FreeTrack Forum

Hey folks! I thought I'd post my findings here for others as I'm sure it'll help at least one person.

My tracker uses the Logitech Orbit (also called the Logitech Sphere)
As a base unit, this thing does see IR light, but it is incredibly faint. It will work for you if you're in a dark enough room with bright enough IR lights but if you want to use it in anything but a dark room you'll need to remove the IR filter.

Unfortunately I have no pictures, but it is simple enough to do

1) take the unit apart (4 screws along the spine, 1 red and black twisted cord, 1 yellow ribbon. Once these things are separated you should have no problem putting the shell aside and work on the lens)

2) there's a silver ring around the lens, pop that off with a flathead screwdriver. It is on nice and snug so be gentle with it but it is pressure fit.

3) once you remove the silver ring, grab a pair of pliers and unscrew the thing that the silver ring was on. This will remove the lense and expose the sensor. Once again be firm but careful - it's on nice and snug. Put the sensor in a safe place. You don't want dirt on this thing.

4) You'll see a reddish/green film on the lens assembly you just unscrewed. This isn't a separate piece of glass, this is a film on the lens itself. With a sharp, flat tool gently scrape this stuff away. Be careful not to scratch the lens. Be patient. many light strokes will be safer than fewer harder strokes on the lens.

5) clean the lens of any fine bits of IR filter that might be lingering around and screw the thing back onto the sensor. How much you screw this back in will affect the focus, so when you plug everything back in and find it all blurry, go back and tighten or loosen the lens.

In short, the cam works ok without any mods, but I would really recommend removing the IR filter film from the lens. Mods, can you update the webcam compatibility page for reflect this?

Click the following link for pictures of my setup

http://img269.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=dsc00601rj.jpg