Consideration - Freetrack vs. FaceTrack NoIR and more

[Chlebakus]

Hello to everyone,

Since I watch tendencies in headtracking devices I found myself some problems and solutions in it. And I found this section on forum fitting for this theme.

 

There are, as far as I know two main softwares (or devices if you want) used for headtracking - TrackIR and Freetrack followed by TrackNOIR. I would like to share my experiences with the last two freeware ones.

 

TrackIR is widely supported and often working without problems. But there is main problem with availibility and price.

 

Freetrack, on the other hand is very cheap alternative. Buy some IR led camera, make some reflective model and you are there. I think it was equal 15-20$ to make it First issue you could encounter in DCS is that the program just cannot use Freetrack's TrackIR protocol. There is a fix for it. I my case it unfortunately caused major input error of actually everything.

 

For those who don't like modifying DCS files, I have priceless advice - Don't try to make TrackIR protocol functional. Use virtual joystick. You will have to assign each axis manually and check, but it is really easy way to use it without any fear of screwing your DCS input config files.

The attached PPjoy maybe won't work. But I believe in each one's Google skill to find installation files working on your system.

It works for Track NOIR too! With the difference that it arrives with functional Vjoys.

So you don't have to be mad about any mystery disfunction of free tracking software.

 

Freetrack has two main point models you could use. It is cap or clip 3 point model. 4 point cap model looks pretty much same as the simpler one and works the same way. Then why to complicate it? Cap model is reliable in angles and transitions. Only problem comes to light when you want to look up. There is a chance that rear point hide behind the peak of a cap.

I personally use headphone clip model now. I just cannot imagine myself sitting at PC with headphones (headset) on and with cap on my head. I found this to be very accurate in angular view. But it is just sooooo bad in transitions. Calibration of clip central offset just kills most of transition outputs.

Maybe in latest it is better. But the newest version just won't start on my platform, so I must use the older one.

 

But now let's compare it to Track NOIR. It main task is to track player's face. It can be even cheaper alternative than Freetrack. Face tracking is cheap, quite usable and not very accurate. It is why I find it very unappreciated by simmers. Actually I started on with this software since I was not able to buy TrackIR system and didn't know about alternatives. I was great in transitions, unstable in angles, but my Cliffs of Dover was flyable enough. And even in DCS I used it to a point when I was tired of my mouse cursor constantly dodging every buttons to click. Now, when I have much better webcam, I should try face tracking again and see the results.

Setting, curves, everything is much simplier than in Freetrack case. It doesn't mean less detailed, just easier to adjust.

 

What recently came to my mind when I was thinking about this software was: "Weren't there some other tracking filters?" And yes. There are some I don't know. And there is point tracker as in Freetrack. It uses pretty much same engine I think. But slightly improved. So I entered dimensions of my headphone clip model and then I looked for offset calibration. Button "Calibrate" was pressed and after some head-dancing it calculated offset dimensions itself. They can be saved by pressing "Calibrate" again. When I tried it in DCS I found it much better and more accurate than Freetrack. Suddenly I can move my head in cockpit just everywhere. No clip calibration restriction, no strange transitions. It made my day, I must tell you.

 

If you are in for some experiments and have point model, try this program in point tracking mode. It is pretty much the same in some functions and in some aspects even better than Freetrack. All settings are pretty easy to adjust. Including curves which you can watch in action while tracking.

 

As far as I know, Freetrack is currently not in development. The newest version is just too old. Maybe 2008 or so? Track NOIR is continually improving.

 

Maybe I am just missing information but I didn't see any sign of people using it nor the ones mentioning it anywhere nowadays. Track NOIR is not only face track, it can also point track and surely even more which I still didn't discover.

 

So, that's why I wanted to share my thoughts here.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Chlebakus

[StiC]

Anyone reading this should also consider Open Track. It is the successor to FaceTrack NoIR and offers some extra feature such as relative translation.

 

https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack

[Devrim]

...And there is point tracker as in Freetrack. It uses pretty much same engine I think. But slightly improved. So I entered dimensions of my headphone clip model and then I looked for offset calibration. Button "Calibrate" was pressed and after some head-dancing it calculated offset dimensions itself. They can be saved by pressing "Calibrate" again. When I tried it in DCS I found it much better and more accurate than Freetrack. Suddenly I can move my head in cockpit just everywhere. No clip calibration restriction, no strange transitions. It made my day, I must tell you...

Yes! That's why I switched to FaceTrackNoIR.

 

My story: I use 3-LED Cap model over my headphone (can't use clip model, because my eye-glasses's reflection is messing up everything when I turn my head left or right). And I did use FreeTrack very long time. I got used to it, so didn't want to look at FaceTrackNoIR or something. Overtime I'm tired of FreeTrack's problems and buggy structure.

