Free Track- 3 point ball cap project for Armed Assault

This is a film of a 3 point headtracking unit, i made using the FreeTrack software. It is not really a 'how-to' vid, more of a demo of what I accomplised, built with parts i found around the house. Its still a work in progress project. I was considering buying a unit like Track IR. But this seems to work ok for my needs. Yes the cap with wires on it does look rather poop, but it works surprisingly well!

FreeTrack is a completely free program that can effectively turn a basic webcam into a powerful head tracking device. It can measure head translation and rotation, together a total of six degrees of freedom and send this data to head tracking enabled games.

Items used:
Web cam, A rear bike LED light, electrical wire, A base ball cap, a coat hanger, ahesive tape, batteries, apiece of 35mm negative film (to place over the webcam lens) and a soldering iron and solder.

In game footage from Armed Assault.

The in game footage was not a smooth as i would of liked, but i think that was due mainly to Fraps and Free Track and the heavy demands of the game settings, all running at the same time. However im very happy with how smooth it is running to date.

The software, building instructions/manual and help forums can be found here:
http://free-track.net/
Please direct any questions regards software problems and help to the Free Track Forums. Thanks.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Free
• Track
• IR
• head
• tracking
• video
• game
• flight
• sim
• diy
• electronics
• gadget
• computer

[ellonysman]

question..do you do anything to the webcam? like the floppydisk film for filtering?

[resonatorproductions]

@ellonysman yes i did.

I used some 35mm negative camera film.

[ellonysman]

Great soundscore for this video..its like a murder is coming...scarey

[resonatorproductions]

@ellonysman lol

youtube blocked the original soundtrack i used, due to copyright claims. i had a thumping rock track previously. i am not sure why i audio swapped it for this music though lol

[ellonysman]

PERFECT music score for your vid, excellento job my friend! thanx, but how do the wire endings all go together..neg/pos etc?

[resonatorproductions]

@ellonysman i think that i taped all the negatives together, then taped all the positives together.....then connected to a battery pack.

[SethMcFartlane]

I did what it said to do in this video and my cat died.

[sbobovyc]

@piratebody2007 The resistor mentioned in the free track faq is to bias the LEDs. The massive wire used in this example probably has enough resistance to do the job :)

[piratebody2007]

You don't have use resistor ?

[daveslow84]

sooooo worth it!!!! amazing increase in feeling like you´re "aktually there" great vid :)

[gasslaurent]

thank you very much for this great idea

[99MSU]

i thought i must use bright leds!!! those are low...

IR leds are better... take it out from remote ir!

[El1iP3S01D]

Awesome Dude....Great Work...

[ellonylj]

A really dumb question here...the pdf illustration in the manual....how do I copy it? I swear Im getting dummer all the time, hey someone close the trailor door!

[ellonylj]

I havent finished watching but do you do anything to the webcam? ohs, ok, Im just reading the comment, I already asked. dummy