Author Topic: Freelook and making a headset for it (Read 2299 times)

sidneylopsides · « **on:** May 27, 2007, 01:28:22 PM »

I've seen the threads on TrackIR, and like the idea, but I've also seen the free program that is similar, Freelook .
I'd like to try this out before I spend money, seeing as I can, but I was wondering if anyone else has made one of the head mounted LED array things?
If so, can anyone give me advice on making one? I'll nip out to Maplin's on Tuesday to get some IR LEDs, I have a web cam (a Logitech one with face tracking

) which should be fine.
This thread will probably turn into a how-to, it's only a simple thing to make! I think I'll be making it mounted to my headset so I don't have to wear a hat.

Spatula · « **Reply #1 on:** May 27, 2007, 06:07:42 PM »

Not sure if you saw this thread or not. I would love to know how you get along.

http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=206422

Tigger29 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 28, 2007, 10:43:41 PM »

HAHA I just dug out an old webcam I had buried in the basement. Installed FREELOOK.. put a small piece of white medical tape to the top of my headset... spent 10 seconds configuring things and I noticed my mouse cursor now follows my head movements!

I ran AH in offline mode and turned on mouse look, and it's like VR!... Now I still have some work to do.. it's still quite glitchy and a little rough (not quite ready for flight testing).. but I verified that it does, in fact, work!

I'm sure it'll track much better with LED's... but my wife is freaking out by this whole thing.. it's just wild as heck!

Now let me do some research see if it's capable of more...

sidneylopsides · « **Reply #3 on:** May 29, 2007, 05:37:37 AM »

That's good to hear! I'm planning on nipping out to shops for some IR LEDs today, this is good news

The Fugitive · « **Reply #4 on:** May 29, 2007, 11:43:03 AM »

I sent an email to the guy that posted in that other forum post, he sent a picture for the layout of the LEDs, but nothing on how to wire it up. Its 4 leds, 4 resistors ( of unknown value), and a battery pack ( of unknown voltage). I've sent another email hoping for more clarification. If I get any more I'll post it here.

sidneylopsides · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2007, 12:17:21 PM »

Could you post the picture here?
The wiring is pretty easy, and if it's 4 stadard LEDs at 1.4V you should be able to get away wth no resisters if wired in series and running off 4 AA 1.5v batteries.
I actually bought 4 universal remote controls from a shop round the corner for £1 each and using the LEDs from those, it's actually cheaper than the nearest place the sells the LEDs individually!

hubsonfire · « **Reply #6 on:** May 29, 2007, 12:31:46 PM »

Tear some cheap color LEDs out of something- connect them to batteries, and any resistors you might have (or might not have). If you can see the LEDs illuminated in the cam, then you're probably ready to stick the IR LEDs in.

They're cheap, forgiving, and you're not building life support equipment here.

Tigger29 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 29, 2007, 01:18:37 PM »

Yeah I was just playing around some.. ripped out some LEDS from old computer cases I have laying around... wired them into the power/ground wires off of an old USB cord I had... and got all four lit.

Tried it with FreeTrack.. got it to intermittantly find the four leds... but it was intermittant with the middle one (which was RED).. guess it didn't much like that color.

Messed around with it some more, but burned out two of them (must have too much voltage through my USB port for the LEDs) so I've given up..at least for now.

I may make a trip to Radio Shack in the next couple weeks and pick up some stuff.. I figure I can make a small circuit board and mount three of them horizontally.. then maybe a bracket sticking up for the fourth one.

I'm split on whether to use a batteries or a USB cord... the cord won't be a big deal I already have one coming up for my headset, so what's another?

This'll be pretty cool if/when I get it working.

The Fugitive · « **Reply #8 on:** May 29, 2007, 01:25:54 PM »

I'll post the picture here when I get home...... stinking work always getting in the way

I think USB ports are 5v so ya they may be too much, but if you added a couple of resistors to the circuit you could bleed some of that off so you don't fry the LEDs.

Jenks · « **Reply #9 on:** May 29, 2007, 05:05:35 PM »

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This is a schematic of a circuit that should work, if you want to connect to a USB for power you could substitute a 100 ohm resistor for R1 and connect the positive side to pin 1 and the negative side to pin 4 of the cable.

The Fugitive · « **Reply #10 on:** May 29, 2007, 05:13:17 PM »

Thanks Jenks ! Have you tried this set-up out? I mean the freelook and everything?

Heres the Led positioning picture the guy sent me.

Tigger29 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 29, 2007, 09:23:29 PM »

UPDATE:

OK so here's what I've done: (I've been busy today)

-Converted my webcam (old logitech) to IR... pretty easy really.. with a little research it was just a matter of disassembling it, removing the IR filter, and replacing it with two layers of pure black negative film (from color camera film). It works FLAWLESSLY

-I wired four IR LEDs in parallel through the USB power supply.. I figure this gives each LED 1.25v of power (they are rated 1.7v max).. they work flawlessly but I'm still afraid of burn out (turning a diode into a fryode).

My problem now is they seem almost too bright.. instead of small globes of light (such as on the freetrack website) I'm getting large globes that keep interfering with each other.. seems like no matter how I adjust the settings I can't compensate for this.. so I need a way of de-intensifying the LEDs.. maybe I'll switch things over to a series circuit and install a resistor, like in the diagram.

I'm assuming the whole "parallel vs. series" calculations work the same with LEDs as they do with bulbs (with exception of polarity) but if I'm wrong please feel free to let me know!

Any other ideas?

(Also to clarify things... "Freetrack" is the Track-IR compatible software that utilizes four points of light.. whereas "Freelook" basically ties a single point of light to mouse movement, which in turn can be used in games that utilize mouse-view mode.. but not as versatile as Freetrack)

Spatula · « **Reply #12 on:** May 29, 2007, 09:31:38 PM »

Do you have to use IR LEDs??

Tigger29 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 29, 2007, 09:47:34 PM »

No.. you can leave the IR filter in place in your camera.. and use normal LEDs, the problem is it's much more susceptible to background light interference... for example.. if the wife turned on a light across the room, the software may try to lock on to that instead, effectively causing you to lose your 262..and 2.7 million perkies

Spatula · « **Reply #14 on:** May 29, 2007, 10:20:16 PM »

ah i see