Hardware & Technical Head Tracker?

I searched for this topic but didn't find it. If there was already a thread on this please direct me.

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Will ED support head tracking movement?

TrackIR can be configured to directly to the game and also take over the mouse, but the game has to support head movement.

I cannot stress how important it is to have smooth head movement when dog fighting and flying air sims.

Here's a link to TrackIR for those who haven't heard of such things.
http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/

I asked this question on the Q&A and they said that it's something they could look into down the line - but it won't be in the original release.

Speaking of head tracking, have you guys heard that 'eye tracking' will be available soon to replace the mouse? That'll be even better than Track IR, as amazing as that is. ;)
 
Speaking of head tracking, have you guys heard that 'eye tracking' will be available soon to replace the mouse? That'll be even better than Track IR, as amazing as that is. ;)

Eye tracking in conjunction with head tracking, and real voice recognition will be awesome!

Cant wait for the future, must invent time machine!!

Brian :)
 
I asked this question on the Q&A and they said that it's something they could look into down the line - but it won't be in the original release.

Speaking of head tracking, have you guys heard that 'eye tracking' will be available soon to replace the mouse? That'll be even better than Track IR, as amazing as that is. ;)
Hey thx for doing that. We'll have to convince them it is worth it eventually.

I can post some of my dog fighting vids for motivation. :)

Edit: In fact I'd be willing to donate more for this feature.
 
Hey thx for doing that. We'll have to convince them it is worth it eventually.

I can post some of my dog fighting vids for motivation. :)

Edit: In fact I'd be willing to donate more for this feature.

I am slightly disappointed that it won't be in the original release, but from what I understand, it's not hard to add support for Track IR to a title so I'm confident we'll have it eventually. It just won't feel right fiddling with a goddamn PoV hat switch to look around for an enemy!
 
I have to disagree with you about FaceTrackNoIR being the best solution, certainly from the technical side of things. For me, FaceTrackNoIR just didn't work well enough, and was far too inconsistent and unreliable. It is however, highly dependent on the quality of the webcam you use - as you said - so your mileage will vary greatly because of that. It's also very sensitive to ambient light and so on. It also helps to be handy with a soldering iron, as a lot of the webcams available have an IR filter that you'll need to disable before they'll work properly, and like the TrackIR, you'll get best results using LED's instead of passive tracking via the camera, and you'll need to put that together yourself. Conversely, TrackIR just works, straight out of the box, and works extremely well. You also often end up jumping through hoops to get the open source software to work well, and end up trawling the web looking for people who've written plugins for the various titles that actually work well, rather than the standard ones that I, and many others, couldn't get good results from.

I can't speak to them demanding exclusivity in terms of games that support head-tracking - the DCS titles certainly support TrackIR AND the open source solutions, and many of the titles I see on their site are titles I remember seeing TrackIR support for. I do however understand their fees are very high if you want to license their product, or part of it, and the device itself certainly isn't cheap at all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to discourage people from looking at alternatives to TrackIR, and I can attest that FaceTrackNoIR is certainly a good one to look into. But to get it to work anywhere nearly as well as TrackIR does, you need to fiddle and fuss with it a lot, and you may not succeed at the end because of the webcam you're using, or because of bad software support. If you try FaceTrackNoIR, or something similar - and I encourage you to - and get good results, fantastic. Just be prepared to do a lot of it yourself, to have to tinker and fiddle, and to chase the kids out of the room from time to time so you can swear properly.

But a lot of people are going to end up doing what I did - try to do it themselves, see how brilliant the concept is, but get frustrated with how badly they get it to work, and end up splashing out the money for something that you just plug in, and play with.

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on the grounds that you are not refering to FaceTrackNoIR. The name says it all. It is facial recognition software that uses your eyes and mouth as it's 3 points of reference. It actually is what everybody here is asking for. You don't have to wear any geeky hardware on your head. You don't have to modify your web cam in any way. I'm not going to say it's the end all in virtual reality but it's got Track IR beat in every way but maybe software title support. I've used it in a number of games (mainly ARMA 2) and it impresses the heck out of me. Strongly suggest you try it. It's free.
 
I am slightly disappointed that it won't be in the original release, but from what I understand, it's not hard to add support for Track IR to a title so I'm confident we'll have it eventually. It just won't feel right fiddling with a goddamn PoV hat switch to look around for an enemy!

Are they at least going to have that? Front/Rear Left/Right? Is that for certain?
 
I really would like ED to support head tracking devices. I am using TrackIR 5 for Rise of Flight, Falcon BMS, DCS A10 and DCS Black Shark (yes I am a sucker for flight sims).
 
When you look straight ahead the view is straight ahead. You only make a very small head movement to the left to pan the view all the way to the left, so you can still see the monitor.

