Some freetrack questions

[Blackdog_kt]

Thanks for the feedback but the dimensions is more or less what i've been looking for, since i seem to have lost my measuring tape and can't take them myself
Also, i've searched online before asking here and i've found all sorts of conflicting information about what dimensions to use.

There's also something else that's confusing me a bit. I selected the 3 point clip and i see the graph where you input the clip's dimensions. Below that there's 3 more sliders labeled horizontal, vertical and depth, which i guess are supposed to tell the interface how far away i'm sitting from the cam.

The entire field is labeled "model position: distance from head pivot (center of head, just below ear) to model translation point R", which i can't really figure out. Does it refer to my actual head or the 3d-head i see in the software (i assume the first, but why not ask and be sure)? Also, what's the point R?

Modifying the camera is not something i'm willing to do. So, if i don't remove the IR filter can i just make do with a piece of film or floppy disk material that i will use whenever i want to run a flight sim?
Also, if i make adjustments to the camera's settings will these apply only to when freetrack is using the camera? Or will they apply on a global basis, which means i'll have to revert to my original settings whenever i want to use the camera in its original role?

The reason i'm asking is that if i need to buy a second webcam just to be able to switch between freetrack and skype video calls, it would defeat the whole purpose of it. At that point i might just buy a used trackIR 4 unit from ebay and go back to something i'm already used to, instead of spending the time to configure an unfamiliar solution.

Thanks for you help again, let's hope i manage to make something out of it.

[Letum]

Thanks for the feedback but the dimensions is more or less what i've been looking for, since i seem to have lost my measuring tape and can't take them myself
Also, i've searched online before asking here and i've found all sorts of conflicting information about what dimensions to use.

Measure it.
If it helps, trace it on paper and then measure the outline.

There's also something else that's confusing me a bit. I selected the 3 point clip and i see the graph where you input the clip's dimensions. Below that there's 3 more sliders labeled horizontal, vertical and depth, which i guess are supposed to tell the interface how far away i'm sitting from the cam.The entire field is labeled "model position: distance from head pivot (center of head, just below ear) to model translation point R", which i can't really figure out. Does it refer to my actual head or the 3d-head i see in the software (i assume the first, but why not ask and be sure)? Also, what's the point R?

No, it's not about your position relative to the camera, it's about the distance the TIR clip is from the pivot of your head.

Modifying the camera is not something i'm willing to do. So, if i don't remove the IR filter can i just make do with a piece of film or floppy disk material that i will use whenever i want to run a flight sim?
Also, if i make adjustments to the camera's settings will these apply only to when freetrack is using the camera? Or will they apply on a global basis, which means i'll have to revert to my original settings whenever i want to use the camera in its original role?

I dunno...why don't you try it and find out?

[SEE]

To start, I have TrackIR Ultra4 and Freetrack but prefer the latter by a long mile in terms of setting up and FT having axis hotkeys which are really useful in combat. The seting up of the Clip is from the mid point between the 'ears' (in your 'skull' so so to speak). In reality this is very much an estimate and I find has little impact on actual performance in game if the entered dimensions are wrong. What I do find is that these dimensions can be actually altered to suit how close or far you like to be from the monitor the screen and the location of the camera. FT is an excellent piece of software but unfortunately (AFAIK) will not be supported in CoD other than in mouse emulation (or similar alternatives). Hence why I have kept my TrackIR and not sold it!

[swiss]

What I do find is that these dimensions can be actually altered to suit how close or far you like to be from the monitor the screen and the location of the camera.

The way I understood it is: Position of point R(Reference LED) to center of head.
Where can you adjust the distance point R to cam?

[Letum]

Originally Posted by swiss

Where can you adjust the distance point R to cam?

The whole point or tracking systems is that they work out the position of your head relative to the camera.
That's what they do.

You don't need to tell it where your head is relative to the camera.

[SEE]

Originally Posted by Letum

The whole point or tracking systems is that they work out the position of your head relative to the camera.
That's what they do.

You don't need to tell it where your head is relative to the camera.

I tend to work close to the screen and found an improvement in the Z axis (FOV) response by moving the ref point backwards by -100mm or so. You don't have to do this but it worked for me in FT 6DOF is all I am saying. My 3 point clip is horizontal and on headphones (rather than a hat).



You must enable the TrackIR interface checkbox and not the Freetrack Interface for IL2 (in the FT software Output menu). If the skull is moving then you should see movement in the game since you already have TrackIR enbled in your config file.

[Blackdog_kt]

I got it to track the LEDs without any filter modifications in a dark room by playing with the threshold slider. However, for some reason it doesn't register in the game.

In any case,i saw something even more worrisome when i tried to test it in QMB...it seems that my trusty MS sidewinder precision 2 is dead too.

I don't know what to think, i mean i've never heard of a power failure cooking hardware components that are fed by USB before. So, i took out both the stick and my trackIR camera and plugged them into my old PC (an AthlonXP running winXP), but to no avail.

It seems a highly twisted coincidence to me that out of all the peripherals on my PC the only ones to get affected are the the ones i use in flight simming. Truth be told, i don't trust my old Athlon's USB connectors that much, so the last bit of diagnostics will be to take the stick and trackIR camera to a friend's PC and try them out, just to rule out the possibility of faulty USB connectors/not enough power being fed.

Just out of curiosity, if it turns out that my peripherals are fine and it's the USB ports that are to blame, can i do something to fix that or do i have to get a new motherboard/power supply/whatever?

[SEE]

Originally Posted by swiss

The way I understood it is: Position of point R(Reference LED) to center of head.
Where can you adjust the distance point R to cam?

There is no documentation regards the Transition Sliders ( the ones beneath the Model Point Construction Dimensions) but they can be used to set the optimum position of the LED clip with respect to the camera.

Rather than describe how it works simply do the following:-

1. Power up your LED clip, sit in your preferred position and with the Webcam facing your clip.

2. Start FT, do not press the Centre Hot Key and view the default location of the Skull. You will notice that there are two crosses, One RED the other BLUE, one attached to a fixed point in space and another affixed to the mid point of the skull.

3 Now adjust the Transition sliders in the X, Y and Z axis - the skull will move (in relation to the camera) and you can allign for a perfect default centre to the fixed X Y and Z reference lines.

Why is this included? One reason I suspect is that its bloody hard to actually get your clip in perfect centre to the field of view of the camera as you have to move your head to move the camera.....chasing ones tail never to catch it.....

Secondly, a thousand people could make a 'clip' and not one would be the same.....thats custom building at its best....


I calibrate the exact centre using the Transition Sliders (with a slight bias in the Z axis as I work close to the screen) and have perfect response in all axiz and find that I rarely have to keep re-centring my view ....try it is the best I can advise.

[Matt255]

If CoD won't support Freetrack, i would really like to know that before the release.

Because i don't plan to buy TrackIR exclusively for CoD when Freetrack works fine with every other game i own.

[Korn]

The only reason NP are getting away with their position it's because headtracking is a new thing, with a relatively small market. Imagine Logitech trying to stop anyone else from building mices, or rather Logitech making deals with software developers (especially OS) so that any other mouse brand would not work in said software product.

I think it's a safe to say that this kind of monopolistic and anti-competitive bull* would not be tolerated should the European Comission catch wind of this. Rembember the massive fines m$ got just a few years back.