The Newest In Head Tracking Technology

[rox]

Well it seems like the sun has finally set on my stubborn use of the mouse for looking around. So long five years of locked neck while manipulating throttle, lowering gear and flaps, changing pitch or changing FOV. So long being unable to lean and see instruments and switches cleverly engineered to be obscured by other parts of the cockpit. Out you go obsolete ideas, concepts and ways of doing things, and in goes....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
...this wonderful feat of engineering, made from two and a half pencils, some wire, electrical tape and plastic zip-thingies, three IR LED diodes, a switch and a battery rack-thing, a cheap Logitech E2500 cam and total disregard for aesthetics.
 
 

 

I disassembled the camera and removed the internal IR filter, then put a cut out floppy disk foil circle into the hole (stays there by itself due to the notches in the hole) which filters out visible light but lets IR light pass through.

 

 

Looks nicer than the first version of the camera



 
Now now, don't get jealous all.
 
I had 90% of this rig hanging around in a drawer for FIVE years. I made it before, it didn't work well, I lost interest. Pulled it out now, more determined, made it work but it still didn't track properly. My LEDs should ideally be 5mm and not the 3mm ones I have. The improper tracking I finally remedied by tweaking the settings for a while, and most importantly, taking apart the camera and removing the little IR filter window in front of it. It now works flawlessly. The only issue is that it's a bit too heavy (with the batteries) from my puny 7 quid headset, but I'll be getting a new one as well because this one has random mic issues.
 
Anyway, this will be my biggest leap in flight sim hardware since....well, since I started playing with a joystick, since that's all I ever had, my trusty broken Saitek Aviator that too will hopefully be replaced by a proper HOTAS within the year.
 
If someone finds a way to make the Oculus Rift from office material, please let me know.

[FoolTrottel]

 (...) but I'll be getting a new one as well because this one has random mic issues. (...)

 

Finally!

Thanks!

Much appreciated! 

 

 

Good show!

[DD_Arthur]

 

If someone finds a way to make the Oculus Rift from office material, please let me know.

 

[Jabo]

Gotta hand it to ya Rox.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Crash]

...this wonderful feat of engineering, made from two and a half pencils, some wire, electrical tape and plastic zip-thingies, three IR LED diodes, a switch and a battery rack-thing, a cheap Logitech E2500 cam and total disregard for aesthetics.

 

Why not spray it copper and brass for a "Steam Punk" look? Nice idea by the way

[rox]

That would look rather cool, though the paint would probably flake away as the wires are not solid material :/

 

Did a few upgrades today - removed the battery pack from the headset completely and extended the wire, batteries are now on the desk. Also more tape, way more tape. I have done no soldering whatsoever here, just tangling wires and taping them firmly.

 

Works in Clod, now it's just a matter of fiddling with the sensitivity sliders and curves to make the movements smooth and natural. Shame Elite is buggy with Freetrack, so I will now try with FaceTrackNoir program which people say works with it.

 

When I'll want to bother with it more I'll re-make the whole thing from scratch using something lighter and sturdier than pencils, and put the switch on the battery pack.

 

Also Arthur that looks rather amazing and I'd experiment with it for sure if I had a bigger phone.

[B16Enk]

If someone finds a way to make the Oculus Rift from office material, please let me know.

 

Combined with Athur's link:

http://www.google.com/get/cardboard/

 

Yes cardboard, bit of elastic (rubber bands from stationery cupboard) and some padding, job done!

cardboard_design_v1.0.zip

[Perfesser]

I did the same thing few years back. To make the pic a little clearer I highlighted the top LED tube in blue, LED in red.

Ignore that spotlight thing, that's just where I hang the rig when not in use.

I read on the Freetrack forums the farther apart your LED's are the smoother and more accurate your tracking will be, makes perfect sense.

I bought this headset with an external frame just so I could mount the LED's on it spacing them as far apart as possible.  I used rigid plastic tubing running the wires inside the tubes - Bic pen tubes would work too.

The long ones are about 8 inches, I made them so they aren't visible in my perephrial vision.

I tried a battery pack at first but quickly dumped that in favour of a USB connection. You will have to put in resistors to drop the voltage from USB 5V to 4.5V.

There is a calculator thing on the freetrack site for supply voltage and resistor values - look on the left for LED Assembly Wizard.

I recommend a resistor at each LED with all wired in parallel. Makes it much easier to track down problems. Mine are in series and when anything goes wrong ALL LED's quit working and I have to start tracking down where the problem is. I've had my main power supply wire break twice from flexing, use multi strand wire on your supply-to-headset lead.

Last time I swapped that wire to a telephone handset wire (the curly one).

Solder all connections and use heat shrink tubing instead of tape.

 

If you want any help with settings we can get together on TS and I can set you up with mine.

 

What framerate are you getting with your camera?

I have a really crappy camera getting 29 at best. I hear the Sonly PS3 camera is the best one right now, same mods needed to the lens.

I bought one a year ago, still in the box

 

[rox]

Thanks Pref, I use no solder as I don't have one around nor do I have the first idea where to get one, just wrap around the wires firmly and tape them, it works. Also no resistors, 3x 1.5v LEDs and 3x 1.5V AA batteries, I have read conflicting things on if I'd still need a resistor or not but so far it works like a charm, if it dies suspiciously then I will go down that route.

I disassembled the entire thing yesterday and reassembled a cap rig. It's MUCH better than the clip, basically I'm completely satisfied now.

I don't like caps overall so I cut off the top, all I need to do now is get a heavy duty stapler and staple the opening between the material layers, even if it's perfectly usable now, just looks bad. There's even a No Fear written on the cap to make it more badass with the already threatening beige color (don't judge, I was a kid when I got this cap)

[Perfesser]

I only have one bit of advice if you make a cap - remember to remove it before answering the doorbell.

 

That looks like a good setup you have there.

[rox]

Boy that would be a scene

Also yes, my frames per second are adequate - 27-30