Head Tracking with Cliffs of Dover

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

Swiss, as I understood it the FT hacks from the NP coding.

Not having the TIR camera available for use with the FT software is the other end of the stick and irrelevent.

Actually, FT has it's own interface and just collects and transmits positional data. In older games that only support trackIR but use an old unlocked version of the naturalpoint API, FT transmits that data through the naturalpoint interface.

It's similar for FS2004/FSX, where FT feeds its data to microsoft's simconnect interface.

As for the newer games that use a locked version of the NP API it's up to the developers to enable native FT support. An example of this is ArmA2.

So, long story short, FT is perfectly capable of interfacing directly and on its own with any game, as long as the game developers let it do so.

Originally Posted by MadBlaster

I think it worth mentioning possible safety issue here. It is not good for your eyes to look at infrared light source. If you do reflective setup, make sure the LED's are not infrared.

Are you sure about this? IR wavelengths carry less energy than our everyday normal, visible light. It should probably be completely harmless, as going out on a sunny day or simply driving at night and seeing the headlights of the cars on the opposite lane would bombard you with light radiation of a much higher energy than a couple of IR leds.

[Wolf_Rider]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Actually, FT has it's own interface and just collects and transmits positional data. In older games that only support trackIR but use an old unlocked version of the naturalpoint API, FT transmits that data through the naturalpoint interface.

It's similar for FS2004/FSX, where FT feeds its data to microsoft's simconnect interface.

As for the newer games that use a locked version of the NP API it's up to the developers to enable native FT support. An example of this is ArmA2.

So, long story short, FT is perfectly capable of interfacing directly and on its own with any game, as long as the game developers let it do so.





Are you sure about this? IR wavelengths carry less energy than our everyday normal, visible light. It should probably be completely harmless, as going out on a sunny day or simply driving at night and seeing the headlights of the cars on the opposite lane would bombard you with light radiation of a much higher energy than a couple of IR leds.

By the sounds of it then FT have finally come to the party and are doing their own thing instead of the antics it did in the past... I ain't got a concern with that if FT is stand alone, the concern was the interfacing with NP software to get the data.

in general:
true infrared light can't seen, much like ultraviolet light can't be seen.... Red though is very effective for using as a light source at night as it doesn't affect the person's night vision, like a normal light does. If you go looking directly at the sun though (definitely not suggested so please don't do this), you do get a full blast of full range of frequencies of the spectrum and at highish levels, and that includes x-rays, gamma rays, pretty much all the rays you could point the stick at.

Crikey, its a colour temp of 200k Kelvin, so don'tya go lookin' at the sun. The humble incandescent house bulb has a temp of 3200

[julian265]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

By the sounds of it then FT have finally come to the party and are doing their own thing instead of the antics it did in the past... I ain't got a concern with that if FT is stand alone, the concern was the interfacing with NP software to get the data.

There has been no additions or changes to FT since November 2008 - the FT interface was around before that. Also FT never gets data from TIR.

[Wolf_Rider]

FT used to get from NP, , Julian265... that was the problem, and the site says different to what you say on which gets what from where

[julian265]

What are you saying FT gets/got from NP?

[Wolf_Rider]

TrackIR interfaceFreeTrack is compatible with the unencrypted version of NaturalPoint's TrackIR head tracking interface that has widespread support in simulation games. NaturalPoint have been using an encrypted version of the interface in more popular titles since late 2008, these can be identified as requiring TrackIR software version 4.1.036 or higher and are incompatible with FreeTrack.[18][19] First used in DCS: Black Shark,[20] it caused developer Eagle Dynamics to release their own head tracking interface but soon after cancelled it at NaturalPoint's request.[21] FreeTrack compatibility is still possible using [TrackIRFixer] to remove the encryption requirement, however this involves file modification which can conflict with some forms of DRM and online anti-cheat. Currently DiRT 2 and F1 2010 are affected by DRM, refusing to run after the fix has been applied.

TIRViews.dll is a dynamic-link library file distributed with TrackIR software that provides tailored support for a small number of mostly older games, using special interfaces or memory hacks to facilitate view control.[22] Though a violation of the TrackIR software's EULA,[23] it is possible to use the file with FreeTrack.

NaturalPoint's TrackIR interface SDK is only available under a signed license agreement[24] and is covered by a NDA, so while FreeTrack is open source, the TrackIR interface component is required to be closed source.[25]

wiki

[julian265]

OK, I thought you were saying that the FT software gets info from NP software.

Carry on.

[Wolf_Rider]

The NP interface is NP software

your ball I believe

[julian265]

You don't need to attack points that I never made. Please leave your straw man at the door.

My post:
"There has been no additions or changes to FT since November 2008 - the FT interface was around before that. Also FT never gets data from TIR."

You disagreed, which logically made me think that you were saying that FT gets data from TIR. If you want to ignore the word "data" or "info" and pretend that I was meaning differently, then you can carry on talking to yourself.

Your quote from wiki is quite valid, but it doesn't affect my views on the matter of head tracking in games.

[SEE]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

IR wavelengths carry less energy than our everyday normal, visible light.

I don't want to go into the technical details but IR LED's are safe to use and found in a large number of everyday items. Bear in mind that the recommended IR LED's also have a very wide beam angle. The reason for using IR LED's as opposed to visible light LED's (which also emit IR but less of it) is to enable users to mask the lens from visible light and the tracking is limited to 'heat signature'. To work effectively with IR, the camera also needs to have the IR filter removed (this in itself illustrates just how much IR forms part of natural light to put it simply).
Even with the lens masked off, point the camera to your window (not the Sun!) on a sunny day and compare the IR dots with the stray reflections and direct light entering through the window- it will be significantly higher and completely kill the tracking function by swamping. Alternatively, light a candle and hold it from a distance in front of the camera..........there will be significantly higher heat signature than from an IR LED.

Finally, if building your own IR Clip there is absolutely no need to run your IR LED's at full power. Run them at 50/70% of the stated current and connect them in series (one after the other like Xmas tree lights where one pops and all go out), your batteries will last three times longer or, once it's all working and well made in terms of your wiring/soldering skills, connect the clip to the USB port.