I got one awhile back. I had to go pick the girlfriend up and, well, I decided to just leave my TrackIr hat on. You get lots of looks with that three prong reflective clip on the "Flight Sim Pro Shop" hat. I did find the thing somewhat jerky though.
I'm going to try that hatclip mod when I get P3 and TrackIR going together. It should help smooth out the play and also look darn good trucking down the road in my VW. I can rotate the hat in with my fedora and the Devo Energy Dome.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Défenseur de la République
Defender of the Republic
You can build one.
http://free-track.net/
NaturalPoint TrackIR
Users Manual
6. Tips and Tricks
6.1 Gaming Environment
The TrackIR is designed to work in a wide variety of conditions, and the current generation of TrackIR hardware is more robust and reliable than ever before. There are, however, a number of things that you can do to optimize the TrackIR’s performance:
Distance between the TrackIR and the user :
The optimum distance between the user and the TrackIR in Dot tracking mode is 18-24 inches, in Vector tracking mode the optimum distance is 24-36 inches. Using the TrackIR within these ranges will achieve the best balance between range of motion and tracking precision. We recommend having no more than 4 feet between the reflective target and the front of the TrackIR.
Lighting :
We recommend turning off or dimming lights in the room and removing any highly reflective materials that are directly in the view of the TrackIR’s camera. You can easily check what the TrackIR’s camera is seeing by opening the Tracking Window in the TrackIR software, for details please see Section 5.5.5
6.2 Reflective material
The TrackIR ships with a reflective clip called the TrackClip which is designed to be placed on a hat, or a headset.
Here are a few tips from the pros:
- Make sure the clip is perfectly center on the brim of the hat.
- The greater the distance between the reflective clip and the center of rotation (in most cases the center of your head) the more accurate and sensitive the TrackIR will be.
Additional dots, TrackHats and raw Reflective Material can from our web site at www.trackir.com 3.5 Desktop, flatpanel and laptop hardware placement
Setting up the TrackIR unit on either a desktop or laptop is quick and easy.
3.5.1 CRT Placement
Set the TrackIR on top of your monitor and point the unit towards your head or face .
Hi all,
I just ordered Track IR 4 and was sitting here pondering my receiver placement, the thing is I am not sure I can sit it on top of my monitor as it is a 47" HD screen so setting the thing on top would put it a good 12" over the top of my head. I had a though of perhaps using a mic stand behind my chair and setting it on that and flip my cap around backwards, as I will be using the bill clip method. I wonder though if the light from the monitor will bother the receiver. Should be limited though as my head should block most of it. This only works though if the software supports a reversed axis setup.
I would appreciate any thoughts or tips from the experts.
Thanks.
You should be right FenrisWlf. Sit it atop your monitor and swivel it down toward your face when you set it up. 12" shouldn't make a big difference although WF2 may need a cigarette afterwards.
I's suggest your alternative method is fraught with danger.
von Baur
does, do what NIO recommended to me, buy the clip that attaches to your headphones, and never bother with the hat piece again.
It was the only reason that I kept TIR, and has been the best additon( the clip) to facilitate a great view.
Cheers,
british_eh
Different strokes. A mate and i tried the clip and didn't like it. Wearing the hat was what made it good for us. If you have both, see which suits.Originally Posted by british_eh
We found the clip very very finnicky to set up.
the hat was straightforward.
Firstly I got a better reponse ( less jaggies - grey sawtooth on rapid head movement) when I place the camera 5" left of center, than all the way over on the corner, 22" LCD
You'll find ( if you look close ) the camera itself, is joined to the 3 legged base by a tiny ball and socket deal. Which means it CAN be tilted downwards towards your hat. However the wire itself exits the rear of the camera forcing an upwards or straight ahead position. While the reflectors are a good 12" below.
I would try to take the weight of the wire off the camera itself, by putting a loop in the wire, alas it doesn't have enough wire. So an extension cable is in order, it's a USB, it ain't magic. But in the Cable Department, I'd go with a BELKIN or some other brand name, rather than a cheapo made in China. Also go as short as possible, which is probably 6 foot.
It also might require some USB swaping. As you have primary and secondary USB's. Normally the stronger ( voltage wise ) are off your motherboard, the secondaries are in the case
Sounds like a lot of trouble, but Not many 47" LCD's out there
Thanks for the info guys. I do have some nice active USB cable extensions. I guess I really should not worry too much until I actually get it (Tuesday).
With luck I will have P3 by then or before that.
Thanks again.
FenrisWlf,
I have been up and running with TrackIR 4 for about 2 weeks now and it is really a fantastic product. I was surprised how easy it was to set up and it worked great with OFF2 from the first try. Do take the time to read the instructions first because it might save you a few headaches later. As you have read in this or other threads the lighting issue will be your biggest concern. It is best to have no bright or reflective surfaces behind you and use your F12 button often keep your view correct.
:welcome: Welcome to the club and enjoy!
