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Kestrel #16 31/10/2007 - 14h14

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WillEyedOney @ 31/10/2007 - 14h43 a dit:


I thought cheap webcams worked better than the expensive ones?



No, but you can get cheap webcams that are just as good as more expensive ones.
WillEyedOney #17 31/10/2007 - 16h22

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I am going to butcher another Logitech and remove the IR filter I think.

Just to see if I can get the thing to work :)
Mdds #18 01/11/2007 - 11h48

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Ok, didn't had the time to start fiddling around with my webcam yesterday but did just finish the IR mod a few minutes ago and did some testing. What a difference!

The sun is currently shining pretty brightly outside and was using pretty bright lamp but my webcam didn't care about that. It only cared about those LEDs which the cam sees much better now

So yeah, as tristan68 said
"IR leds + IR modded webcam + visible light filter = killer setup"
WillEyedOney #19 01/11/2007 - 12h10

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Which webcam are you using Mdds and what resolution have you got it set at?
I have another Logitech coming that I am going to modify and see if it will work any better.  :)
Kestrel #20 01/11/2007 - 12h14

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WillEyedOney @ 01/11/2007 - 13h10 a dit:

Which webcam are you using Mdds and what resolution have you got it set at?
I have another Logitech coming that I am going to modify and see if it will work any better.  :)



Logitech IM

Mdds #21 01/11/2007 - 12h41

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Well, Kestrel already told my webcam but the resolution I'm currently using is 320x240

Did some testing with Open Falcon 4.5 too and everything is working just perfect. Was keeping that bright lamp near the webcam to see how much that extra light interferes the tracking. It didn't interfere at all!
WillEyedOney #22 05/11/2007 - 10h14

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I have modified my webcam (removed the IR filter) and it seems to work a bit better though my frame rates in online play are still very bad and too low to be playable.
I couldn't find any slide film to make a filter from so I used photo negative, I am not sure if that is ok though?
For some strange reason I can now only get 30fps from the webcam if I reduce the resolution to 240x180.
I think I will have to wait until I can upgrade before FreeTrack will work online because my pc is just too slow to handle FreeTrack and IL2 at the same time. :(
Deimos #23 07/11/2007 - 20h34

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The photo negative works great as visible light filter, you'll just need to use two layers of it. And if you want even better filter, find a floppy disk and rip its case apart - the magnetic disk itself makes a great filter (maybe even a bit too good ;) ) With that and a modified cam, freetrack should work smoothly even in a brightly lit room :)
I'm using a labtec webcam pro - 320x240, 30FPS and 3% CPU usage max (when freetrack is minimized). It worked with IR LEDs and visible light filter even before modifications, but i had to cut the leds flat and put quite a high current trough them - so the battery didn't last very long.
For the low framerate, did you disable the auto exposure setting in your webacm setup and reduce exposure to 1/33 second or even less?
Edited by Deimos on 07/11/2007 at 20h49.
Kestrel #24 08/11/2007 - 01h25

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It sounds like WillEyedOney has a case of Logitechosis.  ;)
WillEyedOney #25 08/11/2007 - 11h51

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Kestrel @ 08/11/2007 - 02h25 a dit:

It sounds like WillEyedOney has a case of Logitechosis.  ;)



Sadly I think that you are correct. I have chatted with a friend on another forum and he said that his pc was the same, with low fps, until he upgraded to a new dual core cpu.
Unless I can find another very cheap webcam to use I will just have to wait until I upgrade too.
The low frame rate is in the game, not with Freetrack. IL2 runs like a pig when I go online using FreeTrack.
FreeTrack itself is always running at about 30fps with no jitter.
Edited by WillEyedOney on 08/11/2007 at 11h53.
Kestrel #26 08/11/2007 - 12h33

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A cpu efficient webcam is a lot cheaper than a new computer.  ^^


Use a webcam resolution of 160x120 to minimize cpu usage.
Edited by Kestrel on 09/11/2007 at 00h51.

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