FaceTrackNoIR - TrackIR senza cappellini, led etc...

Date un occhio a questo interessante progetto free http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/home/default.htm . Non mi sembra se ne sia mai parlato qui, se mi sbaglio scusate.

Io l'ho provato e funziona bene, devo dire che sono da poco passato a sperimentare i 3 schermi e di conseguenza il campo visivo è già notevolmente aumentato, tanto da renderlo quasi superfluo (ma comunque funziona ed aiuta). Penso che con uno schermo possa sicuramente essere interessante. In più non dovete mettervi ridicoli capellini con led o quant'altro in testa!

Su netKar (ed immagino anche su FVA) funziona praticamente "in automatico".

Procedura:
Procuratevi le Face Api http://www.seeingmachines.com/product/faceapi/downloads/ (richiedete un non commercial license)
Scaricate il FaceTrackNoIR v160 da http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/information_links/download.htm
Installate le Face Api ed il FaceTrackNoIR v160
Avviate FaceTrackNoIR, avviate il Tracker e come Game Protocol selezionate FakeTrack IR
Avvaite netKar. Naturalemnte la risposta ai movimenti all'inizio è non ideale, ma regolate la risposta, le zone morte, l'inversione degli assi etc e vedrete che riuscite a trovare la soluzione ideale. (In game, di default, col tasto HOME settate la posizione zero in funzione di come tenete la testa in posizione di "riposo")

Il manuale del FaceTrackNoIR lo trovate qui http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/manual/manual.htm

Condizioni perchè il tutto funzioni bene:
- webcam, niente di speciale, ma che sia in grado di darvi sui 30 frame/sec (controllate nella finestrella di anteprima del FaceTrackNoIR)
- una buona illuminazione sul viso
- un po' di tempo per "spippolare" sulle opzioni e sulle curve di risposta del movimento per trovare la risposta ideale


Se lo sperimentate fatemi sapere

Funziona naturalemnte con un sacco di altri giochi...

Ciao

Marco

P.S. - if I'll have time (when???), english translation will hopefully follow!!!

Just had a go using an old PS2 EyeToy webcam. So far I can't stop it from going to odd angles, it seems to want to look down & to the left a lot, but when it wasn't the immersion felt pretty good. Somehow it feels like things are passing quicker, & I found it a little harder to spot apexes etc. (although I'm sure that's just getting used to it). Only other odd thing was how it moves backwards & forwards, probably good if your using a motion simulator, but it just seems odd to be moving about the cockpit when you move in your seat. Anyhoo thanks for sharing Marco, & feel free to share any settings you've honed

FaceTrackNoIR does have potential, but its performance depends greatly on a few factors:

- Camera being used
- What is behind the user (busy backgrounds dont work as well)
- Light levels

I've not had much success with it. It picks up my face fine, but then the view bobs and wobbles, no matter how much i play with sensitivities and dead zones. I've also found once i move my head to try to look at something the wobble gets worse.
Other people who i know have tried it have had much greater success and then theres others who just can't get it to work at all.

By no means a replacement for TrackIR in my opinion, but it is a great way of finding out if TrackIR would be your thing. And if it works fine, then thats a bonus!

I can see it being a replacement for TrackIR if it's developed a little further. The problem with TrackIR is having to wear headgear & look like even more of a dweeb than the average sim racer already does I was thinking of giving FreeTrack another go, maybe mounting some LEDs on a pair of headphones & see how that works (last time I used a cap).

I still dunno about using either system in important races though. You can see my previous FreeTrack attempt. When you have big moments or a spin, the whole experience can be quite disorientating, & there's a flaw with the face tracking method if it loses your face. Say if you bend down to pickup a drink or something (not that I drink & drive ), the camera will be locked at the last position it detected you, which will be looking down at the floor & it can take a second to pick up your face again (if it does at all). It would be better if the camera position would return to the default cockpit view during this situation, although I assume this would be something that the game would need coded in?

The TrackIR track clip isnt that ugly. I race with a headset & mic anyway, so the only extra noticable component would be the cable hanging down. My main gripe with TrackIR is the price. Naturalpoint have a habit of bullying developers a bit, and this has kept down any chance of competition. Without competition, NP can (and do) charge a lot of money for what ultimately amounts to a webcam and some shiny stickers or LED's.