What kind of Headtracking system are you using?

[Bourrinopathe]

I don't know exactly if I have the right (old) PS3 Eye toy, or the bad (new) version. However, what I read is that removing the IR filter is not perse necessary; with a visual light filter like exposed film it would pick up the IR leds. Does someone has some experience with this? I hope this week my clip is printed so I can start assembling...

 

I tested my PS3Eye before removing the IR filter lens, with an old floppy disc filter. The received signal was definitely weaker and it was difficult to keep a stable tracking in daylight.

My home-made emitter is equipped with very decent IR LEDs (SFH485P).

 

I removed the IR filter lens and I think I have the new PS3Eye. It got a bit blurry but the signal strength is now significantly more powerful. The tracking is stable with my lighting conditions (day and night - and I live on a tropical island).

 

Depending on your lighting condition and emitter-to-cam distance/angle, you should keep the IR filter on a recent PS3Eye model if you're comfortable with the tracking.

I'd remove it if it struggles to receive a strong signal.

You should be fine with a decent IR emitter.

 

One of my friends is using the same PS3Eye untouched + DelanClip without any tracking issue, but he avoids using it in daylight.

 

You should be able to know what PS3Eye you own by checking the serial number (I've read there's a way to identify the different models with it).

[GurbY]

I tested my PS3Eye before removing the IR filter lens, with an old floppy disc filter. The received signal was definitely weaker and it was difficult to keep a stable tracking in daylight.

My home-made emitter is equipped with very decent IR LEDs (SFH485P).

 

I removed the IR filter lens and I think I have the new PS3Eye. It got a bit blurry but the signal strength is now significantly more powerful. The tracking is stable with my lighting conditions (day and night - and I live on a tropical island).

 

Depending on your lighting condition and emitter-to-cam distance/angle, you should keep the IR filter on a recent PS3Eye model if you're comfortable with the tracking.

I'd remove it if it struggles to receive a strong signal.

You should be fine with a decent IR emitter.

 

One of my friends is using the same PS3Eye untouched + DelanClip without any tracking issue, but he avoids using it in daylight.

 

You should be able to know what PS3Eye you own by checking the serial number (I've read there's a way to identify the different models with it).

I ordered the same LED's. What I understand is using a floppy disc would be necessary after removing the IR filter, so to make sure there isn't any visible light left. Using the exposed film doesn't completely "lock-off" the cam from visible light but most of it is filtered, in a way that IR light still may be able to pass through.

 

And what I read at http://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit/comments/17jdnj/freetrack_with_ps3_eye/ some even manage to get it working without a filter but only adjusting gain and exposure...

Edited March 30, 2015 by GurbY

[=Pedro=]

TrackIR 5 here :)

[GeorgeLKMT]

some even manage to get it working without a filter but only adjusting gain and exposure...

 

Yup.

 

That's what I'm counting on because I want to build it myself (TIR is stupidly overpriced, I don't care if it works), but there's probably no way I could get a model with removable filter...

[snowsniper]

I don't know exactly if I have the right (old) PS3 Eye toy, or the bad (new) version. However, what I read is that removing the IR filter is not perse necessary; with a visual light filter like exposed film it would pick up the IR leds. Does someone has some experience with this? I hope this week my clip is printed so I can start assembling...

 

yes it's OK like that : not necessary to remove the IR filter.

Mine works just fine with a window and full daylight

Just take care to put the exposed film ON the external lens of the ps3eye. If it don't touch enough, the result will be bad.

You'll have to cut the exposed film in a perfect ajusted circle to make it touch the lens in all points.

 

:thumbup:

[GurbY]

OK tnx! I'm planning to assemble it as described here: http://www.free-track.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1856&page=4

[EntropySG]

has anyone directly compared TrackIR4 vs 5? Is there any noticeable advantage that makes it worth upgrading?

[doveman]

@Mano, if you haven't got a template or don't want to share it, could you give the dimensions of your clip. The one I built was smaller and looked something like this:

 

but that didn't work great for me and I was advised to make a bigger one. I need some actual dimensions before I can start though, so it would be great to have them for your clip.

[Mano]

OK tnx! I'm planning to assemble it as described here: http://www.free-track.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1856&page=4

 

If you're going to use batteries, use rechargeable ones and put a switch between on the "+" line...and remember to switch off the system when stopped flying.

I had a battery system (and produced one for a friend), but it's quite a pain...and moved to power cable.

If you have an old cellphone charger you can use it: just cut the cable to the cellphone connector and solder it to your freetrack, or make a connector. Calculate the resistor (presumably better in series) to use with the LED Wizard you can find in the freetrack website. Otherwise you can use my solution by attaching a USB Type A male connector and a USB2Power converter (if you want to connect the usb directly to pc...don't do it if you don't know what you're doing!). They usually are at 5V between 0.5-1A. They should work...

