head-tracking with trackhat.org

[thbaero]

Hi there,

just placed my order for a head-tracker from trackhat.org.
Processing and shipping will take approximately 3 weeks.
Hope to get everything up running fast once it arrived.

Does anybody have already some experience with this head-tracker?

Thomas

[binsely]

Hi I bought one,
Seems pretty cool,
I had a bit of hard time making it work,
then it worked for a a bit, using FreeTrack 1.2,
then now with FreeTrack 2.0 it started make random movements,
can't make it work, were you able to make it work?
Which software are you using?

James the hardware guy, is not helping much,
I am considering returning if I can't figure it out.

Let me know
Thank you
Osvaldo Bins Ely

[BeastFromTheEast]

With any form of IR based headtracking, it is important the camera has line of sight of the LEDs at all times.

Freetrack was originally designed to work with a webcam, which will generally pick up infra-red fairly well. With the older Logitech camera I had, I used a section of magnetic media from a 3 1/2" disk, which transmits IR but which will block anything visible. This prevented the system from locking onto stray light (i.e. reflections from furniture etc etc) although I found darkening the room helped considerably.

Having said that it looks as if the TrackHat company do their own software?

Ian

[riccardosl]

With any form of IR based headtracking, it is important the camera has line of sight of the LEDs at all times.

Freetrack was originally designed to work with a webcam, which will generally pick up infra-red fairly well. With the older Logitech camera I had, I used a section of magnetic media from a 3 1/2" disk, which transmits IR but which will block anything visible. This prevented the system from locking onto stray light (i.e. reflections from furniture etc etc) although I found darkening the room helped considerably.

Having said that it looks as if the TrackHat company do their own software?

Ian

Seems they have they own software, not sure if is working with Condor

[mada2000]

With any form of IR based headtracking, it is important the camera has line of sight of the LEDs at all times.

Freetrack was originally designed to work with a webcam, which will generally pick up infra-red fairly well. With the older Logitech camera I had, I used a section of magnetic media from a 3 1/2" disk, which transmits IR but which will block anything visible. This prevented the system from locking onto stray light (i.e. reflections from furniture etc etc) although I found darkening the room helped considerably.

Having said that it looks as if the TrackHat company do their own software?

Ian

Seems they have they own software, not sure if is working with Condor

Definitely will. It is not related to Condor but to the OS. Anyway I was using head tracking solution and was not fully satisfied due to the fact that my room is very bright and monitor screens are opposite the window (west side). Much better solution, Im using now almost a year is edtracked. If you are a bit technician you are able to do it by yourself, gathering the parts from China (much more cheaper)
all about you can find here http://www.edtracker.org.uk/index.php/diy

Adam

[janjansen]

You can indeed just make your own. You will need a webcam, and realistically one where you remove the IR filter, and replace it with a IR pass filter. You can buy premodded webcams for this purpose on ebay and elsewhere, or you can try do it yourself.

If you are going for a IR sensitive camera (and you should), you will then need an IR transmitter to mount on your headset. I actually have a "real" track IR, but the reflective clip doesnt work very well, and the IR track clip costs too much for basically 3 leds, so I made it myself:





Just requires 3 infrared leds. I mounted them using some brass pipe, a plastic box, heatshrink and powered it with a 5V battery (or you can power it through USB). Once again, you can buy such clips premade on ebay and elsewhere.

Then you need software, and if you use a webcam, all you really need is opentrack. You can configure opentrack to work with a webcam alone, and use face tracking, or you can configure it to track red dots or whatever, but if you want it to work well, and work in different light conditions, infrared leds and IR pass filter is the way to go

[GBECSIM]

Hi Adam,

I assemblied a EDTracking module today. It is very simple and it works well after calibration.

How to link the EDT module and Condorsim ?
It does not appear in the CondorSim setup menu.
I already use a TM1600 with rudder pedals.

Your help will be appreciated, thank you very much.

Best regards,
Gilles