FreeTrack Forum

After scouring the forums trying to find an answer to my problems for the past few weeks I finally decided to post this question. So, if there's an answer somewhere that I have missed I apologize for a double post.

Currently I'm using a Microsoft Lifecam VX 3000 with the IR filter removed, a piece of data disk to filter out other light, and a three-point clip.

1) The first issue I'm having is, for some reason I can't get my camera to go above 27 FPS along with 13 jitter. I have tried the trick with the bright light shining into the camera which actually bumped it to 27 FPS from 20 FPS that I originally had. But, that also caused my jitter to go from 0 to 13.

2) The second issue I'm having is no matter how many times I center the camera it always seems to wonder up, down, left or right randomly. It's really annoying and I can't figure out what's causing that.

3) I've tried just about everything I found in the forums but I still can't get my exposure to go to zero. It always reverts back to 24 no matter what.  I have disabled auto exposure but it still stays on 24.

4) The USB bit rate won't change from 5 No matter how many times I try to change it to 8.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a VX3000 working in single point mode.
It worked well for 3 years.
My PC is a dual core E8500 with win XP.

Last week i decided to remove the IR filter and mybe move on to a clip for 6dof but i did not started the clip building yet.

So i have now a VX3000 with IR removed (it was very easy to do : 1 cross screw driver to remove the single screw and one straight scewdriver to split/open the camera).

i have 29-30FPS  jitters 0-3 when in use in IL2 1946 in single dot with or without IR filter removed.


Here are the question you have to answer to get answers to your questions :

1- are your  tests done with single dot or  3 or  4 dots ?
2-what kind of led are you using ?
3-what resistor do you use ?
4- what OS are you using ? (win XP, Vista , 7 or  8 ?)
5-can you do more tests with floppy disc removed or did you put the floppy disc inside the camera while removing the IR filter ?
6- did you the flash light trick before or after putting the floppy disc on the webcamera ?
7-at what USB slot di you connect the webcam

now the good news :
i can not lower brightness under 24.  If i do then it automaticaly goes back to 24. And my jitter and FPS is really good.

i think the problem will be either you are not using the SFH485P and/or the floppy disc is a visual filter too strong : i personly use a plastic covered with 2 layers of brown tape we use in France  to close postal package (parcel postal in english ?)

Also the problem maybe in the freetrack software options i did many adjustment to get 29-30 FPS with 0-3 jitter.

About USB speed i have auto mode checked and i can see 7.
I suggest you to choose another USB slot: some are faster than others between front of the PC box and behind the PC box.

Balto @ 24/11/2012 - 15h23 a dit:

I have a VX3000 working in single point mode.
It worked well for 3 years.
My PC is a dual core E8500 with win XP.

Last week i decided to remove the IR filter and mybe move on to a clip for 6dof but i did not started the clip building yet.

So i have now a VX3000 with IR removed (it was very easy to do : 1 cross screw driver to remove the single screw and one straight scewdriver to split/open the camera).

i have 29-30FPS  jitters 0-3 when in use in IL2 1946 in single dot with or without IR filter removed.


Here are the question you have to answer to get answers to your questions :

1- are your  tests done with single dot or  3 or  4 dots ?
2-what kind of led are you using ?
3-what resistor do you use ?
4- what OS are you using ? (win XP, Vista , 7 or  8 ?)
5-can you do more tests with floppy disc removed or did you put the floppy disc inside the camera while removing the IR filter ?
6- did you the flash light trick before or after putting the floppy disc on the webcamera ?
7-at what USB slot di you connect the webcam

now the good news :
i can not lower brightness under 24.  If i do then it automaticaly goes back to 24. And my jitter and FPS is really good.

i think the problem will be either you are not using the SFH485P and/or the floppy disc is a visual filter too strong : i personly use a plastic covered with 2 layers of brown tape we use in France  to close postal package (parcel postal in english ?)

Also the problem maybe in the freetrack software options i did many adjustment to get 29-30 FPS with 0-3 jitter.

About USB speed i have auto mode checked and i can see 7.
I suggest you to choose another USB slot: some are faster than others between front of the PC box and behind the PC box.