Crozbone
I just got Trackir up and running. An important thing I discovered...
Make sure TrueView is disabled (un-tick the box on the edit profile screen) or you get some wonky headtracking results.
Probably you all found this out already, but I thought it worth passing on anyway.
And be careful when turning your head to acknowledge the little woman entering the room to check on your welfare
Was in the middle of a quick combat furball with 3 1 1/2 strutters when she turned on the overhead light to get my attention. By the time I F12'd (centering the view key in TrackIR) I was eating acorns out of a French Oak tree.
Capn rick:faint:
Yeah and lighting a ciggy can be quite dramatic too :faint:
Had OFF ordered on 17/01 & expect it any moment now ...
I also ordered a TrackIR4 and I may have to wait still another week before I get that one while my copy of CFS3 was delivered already.
My question now: is it better to wait for the TrackIR4 in order to install its first or is that not important and can I just go and do the CFS3 install & patch + OFF from DVD & patch from the moment I have them both delivered?
What I mean, does an existing install of TrackIR4 changes anything in the default settings on installing the sims?
Somewhere I read CF3 expantions take over setting from it.
It will be hard to put off installing once OFF is delivered ...
I think you can install TrackIR before or after with no real difference.
I ordered TrackIR yesterday, sprang for the extra $3 to get 3-day delivery :woot:, UPS tracking says it will get here on the 29th, can't wait!
Good for you! You're gonna love it.:ernae:I ordered TrackIR yesterday, sprang for the extra $3 to get 3-day delivery :woot:, UPS tracking says it will get here on the 29th, can't wait
Croz
I've had TrackIR for about a week and I love it! It did take a little fiddling with options and check boxes to get working smoothly.
In my experience adjusting the light filter properly is very important. I found that a lower setting usually helped the tracking response. But if I set it too low I got a lot of interference from reflections off my glasses, wedding ring, anything shiny in TrackIR's field of view really. It can be very sensitive to light sources. If you crank the light filter all the way up, it solves the interference problem at the cost of smoothness and tracking response. So find a happy medium!
Any clues on how I should make T4 work? I installed it today right after OFF3. No effect on the game, or from CFS3 or FS9. I went to the T4 Profile and Tracking screens and it shows it is receiving and following my head movements, turning off and on with F9 key,etc. However, it doesn't seem to work with any of the games. Am I missing some important steps on getting this to operate properly?
My guess is you need to download the latest drivers from the TRI site. If you are running Vista it will not work with CFS3 until you do so. BTW thank the off team for that fix.
Cheers and GL.
Thanks for your reply.
I am running XP and did download the latest updates for TIR4. Everything seems to fire up and test ok on the T4 set up screens. The green lite on top of the camera unit goes off as soon as I exit the T4 screens after testing. I am wondering if there isn't something else in the settings that I may need to disable or enable first. This is all new stuff to me and my simple brain.
When you say you exit the screens you do mean just the test screens for heads and tracking? You need to leave the TRI program running for it to work. It just makes me wonder that you may be closing the program when you say the light goes off when you close the screens.
You should not have to enable anything unless you use the vector pro clip. If you have the metal hat clip that comes with it you should be ready to roll.
Hope this helps.
Yes, I wondered that too. Leave the testing the heads etc alone for now.
Just try this.
Before starting your sim, start trackir from your programs ( or desktop icon )
A splash screen comes up. Do nothing with it, except minimise it, i.e go to the top right hand corner and click on the minus sign. the screen will disappear and an icn will appear in your taskbar at the bottom.
Now start you sim, when flying look at the centre of the screen and press F12
You should now find the view change as you look around.
If you find this successful then remember - for future- If you minimise it , as i suggest, this will mean your FPS are not affected by trackir. They may be if you just start the sim over the splash screen without minimisation.
HTH
Thanks guys,
Yes, the test screens are for the T4 unit. Green top lite is on and the 4 little red lites just barely visible on the camera are on. Tracking screen shows the 3 green spots from the hat clip are being monitered and I see proper movement when I move my head around, so I am pretty sure that it means the T4 is set up and working properly. I leave it on in that state and go to exit the T4 window, and that is when the lites all go out and nothing happens after that, even after pressing F9 during the game. Seems like it is functioning well under testing but not after that. Should I not exit the T4 window and just minimize it for it to work?
Or, I was wondering if I may have neglected to check some boxes or not disabled something else in the set-up that would cause this.
That sounds to me like you are closing the TrackIR program
It should stay running.
You've been advised to minimise it as that saves a few FPS in the sim, but don't worry about that for now leave that main TrackIR window open till you understand how it all works.
From you last post it IS working, seeing the 3 green dots tells us this.
With that main TrackIR window open now start the sim and get into a cockpit, hold your breath and move your head around. Good luck and come back to me/us if you still haven't got it .... the effort is truely worth it.
The F9 key does not 'start' TrackIR it just disables/enables an already running TrackIR.
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