• Please make sure you are familiar with the forum rules. You can find them here: https://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php?threads/forum-rules.2334636/

Head Tracking with just a webcam (no LEDs)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
Mormegil

Mormegil

Grizzled Veteran
Nov 21, 2005
4,177
574
Nargothrond
#1
After trying to resurrect my old TrackIR 2, and not wanting to shell out $120 for a new one, avoid wearing the tracker clip or building my own (Free Track), I came across this.

Face Track NoIR
YouTube - FaceTrackNoIR, ArmA 2 and My ugly mug :)

Might be of interest to the ARMA and IL-2 crowd out there. It'll be more CPU intensive than a real TrackIR or even Free Track, I would guess. I'll try it out today after I pick up a webcam.
 
#5
hockeywarrior said:
Well i've got it working but its a bit crude. Maybe I just don't know what settings to tweak.

The biggest problem so far is being able to do relatively quick movements. Like in IL2 if I need to check behind me real fast it doesn't quite work and I can't get it to look all the way around. I'll try it in ARMA 2 next.
Click to expand...
Same problem here.
 
Upvote 0
#6
I have yet to try this, as I'm not home yet.

A couple of things that seem to help are:

1) Zoom the camera in a bit if possible
2) Make sure you have good light on your face (if it's too dark, the program gets really CPU intensive trying to find your face)
3) Make sure Face Track IR is minimized (when it's open, it slows things down a lot in game)
4) Tweak the settings (curves to get the speed more to your liking)

Check this very long forum thread (it starts back on v 1.30, while the current is on v1.50).

I picked up a cheapy Logitech C250 and will try it out. I'm wondering if I should have splurged and gotten the PS3 Eye instead. 120 fps might be handy.
 
Upvote 0
#9
Mormegil said:
Great. I'm dying to try this out later.

What are you system specs, and what sampling rate are you getting?
Click to expand...

System specs are baaaad:

AMD64 X2 5200+ (2.61ghz)
nvidia 8800GTS (640mb)
4gb DDR2 ram
Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 (a pretty damn good cam)

I'm getting ~15hz, which is rather disappointing though. I think that Face Track NoIR is grabbing a way too high resolution as my cam can record at up to 1028p, since my cam should be well in the 40's on a lower one.


EDIT: found the problem, exposure time was too high so I reduced it. First tried to run it at 60hz but that nearly made my CPU explode with over 35% load. Now I've settled at around 25hz which gives me between 15 and 20% load... This stuff sure is cpu intensive, which is the main reason why I'm not sure if it'll work out for me. :eek:
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
#12
Mormegil said:
You already have TrackIR (I think), so I don't really see why you would "downgrade" besides not having to wear the tracking apparatus.
Click to expand...

Uh, no, I don't have trackIR.


hockeywarrior said:
How do you guys get more FPS out of the tracker? Mine is running super slow, even though my CPU usage isn't that high. I think that's one of the main reasons why it isn't very responsive.
Click to expand...

Make sure to tinker around with your webcam's exposure settings. Most webcams decrease the fps they're recording with in lower light conditions, increasing their exposure in order to battle that.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
#13
hockeywarrior said:
How do you guys get more FPS out of the tracker? Mine is running super slow, even though my CPU usage isn't that high. I think that's one of the main reasons why it isn't very responsive.
Click to expand...

Could just be a sucky webcam. Look around on the forum link I put up earlier and the Face Track NoIR website. There are some tips on what settings may help.

I just got a $20 Logitech C250, and I'm getting 30 fps. I'm running this on my Photoshop computer though, so it's a decent system (Intel i7 860, 8 GB RAM, GeForce 460). Apparently, it really helps to have a quad core for this program.


Anyways, I got it working after a few issues, and it's been fun playing a flight sim again. I'll try it in ARMA II in a few days.
 