This way you never have to bother with degrade of quality of the signal because the batteries are passing away...

 

I need some actual dimensions before I can start though, so it would be great to have them for your clip.

 

Sorry Doveman, you have PM.

By the way I just looked at the dimensions indicated in the freetrack software model tab and started from there...then I dimensioned the whole structure.

There is a minimum and maximum dimension range to mantain...however slight deviations are accepted by changing the values in the software and inserting the actual ones.

 

However, the real important setup in freetrack is the OFFSET values that are usually misunderstood. If you put your freetrack on the right ear or left, you have to tell it to the software, otherwise all movements won't be correctly calcuated.

The trick is to put the distance of the central led in respect to the center point of you face (around the space between nose and mouth)...I'm not at home now...if required I can share some screenshot).

 

Note that all of this is not required for FaceTrackNoIr because it can use the "autocalibration" feature...

[GurbY]

If you're going to use batteries, use rechargeable ones and put a switch between on the "+" line...and remember to switch off the system when stopped flying.

I had a battery system (and produced one for a friend), but it's quite a pain...and moved to power cable.

If you have an old cellphone charger you can use it: just cut the cable to the cellphone connector and solder it to your freetrack, or make a connector. Calculate the resistor (presumably better in series) to use with the LED Wizard you can find in the freetrack website. Otherwise you can use my solution by attaching a USB Type A male connector and a USB2Power converter (if you want to connect the usb directly to pc...don't do it if you don't know what you're doing!). They usually are at 5V between 0.5-1A. They should work...

This way you never have to bother with degrade of quality of the signal because the batteries are passing away...

 

..

Mano, tnx for your addition. The solution of a usb-charger (I do have some lying around here) seems very attractive. However, if I check your pic of the device and charger (http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2362989&postcount=16) I don't see any resistors used?

Could you give some more info about the resistor? (Ohm/W) and how you wire it including the leds? Something like this: http://www.free-track.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1856&page=2#12649 ?

 

I still have (some) 30Ohm 1/4W resistors. Could I use this one? Or do I need the 22Ohm? In the scheme of the last example they use a 10Ohm resistor..

Edited April 2, 2015 by GurbY

[Mano]

Mano, tnx for your addition. The solution of a usb-charger (I do have some lying around here) seems very attractive. However, if I check your pic of the device and charger (http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2362989&postcount=16) I don't see any resistors used?

Could you give some more info about the resistor? (Ohm/W) and how you wire it including the leds? Something like this: http://www.free-track.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1856&page=2#12649 ?

 

I still have (some) 30Ohm 1/4W resistors. Could I use this one? Or do I need the 22Ohm? In the scheme of the last example they use a 10Ohm resistor..

 

The resistor is hidden where the circle is.

 

It's a 22 Ohm resistor connected in the positive line to the first LED. LEDs are connected in series and they are 5mm IR LED with a forward voltage of around 1.5-1.6V and around 60mA of forward current.

If you look at the LED assembly wizard on freetrack.net --> http://www.free-track.net/english/hardware/calcled/

it gives you a resistor of about 9 ohms...just put around 22 ohms and your LEDs will live forever. The connection scheme you pointed out is ok...actually I think is the one I followed when I begun...:thumbup:

 

At any rate, it really isn't so sensitive, so it's not really required to be very strict on the measurements...you can also just try and see what you get. You can go without a resistor too: you'll have brighter LEDs but probably they won't last very much. The resistor meaning (for the voltage we're working with) is only that it changes the brightness of the LED. consequently it changes its lifespan.

High resistor --> - brightness / + lifespan

low resistor --> + brightness / - lifespan

 

so, to answer to your question: I think you can use the 30 Ohm resistor, and should have no problem. Probably you should lower the freetrack threshold during daylight because the Leds will be a little fleeble, but I don't think you'll have any issue...You're always in time to make a change, anyway...

 

to connect the LEDs, in the scope of maintanability, you don't need to weld them to the cables, but you can use female strip jumpers like these:

this way you can replace any broken LED, in case...but I never did in 7 years! :lol:

 

to connect the wires to the usb connector follow this scheme:

you can find unassembled "USB Male Type A connector plugs" on ebay...just make a search for what I wrote inside the "".

 

I hot-glued the LEDs holders to the wooden structure...just be sure to "lock" the cables (mostly if they are solid core = i.e. stiffer) in order to not generate stress to the holders.

