Head Tracking for under 10€

[newboerg 10]

For those out there that are to broke to afford a TrackIR, you might have heard of FreeTrack or FaceTrackNoIR.

Both are WAY inferior to TrackIR (With IR Tracking) and this is not what i'd like to show you :)

BUT FaceTrack has the option to use some dedicated tracking hardware, that you can stick to your Headset.

you may know those things from your smartphone or RC Helicopter...

Necessary Investment just under 10€ :-)

I've put together a little Guide how to build one.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/omgopnyl70jbxap/FaceTrackHAT.pdf

Its not harder to build then getting ACRE to run, so i guess most hardcore players should be able to build one.

You just need the Software described in the Guide and than you can add a "TrackIR" Controller using your arma settings

Edited January 29, 2014 by newboerg

[Dwarden 1125]

thanks for sharing

[saltatormortis 12]

do i see it right with your layout it support only the freelook part?(3dof)

a question to the devs:

is already a support for the new peeking/leaning feature in Track-ir integrated??

[newboerg 10]

i only activated freelook, because i like to lean using Q and E.

but arma side its possible.

The Hardware can do it aswell, have not testet if the facetrack plugin handles acceleration but if it does, leaning would be possible

[Tonci87 163]

So, is anybody else up for this? can you tape that to a headset?

[newboerg 10]

thats what i am doing, the big white Breadboard ist just for wire testing. ill put it right on top of my headset

[megagoth1702 252]

Very nice work, thank you for sharing! :)

[AlexVestin 24]

Genius :D

Thanks for sharing! I can imagine a lot of players copying you.

[Tonci87 163]

Yeah, I kinda want to see how it works in the end first. Might be interesting to know how this works with stuff like DCS.

maybe you could make a video tutorial?

[newboerg 10]

I will attach it when i got the Kids in Bed, Should be around 7 o'clock or something, will do another vid then.

@Tonci: Gruss aus Dortmund

[mamasan8 11]

Just wondering why you are building anything when a webcam works.

I use webcam-headtracking all the time in Euro Truck Sim 2.

Edited January 29, 2014 by mamasan8

[jiltedjock 10]

I have found FacetrackNoIR combined with a PS3 Eye to be extremely effective - I use it in flight sims and it is highly configurable.

http://insidesimracing.tv/forums/topic/9919-ps3-eye-and-facetracknoir-works-well/

[CaptainObvious 95]

Nice! I'm definitely going to try this, thanks for sharing!

[Tonci87 163]

I will attach it when i got the Kids in Bed, Should be around 7 o'clock or something, will do another vid then.

@Tonci: Gruss aus Dortmund

Gruss von 10-20km südlich :p

I look forward to it

[rundll.exe 12]

Thanks for sharing! I have an arduino eating dust for some years, so this is a nice project to start hacking again!

[newboerg 10]

So why not use a Cam? i could tell you why i sold my TrackIR today :)

I never could find the perfect Cam position so i had to constantly move it and stuff ( i dont sit on the same spot all the time...)

thats why i tried this and it works like a charm.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8drhb76dg8xgkk9/IMAG0140.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/opb70vlotrh5anz/IMAG0141.jpg

oh and see it in action...

[Defunkt 431]

Could somebody please to link to an international mail-order site that sells theses components at these types of prices.

Everything in my neck of the woods (New Zealand) is like 10 times the price.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like eBay is the way to go.

[10t 12]

do i see it right with your layout it support only the freelook part?(3dof)

a question to the devs:

is already a support for the new peeking/leaning feature in Track-ir integrated??

The hardware (MPU-6050) is 6dof: A 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyro. So it should be no problem.

You can bind any of the TrackIR (or, presumably FaceTrack) axes to progressive lean. I'm pretty sure that the 'peek right/peek left' (where you sidestep out and switch gun hands if you go left) is all-or-nothing though.

[newboerg 10]

yeah EBAY is the way to go for these stuff, i always order my electronic components straigt from there. usually takes about a week to arive (to germany) NZ should be faster :)

[blackpixxel 53]

This is great, it should be much faster and more precise than webcam tracking!

I already had the idea of using gyro-sensors and my Arduino Leonardo for head tracking, but I didn't know how to build it exactly.

I will definetly do this!

Grüße aus Leipzig ;)

[Degman 73]

A minute ago I tried with a via webcam software and its really unplayable .. Once I really must check out your system.

[Defunkt 431]

yeah EBAY is the way to go for these stuff, i always order my electronic components straigt from there. usually takes about a week to arive (to germany) NZ should be faster :)

Still not simple, I lined up the two components (identical to the ones you've used) both from the same seller, first sale processed fine but the second item didn't seem to have a shipping option setup for New Zealand so now I'm apparently waiting on a quote. Sometimes it's frustrating living on the bottom of the world.

[DancZer 65]

Thanks for sharing. I almost finished my solution. I can't believe it! :D

I am using the same Micro Pro for master and MPU-9150 board for sensors.

Nice to see that someone else did it too. :D

Great tutorial btw!

[Tonci87 163]

Is that a Rockat Kave I see? I have the same!

[mamasan8 11]

I'll have to look into this, looks really good. Thanks for the info.

I have two questions: How are you powering the hardware? Is it wireless?

Edited January 30, 2014 by mamasan8