freetracknoir + smart phone = head tracking for free?

[grimm]

I used crap I had laying around.... still unsure how I got it all to work together, but, I figured out how to make a smart phone with a gyro (Samsung Galaxy S3) transmit motion to the program "facetracknoir". Using a freepie program on the phone, facetracknoir on the phone and PC linked through port 5556, and TrinusVR with USB tethering enabled. Connected to the PC client Trinus VR, I got the output on facetracknoir to be "freetrack" and when setup properly with the "freelook" in the GP Bikes, WRS, MXB, options menu it functions with fantastic results! Confusing as that sounds to you, it is twice as confusing to me. lol

I feel like a caveman when I try to make programs, hardware, etc. function correctly as I have to learn from scratch every last detail it involves to bring this from just an idea to fully functioning. After 2 weeks of struggling, walking away, coming back to it, playing with every little setting and reading every last bit of info I could, it works, it finally works!! 

The video is not running at the FPS that game-play usually does, it's a bit slow (capped at 30fps, with half size video compression) but it gives a fantastic idea of how well it works overall. I am truly impressed, and it gives an amazing sensation of speed and immersion compared to a fixed view.

https://www.youtube.com/v/-kLmC00R8h0



Programs used on PC:

facetracknoir

freepie

TrinusVR


Programs used on Galaxy S3:

facetracknoir

freepie

TrinusVR

HeadTrack (not sure if it has an effect, but I turn it on anyway because it also transmits the gyro signal)



All programs are free, just gotta find all the instructions to make them work together, and with the phone. I may make a tutorial on this if I can figure out exactly what makes this function as it is cheap and easy to get some good old free look without having to move a mouse around. Used S3's are super cheap on ebay, and from what I understand, loading programs into it via USB or wifi requires nothing more than having the phone turned on.

[Napalm Nick]

Well done Grimm   

Looks like it works really well too.  Love your description made me laugh. You have made gold from 'old crap lol.

[TFC]

Nice!.. I've got a Google cardboard (knox v2) and have used my LG g3 with trinus, loaded MXB windowed and set frelook to mouse.. It works great, very immersive if a little eerie.

The only thing that lets it down is the frame rate, the occasional horizontal drift and the slight input lag even when usb tethered. But for the price of the knox it's incredible!

[tseklias]

Why do the edges seem somewhat stretched like your seeing through the bottom of a bottle or something? This is easily viewed when you turn your head.

*Apologies but i don't know how else to explain it.

[HornetMaX]

Easy solution, for a few bucks: EdTracker.

[WALKEN]

why not strap a siaxis to your head?

[grimm]

Nice!.. I've got a Google cardboard (knox v2) and have used my LG g3 with trinus, loaded MXB windowed and set frelook to mouse.. It works great, very immersive if a little eerie.

The only thing that lets it down is the frame rate, the occasional horizontal drift and the slight input lag even when usb tethered. But for the price of the knox it's incredible!

I never got into VR or anything head tracking, so this was my first go at it of any sort, saw the google cardboard thing on the drop down menu in facetracknoir and was wondering what it was.

Well done Grimm   

Looks like it works really well too.  Love your description made me laugh. You have made gold from 'old crap lol.

I am impressed by the functionality of it, I expected jerky movement and an overall unusable end result, the fact it works (and I still can't figure out how I got it functioning) and works well enough to get me to actually want to buy a head tracking setup, it was a great "demo" of what could be accomplished at home with a little knowledge and dedication.

Why do the edges seem somewhat stretched like your seeing through the bottom of a bottle or something? This is easily viewed when you turn your head.

*Apologies but i don't know how else to explain it.

I'm pretty sure it's due to the view angle being set as high as possible for the usual helmet cam I use when playing GP Bikes. Never adjusted anything in the options aside from ticking the "free look" box on the view. I will start into trying out different settings next time I play with it and see if I can get a more realistic field of view. It does look like your looking through a fish bowl when you look back.

why not strap a siaxis to your head?

Never knew stuff like this even existed at a consumer level outside of flight sims, so my knowledge of the options out there is quite limited. After looking for the programs to make the phone translate movement to the game I discovered there is literally hundreds of options out there to construct or purchase a system that works well.

Easy solution, for a few bucks: EdTracker.

Just checked the website for that and I am sold. It's essentially the same thing I did, but without all the crazy programs and goofy crap I had to do in order to make a phone do the same thing. It's actually cheaper than buying a used phone to convert into a head tracking unit!    lol

http://www.edtracker.co.uk/shop/my-basket/edtracker-pro

$65 (USD) for the unit itself, plus $2 (USD) for the cable to plug it in, and it functions right out of the box and mounts to headphones the same way the Galaxy S3 does. You really can't go wrong with it. I'll probably get an order in within' the next week or two and see how it works. Would be alot of fun to actually be able to see where I'm going in IL-2, Arma3, LFS, GPB, etc..

[HornetMaX]

Just checked the website for that and I am sold. It's essentially the same thing I did, but without all the crazy programs and goofy crap I had to do in order to make a phone do the same thing. It's actually cheaper than buying a used phone to convert into a head tracking unit!    lol

http://www.edtracker.co.uk/shop/my-basket/edtracker-pro

$65 (USD) for the unit itself, plus $2 (USD) for the cable to plug it in, and it functions right out of the box and mounts to headphones the same way the Galaxy S3 does. You really can't go wrong with it. I'll probably get an order in within' the next week or two and see how it works. Would be alot of fun to actually be able to see where I'm going in IL-2, Arma3, LFS, GPB, etc..

The cable is a standard USB to micro USB. FYI, somewhere in 2016 they will ship out the wireless version: likely more expensive, but not having the wire is a plus.