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Something about the head tracking stuff has been bothering me,. And easily mount it onto my headphones, so no hat or IR clip for me.
Posted by4 years ago
Archived
Complete-ish FaceTrackNoIR (DIY TrackIR) Guide
TL;DR
- Visible Light Filter (Cut out and stack Red, Green, Blue)
- DIY IR LED Clip with SFH485P LEDs
Long Version
Cameras
Most webcams will work, though higher FPS webcams are way, way better. The cheapest, fastest webcam is a PS3Eye, but the third party Windows drivers are no longer free from legitimate sources. $1.99 from Code Laboratories for their CL-Eye Driver is not particularly awful, however.
If you're using an IR point model and not a visible light or your face, you'll probably also want a filter to reduce visible light and let IR light through. People have reported using floppy disks and exposed film negative, but I just snagged some lighting gels and stacked red, green, and blue. This is enough to let me use my IR model with a sunny window directly behind me, without any modification of the webcam. I use a simple piece of 1' PVC with a few cuts from a hacksaw to hold the filter in place. Easy, cheap and lets me remove or replace the filters with no fuss.
With any webcam, you will probably need to adjust the gain/exposure/color balance to try to best show your face or the light points. For the PS3Eye, the controls are in the CL-Eye Test application, Options Menu, Video Capture Filter. Mine are set to this for use with the RGB filter and IR LEDs.
How To Build a Point Model
This is the part that always seems to throw people off building their own, but is really simple. The PointTracker settings page gives a pretty straightforward view of the geometry of both clip and cap models, as well as what measurements are important. The numbers can be anything, but the defaults listed work very well if you make your model based on those. I'm personally partial to the clip, because it can be cut quickly and easily out of stuff you have laying around the house - cardboard, plastic plates, plastic sheet from the local hardware store, etc.
If you have access to a 3D printer, there are a fairnumber of clipoptions around. If you have a CNC router/mill, there are some DXFs available here.
Once you have the physical frame constructed, it is time for the LEDs. The simplest and most straightforward way is outlined over at the FreeTrack forums, here. The SFH485P LEDs are widely available at all of the online electronics sites (Digikey, Mouser, etc), and everything else can be sourced at the local Radio Shack.
Installing and Configuring FaceTrackNoIR
You want to start with the Full Installer v170 and the Hotfix1 v170 from the FTNoIR Downloads page. After you've installed this, to get FTNoIR working, you need to also download the FaceTrackNoIR Supported Games.csv file from SourceForge and put it in <Installation Directory>/Settings, replacing the one that is there. This adds the necessary ID codes for Star Citizen. Despite what has been bandied about, in my testing no changes were required to the defaults of the FreeTrack 2.0 protocol (Dummy TrackIR.exe checked, Enable Both interfaces).
Face tracking
If you're just experimenting with head tracking before buying anything else and you already have a webcam, start up FTNoIR and press the 'start' button - the default settings are totally fine for face tracking. Just make sure your room is well lit, and you should see the video pane in the upper left show your face and the tracking trace.
Point tracking
If you're using a head cap/clip, you will want to change a few things. First and foremost, change the 'Tracker Source' to PointTracker 1.0 (1.1 available here with more advanced camera positioning options), click the Settings button under the source, and input the camera settings and measurements of your model.
Camera pitch is positive if the camera is pointing up to your face from below your monitor, negative if mounted above. If you have PT 1.1, you also have camera yaw, which is negative if positioned to the left of your screen and positive if to the right. Roll will most likely be zero or 90, depending how you have the camera mounted.
One last thing in the PointTracker configuration is the calibration. This tells PointTracker how far offset the light points are from the center of rotation for your head. Basically, you press calibrate and move your head in yaw, pitch and roll - avoid moving in any translation axis (forward/back, left/right, up/down). Once the numbers stabilize, you're good to go.
You will most likely also want to change the settings for the filter, Accela Mk2 by default. The easiest way is to open up <Installation Directory>/Settings/default.ini (or your ini, if you've created your own), and paste in the following bits, replacing the existing sections:
At this point, you should be able to use head movement with your clip/cap point model.