What the hell happens when you sneeze?
 
The view goes nuts then settles down. You like like a mental while using these things though as you have to keep your eyes on the screen as you tilt and twist and move your head about. :)
 
I've actually worked on face detection. I know it's limitations. I'd rather have the TrackIR. Plus I don't want a web cam. :)
 
I have TrackIR but don't really use it much. Not for infantry work, and not even for games where it might be more appropriate. My FlightSim days have ended, where I expect I'd use it more.

But yeah, why not. Support for any of these would be welcome. Just make sure the users that don't have it also have a decent way of looking around in the cockpit. Viewing, heading, tracking, and guns pointing in all different directions - might get hard to keep track of :)
 
The view goes nuts then settles down. You like like a mental while using these things though as you have to keep your eyes on the screen as you tilt and twist and move your head about. :)

Huh? I've never had to do that. For example, if I want to look behind and to the right, I simply look at the right hand side of the screen. No need to keep your eyes on the screen - just move your head naturally! If you want to look at your right wing, move your head a little less. Are you sure you've got a proper Track IR?

Before I got one, I was concerned that I'd have to train myself to keep my eyes on the screen as I move my head around, but that's simply not the case at all. Sure, your eyes must be looking at the screen; all you do is have your eyes and head pointing in the same direction - feels entirely natural after a few minutes getting used to it.

What the hell happens when you sneeze?

It looks quite funny - like your head has developed a life of its own, but settles down really quickly.

I think I'll stick with a hat (pov) switch on my joystick.

That's your decision, but don't complain when I blow you into spacedust while you're still trying to see where I've got to with your 'trusty' pov switch...
 
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Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on the grounds that you are not refering to FaceTrackNoIR. The name says it all. It is facial recognition software that uses your eyes and mouth as it's 3 points of reference. It actually is what everybody here is asking for. You don't have to wear any geeky hardware on your head. You don't have to modify your web cam in any way. I'm not going to say it's the end all in virtual reality but it's got Track IR beat in every way but maybe software title support. I've used it in a number of games (mainly ARMA 2) and it impresses the heck out of me. Strongly suggest you try it. It's free.

Yes, I know exactly what you're referring to, I've tried FaceTrackNoIR (passive tracking, as you describe) and FreeTrack (uses LED's, IR tape, etc) both, and I couldn't get either to work well enough after significant effort, so I spent the money on TrackIR.

It works well for you, that's fantastic, and I'm happy for you. And I'll be very happy for anyone else who gets it to work properly, and I'll encourage anyone to try it before spending the money on the commercial product. The mileage, however, varies very wildly, and for some people the free solutions do not work well enough, or at all.

And I'll encourage anyone who can't get the free head tracking to work well, such as FaceTrackNoIR or FreeTrack, to spend the money on the commercial product that works right out of the box, without any hassle, because it makes that much of a difference.
 
Yes, I know exactly what you're referring to, I've tried FaceTrackNoIR (passive tracking, as you describe) and FreeTrack (uses LED's, IR tape, etc) both, and I couldn't get either to work well enough after significant effort, so I spent the money on TrackIR.

It works well for you, that's fantastic, and I'm happy for you. And I'll be very happy for anyone else who gets it to work properly, and I'll encourage anyone to try it before spending the money on the commercial product. The mileage, however, varies very wildly, and for some people the free solutions do not work well enough, or at all.

And I'll encourage anyone who can't get the free head tracking to work well, such as FaceTrackNoIR or FreeTrack, to spend the money on the commercial product that works right out of the box, without any hassle, because it makes that much of a difference.

If Elite Dangerous supports it at any point, then it would be completely worth the outlay - I trust you'll all be playing Elite D a fair amount? ;) :D Anyone who plays flight sims/race sims/anything else that supports Track IR a lot would be dumb not to get one.
 
If Elite Dangerous supports it at any point, then it would be completely worth the outlay - I trust you'll all be playing Elite D a fair amount? ;) :D Anyone who plays flight sims/race sims/anything else that supports Track IR a lot would be dumb not to get one.

Heh I'm not going to argue with you, I love my TrackIR, and I can see myself spending lots of time enjoying it even more in E: D and Star Citizen, never mind the DCS sims I'm enjoying at the moment :)

But it really is worth trying a free solution first, unless money isn't much of an issue. As I've said, mileage varies, but if you're one of the lucky ones, such as Whiterook, then you've got head-tracking for the price of a decent webcam, and maybe a few LEDs, depending on which of FaceTrackNoIR & FreeTrack you try. If you're on a budget, that beats the pants off £150-200 or so :)
 
For sure, if you have a webcam already there's no harm in trying one of the free solutions. I've never had a webcam, and I don't want one either, so a Track IR was a no brainer for me. :)
 
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