Free Track

[GunnerCAF]

Has anyone tried it?  

http://freetrack.online.fr/english/

I have about 5 bucks worth of new parts, and used a bunch of old junk from around the house to make it.  It seems to work good.  

AH works very well with it.  I didn't have to set up anything, it just works when I started the game.  You can manually override the views with the manual view controls on my joystick.  I get 6 axises of movement: right/left, up/down, forward/back, side to side, and tilt right and left.

Gunner

[jeepasaurusrex]

Im interested in learning more about this. Any pictures or diagrams would be helpful. I have my flight helmet from when I was in the Army I'm converting over to use the earphones, mic, etc and thought this would be a great addition.

thanks.

[GunnerCAF]

I posted more info in this thread:

http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=206422&perpage=25&pagenumber=2



For the headset I used an assorted bag of LEDs for Radio Shack.  It's has 4 yellow LEDs powered by a 9 volt on the back of the hat.  I used some aluminum tubing I picked up at the hobby store for the frame.  The visible light LEDs work fine, and it works like a headlight when walking through the dark house when I hurry to the refrigerator to get a beer

If you have any questions, let me know.

Gunner

[Eagler]

how is the 6 view?
that is the only thing I do not like about my trackIR 3

[jeepasaurusrex]

I would be installing them on a helmet just like this.



So, the LEDs provide the reference. The web cam senses the location of said LEDs. And the software provides the info to the game.  Sounds simple enough.

[GunnerCAF]

Originally posted by Eagler
how is the 6 view?
that is the only thing I do not like about my trackIR 3

From what I read, it's the same as IR track, you are looking right at the head rest.  You can look side to side around the headrest.  I mapped a pause button to my joystick views so I can quickly turn it off if I want to use my saved views.  But un-like the IR track, there is no delay when pausing with the free track.  I think it works rather slick.

Gunner

[GunnerCAF]

Originally posted by jeepasaurusrex
I would be installing them on a helmet just like this.



So, the LEDs provide the reference. The web cam senses the location of said LEDs. And the software provides the info to the game.  Sounds simple enough.

That will be cool  Maybe the 3 LED set up would work better with a helmet since it has no bill for the front LED?

Gunner

[jeepasaurusrex]

I was thinking the front of the visor cover for that.  Thinking about making tabs that bolt on under the visor cover bolts, so I dont have to perm. attach the LEDs as I still do fly.

IM thinking I could attach 4 LEDs.  Two on each side of the visor cover, one in the center-front, and one on the mic.

What do you think?

[GunnerCAF]

Originally posted by jeepasaurusrex
I was thinking the front of the visor cover for that.  Thinking about making tabs that bolt on under the visor cover bolts, so I dont have to perm. attach the LEDs as I still do fly.

IM thinking I could attach 4 LEDs.  Two on each side of the visor cover, one in the center-front, and one on the mic.

What do you think?

When you view the lights from the point of view of the camera, the front light should be slightly above the two side lights.  I am not sure this would work.  

I would suggest making a wire frame to get the dimentions right, then see how this fits the shape of the helmet.  Mabe a reverse shaped frame that would locate the correct LED positions that could be place over the helmet.  Use the dimentions from the instructions to get the locations in the correct x y and z plane.  Once you locate the positons, you could make small standoffs to mount the LEDs.  Maybe you could get them on the edges of the visor.  One in the front, one at the top, and two at the sides.

Here is a crude drawing of the shape of the wire frame to locate the LED locations:

[Tigger29]

I built a rig for Freetrack.. converted my camera to IR, and bought some IR leds.. wired it up to a wire to plug into a USB port for power.

Had it temporarily mounted to a ballcap with electrical tape, but have a better idea....  I ran into problems with the LEDS emitting too narrow a beam.. i can fix by increasing camera brightness, but then it was too touchy to interference... anyway i either had too much interference or too little head movement.

The idea I had was to mount the IR LED next to the camera, and install four round reflectors onto the ballcap (Such as polished metal ball bearings) to reflect that light.  If this works, then you wouldn't need to worry about a wire.. or batteries....  But I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Flint]

After reading the threads on trackIR and freetrack, I've been itching to give it a go.

Tigger - were you using the reccomended 80deg led emitters or not?

My rig's going to be run off a christmas light power supply - chucks out up to 500 mA and pushes 9v.

Figured will save quite a bit in batteries. Way I worked it, one of those square 9v batteries is only good for a few hours.

[Westy]

Yeah.  Don't make my mistake. Be sure your pwr supp is DC and not AC!!  






(gathering parts too to try this. will report when I'm able)

[Keiler]

I built myself the 3 point clip, mounted to the headset's side.
USB powered, used the recommended Osram 80° IR emitters, and used the standard size and proportions for the rig (look them up in the program itself).

After fiddling with the response curves and sensivities, it works like a charm!

I use the Saitek W300 webcam, everything in there can be set to be manually adjusted, I420 format is there (very important for stability and extremely low CPU useage!).

Highly recommend this program!

Matt

P.S: 6 view, you look at the headrest, but if you adjust the Z view sensivity a bit, you just pull your head backwards and to the left or right, and its not a problem to get a good view.

[Tigger29]

To be honest.. I don't think I had the 80 deg emitters.

I went at this back in the early stages of the software.. and without knowing much about it just purchased four IR led's from Radio Shack.

They seem to be focused too far to the front, and not enough on the sides.. so I might need to purchase ones with a "wider" light (such as 80deg).

Luckily I made "sockets" for the led's, so it's just a matter of straightening out the leads and sliding them out... sliding the new ones in and bending the leads back to lock them in place.

[llama]

Originally posted by Tigger29
I built a rig for Freetrack.. converted my camera to IR, and bought some IR leds.. wired it up to a wire to plug into a USB port for power.

Had it temporarily mounted to a ballcap with electrical tape, but have a better idea....  I ran into problems with the LEDS emitting too narrow a beam.. i can fix by increasing camera brightness, but then it was too touchy to interference... anyway i either had too much interference or too little head movement.

The idea I had was to mount the IR LED next to the camera, and install four round reflectors onto the ballcap (Such as polished metal ball bearings) to reflect that light.  If this works, then you wouldn't need to worry about a wire.. or batteries....  But I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

The trackIR people sell their IR Reflective dots and patches for $6. They'll sell you a whole sheet of the stuff for $3. They'll even sell the 3-stay bracket for the vector effects...

-Llama