PointCTRL - Finger Mounted VR Controller

[westr]

I am definitely interested Miles. Look forward to the possibility of getting this.

[MilesD]

 

My only feedback would be if you could possibly throw in a couple of paragraphs next time, it would help my old tired eyes! :D

 

Thanks Ratcatcher, just fixed it, its just my old tired brain.

 

Miles

[mariner3302]

Miles, this is awesome, count me in! Is it possible to change the brightness and/or shape of the mouse cursor? I find it much too bright during night ops.

[Joe_S]

PointCTRL Inquiry

 

Miles,

I am extremely interested in acquiring even an initial prototype of your final product asap.

 

If you would, please PM me at your earliest convenience and I can give you my email address for further discussion.

 

Thank you for what you are doing for this community.

 

V/R,

Joe S

[crazysundog]

Great work, Miles!

I think I'll be reaching out for this soon.

[DeadEnd]

I firmly believe tactile buttons would be more effective than the capacitive touch sensors. I don't exclude the choice between the two since maybe someone prefers capacitive, but I will explain why I don't.

 

Tactile feedback gives you a "roger that" that makes it faster and more foolproof. I have had a HP41CV calculator "for ever" and I still haven't found a keyboard that failsafe, I always know that my press was recorded and correct. I have an HP41CV emulator on my phone, but I always notice missed keystrokes - a physical key makes a vast difference.

 

I have a LG monitor with touch keys on the front, I truly hate and despise it, it is almost impossible to see where you are intended to "press" and you never really know if you hit the correct one. Lousy user interface...

 

Enough about that. I am so very HAPPY that you report further progress! Good work!

[SDsc0rch]

I firmly believe tactile buttons would be more effective than the capacitive touch sensors.

 

...

 

Tactile feedback gives you a "roger that" that makes it faster and more foolproof.

...

 

i second that!

[rrohde]

+1 on the tactile feedback.

[MilesD]

I firmly believe tactile buttons would be more effective than the capacitive touch sensors.

Agreed with everyone. I switched to tactile switches a while ago for the FCU for all of the reasons you stated. I was always going to go with tactile switch banks on the VR headset. I was originally going to go with 2 small capacitive sensors on the camera mount for a user interface with the PointCTRL software. But I also switched that to small tactile switches. Thanks for your spot on input, and keep it coming.

Update: I received the new sensor datasheets today and just finished the PCB redesign. I am going to cut them as soon I finish a short honey-do list for the wife.

 

Miles

[A2597]

still targeting a $175 price point?

I'm quite interested, but with the holidays I can't afford to jump on one just yet. :)

[MilesD]

still targeting a $175 price point?

Its still $175.00, I was trying to keep it around the cost of TrackIR. I may have to make the VR Headset auxiliary button banks optional, if I cant get the production cost down.

 

Update:

I cut the revised HMS boards tonight and I just temporarily placed some components for a visual reference.

The weight without the enclosure is 0.25oz or 7 grams. You can see 2 push-buttons on the top front of the HMS. They can used be used as a UI for PointCTRL, or can be configured as key-presses. Towards the back of the HMS, you can see 2 JST 4 pin header connectors for the auxiliary button banks.

 

I am experimenting with having PointCTRL being read as a Mouse and joystick so any buttons can be mapped as joystick buttons. Right now they can be mapped as keyboard presses with any combination required. I had a few issues with the joystick HID descriptor running along side the HID mouse descriptor.

 

Anyway here are a few pics of tonight's work.

Edited November 28, 2018 by MilesD
Drinking Captain Morgan and overshared

[OzWookiee]

O.O WOW Outstanding!!

[mariner3302]

There are a bunch of us gathering at the starting line waiting to throw money at ya to get these if you need it!

[FireCat]

I'm with mariner3302 just say the word Miles.

[MilesD]

@ mariner3302 and Firecat and others who have offered to contribute. Thanks for the offers, I truly do appreciate it, but I would not be comfortable accepting money until PointCTRL is actually ready to ship. But please continue to offer your thoughts, ideas, and observations. Funds are not slowing the process, it is optimization and the countless small nuances of implantation that are taking much longer than I anticipated. But the nuances are critical to making the experience as natural as possible.