 

One day I wanted to try FTNoIR's face tracking feature. Yes, it's not stable. I tried many settings and transition adjusts ... no joy. It wasn't like Face Track performance. Then I switched back to FaceTrack. :)

 

After a time, I read about FTNoIR's "point tracker" feature and tried it with my 3-LED Cap. It worked! After a few adjustment it has become perfect. Especially -as you mentioned- "Calibrate" button is a life saver! In FreeTrack I was trying to adjust by manually, and mostly I couldn't get proper solution or result. My head rotation wan not really natural and not acting normal! FTNoIR's Calibrate button sets everything and puts it in front of you. You just click Start and enter DCS World. :)

 

After that, I'm done with FreeTrack. I'm sure FaceTrackNoIR has other settings to discover. I'll look at them in my free time.

 

Thanks for article.

[Raven Morpheus]

If you are in for some experiments and have point model, try this program in point tracking mode.

 

I currently use FTNoIR that way and it works but has a couple of issues I find.

 

1. The rotation in game (DCS) on the yaw axis doesn't stop where it should. I have the yaw axis set to 90 degrees output with about 20 degree input, and then after that the line is flat at 90 degrees. Now in IL2 1946 I move my head the required 20 degrees or so and it stops at 90 degree, which is what I would expect it to do. Doesn't seem to work like that in DCS though, it goes all the way to what seems like about my 7 o'clock or 5 o'clock, depending on to which side I move. And for some reason I have to invert the yaw axis.

 

2. I can't seem to hold a steady zoomed in rotated view. So for example in the UH-1H if I rotate the view to look at the top center panel and zoom in on it by moving my head forward the view gets all jittery. It's not so bad on doing the same for the center console by looking down and moving my head forward but still not ideal.

 

Other than those, yes FTNoIR, a PS3 Eye, and a home made 3 point IR LED clip are well worth the tiny investment (less than £20) compared to the cost of TrackIR.

 

EDIT - Just tried Open Track (after spending an age trying to work out how to decompress a .tar.xz file) and that seems to me to be no better than FTNoIR. I still have to invert the yaw axis and in the DCS UH-1H it still can't quite hold a good steady zoomed in view of the center consoles top/bottom.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Raven Morpheus

[txmtb]

I went through all of them also, and settled on Opentrack. I like Freetracks interface for viewing movement but had too many crashes and camera lockups on it.

The best thing for me is with OpenTrack when you are looking back at 6 oclock and lean either direction the view moves the way it should. FaceTrackNoIR's reverse view doesn't work correctly, when you lean left the view goes right and vice-versa when looking backwards.

[Denco]

How does one use OpenTrack? Are there any tutorials?

[txmtb]

How does one use OpenTrack? Are there any tutorials?

 

 

Not really anything that I've seen, but the interface is very similar to FaceTrackNoIR so you should be able to use one if you use the other.

The biggest difference is an updated Accela filter that has totally different setting parameters.

[Denco]

Not really anything that I've seen, but the interface is very similar to FaceTrackNoIR so you should be able to use one if you use the other.

The biggest difference is an updated Accela filter that has totally different setting parameters.

 

How do I install it. When downloaded its as a source file is it not?

[txmtb]

The windows versions are here: Dropbox

Think I'm using the 2.2a from a couple of months ago.

It's a standalone program, so no installation is needed, just unzip to a directory of choice and run.

Edited August 29, 2014 by txmtb
Version wrong

[KLR Rico]

I guess it's time to check out the other offerings... I've been using a PS3 eye with freetrack for a few years now, but lately it's been crashing in FSX pretty frequently.

 

facetracknoir's calibrate feature sounds good, I've always had strange effects where the view would flip around awkwardly at some angles, hopefully that'll fix it.

[Denco]

The windows versions are here: Dropbox

Think I'm using the 2.2a from a couple of months ago.

It's a standalone program, so no installation is needed, just unzip to a directory of choice and run.

 

Thx :thumbup:

[Denco]

Well I've tried Opentrack in DCS World and Arma 3 and its not working. I'm using HT 1.0 and Freetrack and Accela filter. And yes I've set the curves up.

 

I am missing something because the camera works and is detected and so is my face but there is no movement in games.

[KLR Rico]

After a little bit of tinkering I got facetracknoir working pretty well in DCS with my PS3 eye and 3 point cap. The only issue I've noticed is that every so often the screen will flash with a different view angle. It seems random, not related to my head position or movement, but the different view only flashes for a single frame or so. At first I thought it was a gfx glitch because it looked like a random white flash, but after a while I figured out it was a randomly oriented cockpit view. I haven't really had time to troubleshoot it yet, but I suspect playing around with the point tracker settings might help.

[txmtb]

Well I've tried Opentrack in DCS World and Arma 3 and its not working. I'm using HT 1.0 and Freetrack and Accela filter. And yes I've set the curves up.

 

I am missing something because the camera works and is detected and so is my face but there is no movement in games.