Everything tracking
You may need to invert some of the movements - the checkboxes on the upper right of the FTNoIR window are the ones you want. Experiment until everything is moving in the right directions.
edit 9/18/u/Yoshanuikabundi reminded me of an option that is very helpful (especially for face tracking) - telling the engine to keep your face pointed where it was when it lost tracking instead of snapping to zero. This option is under the Shortkeys button, 'When OFF: Stay'. This is also where you can set hotkeys to recenter (Home by default).
/u/BayushiYoda pointed out that you may have to run FTNoIR as Administrator to get centering hotkeys to work. I've never had to personally, but I have UAC turned off in Windows 7.
Movement Curves
FTNoIR's default curves suck, but can be viewed with the 'Curves' button in the lower right. Also, curves are an intensely personal preference, and almost everyone I know has different settings here. That all being said, a good starting point is the curves for TrackIR that /u/HydroBIGBANG shared in his video over here translated to FTNoIR below. Again, paste these into your <Installation Directory>/Settings/*.ini, replacing the relevant sections.
I am by no means an expert on all of this - if I have errors, give a yell so I can correct them. If you have something to add, let me know and I will put it in!
90% Upvoted
Posted byMal Reynolds (6th Interstellar Corps)
3 years agoHead tracking options, roundup..
Here are the options I know about, what else is out there?
TrackIR
I have the TrackIR 5 and it's pretty damn cool. I think I paid ~£160.00 for it and that's a lot of money for something that I am probably only going to use with Elite. So, is it worth it? Short answer, yes. Longer answer.. When I first got it I was almost disappointed that it wasn't 'wow OMG this is so amazing' like I imagine the Oculus Rift is. And, it was a little weird at first and took a good few hours to get used to. But, after that I came to really appreciate all the little things and the increased immersion that it gives. I almost cannot fly without it now, and when I do I find myself frustrated and often confused without knowing why, it's become so natural to use.
So, if you have the money and want increased immersion I would recommend TrackIR. That said, I believe you can get a similar experience with some other options. I thought that the TrackIR was the only head tracker/controller which gave you Z-axis motion in Elite, bit I now have reports that this is false.
On to the other options..
FaceTrackNoIR
Many of you may have heard of FaceTrackNoIR which is a piece of FREE software which can use any standard webcam to track your face. I have heard that this is not as smooth as TrackIR and I think this is basically down to the inaccuracy of trying to track a whole face with a normal webcam.
FreeTrack
This is another piece of face tracking software, compatible with TrackHat.
OpenTrack
![Head Head](http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/images/homepage-demo-static@2x.png)
This is another piece of face tracking software, compatible with TrackHat.
DelanClip
So, to improve on that you could purchase a DelanClip (see it in action here which is a custom made clip similar to the TrackIR Track Clip Pro. It's basically just an aluminium frame holding 3 IR LEDs and powered by USB (£21.99), or battery pack (£23.49).
Of course, you also need a camera with a filter to block out daylight so it will only see the IR LEDS and thus allow the FaceTrackNoIR software to track only these points and not your entire face. The basic DelanClip kit comes with filters so you can fit them to any camera you like or you can buy a complete kit from him which comes with a PS3 Eye Camera already modded to include the filters (£34.99 USB, £36.40 battery).
He ships internationally. (before anyone asks, I am not affiliated with him in any way)
TrackHat
TrackHat looks like another variation on the DelanClip idea. No idea who came first, nor what the quality differences are as I have used neither. Both are UK suppliers.
EDTracker
There is another option which doesn't involve IR or cameras at all, and that is EDTracker (forum thread). Instead of IR this uses gyro sensors like you have in your phone/tablet to track motion. Which means it needs to be mounted on your head to work. I think you can build it yourself for ~£10.00 plus parts/time or buy it from them for £45.00
swcproducts
I recently received a message from Simon @ swcproducts. He said...
I make the head clips myself and keep the price as low as I can, I've had very good feedback from buyers. I make USB and Wireless clips. ... as well as help people that don't want to make their own clips, it's an easy cheap option. :)
The products, at first glance, appear to be similar to the DelanClip and TrackHat with wireless and USB options. He also has free UK shipping, so that's another option for anyone interested.
92% Upvoted