 

ah, most important: be sure to flatten the LED heads. This will prevent to disperse the light too much. The cap should not be shiny, but a bit opaque (without scratches though). Use 600-1000 grit sandpaper.

[FSFIan]

You can go without a resistor too: you'll have brighter LEDs but probably they won't last very much. The resistor meaning (for the voltage we're working with) is only that it changes the brightness of the LED. consequently it changes its lifespan.

High resistor --> - brightness / + lifespan

low resistor --> + brightness / - lifespan

 

Don't omit that resistor! It is there to limit the maximum current. Without it, you are essentially creating a short circuit, which will not only affect the lifetime of your LED, but also the rest of your circuit (although if you are powering from a USB port, those are supposed to survive a short according to the specification, so after a while the polyfuse on your mainboard would trip).

 

Anecdotal evidence: I once forgot to hook up a resistor for the LED backlight of a display (because I mistakenly assumed there was one integrated into the module). The backlight survived, it killed the wall wart I used to power the thing instead. I plugged it into my beefy lab supply afterwards, which startled me by switching on its cooling fan (up to that point I didn't even know it had one). At that point I noticed that the whole thing was drawing a lot more current than it should have...

Edited April 2, 2015 by [FSF]Ian

[GurbY]

The resistor is hidden where the circle is.

 

It's a 22 Ohm resistor connected in the positive line to the first LED. LEDs are connected in series and they are 5mm IR LED with a forward voltage of around 1.5-1.6V and around 60mA of forward current.

If you look at the LED assembly wizard on freetrack.net --> http://www.free-track.net/english/hardware/calcled/

it gives you a resistor of about 9 ohms...just put around 22 ohms and your LEDs will live forever. The connection scheme you pointed out is ok...actually I think is the one I followed when I begun...:thumbup:

 

At any rate, it really isn't so sensitive, so it's not really required to be very strict on the measurements...you can also just try and see what you get. You can go without a resistor too: you'll have brighter LEDs but probably they won't last very much. The resistor meaning (for the voltage we're working with) is only that it changes the brightness of the LED. consequently it changes its lifespan.

High resistor --> - brightness / + lifespan

low resistor --> + brightness / - lifespan

 

so, to answer to your question: I think you can use the 30 Ohm resistor, and should have no problem. Probably you should lower the freetrack threshold during daylight because the Leds will be a little fleeble, but I don't think you'll have any issue...You're always in time to make a change, anyway...

 

to connect the LEDs, in the scope of maintanability, you don't need to weld them to the cables, but you can use female strip jumpers like these:

this way you can replace any broken LED, in case...but I never did in 7 years! :lol:

 

to connect the wires to the usb connector follow this scheme:

you can find unassembled "USB Male Type A connector plugs" on ebay...just make a search for what I wrote inside the "".

 

I hot-glued the LEDs holders to the wooden structure...just be sure to "lock" the cables (mostly if they are solid core = i.e. stiffer) in order to not generate stress to the holders.

 

ah, most important: be sure to flatten the LED heads. This will prevent to disperse the light too much. The cap should not be shiny, but a bit opaque (without scratches though). Use 600-1000 grit sandpaper.

Thanks for your very detailled answer!! I did the the math on the calcled also, but it gives me a resistor value of 5 (I have the SFH485P 100mA). So I guess I need to get another one.

[Raven_Morpheus]

Opentrack with DIY IR LED array and PS3eye (unmodified, I just made a cap that slides on with the red/blue lenses of a pair of card 3D glasses to act as an IR filter).

 

My IR LED array (3 IR LEDs in a similar shape to Mano's but smaller) runs off 2 AAA batteries (rechargeables) but I also have another that runs off USB but I found the cable rather annoying over long periods of time.

 

Wish I could work out how to make a dual power (USB and battery) IR LED array though, for those moments when the batteries die...

 

 

I've just looked at EDTracker and it looks great (and reasonably priced @ £30-£40 if you want a prebuilt one) but it would be better if it was wireless (but I don't suppose that's feasible) - having an annoying cable dangling all over the place is why I went battery powered!

Edited April 2, 2015 by Raven_Morpheus

[doveman]

I actually made something like Edttracker that uses Bluetooth and a Duracell USB rechargeable battery, so it's totally wireless. I bought a spare battery so I could swap them out and not have to resort to using a cable but I think you can use them in pass-through whilst they're charging as well.

 

Unfortunately the FTNOIR plugin for it is very buggy and it stops producing output at random, even though it's still recognising the input and also crashes a lot. There's no plugin for Opentracker yet and no-one appears to be working on it, so I've had to give up on that idea and go back to IR LEDs.

