Freetrack now works in all TrackIR games

[Laurie]

Originally posted by wooly15
You can get IR LED's at any radioshack, but where in the world can you find an inexpensive IR filter?

memory fails me atm, but ill get in contact with him, my friend has soemthing everyone has round the house as an IR filter, argh its like on the tip of my tongue! was somthing like blank photo film

[GunnerCAF]

I made one and it works good.  It took about 5 bucks worth of parts, and old stuff I had laying around.  I don't have IR Track, so I can't compare.

It takes some experimenting, so if your not good at building things, you may not have good results.  I bought a bag of assorted LEDs from Radio Shack (2 bucks I think).  I had resistors and wire around the house.  I used 4 yellow LEDs for the head set, and a 9 volt to power it.

For the frame, I thought the coat hanger was a bit cheezey looking, so I went to the hobby store and got a pack of aluminum tubing and a set of tube benders (tight wound springs that fit tightly over the tube).  I made the frame per the instructions, but ran the wires in the tubes.  Now I have a cheezey looking tube frame  I soldered up everthing connected the battery and it lit up fine.

I used an old web cam that was laying around gathering dust.  For an IR filter, I used an exposed end of a developed 35mm film negative.  Start up the Free Track software and it works.  It takes a bit of tweeking of the settings to get the right feel.  No problems with back light.  Just adjust the setting so it only sees the LEDs.

In AH, just start up Free Track, minimize it.  Start AH, and it works.

Gunner

[GunnerCAF]

Oh, if you want to just give it a try, you can get 2 axis with one light.  I used a clip on LED flashlight and cliped it to the bill of my hat.  

Gunner

[GunnerCAF]

Here is a quick picture.  The hat with 4 LED head set on the monitor.  The Web Cam and filter in front of the hat.  On the left (on the PC) is the LED light that worked for the single LED test.

[kestrel7e7]

Here is a quick picture. The hat with 4 LED head set on the monitor.

Nice work.

Some of the led model constructions have been quite funny, like one made out of wood...

[Gianlupo]

Gunner, what system do you have? (processor, RAM, videocard, etc.) Have you got any problem with framerate? Does the view wobble when you're not moving your head? Is there any significant delay between head movement and view movement?

[kestrel7e7]

Originally posted by Gianlupo
Does the view wobble when you're not moving your head? Is there any significant delay between head movement and view movement?

Freetrack can give you a rock solid view when your head is stationary and be responsive at the same time, however there is always a compromise between the two. To better deal with this compromise the next version will have dynamic smoothing which increases the floating deadzone when your head is stable and reduces it when moving.

[Finn]

kestrel7e7 - Are u able to be honest about your association with this product?

If you are involved with this venture, perhaps you can arrange a 'discount' for Aces High folk? ... one way to get your sales up, as I am sure some might be interested.

Also ... I was telling you of my experience previously, and ... and it impacted on framerates by quite a large % ... 20-60% .. depending on what was going on ... and it WAS a dual core chip.

Any Regular AH pilots who use this/similar products ... what is your experience with other software (pros/cons for them) ... and have u tried TrackIR (say at a friend's, or some sort of store/convention demo)?

I have tried at least 3 different software/webcam ones, and the main difference between them that I noted was that most have only 3DOF, while at least 1 of em have implemented 6DOF. (in the interest of being fair ... i wont score them...lol)

Finn

[GunnerCAF]

Originally posted by Finn
kestrel7e7 - Are u able to be honest about your association with this product?

If you are involved with this venture, perhaps you can arrange a 'discount' for Aces High folk? ... one way to get your sales up, as I am sure some might be interested.

...
Finn

Finn, it's free... can't get more of a discount than that

Gunner

[kestrel7e7]

Originally posted by Finn
If you are involved with this venture, perhaps you can arrange a 'discount' for Aces High folk? ... one way to get your sales up, as I am sure some might be interested.

.... it's free, hence the name.

Also ... I was telling you of my experience previously, and ... and it impacted on framerates by quite a large % ... 20-60% .. depending on what was going on ... and it WAS a dual core chip.

