Anyone try Wiimote for head tracking?

[JayJ]

Curious if anyone has tried using a Wii remote, with Wiimote and placing IR lights on glasses or hat to make head tracking.

Guy a couple years ago named Johnny Lee came up with it and has some cool videos if you search him.

Seems a pretty simple set up if you have an old Wii gathering dust.

 

[thebullfrog]

You can also buy one of the "knock-off" Wiimote IR setups people buy for using with the Dolphin emulator. It's not a bad idea actually, but I think the cost is about the same as buying the EDTracker, plus cost of a Wiimote if you don't already have one, so not sure it's cost effective enough to be worth it. Unless you can build your own of course.

 

[Zeeman]

You can also buy one of the "knock-off" Wiimote IR setups people buy for using with the Dolphin emulator. It's not a bad idea actually, but I think the cost is about the same as buying the EDTracker, plus cost of a Wiimote if you don't already have one, so not sure it's cost effective enough to be worth it. Unless you can build your own of course.

I am also trying to figure out how one would do this (and make it work with the game) Seeing as I do, actually, have a spare Wii sensor bar, and a spare wiimote (or 3) floating around after my brothers siblings killed my Wii.

Anyone know how one would go about this? I'm techy enough to follow instructions to build things, but not enough to make and code on my own...

I assume the Wii sensor bar cable is really just a USB cable with a fancy plug, and dissecting the Wii remote to get at the bits needed won't be too hard...


Z...

 

[bend_r]

Curious if anyone has tried using a Wii remote, with Wiimote and placing IR lights on glasses or hat to make head tracking.

I'm using exactly that for Elite. I was looking into TrackIR, but I find it rather expensive in comparison to the (forseeable) price range of the Occulus Rift CV, which is what I'm waiting for.

I'm using the Wii remote together with a 3 point led clip that I build myself. It works stable, but has issues.

First, for me it has very high jitter, meaning I look straight at the comms panel and it always makes small but noticable random movements. It is rumored that the right combination of BT dongle and BT driver may fix that.

Second, it's more or less unsupported. OpenTrack doesn't support the Wii remote. FreeTrack does, but they use an outdated API for the interface to ED. So currently the (somewhat tedious) procedure for me is as follows:

- after bootup re-connect the wiimote, this involves taking off the cover from the battery case and pressing the sync button, then connect via the bluetooth manager (I'm using the Toshiba bt stack, stock windows wouln't work).
- open Opentrack (with a dummy model), hit the start button
- open Freetrack, don't hit Start just yet
- start ED
- wait for Opentrack to report that it is running with Elite: Dangerouse
- hit stop on Opentrack
- hit start on Freetrack

Things you need to be aware of:

- freetrack does not have virtual joystick support on 64bit windows, so you need to use the proprietary 6DOF API
- you need to replace your BT stack (Toshiba or BlueSoleil)
- the Wii remote uses a different (longer) wavelength compared to TrackIR, commercial point models (like the one for TrackIR) will _not_ work.
- important: stay away from replica wiimotes, use only the original ones, because cheap non-nintendo will often only track 2 points

Currently I'm using it because I put much time into the project, but I would say you are better off with a simpler solution. I would suggest FaceTrackNoIR and a PS3 Eye (get them used on Ebay).

I did have the PS3 eye solution running, but I destroyed the camera trying to remove the IR filter.

happy hacking,
Commander Benderson

 

[Zeeman]

Interesting - thanks for the write up and information. So it seems the PS3 camera is a better way to go (ED tracker would be nice, but it is actually quite expensive to source the parts here in Aus - almost $80 or so if bought locally, for that price I may as well pay extra for a commercial solution that isn't held in place with rubber bands and duct tape.

I also like the idea of clipping two IR LED's to my glasses (as I do wear glasses anyway) so it's not awkward feeling or strange looking to when the girlfriend walks in mid space battle...

Z...

I'm using exactly that for Elite. I was looking into TrackIR, but I find it rather expensive in comparison to the (forseeable) price range of the Occulus Rift CV, which is what I'm waiting for.

I'm using the Wii remote together with a 3 point led clip that I build myself. It works stable, but has issues.

First, for me it has very high jitter, meaning I look straight at the comms panel and it always makes small but noticable random movements. It is rumored that the right combination of BT dongle and BT driver may fix that.

Second, it's more or less unsupported. OpenTrack doesn't support the Wii remote. FreeTrack does, but they use an outdated API for the interface to ED. So currently the (somewhat tedious) procedure for me is as follows:

- after bootup re-connect the wiimote, this involves taking off the cover from the battery case and pressing the sync button, then connect via the bluetooth manager (I'm using the Toshiba bt stack, stock windows wouln't work).
- open Opentrack (with a dummy model), hit the start button
- open Freetrack, don't hit Start just yet
- start ED
- wait for Opentrack to report that it is running with Elite: Dangerouse
- hit stop on Opentrack
- hit start on Freetrack

Things you need to be aware of:

- freetrack does not have virtual joystick support on 64bit windows, so you need to use the proprietary 6DOF API
- you need to replace your BT stack (Toshiba or BlueSoleil)
- the Wii remote uses a different (longer) wavelength compared to TrackIR, commercial point models (like the one for TrackIR) will _not_ work.
- important: stay away from replica wiimotes, use only the original ones, because cheap non-nintendo will often only track 2 points

Currently I'm using it because I put much time into the project, but I would say you are better off with a simpler solution. I would suggest FaceTrackNoIR and a PS3 Eye (get them used on Ebay).

I did have the PS3 eye solution running, but I destroyed the camera trying to remove the IR filter.

happy hacking,
Commander Benderson

 

[JayJ]

Thanks for the replies, and after reading the info from Benderson, I think I'll look into the other avenues.

 

[sthalik]

Is wiimote some IR depth sensor?

It took 6 months to write sthalik/headtracker and it's still half-broken.

Unless someone submits code, no chance. Better use it in video mode, not depth.

FWIW point cloud library able to reason about depth data, even classifies what's a head, what's an eye, etc.

Edit: better pay someone with domain knowledge, i.e. depth sensors.