 

Update: I completed the hardware proofing of the HMS tonight, I had issues that needed a small design update. I am ordering the production PCBs for the HMS tomorrow, I should have them in a week. Now that things are starting to get locked in, I will try to post a new video soon.

 

Thanks

 

Miles

[tribundf]

Great news Miles. Looking forward to the video.

[cmeliak]

very nice, interesting.

[VFRHawk]

Like many others have said, I can see this as a great addon for VR flying - personally I fly the UH1 a lot and think this would be great.

 

One thing that was mentioned earlier that I'd like to re-iterate, would be the ability to mount the sensor to something like the top of your monitor and use this with other sims (not just flight, I could see it working well in things like racing games too) outside of VR. I'm about to spend a lot more money then you are discussing buying switch boxes and radio stacks for P3D. If I could use this in that sim I probably won't bother with the switch boxes..

 

I guess ideally being able to move between the two (HMD mounted and monitor mounted) would be ideal. Maybe something to consider once production is underway as it would widen the appeal.

 

Many thanks

Graham

[Chic]

Like many others have said, I can see this as a great addon for VR flying - personally I fly the UH1 a lot and think this would be great.

 

One thing that was mentioned earlier that I'd like to re-iterate, would be the ability to mount the sensor to something like the top of your monitor and use this with other sims (not just flight, I could see it working well in things like racing games too) outside of VR. I'm about to spend a lot more money then you are discussing buying switch boxes and radio stacks for P3D. If I could use this in that sim I probably won't bother with the switch boxes..

 

I guess ideally being able to move between the two (HMD mounted and monitor mounted) would be ideal. Maybe something to consider once production is underway as it would widen the appeal.

 

Many thanks

Graham

 

See posts # 83 & 85

[MilesD]

Hi Graham,

I will have to pick up P3D in the future to test it. Any function you can perform with a mouse should also work with PointCTRL. There are a lot of user configurable options that should allow the user to be able to optimize it to their personal preferences or applications. I am developing PointCTRL specifically with DCS because that is what I fly, However it should work well with any flight sim. As soon as I get my new pit area usable, I am going to test it with other sims.

 

One of the delays with PointCTRL was that I redesigned the FCU’s to reversable, so they can be used facing forward and used with conventional monitors like you suggested. There are certain distance parameters that must be maintained after calibration, but it works well. A two-camera system that I plan on developing in the future will also calculate distance, making the finger distance from screen parameter less critical. More to come on that in the future as well as tracking integration.

Thanks for the interest and comments,

Miles

 

edit, Thanks Chic, didn't see your post.

Edited December 2, 2018 by MilesD

[VFRHawk]

I'll be happy to test Miles, I intend to order as soon as the product is available

 

Graham

[mariner3302]

I'm about to spend a lot more money then you are discussing buying switch boxes and radio stacks for P3D. If I could use this in that sim I probably won't bother with the switch boxes..

 

I hadnt thought of P3D! Yeah. with this I might go back to flying that sim in VR!

[MetalGear_Honk]

Hi

That device is exactly what I was looking for.

Wonderful idea.

As a side note I see you are using standard LED have you thought about using flat top LED? For wider Angle?

And for my personal curiosity: is that a Pixart sensor? Where did you get these?

Greetings

MetalGear_Honk

[MilesD]

Hi

That device is exactly what I was looking for.

Wonderful idea.

As a side note I see you are using standard LED have you thought about using flat top LED? For wider Angle?

And for my personal curiosity: is that a Pixart sensor? Where did you get these?

Greetings

MetalGear_Honk

Hi Metal Gear

I had originally used a flat top wide angle lens ,but I was getting a reflection of my hand and the radiant intensity was low. I did a lot of experimenting with different angle lens and feel I have a good compromise now, balancing intensity and angle.

 

You are correct, it's PixArts latest sensor. I have an extremely restrictive NDA with them. They have a similar sensor with partial datasheet listed on their website. That sensor is available on allibabba in small quantities for $30.00 each. I requested a quote from them for 250 units and the price was still $30.00.

 

Thanks for the questions, I was following your FFB thread for a while, great stuff!!

 

Miles

[Metro]

Been following your progress. Awesome work and I want one! Will keep watching.

Metro