 

Not sure about Arma 3 but the only setting I can think to check in Opentrack is under the Game Protocol settings.

Been so long since I've installed it but don't think I had to do anything special.

[airdoc]

i have been using freetrack for some time, and after this i switched to facetracknoir. It is better, more user friendly and less buggy.

 

thanks for this post

[Raven Morpheus]

After hemming and hawing for a year, I'm definitely going to go to FacetrackNoir. Do you use it with the IR filter?

 

 

If you buy a PS3 Eye cam (about $11), you only need to make a filter out of the red/cyan panels in a pair of paper 3d glasses (about $3), just put them together over each other and secure it over the PS3 Eye cam lens. Obviously you will also require the PS3 Eye Windows driver, available here - http://codelaboratories.com/products/eye/driver/

 

That's what I did with my PS3 Eye cam and it works fine. Some people disassemble the PS3 Eye and remove the IR filter, but I read that it's not necessary and mine works just fine without removing the IR filter, I just had to adjust the brightness/contrast in the little app for the camera, and also the threshold in FTNoIR.

 

Depending on which version of the PS3 Eye cam you get you may have a problem though, but don't quote me on this because mine worked fine. Apparently there are 2 versions, one with a good lens configuration and one with a bad one, see here for details - http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/5189/

Edited August 30, 2014 by Raven Morpheus

[airdoc]

I 'm using red LED lights for the cap, not IR ones and have not messed with the PSeye at all.

If the room is not very lit, the camera can tell the LEDs from the background pretty nice.

[Devrim]

...If the room is not very lit, the camera can tell the LEDs from the background pretty nice.

I stuck a dark colored plastic (cut a little piece from photograph film's first frame) on the cam eye. It's dark red, so, cam sees only red LED lights. :thumbup:

[zaelu]

What recently came to my mind when I was thinking about this software was: "Weren't there some other tracking filters?" And yes. There are some I don't know. And there is point tracker as in Freetrack. It uses pretty much same engine I think. But slightly improved. So I entered dimensions of my headphone clip model and then I looked for offset calibration. Button "Calibrate" was pressed and after some head-dancing it calculated offset dimensions itself. They can be saved by pressing "Calibrate" again. When I tried it in DCS I found it much better and more accurate than Freetrack. Suddenly I can move my head in cockpit just everywhere. No clip calibration restriction, no strange transitions. It made my day, I must tell you.

 

If you are in for some experiments and have point model, try this program in point tracking mode. It is pretty much the same in some functions and in some aspects even better than Freetrack. All settings are pretty easy to adjust. Including curves which you can watch in action while tracking. .

 

 

What is the exact name of the program please? Sorry, I did not understood what you said. Any site or download link?

[Chlebakus]

What is the exact name of the program please? Sorry, I did not understood what you said. Any site or download link?

Face Track NOIR - http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/

After installation, you can select either face tracking filter (uses your face as tracking device) or Point track, which is similar to Freetrack and will work with your point model.

[Chlebakus]

After a little bit of tinkering I got facetracknoir working pretty well in DCS with my PS3 eye and 3 point cap. The only issue I've noticed is that every so often the screen will flash with a different view angle. It seems random, not related to my head position or movement, but the different view only flashes for a single frame or so. At first I thought it was a gfx glitch because it looked like a random white flash, but after a while I figured out it was a randomly oriented cockpit view. I haven't really had time to troubleshoot it yet, but I suspect playing around with the point tracker settings might help.

This looks pretty much like lost track for a second. It is not an issue. It happens also in Freetrack. Key is in settings. Try to find settings of losing a track. You can choose if you want to hold the point of view, or to center the view. Use this and the strange view flashes should end.

[Chlebakus]

After hemming and hawing for a year, I'm definitely going to go to FacetrackNoir. Do you use it with the IR filter?

Personally I recommend webcam with IR diodes. (I have this one Clip-on Lighting LED Web Camera)

You can make very simple reflective model and it is not necessary to remove IR filter. It works with it. You just need to cover its light sensor to make these LEDs work when it is not as dark.

[KLR Rico]

Looks like there might have been a ppjoy conflict, I uninstalled it and it seems to be working OK now. I don't know why it'd do that though, since ppjoy wasn't selected as the output. Oh well, such is software....

[Chlebakus]

Looks like there might have been a ppjoy conflict, I uninstalled it and it seems to be working OK now. I don't know why it'd do that though, since ppjoy wasn't selected as the output. Oh well, such is software....

It is always better to kill all unwanted inputs. The point is that DCS always uses all available devices, so it also use PPjoy, if it is not shut down. Cant say for sure. I don't have these problems with random view flashes.

[sthalik]

Guys,

 

Common issues are answered here: https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/wiki/Common-issues

 

Software's explained here: https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/wiki/Concepts-used

 

Rather than advising new users to make a LED rig, point them to Aruco tracker: https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/wiki/Aruco-tracker