 

It was only 3DOF anyway, which wouldn't satisfy a lot of people but I didn't mind that and it was nice not having to worry about other light sources, the cam losing track of the LEDs and having to set my PS3 Eye's contrast & brightness correctly each time I started.

[GeorgeLKMT]

...having to set my PS3 Eye's contrast & brightness correctly each time I started.

 

What does that mean? I'm considering building this setup and I'd like to know what I'm getting into. Why those settings won't stay?

[doveman]

What does that mean? I'm considering building this setup and I'd like to know what I'm getting into. Why those settings won't stay?

I don't know why but in my experience they reset to 0 every time I closed FTNoIR, so I had to adjust them all the time. Once you know where they need to be set it's not that hard, just tedious and not something I could expect my Dad to do each time he wanted to fly, hence why I was hoping my edtracker-like gizmo would work.

[GeorgeLKMT]

Alright, thanks :) I guess that wouldn't be an issue for me, as long as it works.

[Fritz17031962]

Freetrack with PS3 Eye

[infernus1986]

Opentrack-2.3 release candidate 9, PS3 Eye with a filter and a red led 3 point clip powered by 9v.

Works great for me, couldn't play DCS without it.

I tried Freetrack and FTNoIR first and found them to be lacking in tracking and filtering performance using the same 3 point clip setup.

Also I don't have the issue with the brightness/contrast not sticking but I set that through the CL-Eye driver app.

 

Also all the people using outdated Freetrack should really switch to Opentrack its filters are an order of magnitude better than Freetrack otherwise it has the same features and more.

https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/releases

Edited April 3, 2015 by infernus1986

[Shmick]

I don't know why but in my experience they reset to 0 every time I closed FTNoIR, so I had to adjust them all the time. Once you know where they need to be set it's not that hard, just tedious and not something I could expect my Dad to do each time he wanted to fly, hence why I was hoping my edtracker-like gizmo would work.

 

Hrmm... I don't have this problem (FaceTrackNoIR with PS3 Eye, PointTracker).

 

Are you setting them in the "CL-Eye Test" app that came with the driver for the Eye (whose name I've completely forgotten)?

[doveman]

Hrmm... I don't have this problem (FaceTrackNoIR with PS3 Eye, PointTracker).

 

Are you setting them in the "CL-Eye Test" app that came with the driver for the Eye (whose name I've completely forgotten)?

Ah, guess that's where I was going wrong as I was bringing up the camera settings from somewhere in FTNoIR. It's probably the same dialogue but perhaps it only saves the settings if opened from CLEye.

 

Thanks for the tip guys, fingers crossed I'll get it working better this time around. I expect I'll use opentrack with my LED clip, I only stuck with FTNoIR as OT doesn't support my edtracker-like board.

[Shmick]

Ah, guess that's where I was going wrong as I was bringing up the camera settings from somewhere in FTNoIR. It's probably the same dialogue but perhaps it only saves the settings if opened from CLEye.

 

FaceTrackNoIR doesn't save settings when you exit, or warn you that they'll go unsaved. You have to explicitly hit "Save".

 

Could it be that?

[doveman]

FaceTrackNoIR doesn't save settings when you exit, or warn you that they'll go unsaved. You have to explicitly hit "Save".

 

Could it be that?

Unlikely, as I must have saved my profiles on several occasions after tweaking them but still the camera settings were reset next time I used it. I doubt FT can actually control those settings itself, in which case they wouldn't be part of it's saved profiles.

 

It doesn't matter as long as CLEye saves them though, as it's not like we need different cam settings per game and hopefully I can find a sweet spot that doesn't need adjusting depending on time of day/ambient light. I've got a black out blind on my window now anyway, so I can just close that if too much sun is getting in and ruining my fun

[antzti]

Opentrack-2.3 release candidate 9, PS3 Eye with a filter and a red led 3 point clip powered by 9v.

Works great for me, couldn't play DCS without it.

I tried Freetrack and FTNoIR first and found them to be lacking in tracking and filtering performance using the same 3 point clip setup.

Also I don't have the issue with the brightness/contrast not sticking but I set that through the CL-Eye driver app.

 

Also all the people using outdated Freetrack should really switch to Opentrack its filters are an order of magnitude better than Freetrack otherwise it has the same features and more.

https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/releases

Hmmm strange. I gave a try for Opentrack but after setting it up I just couldn't get it to work as flawlessly as FTNoIR. So I still prefer FTnoIR with Pointracker (using the "Accela" filter) and Freetrack. As my hardware I'm using modified PS3 eye and home made 3 led clip (dimensions from TrackPro).

 

I bought the CL-Eye drivers (they were free back in the days!) and have no problems with brightness / contrast settings resetting either.