FreeTrack Forum

Folks, I'm really enjoying this its adding a whole new dimension to my racing. Thanks.

I'm getting very close to a decent setup but I'm hoping someone can explain what the following do and how to use them please

Zoom Smoothing Multiplier
Dynamic Smoothing Reduction
Average

I have the first 2 on 1 and the last on 19 currently.

Thanks in advance
Fred

Some of this info is in the manual. Most of it is just guesswork based on my experience with the program If I'm wrong on any of it somebody please correct me.

Smoothing works by taking several frames and averaging them out to fill in the gaps, so to speak. It adds in extra frames that it calculates based on the averages of frames actually captured.

This smooths out motion but also introduces a delay between your head movements and the response on screen, because the program must now wait to capture several frames used for smoothing rather than using them in real-time.

I believe the "average" is the number of frames use to do smoothing calculations. The lower the value, the less frames used to smooth and the coarser the smoothing. However a low value also increases responsiveness since the program isn't waiting on as many frames to do smoothing calculations. On my setup (30fps, <5 jitter) I use a value of 2 or 3.

Dynamic smoothing reduction improves responsiveness by reducing smoothing during fast head movements. It works quite well but I found if my setup was too unresponsive to start with it could also make my head movements a bit erratic due to sudden changes in responsiveness as dynamic smoothing reduction kicks in.

I think the zoom smoothing multiplier is the factor by which smoothing increases as you zoom in. As you zoom in further a smaller head movement makes a bigger movement on screen. So it makes sense it increase smoothing as your FOV decreases (i.e. as you zoom in). I don't use the zoom feature (6 DOF all the way   ) so I haven't really tinkered with this.

When I was trying to find good settings for my gear I put the 3D display thing into the first person mode to find a setting that was a good trade off between smoothness and responsiveness.

Thank you Mr RocketShooZ for the detailed answer.

I've been chasing my tail a little on getter rid of a slightly jerky feeling to motion. I think there are three things causing this, first I need to switch over to proper wide angle LED's (rather than sanded) a they pulse slightly led viewing them in the freetrack window.

Second I need to brake my custom monitor mount a little better, the forcefeedback wheel I have is vibrating it and the wii mote slightly.

Third I need to understand the software a little better, some of it is in the manual and I've read it but not understood it. Your explanations are most helpful.

Regards
Fred

No worries Fred

I've also noticed my LED's pulse if I start the camera at a low exposure setting. Turning the exposure up to full then adjusting it down to the setting I want to use on the slider bar (without ever touching zero) usually fixes it. This should be under the "camera" button on the front page of freetrack.

Also check USB bandwidth is maxed here.

If you have an outdoor setting it is usually recommended that you use that.

On my camera the indoor setting uses either 50/60hz (selectable) to compensate for lighting flicker. This should not make a difference with battery powered LED's afaik, but failing all else give it a try. I'm not sure if it makes a difference for USB/other powered LED's.

Cheers,
Toby

Thanks again. I'm using a Wii remote so don't have those facilities.

Regards
Gary

Hmm, not sure what you can do then since I don't have a Wii remote. I think there's a few other threads on the topic here though. Just a guess but if its using bluetooth maybe the signal is weak?

Btw I'm using IR LED's which have the tops sanded off as well and they work fine, I don't think this should cause pulsing. One thing you could try though is taking some thin tissue paper and taping it over to diffuse the light. I use this and it works well to increase the viewable angle. If you want something a bit sturdier, translucent white milk carton plastic should work. I plan to do this at some point, I've made photographic flash diffusers from plastic milk cartons and it works very well. Something like a white plastic shopping bag might work okay too.

Cheers,
Toby