FreeTrack Forum

I went to radio shack and bought some $1 IR LEDS to make my 3 LED clip.  I've built it and it runs well, until I turn my head.  The IR LEDs kinda just dim out to non existent.  I realized that the rounded bulbed ends of the LEDs aren't as good as the flat ones recommended in the instructions.

I saw in another topic that I could possibly file them down to flat ends, is there any detailed instruction on how to do this?  Wouldn't sanding make the plastic foggy?

My IR shows up well in my C270 webcam, but people say to remove the IR filter, what effect will this have on normal camera operations (I skype people a lot) and can I get this to work without doing so?

Sorry for the questions, I know I probably should search but I'm kind of excited and bummed that this thing is suddenly not working after many hours of learning how to do this.

Hi,

just file them down to a light curved surface. You can use a nailfile or some fine sandpaper, the surface do not necessarily has to be transparent.



Depending on the type of filter in your webcam and how careful you are when removing it, your webcam can loose focus or be unusable for normal capture.
So if you want to use it further for normal utilisations and your tracking is good enough let it like it is.
Some webcams has week ir filter so that a good daylight-filter does the job.
The object is to increase the capture of ir-light by removing the inbuilt ir-filter and to block all visible surround light by joining a daylight filter, (floppy-disc, coloured filter sheets or other), to properly tracking just the ir-LEDs.