3 Commando Brigade

EDTracker

Anyone used it? I'm looking for a low cost alternative to TrackIR, and this is something that popped up. Has anyone got any thoughts/experiences with it?

A mate of mine swears by his.

It's hard to say. The issue with those alternatives is that they dont work as good or as bad as for any user who has it. TrackIR has hardware and software that is a bit better and it helps creating a good experience that is pretty much the same for all users. The alternative I know can have the issue that for some people it is working very well and for some not.

Yeah I'm sure TrackIR is a bit more polished; it's 5-10 times as expensive as anything else after all! I'm not really after the best of the best anyway, as I'd only really use it for Arma (and Star Citizen if they ever finish it).
What alternative do you know of MeFirst?
Robbie do you know if your mate built his own, or bought the pre-made one?

I didn't use EDTracker specifically (didn't exist at the time), but I did make a similar device.

Component: ATmega32U4 (Gryo + Accelerometer) - identical to the EDTracker Pro (minus the magnetometer - see paragraphs below)






It worked ok for the most part, very configurable with the software I used (FaceTrackNoIR + Hatire plugin). However, it had the tendency to produce yaw drift over time (whereby your in-game head would slowly rotate to the left every so often, making the game unplayable). This was caused by the gyroscope losing it's centre point.

I believe the only way to solve this was to buy a device that had a gyro + accelerometer + magnetometer (which counters the drift). So, if you're going to try one of these, go for the EdTracker Pro (which has all three).

If you get one, let me know how it goes

Oh cool. Yeah it was the Pro I was looking at. I don't think I'd trust myself to build one very well, and I'd rather pay a bit more and get something that's more polished and requires less setup.

I'll certainly share the results if/when I get one!

i really dont understand this difficulty flying 1st person. i find it much more difficult in 3rd. in 1st you can at least get an idea of where the helicopter is in space around you. i can never tell if its level in 3rd

I have to agree trackIR is the way to go, I have TrackIR Pro and I have had no problems with it and I have kittens attacking it now.

IR-tracking seems like the only way to really get good results - Occulus Rift for example has switched to optical/IR tracking. Inertial systems, no matter how good, just can't get the same precision in 6DOF, at least not today and maybe never.I use TrackIR (I agree, the clip is horribly made) and it works. However it's completely overpriced for what it is and the company behind it seems to be trying to actively hurt the progression of headtracking in order to maintain their position. I hope that with the advent of headtracking in VR HMD's we'll see more engines support the basic idea without being locked into NaturalPoints proprietary system. I haven't tried any of the 'DIY' IR-tracking solution, I've always been scared off by the fact that the FaceTrackNoIR project seems to have a very small team behind it and a very very very slow development cycle.

So I've finally bit the bullet and bought the trackhat clip. How you finding it Benzy?

If it sucks at least I've only wasted £30 rather than the extortionate cost of trackIR.