FreeTrack webcam = TrackIR for cheap

[Perfesser]

EDIT: all info now in the first post.

Found a webcam that might just work out of the box, delivered today.

It already has 6 IR LED's mounted on it. I think all it will need is a visible light filter placed over the lens assuming it has the framerate needed.

$25 CDN.

KINAMAX Infrared NightVision / 6 LED / USB 2.0 / 1.3 MegaPixel / WebCam with Audio Microphone

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1567081&sku=M501-1160&srkey=KINAMAX%20Infrared%20NightVision

You do need to remove the IR filter.

Unscrew the camera lens, look at the back of the lens assembly for a red tint, that's it. With a knife I scraped off (no popping that sucker off) the glued on plastic washer that holds the IR filter in place(1/8" square glass), screw the lens back in. Fine threads, plastic, and it's the manual focus for the cam, use caution.

Webcam (made in China)

1 inch dia. foam balls (made in the USA!! Floracraft, Ludington Mi) at a craft store, 16 for $4 (coated a few times with white glue(also made in USA) to stiffen em up)

Reflective tape (made in Canada!) at auto supply store $7

Hat in stock (one of those high shapes that are fairly stiff, the ones you wouldn't wear out in public anyway, made in China)

3 screws

[Jabo]

Not entirely sure that's going to work for you m8, surely the LEDs have to be attached to either your headset or cap to register the movement of your head?

I've used a vx1000 with a couple of small squares of floppy disk placed in front of the CCD (had to remove the IR filter too). Then built a 'track clip' with 3 IR LEDs which is attached to my headset. The camera only 'sees' the LEDs (because of the floppy disk material), and the movement of the LEDs relative to each other is translated by the FreeTrack software into view slewing in the game.

Oh, and I've powered this via a spare USB port (had to place a small resistor in series with the LEDs to ensure the voltage was dropped down a little, but otherwise no problems).

~S~ Jabo

[gec]

i have a system with 6 LED's on camera and reflectors on the hat and no problems with it. works like a charm. no extra wires attached to my head

[Perfesser]

i have a system with 6 LED's on camera and reflectors on the hat and no problems with it. works like a charm. no extra wires attached to my head

This technique is what got me to thinking about this in the first place, I stumbled on to the camera

[Jediteo]

My setup is on the freetrack thread, the benefits are that ambient lighting is negliable, unlike reflectors. Although I have to wear a cap (dont answer the door in it...) and use a AA battery every 2 weeks (jabo has his USB-wired I believe)

[Jabo]

i have a system with 6 LED's on camera and reflectors on the hat and no problems with it. works like a charm. no extra wires attached to my head

Oh, you're using reflectors, didn't take that into consideration.

[Perfesser]

I do believe it works

This is just playing with camera settings, no filters.

1" foam balls covered with reflective tape, screwed on through the hat.

Bob's your uncle

[T_O_A_D]

Do you have a video or something, of it working?

Farret and I are contemplating building one of these for him, instead of Track IR expense.

[Perfesser]

The camera recognizes the reflectors well enough, good solid signal to Free track, just have to play with the

[T_O_A_D]

Yep i was afraid of that,

Thus the reason I upgrade from the TIR 1 to the TIR3

TIR 1 was 60 mhz

and TIr3 is 120 mhz IIRC

I never had a problem with TIR1 untill I upgraded my machine and was getting much faster FPS in the game. Once I did I started noticing the stutter induced from TIR.

[Perfesser]

Freetrack supposedly has a 4x frame multiplier (30x4=120), the program is telling me the output from the camera is inadequate (5 fps)

[Perfesser]

What the hell have I done now??

The game seems to default to "look back right" view sometimes.

I have a bad feeling this is going to happen at the worst moment..............

[T_O_A_D]

It's only a guess, but I'd say the unit is loosing track of the reflective source, are you using balls or flat reflective material.

[Perfesser]

It was happening when I had Freetrack shut off and it reverted to this when I spawned in SEOW........ YIKES!!!!!!!

Managed to survive and after the match Jedito spent enough time to fix some settings I messed up.

~S~ Jediteo thanks very much, getting at least 20 fps now from 5 and the IR filter effortlessly removed from camera.

A little tweaking and it really works well.

If anyone is hesitant this camera makes the whole thing almost effortless. The whole thing cost about $35 Canadian.

Couldn't have finished without the help of Jediteo though.

[Trout]

Good news Perf!

[T_O_A_D]

Good deal!

[Perfesser]

[cannon_fodder]

Ive used freetrack for a year now

I tried the reflector method but rejected it for a red LED glued onto my headsets Mic boom.

The power comes from a mains plug transformer (was a charger for some old toy) and the thin power cable is taped to the headsets audio cables.

when i put on the headphones the led is ready to switch on

The old logitech web cab still has its IR filter installed but now sports a red filter bluetak'ed on

it gives near perfect results

[Perfesser]

In an environment where you have large variations in light levels through the day (sunny windows) I would suggest LED's as markers.

Every time the light changes I'm adjusting the threshhold level.

I suppose you could just have a day and night profile(just thought of that duh..)

I still want to try making a spotlight of 9 or 12 IR led's and try that before I decide for sure.

This camera has 6 but I suspect they may not turn on if the room is too brightly lit.

I can't tell if they're on or not ................. any ideas? .... my NV binocs

[gec]

to check if the LED's are on turn on the camera take a CD (mirror may work also) turn it to the camera so that camera can see it self in the CD or mirror and look at the picture on the screen . u should see the led's light cause camera can see the ir light.

[Perfesser]

Worked like a charm gec, good call.

They are on.

[LongStone]

I bought the same camera as Perf, used an old black baseball cap, thumb tacks and 3 re-usable paintballs (yellow)

once I had sorted out which settings to adjust it was simple to set up, right out of the box, no mods.

with all materials and instructions I think you could get it up and running in 15mins (not inc install times)

I will post up a cheat sheet later with key settings

[Jediteo]

LEDs are very cheap, built my entire setup for less than 20$, including the camera. 5-10 leds should run you about lessthan 5$. I got mine for the equivalent of 3$, all you need to do is sand them flat and your are done.

All you need is some basic (very) about elecric currents.

[gec]

sanding led's is a very good suggestion but only if u put your led's on the cap. if u use reflectors on the cap and led's on the camera, do not sand them.

[Perfesser]

Got a problem here.

I found a local supply and made an IR spotlight out of 6 LED's. 1.6v @ 50mA