1 - I'm using a '3 Point Clip' -- three leds
2 - I don't recall the item number but they are Radio Shack brand, sanded flat and buffed out. I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the problems I'm having because the Freetrack software shows three huge red blobs; I can adjust the size of the blobs using the 'threshold' slider.
3 - 10 ohm resister from Radio Shack, again I don't think this has anything to do with the issues.
4 - Win 7 x64
5 - Haven't tried any other tests with the floppy disk removed, I actually cut it to size and glued it inside the camera housing for asthetic purposes.
6 - I did the flash light trick after installing the IR filter.
7- After you mentioned the usb I realized it may be due to the fact that I'm using a wall plug usb power supply. I don't really know how likely it would be to damage my computer by using a usb slot to plug in my rig. Maybe that's why I don't get over 5 under the usb setting.

As far as the data disk being too strong, I doubt it because like I said before the red blobs are bright so the leds are coming through nicely.

You failed to mention anything about the constant re-centering issue I have. Do you consantly have to re-center the camera?

Hi dwest 185,

As far as the data disk being too strong, I doubt it because like I said before the red blobs are bright so the leds are coming through nicely.

Yes, but the floppy disk filter is a bad filter because it blocks also parts of ir-light forcing the cam to increase exposure which could be the cause of low frame rates.

6 - I did the flash light trick after installing the IR filter.

(you did not install an IR filter, you installed a (bad) visual light filter, many people on the forums confuse IR filter and visual light filter, what we seek to do is to remove built IR filter of camera to replace by Visual light filter).

When we do the flash light trick we try to persuade the camera we are in a light rich environment.
If you do the flash light trick after adding a visual light filter, especially the floppy disk, you wont tell the camera you are in a light rich environment.
You should remove the floppy disk , and do the flash light trick again.
Remember : when you put the flash light in front of the cam you have to reach 30 FPS.
By the way when i did it, i also had the built in IR filter on.

about the autoexposure at 24 minimum, this is not important : i have it and i have the 30FPS with low Jitter.

2 - I don't recall the item number but they are Radio Shack brand, sanded flat and buffed out. I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the problems I'm having because the Freetrack software shows three huge red blobs; I can adjust the size of the blobs using the 'threshold' slider.
3 - 10 ohm resister from Radio Shack, again I don't think this has anything to do with the issues.

If camera show 3 huge blobs -and only 3- in any situation you move your head then you are right, this is not an issue of resistor and led.

On Freetrack software, following treeshold tab there is another tab where you have to define minimum blob size and minimulm blob size to be tracked by software.
This means you have to be sure that when you move the clip, the 3 blobs are beteween those parameters else Freetrack will neglect one blob for a second or more thus causing Jitter.

In my case i noticed that  heavy Jitter is directly related to Freetrack not catching  exactly (no less, no more) 3 dots whose size is between parameters i spoke previously.
when it catches more than 3 dots : jitter raise, when it cathes less than 3 dots  jitter raise too.

7- After you mentioned the usb I realized it may be due to the fact that I'm using a wall plug usb power supply. I don't really know how likely it would be to damage my computer by using a usb slot to plug in my rig. Maybe that's why I don't get over 5 under the usb setting.

Are you talking of wall usb for VX3000 or for wall usb for clip ?

If you are speaking of VX3000 then yes try a PC motherboard USB slot.
as i said your mother board may have several speed USB slot different so try many.
Sometimes  front side USB and rear side USB do not have same speed it depends of motherboard.

If you are speaking of clip then forget it : the clip only need electricity, no information/data connection via USB.

You failed to mention anything about the constant re-centering issue I have. Do you consantly have to re-center the camera?

i do not constantly recenter the camera.
But i do sometimes, usually when i move my head, after a mission of 1 hour on IL2 i use to lower my back or to move my ass on my seat.
It also depends a lot with curves and global parameters on software, the more you put the slider on right, the more the webcam is sensitive to body moves.

********************************

But the first thing you should do now is :
remove floppy disk and do the flash light trick again.
Then still without floppy disk , in a total dark room, try freetrack and see  30FPS and low Jitter.

Just do that first, we will then move to next objective : keep 30FPS and low jitter not only in dark room.

Thanks for the information guys, sorry it took so long to get back on the forum. I will remove the light filter and try the flashlight trick again.

Also you mention the size of the LED blobs but how do I measure them?