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FreeTrack Forum > FreeTrack : English Forum > Support : Tracking System > Does it matter whre your webcam is?

RSS >  Does it matter whre your webcam is?
Vanguard #1 13/03/2009 - 17h34

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I've not seen anything on this subject. No parameters in Freetrack or anything.

I've got my webcam on a shelf about seven inches above my monitor, as my monitor has a sloped back and can't have a webcam clipped to it. This means the webcam is kind of tilted to look down at me. Will this affect anything?
Vanguard #2 19/03/2009 - 00h36

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Anyone? Surely this isn't that much of a tricky question.
knights #3 19/03/2009 - 09h30

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I dont think it does effect alot, because when you are sitting in front of your camera/screen you press the Center button... from this perspective the angle is right in front of you.. maybe you have to tweak the distance settings a bit..

And furthermore, how does your tracking work ? thats the real test.

ps have you got time to make a picture of your (reflective right?) setup ?
Citizen86 #4 19/03/2009 - 15h50

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I would imagine that if it's at too much of an angle, it'll read your head movements incorrectly. If you test it and it works like it should though, no problem.
Vanguard #5 22/03/2009 - 15h45

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Cheers for the replies guys.

Knights, i ironically don't have a camera at the moment, sorry.
cadcoke4 #6 25/03/2009 - 17h50

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It does matter because Freetrack depends on the shifting points of light to determine your head position.

If you are looking at the 3 points, so that they were all the same distance from the camera, that is a worst-case scenario. If the movement were such that the lights are moving closer or further away from the camera, their light would only shift slightly on the imaging sensor.

Joe Dunfee
Vanguard #7 31/03/2009 - 17h48

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Ah right, because it's never mentioned. I'm unsure what to do then, as my monitor won't allow for a webcam to be clipped to it. It is therefore a bit elevated, looking kind of down on me.

These are what my tracking points look like, i tried to sit as normally as possible but i had to lean forward a bit to reach the application screenshot combination. Are these not in the correct perspective?


http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll106/misterscales/Tracking.jpg?t=1238514471

While i can look around the cockpit, it feels very fake, it's not terribly believable and makes some strange movements at times. Certainly nothing like the official videos containing TrackIR.
SapperGB #8 01/04/2009 - 18h36

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it looks fine to me.

Are you using the centre button each time you start freetrack? this will recalibrate freetrack.

Your strange movements will be down to the setup of the software, its curves and sensitivity. it takes a lot of tinkering to get it to perform correctly.

as for the camera position if you clikc on the 'orientation' tab within the camera page you can make adjustments there.
Vanguard #9 02/04/2009 - 03h15

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Yeah i've spent a considerable amount of time tweaking the settings, but what really made the difference was the 'head relative translation' thing that that dude told me about.

I really don't get the options on the Orientation tab, they seem to make little difference really.

And yeah, i use the centre button frequently :)

Cheers for the reply mate.
cadcoke4 #10 03/04/2009 - 20h31

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Actually, I don't think the camera location itself matters.   I imagine you can put the camera anywhere, but try to "point" one of the corners of the rectangle somewhat towards the camera.  Just don't have all 3 points equidistant from the camera as you move your head through its range of motion.

In your case, you might be better off if your triangle aimed more up, or positioned further back on your head.

Joe Dunfee
knights #11 06/04/2009 - 10h49

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offtopic: Vanguard, still using the reflective setup? I was wondering how you manged to putt the reflective tape on your cap.

Would like to buy the reflective unit from naturalpoint, but shipping costs are 50$ and the unit cost 10$ so thats a no go :)
Vanguard #12 07/04/2009 - 12h45

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Thanks for the replies guys, i solved my problem by wearing my cap like a chav so the brim points up towards the webcam, this seems to work fine.

As for the tape, i originally made little hemispheres by pressing it around blu-tack. This was more of an experiment. Now i've refined the design by cutting out two new pieces of the tape and making them into cones. (by cutting the rectangular piece half way to the middle). These cones replace the ones on the brim. They are circle-side down and all held together by blu-tack. Cones work exceptionally well, but you look like a backwards triceratops.
Edited by Vanguard on 07/04/2009 at 12h46.

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