Upvote 0
#15
Ok, sorry for sounding like a complete noob (which I most likely am), but I have installed both programs in the description of the youtube video, opened FacetrackNoIR and I am getting the video feedback with my face and those yellow lines on it, as well as a nice 30Hz and only 4-5% cpu usage (not when running a game though, maybe it will use more then), and all that without changing anything in the settings which I am glad since I don't understand what 99% of them do.

But, how do I make it work in a game? :p

I run both Il2's but nothing happens... do I enable it through the game's setting or something? (had a quick look but didn't find anything) *Edit: I actually found that you have to assign a key to enable TrackIR in CoD, which I did but still doesn't work*

And also, which game protocol do you guys use?

PS. is it only me or the link of that thread Mormegil posted about is nowhere? :p
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
#16
doomis said:
Ok, sorry for sounding like a complete noob (which I most likely am), but I have installed both programs in the description of the youtube video, opened FacetrackNoIR and I am getting the video feedback with my face and those yellow lines on it, as well as a nice 30Hz and only 4-5% cpu usage (not when running a game though, maybe it will use more then), and all that without changing anything in the settings which I am glad since I don't understand what 99% of them do.

But, how do I make it work in a game? :p

I run both Il2's but nothing happens... do I enable it through the game's setting or something? (had a quick look but didn't find anything) *Edit: I actually found that you have to assign a key to enable TrackIR in CoD, which I did but still doesn't work*

And also, which game protocol do you guys use?

PS. is it only me or the link of that thread Mormegil posted about is nowhere? :p
Click to expand...

Yeah, looks like I may have imagined I posted the forum link. Here it is for real: http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,7689.240.html

It's a long thread, and most of it covers the original v1.30 release, only the last few pages have the v1.50.

To use it in IL-2, you need to set the protocol to Fake Track-IR, instead of the default Free-Track. You'll also have to open up the conf.ini file in the IL-2 folder edit it trackIRUse to 1 under the RTS subsection.

[rts]
trackIRUse=1
Click to expand...

Make sure you hit Start on Free Track to see your face and make sure you have the yellow lines (might want to minimize this to conserve CPU, once you're done troubleshooting). Check the invert Pitch axis on the bottom right, or else looking down will look up. Adjust the curves so the Yaw goes all the way to the end, or you won't be able to look behind you (I have it turn up at the end so it speeds up when I get further from center), and adjust pitch further back so you'll be able to look up to 90 degrees. I'd save this profile (left side).

Start up IL-2, and it should work. Mine didn't, I exited, did a restart, and started the game again (maybe 2 or 3 times), with no further changes, it started working.

Extra link, manual for Face Track NoIR that doesn't seem to have a link on the website: http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/manual/manual.htm



Good luck. Now I just need to clean out my old throttle set (decade+ old Suncom SFS Split throttle, I hope to resurrect it with some electronic cleaning / lubricant compound on on the sensors / potentiometers). If I successfully avoided spending $120 on a new TrackIR, I hope to avoid spending $114 on a new throttle. Don't forget to donate $5 or so to the cause if you like the application.
 
  • Like
Reactions: doomis
Upvote 0
#19
LemoN said:
Ok, I've come to the conclusion that the stress this handy little program puts on my CPU is too much. Load-times increased by ~80%, fps halved especially on larger maps with more stuff going on, etc.

It's a shame. :(
Click to expand...

That sucks. Reading up on this, it really helps to have a quad core. May want to consider upgrading for ROHOS anyway. Any good with system building? New Egg has some decent deals on motherboard / CPU combos.
 
Upvote 0
#20
Mormegil said:
That sucks. Reading up on this, it really helps to have a quad core. May want to consider upgrading for ROHOS anyway. Any good with system building? New Egg has some decent deals on motherboard / CPU combos.
Click to expand...
I'm good with system building, just lack the moneys to do so.

Of course you could always start a TWI forums donation action for me so I can build a PC capable running HoS at proper settings.

Feel free to donate. :p
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply
Jump to latest Follow Reply
Community News
Forums
Merch
Menu