DIY Head Tracker For A Tenner

Claw

C
pocketmoon said:
:smilie: spot on

Plan is to release a sketch at some point that takes advantage of it but it's not a priority at the moment.
Click to expand...

Seems like the code is getting pretty large. To enable a couple of pins for my hacked version I had to remove the blink routine. I've hacked a bunch of keyboard/mouse related rubbish out of the USB HID library and that frees up 200 bytes or so, but any hope of gyro support seems unrealistic until the size of the compiled binary is reduced. Do you have any tips on this?
 
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Omegahunter

Omegahunter
GB Paralympian said:
Is there a way to default the mounting to USB right and bottom? each time I want to use the tracker, I have to set this in the UK.

Thanks in advance
Graham
Click to expand...

Its a known bug that some of the mountings positions aren't saved correctly. Left side USB down also does this.
This should be fixed in the next release.

I'm sure that Pocketmoon will add this to the checklist to make sure its not forgotten.
 

Claw

C
Omegahunter said:
Its a known bug that some of the mountings positions aren't saved correctly. Left side USB down also does this.
This should be fixed in the next release.

I'm sure that Pocketmoon will add this to the checklist to make sure its not forgotten.
Click to expand...

They're saved correctly, they just aren't loaded correctly. If you built from source it's as simple as changing the 3 to a 5 on line 248:

find this:
orientation = constrain(EEPROM.read(EE_ORIENTATION), 0, 3);

change to:
orientation = constrain(EEPROM.read(EE_ORIENTATION), 0, 5);

sorted!

Edit: I made my first pull request to fix this. Woot.
 
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Omegahunter

Omegahunter
Yes, saved / load still end up meaning the same to people that cant get it to work.

As you said it can be changed by hand if you have the sketch but some people will want to wait for the next UI update.

Was going to post the sketch fix myself but got distracted :(
 
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Rog

Rog
Claw said:
Seems like the code is getting pretty large. To enable a couple of pins for my hacked version I had to remove the blink routine. I've hacked a bunch of keyboard/mouse related rubbish out of the USB HID library and that frees up 200 bytes or so, but any hope of gyro support seems unrealistic until the size of the compiled binary is reduced. Do you have any tips on this?
Click to expand...
I think you can probably do away with the bootloader on the arduino which would free up some decent space.

Think you'd have to use something like a USBASP2 to flash your code to the device after that though. (Dirt cheap USB programmer from ebay)
 
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n0ahg

N
Claw said:
Seems like the code is getting pretty large. To enable a couple of pins for my hacked version I had to remove the blink routine. I've hacked a bunch of keyboard/mouse related rubbish out of the USB HID library and that frees up 200 bytes or so, but any hope of gyro support seems unrealistic until the size of the compiled binary is reduced. Do you have any tips on this?
Click to expand...

Strip everything out of the custom device you don't need, use fixed point maths, use byte instead of int where you can, keep your string literals short, use AVR Studio to avoid using the Arduino boot loader, etc.
 
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GB Paralympian

G
Omegahunter said:
Its a known bug that some of the mountings positions aren't saved correctly. Left side USB down also does this.
This should be fixed in the next release.

I'm sure that Pocketmoon will add this to the checklist to make sure its not forgotten.
Click to expand...

Omegahunter said:
Yes, saved / load still end up meaning the same to people that cant get it to work.

As you said it can be changed by hand if you have the sketch but some people will want to wait for the next UI update.

Was going to post the sketch fix myself but got distracted :(
Click to expand...


Cheers for teh info Omega. Think i will be one of those to wait for the new UI...its not a biggie.
 

dumbo

D
I've just assembled one of these, using my rather ancient soldering skills.

It all seems to have gone correctly (all the boards light up) but after testing 2 different USB cables in 2 different PCs (windows & linux) I'm unable to communicate with it (it doesn't articulate or whatever).

My guess is the Arduino board/USB thing isn't happy - so I'll get a new one and try again... but is there anything else worth checking before I take it all apart?
 

Rog

Rog
dumbo said:
I've just assembled one of these, using my rather ancient soldering skills.

It all seems to have gone correctly (all the boards light up) but after testing 2 different USB cables in 2 different PCs (windows & linux) I'm unable to communicate with it (it doesn't articulate or whatever).

My guess is the Arduino board/USB thing isn't happy - so I'll get a new one and try again... but is there anything else worth checking before I take it all apart?
Click to expand...

Did you try connecting the arduino to your computer with the same USB cables before constructing the EDtracker, and was it recognised?

If your soldering is ok, I would suspect the cables tbh.

Might be worth posting pics of your tracker.
 

Hex

H
LOL! Excuse me while I vent a little.

The headset I mounted my tracker on just decided to break for no discernible reason, so now I get to enjoy full head tracking with sound only in one ear! Thanks life! :rolleyes:
 

Rog

Rog
Hex said:
LOL! Excuse me while I vent a little.

The headset I mounted my tracker on just decided to break for no discernible reason, so now I get to enjoy full head tracking with sound only in one ear! Thanks life! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Ouch, bad luck!

If you want a cheap, fairly decent replacement, THESE are actually OK (normally £20 though).
 

dumbo

D
Rog said:
Did you try connecting the arduino to your computer with the same USB cables before constructing the EDtracker, and was it recognised?
Click to expand...

Umm... nope - I didn't even think of that!

Rog said:
If your soldering is ok, I would suspect the cables tbh.
Click to expand...

The cables are good with a "moto G" and one them is actually labelled as a data cable for some reason.

My soldering is easily the weakest link, but I can't see anything that looks suspicious (although the fact it all looks ok does appear suspicious).

I think I'll just wimp out and buy one ready assembled :).
 

ConquerorUK

C
Got things working a bit better but now i'm getting very bad motion sickness as i look around to the point i no longer use the edtracker :eek:

any advice on how to compensate ?
 

pocketmoon

P
ConquerorUK said:
Got things working a bit better but now i'm getting very bad motion sickness as i look around to the point i no longer use the edtracker :eek:

any advice on how to compensate ?
Click to expand...

I stick to 'linear' mode rather than 'exponential', and also try reducing the scaling a touch, somewhere between 5 and 6
 

JamesBondage

J
someone should premake a bunch of these to sell, i'm sure plenty of folks less tech savvy would pay double or triple the cost of the parts to have a pre-made tracker thats already been tested
 

Sandmann

Sandmann
ConquerorUK said:
Got things working a bit better but now i'm getting very bad motion sickness as i look around to the point i no longer use the edtracker :eek:

any advice on how to compensate ?
Click to expand...

I used to get travel sickness a lot when I was a kid if I sat in the back seat of cars. Later on I remember getting it badly while playing "Descent" on my brother's 486 computer. I later figured out it was coz of the low frame rate, and have noticed several times that if I'm playing first person view games and I increase the graphics quality and reduce the frame rate I'm more likely to start feeling ill, but if I have smooth animation I can play all day even if the graphics are a little bit chunky. (It's also a good excuse to spend money on a decent graphic card to get the higher frame rates :D ) Part of the article below backs that up.

Simulation Sickness and VR. What is it and what can developers and players do to reduce it.
 
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