Update FaceTrackNoIR

[v4friend 10]

Hello ArmA 2 fans!

It took some time, but now the first release of ' my' head-tracker is ready for testing: FaceTrackNoIR. It is a program that runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7 and uses the faceAPI from SeeingMachines. The major advantage over other head-trackers is, that you only need a simple web-cam and NO hats with LED's (or anything like that). All it needs is your face and some proper lighting...

The first release is ready for downloading at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/facetracknoir/files/

It is made compatible with ArmA 2 (using Free-track protocol) and FlightGear. After installation (which requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1) the head-tracker should work. It does require the patch, which enables Free-track support ... You must also enable Free-track in the ArmA settings!

Of course, I am very curious to receive your feedback: it's the only way to improve software!

Edited May 26, 2010 by V4Friend
New insights.

[Zipper5 74]

That sounds pretty cool. I own a TrackIR 5 myself. Are you sure it works with Arma 2, though? As in it's compatible with the TIR5 and/or Freetrack SDKs in the game?

[anc 0]

Now this seems to be quite interesting.

I will give it a try! =D

Kudos!

Best regards

[v4friend 10]

A friend of mine plays ArmA2 with it all the time. I get my feedback from him. If I keep playing the game myself, I cannot write any software :-)

So yes: it works in ArmA2, using the Free-track protocol...

[MavericK96 0]

Hmm, I'll give this a shot when I get home tonight. I've been wanting to try a TrackIR-like setup but not sure if I would like it, and didn't want to spend the money on TrackIR in case I hated it. :cool:

[ronski 10]

A new piece of software is being developed to control ARMA 2 by head-gesture without the need of IRTrack. A standard webcam is enough!

Please follow the link below:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/facetracknoir/

It's operational, and can be manually tweaked for individual settings.

Let us know what you think! :)

Edited May 25, 2010 by ronski

[Jelliz 10]

Had some problems installing, seems that i have to run the .exe file as an administrator for the installation to complete successfully. Just posting to let anyone that has the same problem know. Now for the testing...

EDIT: Nvm, i get the error message "The application cant start because ippcore-5.3.dll does not exist" when i try to run the program. Ive tried reinstalling, deleting and installing and so on. Any tips?

Edited May 25, 2010 by Jelliz

[Baraka 10]

i get the error message "The application cant start because ippcore-5.3.dll does not exist" when i try to run the program. Ive tried reinstalling, deleting and installing and so on. Any tips?

Same with me.Will try to re-install the .NET Framework.Found a FAQ what said the ippcore-5.3.dll have to be deleted from the "windows\system32" but it wasn´t there.

Is there some more Info about this tool? Can´t find anything what gives me some goog infos.

[Fox '09 14]

:eek:

gona try it out, sounds awesome!

[neokika 62]

Wow, this sounds great, downloading. Feedback later.

edit: Same here, missing ippcore-5.3.dll.

Edited May 25, 2010 by neokika

[ryguy 10]

Incredible! Will try this out and definitely let you know how it works!!

[m1n1d0u 29]

same here ! .dll problem

[MavericK96 0]

Same issue.

[mattxr 9]

Theres already a thread about this ... something seems suspious as both posters are brand new to the fourm!

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?p=1635542#post1635542

[mattxr 9]

i dont think its legit software becarefull installing.. theres already another thead on the forum with a differnt "new" user account advertising it.. same link :/

[MavericK96 0]

i dont think its legit software becarefull installing.. theres already another thead on the forum with a differnt "new" user account advertising it.. same link :/

It's got a screencap of the software on the site and it didn't trigger any AV alerts when I installed it. I think it's legit, just apparently not working for any of us. :p

[rezalt 0]

You need to install FaceApi for it to work. (atleast i had to)

You can get it here: http://www.seeingmachines.com/product/faceapi/downloads/

Will need to register before you can download it.

Seems like a good program btw, will need to find my better webcam though.

Edited May 26, 2010 by rezalt

[Wastelander 10]

Any feedback on this ?

[MavericK96 0]

You need to install FaceApi for it to work. (atleast i had to)

You can get it here: http://www.seeingmachines.com/product/faceapi/downloads/

Will need to register before you can download it.

Seems like a good program btw, will need to find my better webcam though.

This man is correct. It works after getting the FaceAPI.

Seems to track really well in the test program even with mediocre lighting. What's the easiest way to get this working in ArmA2? I've never used Freetrack or anything.

EDIT: Tried using this in the latest ArmA 2 beta. Doesn't work. Crashes the game immediately on startup. Seems to work with 1.05, but I need to figure out the dead zones, since trying to remap the controls with it on just makes it go nuts.

---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:24 PM ----------

I can't figure out how to set deadzones with this software. When I get in-game it just freaks out. Also, it seems to take about 10% CPU utilization. I thought at first it was lagging the game down, but actually there's just a delay in the tracking, and it's really jittery in-game. Plus I can't figure out how to calibrate it to be centered at the start.

Edited May 26, 2010 by MavericK96

[Muahaha 10]

Does it allow 6 DOF movement? Will give this a try... seems to be awesome if it works!

EDIT: found out that there has been a ticket raised for this....not sure what the progress.

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/show/5892

Edited May 26, 2010 by Muahaha

[MavericK96 0]

Does it allow 6 DOF movement? Will give this a try... seems to be awesome if it works!

It does, but in my testing it's way, way too jittery to be usable in game. Maybe I'm not setting it up right, but I'm using the default ArmA profile and in the video preview the tracking seems to work fine, but then I get in-game and it's crazy jittery.

[Baraka 10]

Works nicely with the new link. (don´t forget to turn freetrack on in the options!)

Never had a freetrack or trackIR so i don´t have a comparison,

but as said theres a lot of jittery and there will be a terrible headache hen u play more than a few minutes.

For me, on the ground it will be difficult to aim,in the Air it´s awesome.

Maybe there is some tuning in the settings, i have tryed the Arma-Profile.

But it´s really a great tool.With better settings it will be really awesome.

[alef 0]

Thank you for your software. I'll give a try for sure this evening.

In the past, I've used

and it worked, but eats CPU.

Good to see you use the FreeTrack dll, this would avoid PPJoy problems with 64bit users.

Jaynus is working on his arma2lib project to have 6DOF like Kegetys did for ArmA1.

[EricM 0]

The face tracking seems really robust and efficient in terms of CPU usage and freedom of movement (90° of head movement !), but the filtering ingame is jerky, giving me flashing frames all the time.

Trying to increase the sample filtering only increases latency and doesn't solve the flickering/jitter.

It still seem like a wonderful piece of technology to replace freetrack... when it's sorted out.

Note : a "center" key button wouldn't be bad either.

[v4friend 10]

Hello guys (and girls?),

Thanks for giving me feedback. Some of you wonder if it's legit: it is! I've made it myself, to make headtracking available to those with a small purse ;)

To reduce the jittering ingame, you may have to tweak the settings. For the sensitivity I would recommend settings around 100 (which actually means amplify movement by "1"). In FlightGear this settings seems too small: 300 works there...

The smoothing slows down movement, because it adds up 'n' samples and takes an average of those. Too high a number makes headtracking 'laggy'.

The neutral-zone put a band around the initial '0', so keeping your head in the initial position should keep the head still. When you press 'Start' in FaceTrackNoIR, you should try to keep your face in a neutral position :cool:

I would like to remind you that this is just a first release. Using your feedback, we will try to improve!

P.S.: Before switching to ArmA, minimize FaceTrackNoIR: it should reduce CPU-load. The faceAPI however is quite demanding...