To be blunt, you're doing something wrong. You can't do a performance test unless you have a visible light filter and the correct threshold so that ONLY the tracking points are visible. You also have to minimize to tray, if performance is still not good enough you can reduce the video stream resolution. If your cpu usage is still high then you must have some sort of obscure webcam that likes doing wait loops for no particular reason and you should probably ditch it.

[SIM]

Would the setup work with a headset instead of the frame as shown in the manual? Maybe mount the LEDs on each earpiece and one on top, 4th on the mic boom?

[Finn]

FREE!! .. cannot complain about that!!!

I think perhaps my frames thing may have been due to not having an adequate normal light filter.

I am not saying that these things are useless ... just that they dont work like advertised without a lot of 'patience', 'modding' and 'trial n error'.

In the end I got a TrackIR that I just plug in and it works (no messing about needed) .... but on my second pc (that family and friends use) I have retained a web-cam and homemade IR setup. (The usualy comment from friends/family is - 'Err ... so in order to play this game .. u want me to wear this strange hat?? Are u serious or joking??... hahaha')

PS .... but in what way ARE you associated with Freetrack?

I think that having dodged this simple question about 3 times (in this post alone) ... you are answering yes by default ...lol.

Seeing as how it is free it is a non-issue,  but if you are involved then it would be to your (and Aces High players) benefit .... as it gives good communication between the dev's and the users. (which has been a winning formula for aces high over the years!!!!)

One problem I found with my homemade IR LED's was that when my head was turned/tilted a fair bit, the software tended to not see enuff IR image to keep tracking,  but again this may be a filter issue, as with a better filter and the sensitivity turned up it may track better.

[GunnerCAF]

Originally posted by Gianlupo
Gunner, what system do you have? (processor, RAM, videocard, etc.) Have you got any problem with framerate? Does the view wobble when you're not moving your head? Is there any significant delay between head movement and view movement?

AMD 64 3200+
ASUS A8N-E
2G RAM
Radeon X800 GTO
TM Cougar U2 NXT (joystick controlers)

I see no change in frame rate.    I have played with the setting curves to give it a good feel.  If you see a wobble when not moving your head, you can add a little floating deadband.  There is a small delay when moving your head fast.

I have read on the Free Track web page that my web cam is not the best but it works.  I may pick up a newer cheap cam next time I go shopping

The latest thing I did is mapped a pause button on my joystick views.  This way I can quickly shut it off and use the standard views.  Sometimes in the heat of battle, my brain reverts to the 10+ years of using my thumb to look around

Gunner

[Gianlupo]

Originally posted by GunnerCAF
AMD 64 3200+
ASUS A8N-E
2G RAM
Radeon X800 GTO
TM Cougar U2 NXT (joystick controlers)

I see no change in frame rate.    I have played with the setting curves to give it a good feel.  If you see a wobble when not moving your head, you can add a little floating deadband.  There is a small delay when moving your head fast.

I have read on the Free Track web page that my web cam is not the best but it works.  I may pick up a newer cheap cam next time I go shopping

Thanks for the answers, Kestrel and Gunner. Btw, what webcam do you have, Gunner? My only trouble,  now, is that I'm totally unable of building the headset... I think I'll ask someone to do it for me (there's a finn guy that sells it, on Freetrack forum)... I'm eager to try it... even though, like Finn, I hate when I have to spend too much time configuring hardware/software... so lazy!!

The latest thing I did is mapped a pause button on my joystick views.  This way I can quickly shut it off and use the standard views.  Sometimes in the heat of battle, my brain reverts to the 10+ years of using my thumb to look around

Gunner

Eheheheh, that's my fear, I'm so used to hat switch then maybe I'll end up deeply hating the track system for the first days!

Oh, btw, Finn....

Originally posted by Finn
PS .... but in what way ARE you associated with Freetrack?
 

Not difficult to figure it out... you just had to check Freetrack forum.... he's one of the programmer!

[Clifra Jones]

Originally posted by SIM
Would the setup work with a headset instead of the frame as shown in the manual? Maybe mount the LEDs on each earpiece and one on top, 4th on the mic boom?

If you go to the site mentioned and then click the link to the new site they have an explination of using 3 LEDs on a headset for 6DOF.

Still could use some more documentation.