Official Freetrack thread.

MoNkEyMiKeY · 19 Oct 2007 at 10:45

Thought I'd start an official freetrack thread. Theres not that much info on our forum about it and I think a lot of people would be interested.
If you want to know more and check it out you can find the website here Freetrack.

Basically a quick intro is that you download this free software that can track the movement of your head via a webcam.
The only problem is you have to make a device to wear on your head that has LED's so the software can track you.
Below is an example of a simple one you can make if you have some level of electronics know how and the equipment to do it.
Its very good for flightsims and have seen some videos of it working in armed assualt, rFacter and LFS.
Before you say "But you have to look away from the screen to look left then you're not looking at the screen whats the point?!".
The way it works is that if you move your head 1cm the on screen equivalent movement is 1 foot.

I have on order a Cateye rear bike light which I am planning on modifing into a 3 point clip. It can be clipped onto a cap or some kind of head gear.
Heres a video of how to make one DIY 3 Point Clip.

I'll post some pictures of what I make and let you all know how well/or not it works.
I don't really play that many flightsims which this is great for but I do like armed assualt and racing games.

If you go onto youtube and search freetrack you'll find lots of examples of in game action.

If any of you have been using it for sometime or have made your own headset please sure your experience. Photo's would be great.

MoNkEyMiKeY · 19 Oct 2007 at 13:37

Ive got some protective work gogles that have lights on each side. Freetrack lets you use a 1 light source to run it. Just been trying that out and in FSX and that works quite well. I think with a 3 point it will work much better. Also with a one point you can only look up down and left right.

Im using a Microsoft VX-3000 webcam which is giving me 30fps.

Mint_Sauce · 19 Oct 2007 at 14:03

I made my own 4 LED headset, it works brilliantly. So much so that I've gone in to production as something to do in my spare time. Just waiting on a few components to arrive then I'll be putting some together and sticking them on eBay. Some of the profit I will be donating to the Freetrack guys to help them out too, only fair.

The headset I made (and will be making), allows me to lean forward and look over the flight stick, stick my head out of the window and look around or even roll from side to side. I can lean anywhere in the cockpit like I was actually there, pretty impressive. I won't use FSX without it now! I'll have to try and get a vid really.

Pinter75 · 19 Oct 2007 at 14:22

Mint_Sauce said:
I made my own 4 LED headset, it works brilliantly. So much so that I've gone in to production as something to do in my spare time. Just waiting on a few components to arrive then I'll be putting some together and sticking them on eBay. Some of the profit I will be donating to the Freetrack guys to help them out too, only fair.

The headset I made (and will be making), allows me to lean forward and look over the flight stick, stick my head out of the window and look around or even roll from side to side. I can lean anywhere in the cockpit like I was actually there, pretty impressive. I won't use FSX without it now! I'll have to try and get a vid really.

How have you got it working in FSX, is it via 6dof?

HAz · 19 Oct 2007 at 14:25

ummmmmmmmmm sounds sexual chocolate to me

MoNkEyMiKeY · 19 Oct 2007 at 16:57

From what I was reading on their forum the 4 point isn't needed any more. 3 point is good enough and 4 point option was kept in 2.1 for backwards compatability.

MoNkEyMiKeY · 19 Oct 2007 at 23:34

I have an old trust camera I got from tescos for £6 or so. Took out the IR filter. Put a small peice of over exposed film in it. It can now get 30fps in freetrack and no jittering.

So when I do my little mod I think I'll replace the LED's for IR ones

Mint_Sauce · 20 Oct 2007 at 00:27

Pinter75 said:
How have you got it working in FSX, is it via 6dof?

how do you mean? I got it working by just running Freetrack, using the 4 point setup (think it's 6 dof as you say) and then running FSX. I then ran FSX in window mode and adjusted the sliders in Freetrack to get an on the fly profile set up so my rotation and forward backwards etc worked for me and then saved it. It works excellently. I get 30fps with no lag or slowdown.

Here's a few videos of the TrackIR system in action which is pretty much exactly the same as Freetrack.
http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/03-enhanced-games/game-flight-simulator-x.html

MoNkEyMiKeY · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:06

Anyone got any idea what IR LED's I'd need to replace the ones in the cateye light. The set I've ordered has a front and back identical lights. So the red ones will stay red and the whites ones will become IR.

Pinter75 · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:31

Mint_Sauce said:
how do you mean? I got it working by just running Freetrack, using the 4 point setup (think it's 6 dof as you say) and then running FSX. I then ran FSX in window mode and adjusted the sliders in Freetrack to get an on the fly profile set up so my rotation and forward backwards etc worked for me and then saved it. It works excellently. I get 30fps with no lag or slowdown.

Here's a few videos of the TrackIR system in action which is pretty much exactly the same as Freetrack.
http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/03-enhanced-games/game-flight-simulator-x.html

Ahh, they added support in 2.1 I was using 2.0. I DL the latest one and it works a treat :-)

6DOF is Six Degrees of Freedom. Quite a few games support it, Lockon and GTR2 are very good games to try with it.

MoNkEyMiKeY · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:35

Come on guys show us some pictures of your headsets.

Pinter75 · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:42

Works well with FSX :-)

mortals · 21 Oct 2007 at 00:00

This sounds cool

I might try it for TDU. I have a few LED's lying around and I'm sure I can find a cap somewhere

MoNkEyMiKeY · 21 Oct 2007 at 00:20

Did you file your LED's down at all?

MoNkEyMiKeY · 23 Oct 2007 at 23:57

Just noticed headmouse on the freetrack forum. What a cool programme. Its useless. But amazing how it tracks you.

MoNkEyMiKeY · 28 Oct 2007 at 20:17

Ok finally made the 3 point clip. Its just a very quick botch job. The next one I make will be much better and using IR LED's

The finished product.

The insides.

Insides again

And a clip to attach to hats and what not.

I was planning on doing a picture and story of the whole build. However I haven't used a soldering iron since I was 12 so was too busy cursing at it. The next one I make might get that attention. This was very much a botch job as the measurements are very poor. The next one will be done so its more symmetrical.

MoNkEyMiKeY · 28 Oct 2007 at 20:19

Oh and it actually works quite well

MoNkEyMiKeY · 22 Oct 2008 at 00:49

Holy thread revival

Just to update theres a new version out its 2.2. I am nowing using a cap I bought off a guy at the freetrac forum. He's mass producing them at the moment. The latest version lets you use the wiimote as a IR camera. So I have invested in one of those. Runs at 98-105fps, makes it super smooth.

MikeHunt79 · 22 Oct 2008 at 01:03

Nice, I'll give this a go, DIY solutions rule.

Nieldo · 22 Oct 2008 at 03:30

Ive read mixed reports on this but can you get free track working as good as TrackIR works? 6DOF, nice stable input etc?