FreeTrack Forum

Hello to all.
First of all, a very huge THANK YOU to the FreeTrack 2.1 developer (Kestrel), to the FreeTrack author (The_Target), and to the Webmaster (Didja) for making all this possible! I have made myself the 3 point clip but initially had some issues with it as the shop that provides electronic goods doesn't have IR LEDs with more than 22° radiation angle. Was thinking to buy some that has an opening of 100° when I've managed to solve the problem without physically altering these LEDs.
Now it's my turn to give my 2 cents.
First one little note: the webcam I use is a "Trust 320 Spacecam", and I didn't even need to take out any lenses nor fix any light filters, it actually even sees the IR without changing the settings in anyways. But when I play, to be on the safe side, I set it in a way that only the IR is been captured. I don't remember how much I've payed for it, but it was around 20 euro dollars, if I'm not mistaken. So if anyone is interested, or better, NOT interested in physically modifying his/her webcam, this model COULD POSSIBLY be the answer. At least, it worked for me, it should work for others...
I have unscrewed it from it's little support and screwed it back to a little tripod (cost around 5 euros), and it's also neat as I can adjust it's height (till a certain level of course).


A coupla negative side notes though:
1)the image quality isn't that excellent, but acceptable;
2) you cannot take snapshots.

And now for the 3 dot-clip.
What was the problem here? The LEDs didn't have a big radiation angle. How to make it wider? There are other solutions such as scraping it with sandpaper and so on, but they didn't actually convince me. So the idea is to make the whole LED lit up. How?
I thought of this solution when I remembered pointing my portable laser to some drops of water, the whole drop lit up, regardless it's form (either it's a long drop, or a round one, etc.). So if I find a way to make the whole LED light up, I'd solve the issue. With what? At first I thought of some aluminum foil, but it would be a tremendous hassle to stick such a small portion behind the LED; so something had to be smeared around it.
I saw a tube of transparent glue, and that is the answer. I've put one drop on each LED, spread it around with a piece of paper, and let it dry. AND IT WORKS WONDERFULLY!!!!!!! I can turn my head OVER 45° PER SIDE, and there is NO loss of signal!!!! So you can actually use ANY LED and smear it with a drop of TRANSPARENT glue, and have it lit up uniformly, or at least where the glue is.
Here are the pics:



So guys/girls, try this out, it might work for you too!

Thanks a lot again to Kestrel and The_Target!!!    


Rex

Message by Deusrexmachina moved by moderator :

"Deusrexmachina" a dit:

LOL @ Scotch, noticed now you too use a tripod for your webcam.  

My own 3-point clip.

didja @ 16/03/2008 - 19h01 a dit:

Message by Deusrexmachina moved by moderator :

"Deusrexmachina" a dit:

LOL @ Scotch, noticed now you too use a tripod for your webcam.  

My own 3-point clip.

Thanks Didja, sorry if I didn't specify, I meant to redirect it in the "Your point model constructions; Share pics and details" topic. It's ok, done that. :P