.5 US Dollars. The bundle offer on the naturalpoint site (TrackIR plus 3 IR emitting LEDs on a clip attached to your headset) is listed at 199 USD, which converts to roughly 130 Euros.

The innovative part here is instead of changing the view according to where your eyes would be looking if your head was in a fixed position it is changing the view according to where your head is relative to the screen. The 3D effect is very convincing even on youtube.

There is zero innovation in that video. All head tracking utilities with 5 or 6 DOF track your HEAD (it would be a real innovation if they tracked your eyes!) and its position/rotation relative to an initial point in space. Since in aircraft sims you are cramped in a cockpit and generally have at least a joystick and you need to be sit down, the effect is not as obvious; the principle, however, is the same.

Zero innovation?! I don't know about you but I've never seen simple head tracking used to give a completely convincing 3D effect where objects appear to float out of the screen before. I can only imagine playing a shooter while ducking and dodging in front of my 50" plasma!

Do you use any head tracking device at all?

Because the only difference is that most games clip objects at zdepth=0 (where the camera is)

Yeah, I'm thinking about that too. But you know, 130 € is still 1 month of food for me :) I have to eat less! :grin:

I noticed on the free-track.org site under the webcams there is a reference that soon free-track will be available for use with the Nintendo WiiRemote. That means the WiiRemote will be used similar to the above, because the remote has a camera in it (a sturdy one at that).

Therefore, it should me 6DOF will be possible with a better camera.

So, in my case I'm going to drop in on freetrack every now and then.

The WiiRemote can be purchased pretty cheap off ebay and used

http://www.free-track.net/english/ha...37c95115eb3711

Also, I've not seen any discussion about the 3D rendering like the above with freetrack.

I get the idea that is more a Wii thing. It is awesome the way those circle project out of the screen.

Yes I have trackIR4 pro. You say most games, show me one other example anywhere of using headtracking to create a convincing 3D image on a regular display.

Uh... so you don't think that, say... FSX creates a convincing 3D image on a regular display?

Support for TrackIR is present in many racing simulators (from the RACE/CMR/GT series, Live for Speed etc. and almost every other one which has the driver's position). Well, about a third have support for 6DOF, and then it's exactly like that Wiimote demo, including the depth.

As far as I know FSX uses trackIR 6DOF just like any other trackIR enabled game, while 6DOF is nice and adds a lot to immersion it does not make the image pop out of the screen and appear to float out in front of you. Did you actually see the video linked with the targets floating out in front of the screen?

Seriously, I've seen it a few times already. Again, there is ZERO innovation in that. Do you understand what geometry clipping means? Watch it again... now focus on what the devide does: track the goggles' position and rotation. Ok, now think about it, and try to guess what TrackIR does... yep! same thing! EXACTLY the same thing. Do you like the targets feeling as if they were popping out of the screen? that's fine! Now does that tracking offer anything new? nope. Nothing new at all.

Exactly!

Well, there is something cool about that demo but it's not about the technology, which is equivalent to any other headtracking device (but WAY less expensive).

The cool part of that demo is that it was programmed to use much larger movements (more than two meters left/right and close/far), which are impractical and unuseful in a normal game with a cramped cockpit, at least because almost every simulator doesn't want (?) the users to look over e.g. the engine hood in a Fw-190.
An added bonus for that demo: it used extremely simple graphics, and that allowed it to be extremely responsive, it tracked the head (and the graphics engine responded) with at least 60 updates per second; we're lucky to get 60FPS in Sturmovik (on the highest AA/AF) or FSX, and definately the TrackIR input is displayed with a significantly larger lag (I'd say 0.1 to 0.5 seconds) which ruins the immersion. TrackIR4 has 120 updates per second, but they're kinda wasted.